Powerful film, but I didn't like it.

Messy movie. The first 20 minutes were boring. It was very formulaic. Mimicked the beats of Rocky 4 too heavily. Didn't have enough pathos in the end to justify its existence. Rocky was a little out of character just for plot purposes, but otherwise largely on point. The whole middle bit, with all the life stuff, was simply amazing. Just incredible. The "fight movie" bit, kinda sucked. I wish they let Stallone direct this. Way better than the first Creed, about as good as Rocky 6. Not even remotely Rocky 5 good, let alone the rest of the series. The soundtrack.... man. Some of it fit but some of them rap selections... so jarring and try-too-hard. Rap is a very me-me-me possessive style of song. You can't just crowbar that shit into a movie cause the cast is black. The lyrics have to reflect the emotions of the story. I also felt the Drago kid was under developed. We got to know a bit more about Papa Creed Slayer. Cool. But the kid? He worked at a dock or something? That's it. And the tacked on story of Rocky having never met his grandson? BS. I don't buy it. It was OK. It was a good movie. But i'm not sure it was a good addition to the Rocky saga.