Creed II                 4 ½ stars

The sequel to 2015’s Creed continues the story of Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) after he has achieved his goal of heavy weight champion and has to defend the title against a challenging adversary.  Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is back again at Creed’s side at the right time to help Creed through circumstances that have tied the two together.  Ivan Drago (Dolph Lungren) who Rocky defeated over thirty years earlier has returned to have his Russian boxing legend son, Victor challenge Creed to a fight.  Since it was Drago who killed Adonis father in the ring, Adonis cannot turn down the fight and it will be up to Rocky to get Creed to understand his desire to face this opponent and to get properly trained for this life changing event.  To further complicate things for Creed, he has married his girlfriend Bianca (Tessa Thompson returning in the role) and learned that he will soon be a father.  This movie brings much of the thrill of the earlier movie and combines it with the heartfelt moments when the fighter has to question what is really important in his life.  The choreography of the fight scenes combined with a sound track that combines the old Bill Conti songs with a modern rap style music will keep your attention on the action.  Much about the movie is meant to appeal to a black audience, but there is a solid about perseverance through life’s challenges that all viewers should love.  The director of the first Creed, Ryan Coogler stepped aside for this one in favor of new comer Steven Caple, Jr. whom I have not heard of before.  Judging by this effort he should have a long future ahead as a director.