The 6 Best And 6 Worst Things

With Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa entirely absent from this film (save for being referenced in one line of dialogue), Adonis Creed is in need of a new mentor figure. This is where Tony "Little Duke" Evers (Wood Harris) comes into play, with the fixture of the previous two "Creed" movies taking over the mentor role in Creed's life. On paper, this makes total sense, not just because Little Duke is a trainer, but because he's the son of Tony "Duke" Evers, a supporting face of the original "Rocky" franchise. Trading one connection to the vintage "Rocky" titles for another makes sense.

Despite a committed performance from Harris, though, Little Duke doesn't quite work as a soaring mentor figure. This is less because the character is innately a bad idea and more that the audience needs those moments of out-of-the-ring bonding to make Creed and Duke's dynamic work. 

Since the audience never sees what kind of rapport the characters have when they aren't boxing, it makes Duke feel less like a fleshed-out human being. Because of this, when he's called upon to deliver big lines to Creed in the boxing finale, it doesn't quite hit as it should. While giving Little Duke the mentor role in "Creed III" was a solid concept, its execution is lacking.