Black Adam – Review
124 Minutes, Rated PG-13
Written by Jaume Collet-Serra
Directed by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani
**NOTE: this post has been updated with audio of our discussion. You can read Mark’s review below and Ryan’s review HERE, then listen as they discuss the film in more depth.**
Synopsis:
Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the Egyptian gods-and imprisoned just as quickly-Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.
Well, it’s upon us. The next chapter in the DCEU. After the uneven past few movies, to put it mildly, Warner Brothers is pinning their hopes to the Dwayne Johnson led Black Adam to rejuvenate the franchise.
And let’s be clear: WB needs to rejuvenate/rehab the DC universe. Rapidly and convincingly.
Suicide Squad/THE Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey, WW84, the Justice League/Snyderverse fiasco, the Batgirl cancellation…
They’ve brought this on themselves. Can they pull it off?
I don’t want to spoil too much, but since literally the biggest spoiler of all was given away by right after the premiere, so I am going to be a bit looser than I might otherwise be.
Here’s the main points:
- “Eternium” is apparently DC’s equivalent to Marvel’s “Vibranium:” a powerful, almost mystical element that can do crazy sh!t.
- The Justice Society is the Justice League’s b-team? Developmental league? Definitely IN LEAGUE with Amanda Waller. Bonus for overseas audiences: it’s no longer the Justice Society of AMERICA (though that probably changed years ago in the comics for the same reasons).
- Cyclone’s costume is a vague nod to the Munchkins of Oz, probably because her power is wind (read: Tornado)-based. But it’s a weird costuming choice. I’d rather have gotten some detail on her kidnapping at age 15 and the experimentation that happened. Seems important.
- Atom Smasher is not a hero I’m familiar with. I know The Atom, whom I enjoyed reading back in the day, but Smasher (V2.0) is new to me. Shout out to a pointless cameo on that front. Also, he grows, a la Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Goliath, and while we get that DC and Marvel have tons of characters whose powers are rip-offs of each other, did we have to make Smasher’s alter-ego the bumbling funny man, just as Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang was? That seemed a bit too far.
- Doctor Fate and Hawkman are both criminally under-developed (though we get a peek into Fate’s past later in the film), and it would have been nice to know how Hawkman became so freaking rich as to house the JS headquarters.
- Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam (ne “Teth-Adam”) is, somewhat surprisingly, fairly well developed across the length of the film. I was a bit shocked at his body count, though. Sure, there’s not a ton of blood, but the number of bodies burned to crisps or torn in half seemed a LOT for a PG-13 film.
- In terms of WB rebooting the DCEU, they definitely commit to that, as there is no subtlety in the ways Black Adam destroys the Justice League. He burns the face off a Superman poster. During a fight, the camera lingers on shots of the sequential damage/destruction of the rest of the cast (Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, etc.); all fall before the might of this new cornerstone of their universe.
- And then THAT cameo in the credits. One clear holdover from the “old” regime, if you will.
Now, assuming WB continues in this vein, one must ask how Man of Steel 2, The Flash, and Wonder Woman 3 will be affected/integrated.
How might the next iteration of Batman factor in?
How might WB screw this up?
That is a legitimate question, as WB has proven time and again that it can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in terms of its superheroes. Will they drop the ball again?
Overall, this is Black Adam’s movie, and it does what it needs to do to establish that character, to the detriment of developing the other heroes, whom we can only assume will play roles moving forward.
I’d currently put it as my third favorite (not 3rd BEST) DC movie, behind Man of Steel and Wonder Woman, but it’s not even close to that good, but it’s definitely above average.
Black Adam releases exclusively in theaters on October 21 and stars Dwayne Johnson, Sara Shahi, Viola Davis, Pierce Brosnan, Aldis Hodge, Quintessa Swindell, and Noah Centineo.
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