Creed II 4K Blu-ray Review
By Chris Heinonen on
Audio Quality
Video Quality
Overall
Creed II Summary
Life has become a balancing act for Adonis Creed. Between personal obligations and training for his next big fight, he is up against the challenge of his life. Facing an opponent with ties to his family’s past only intensifies his impending battle in the ring. Rocky Balboa is there by his side through it all and, together, Rocky and Adonis will confront their shared legacy, question what’s worth fighting for, and discover that nothing’s more important than family. “Creed II” is about going back to basics to rediscover what made you a champion in the first place, and remembering that, no matter where you go, you can’t escape your history.
Creed II Movie Review
Creed II does a good job of continuing to tie the movies back to the original Rocky movies with the appearance of Victor and Ivan Drago. Seeing Ivan Drago, who fell into disgrace after he lost to Rocky including his wife leaving him, and his circumstances add a good dimension to the story. The story follows a different arc that I expected it to, with far more insight into Creed’s life away from the ring.
I do find myself thinking that Creed has absolutely no chance to win against Drago, who must have 60 pounds, 6”, and a huge reach advantage on him, but that’s beside the point. Also, the ending of the film can feel a bit too much like Rocky 4 but manages to have a good bit of nostalgia without going too far. Regardless, the film is very enjoyable to watch.
Creed II Technical Review
Creed II was shot on an Arri Alexa camera at 2.8K resolution with an unknown digital intermediate master resolution. It also has a Dolby Vision layer on the disc which is how I watched it on both Sony OLED and Vizio PQ LCD displays. Overall the image is good, with nice clarity and some nice HDR scenes. The boxing scenes are particularly good with HDR effects as the fighters enter the ring to fire or other light effects. However, there are some issues with the image. One scene of the NY skyline looks to have some clipping and other artifacts in the sunlight. A shot of Moscow at night has bright lights but shadow details are crushed. One other review saw some banding but I didn’t see that myself, and so Creed II comes in as a solid HDR title but not the best.
For some reason, Creed II defaults to a DTS soundtrack instead of the Dolby Atmos one, so you need to change that before you watch it. The Atmos track is far better, with more dynamic range and much better immersion. Watching Creed battle Drago is physically painful as you hear the sound of the punches landing, forcing me to wince and look away at times. When you’re in the arena or underwater, the Atmos effects are fantastic.
Creed II Special Features
“Creed II” 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray Combo Packs contain the following special features:
- From Father to Son, Blood Runs Hot
- Finding the Authentic
- The Women of “Creed II”
- The Rocky Legacy
- Deleted Scenes
Creed II Review System
Sony A1E OLED, Vizio PQ LCD, Panasonic UB820 UltraHD Blu-ray Player, KEF Ci5160RL-THX Fronts, Ci3160RL-THX Center, 2x Ci200RR-THX Surrounds, 4x CI200RR-THX Atmos Speakers, Anthem MRX 1120 Receiver, SVS PB-3000 subwoofer.
Pros
Good Dolby Vision image and Dolby Atmos soundtrack, enjoyable sequel to Creed that ties back into Rocky but is still its own film.
Cons
Some scenes looks to have a bit of brightness clipping or crushed shadow details.
Summary
Creed II is a well-done sequel to Creed that tells a good story and goes in directions you don't always expect. The boxing scenes are well done and the visuals and sounds of the punches will make you want to look away from the screen.
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