While Creed II continues boxer Adonis Creed’s fight to establish his own identity, the sequel ironically falls victim to the very lesson he has to learn: the only way to live up to a legacy is to create your own. Sadly, Creed II just doesn’t do that.
Ryan Coogler’s stylish, intense 2015 original worked so well because it told us an old story in a new way, always knowing when to go a little over the top (remember when Adonis boxes a projection of his father?) and when to underplay things. That understanding is where Creed II director Steven Caple Jr.’s seeming attempt to recreate the same tone misses the mark so glaringly. Creed II tries so hard to live up to its predecessor that it doesn’t end up having much of its own identity. Had Caple abstained from the Rocky formula a little more and made this movie his own, we could have had a much more interesting story, instead of a rehash of a film that already skewed close to the 1976 classic.
Source: IGN.com Creed II Review