[Movie] DCEU: Black Adam

[Kyphael]

Watched it Saturday and loved it. A lot of fun. The Rock is The Rock. This role is devoid of charisma, but he plays the deadpan serious guy well. It's the rest of the cast that shines and makes the movie good. Pierce Brosnan as Dr. Fate, flanked by great characters like Hawkman and Atom Smasher (great mix between Antman and Spider-man.) Cyclone seemed kind of boring and unnecessary. All sizzle and no steak. The main bad guy is as 2-dimensional as possible, but the action and fight scenes are fun to watch, even if stakes don't really feel very high.

I look forward to what The Rock's idea of a DCU might be. Cautiously excited. How well written the JSA was surprised me, which makes me wonder how deep his knowledge base goes, or if that was the writers with basic "let's throw in some cool, underrated JSA characters to fight Black Adam" guidance or "oh yeah, I love Dr. Fate and Atom Smasher! Let's throw those dues in." If the latter, I'm excited, but sequels and whatever else Black Adam is involved in could benefit from some more interesting villains. Big guns. I'm thinking Mongul, Despero, and Darkseid to name a few, with some out of the box choices like Nerom, Amaazo, and maybe even Superboy Prime if the big blowout is an Infinite Crisis instead of just Black Adam and Justice League beating the snot out of each other.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Watched it Saturday and loved it. A lot of fun. The Rock is The Rock. This role is devoid of charisma, but he plays the deadpan serious guy well. It's the rest of the cast that shines and makes the movie good. Pierce Brosnan as Dr. Fate, flanked by great characters like Hawkman and Atom Smasher (great mix between Antman and Spider-man.) Cyclone seemed kind of boring and unnecessary. All sizzle and no steak. The main bad guy is as 2-dimensional as possible, but the action and fight scenes are fun to watch, even if stakes don't really feel very high.
.

Atom Smasher felt far flatter than Cyclone did. He was just there for dumb comic relief.... Cyclone at least looked cool.

I look forward to what The Rock's idea of a DCU might be.

The Rock isn't making any decisions about the future of the DCEU. He's a hype man.

[Raisei]

After the garbage dump that were Justice League, Batm v. Superman, Birds of Prey and especially the second WW, I was ready to never watch a movie of these idiots again.

Which really sucked, since Henry Cavill is awesome both as an actor as well as off-screen. I had never expected a movie with The Rock, the guy that literally made his nickname his acting motto, to make me give the universe a chance again.

Maybe it was that after She-Hulk and Rings of Power I was so starved for something of at least medium quality that Black Adam looked like a juicy steak even though it was on closer look a vegan schnitzel.

Some of the humor worked quite well, some didn't. Johnson is the guy that can grumble a sarcastic line and it is funny, but the movie sadly had that damn kid that had to make him into his foster dad for some reason. Reminded me of those Bud Spencer movies, where they gave him a kid to look after so he wouldn't look like just a bearded wrecking ball on two legs, or the kid in Temple of Doom. Just there to be annoying and be rescued.

The JSA could have been cut down in numbers a lot. Atom Smasher and Cyclone didn't do anything anyway and Smasher was responsible for most of the "funny" lines that did not work. He was basically a cabon copy of Antman, but without the shrinking and without the 2 movies of build up that Marvel invested into the character.

Brosnan was a great Fate tho, he portrayed the weariness of someone seeing the future for a century very well, which might have been in large parts also because Brosnan is now an older gentleman and not so active anymore. Of course he still looked amazing...
I assume the helmet was very heavy to wear tho, since he took it off in nearly every scene. Literally in front of enemies with guns he exposed his unprotected head... ugh...

Hawkman was again a carbon copy, of Iron Man in this case. Cocky, arrogant, tech genius, billionaire, phillantropist and most likely a playboy too. He didn't annoy me, but he also had very little impact on the movie.
The callous disregard of the rarity of Nth Metal kinda annoyed me tho. Hawkman has a mace and some smaller stuff made from it, but there is probably not enough in the entire DC universe to make a jumbo jet completely out of that stuff.

Amanda Waller is still the biggest bitch in the universe and I hope someone just smacks her down soon. It isn't even so much her character but her infinite arrogance. She toyed with powers far beyond her control in Suicide Squad, murdered her own subordinates and nearly lost the entire planet because of it and she has learned nothing at all, she still think that if she shouts loud enough literal gods will do what she says.
That people like Batman and Superman are listening to her can only stem from them not knowing what she did and... I need to remind myself that this universes Batman is a frothing idiot... they just see her as a big-mouthed government agent.

I am also kinda wondering how she got all that data... it could even identify a demon from hell... the fock?

The biggest disappointment of course was that they made Adam a true softy. The real Black Adam is more in line with Doctor Doom. Protecting Khandaq at any cost and ruling with an iron hand for what he feels is the benefit of the people. He isn't evil, but he is ruthless. A true king.

Not to mention that they removed the part where he killed his nephew (his son in the movie) and took the power of Shazam for himself because he considered the boy too soft to have that much power. I really thought they were going that way, when he apologized to the statue, but nah. Probably too harsh for the sensitive sensibilities of the american audience. Burning people into piles of bones or ripping them in halve is fine, long as they are 18+.

Ah well, all in all, not a terrible movie. Lots of weaknesses still, but maybe there is hope yet. Cavill's next Superman interests me, because he is most certainly aware of the critque leveled against the past movies and he is not the kind of guy that doesn't give a crap, so he might work to improve it.

[Fencers]

Just as I said yesterday, the Guardians trailer drops and wipes the Cavil SM presence from the board. What a power move.

[IIamaKing]

IDK what everyone is saying, I had fun with it. I will say, they need to find better kid actors.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

IDK what everyone is saying, I had fun with it. I will say, they need to find better kid actors.

I also thought it was fun...but, objectively speaking, it's just not a good movie. There are multiple completely undeveloped characters (especially Atom Smasher and Cyclone...but even Fate and Hawkman are mostly just there). The entire plot of the movie is railroaded through (ex: Fate could have freed Black Adam at any point before actually facing off against Sabbac and it wouldn't have required him to sacrifice himself.) The JSA just being thrown in there without any kind of previous establishment that there was another Super-hero team besides the Justice League (Where were the JSA when the Kryptonians and Steppenwolf were attacking?). Why are the JSA working for Amanda Waller?

[IIamaKing]

I also thought it was fun...but, objectively speaking, it's just not a good movie. There are multiple completely undeveloped characters (especially Atom Smasher and Cyclone...but even Fate and Hawkman are mostly just there). The entire plot of the movie is railroaded through (ex: Fate could have freed Black Adam at any point before actually facing off against Sabbac and it wouldn't have required him to sacrifice himself.) The JSA just being thrown in there without any kind of previous establishment that there was another Super-hero team besides the Justice League (Where were the JSA when the Kryptonians and Steppenwolf were attacking?). Why are the JSA working for Amanda Waller?

I'll give ya the "Why didn't Fate unlock Adam sooner" the rest of it for me is just thrown under the bus of "Its a stupid super hero movie". They are fair complaints in the scope of the larger DCEU for sure. I guess I just dont care, I was just happy to go to a movie lol.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

I'll give ya the "Why didn't Fate unlock Adam sooner" the rest of it for me is just thrown under the bus of "Its a stupid super hero movie". They are fair complaints in the scope of the larger DCEU for sure. I guess I just dont care, I was just happy to go to a movie lol.

The thing of it is that, even in your defense, you still refer to it as a "stupid super hero movie".

All people are doing here is pointing out the stupid parts.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Other then some dodgy effects and some
Questionable cinematography this is easily one of the best DCU movies up there with the second SS and the new Batman.

Seeing some one on super man’s power level cut loose for once and really show what they can do was great.

[Kyphael]

Atom Smasher felt far flatter than Cyclone did. He was just there for dumb comic relief.... Cyclone at least looked cool.




The Rock isn't making any decisions about the future of the DCEU. He's a hype man.

He's more than just conductor of the hype train. 7 Bucks helped produce Black Adam. He went over a WB big head to get Henry Cavil back as Superman when they had decided he wouldn't come back. For better or worse, they're building the new DCU around Black Adam. Is he personally overseeing creative like Kevin Feige does? No, of course not, but it seems like they're going with his idea for a big End Game-like blowout with Black Adam vs. Justice League vs. Suicide Squad. If they follow through, that's more than hype man. He provided a basic outline, and the grunts will get them there. If he's helping bankroll it, and pitching ideas, that's more than hype man.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

He's more than just conductor of the hype train. 7 Bucks helped produce Black Adam. He went over a WB big head to get Henry Cavil back as Superman when they had decided he wouldn't come back. For better or worse, they're building the new DCU around Black Adam. Is he personally overseeing creative like Kevin Feige does? No, of course not, but it seems like they're going with his idea for a big End Game-like blowout with Black Adam vs. Justice League vs. Suicide Squad. If they follow through, that's more than hype man. He provided a basic outline, and the grunts will get them there. If he's helping bankroll it, and pitching ideas, that's more than hype man.

Lots of actors are also producers in their own movies.

He didn't "go around" the WB to bring Cavil back. He fought for it...but he wasn't the only one.

WB just hired James Gunn and Peter Safran to head up their DCEU projects. They'll be the ones that shape the DCEU moving forward...not Dwayne Johnson.

[Raisei]

IDK what everyone is saying, I had fun with it. I will say, they need to find better kid actors.

Agreed. The movie wasn't anything breath taking, but it was fun. Which is more then I can say for a lot of stuff I saw lately so maybe that is already enough.

And yes, better kid actors or no kid actors please. I don't see how his mom couldn't have done the things he did in the movie with her brother as the sidekick. No need for the boy itself.

(I know that he is Osiris from the comics, but even there they had the good graces of axing him quickly )

[Stickiler]

The callous disregard of the rarity of Nth Metal kinda annoyed me tho. Hawkman has a mace and some smaller stuff made from it, but there is probably not enough in the entire DC universe to make a jumbo jet completely out of that stuff.

The Hawkman lore starts with a Nth metal spaceship landing in ancient egypt, so it's certainly not that rare, the Thanagarians used it constantly in nearly every facet of their civilization.

[Koriani]

Bad box office for this one and a B+ CS. 150 projection. Brutal. Pitiful THR-S tracking too.

https://showbuzzdaily.com/articles/b...0-23-2022.html

huh, considering the hype machine and how amped it SEEMED other people were I'm really surprised its already done poorly at the Box Office!

- - - Updated - - -

huh, considering the hype machine and how amped it SEEMED other people were I'm really surprised its did poorly Opening Weekend at the Box Office!

After opening weekend is when, of course, the reviews may tank it (as it did with Halloween Ends) - but for opening weekend I was certainly expecting a bigger splash. Esp. considering how much THIS particular movie cost.

[Shadowferal]

As of today, from box office mojo
Rollout
DOMESTIC (44.3%)
$110,910,807
INTERNATIONAL (55.7%)
$139,300,000
WORLDWIDE
$250,210,807

[Jotaux]

I saw the movie on sunday. It was actually a lot better than I expected. I would give it a solid 7/10. The action was fantastic, the story was just average.

I thought it was odd they showed he was weak to Eternium and then never did anything with it. I also would have liked if they incorporated Nth metals ability to negate magic.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

As of today, from box office mojo
Rollout
DOMESTIC (44.3%)
$110,910,807
INTERNATIONAL (55.7%)
$139,300,000
WORLDWIDE
$250,210,807

I don’t track any box office stuff are these numbers good or bad?

I’d hope good so dc gives us more movies like this and the second SS and not overly dramatic crap like MoS and BVS.

[JDL49]

As of today, from box office mojo
Rollout
DOMESTIC (44.3%)
$110,910,807
INTERNATIONAL (55.7%)
$139,300,000
WORLDWIDE
$250,210,807

Those numbers are incomplete for International. I looked at the details and the number of countries that reported the second weekend was somewhere around 7-8%. Even with that it's still not all that great but when the final numbers come in it will be in the neighborhood of $50M higher.

[Shadowferal]

Its only been eleven days since release.

[Jotunhammer]

Black Panther in Africa
Black Adam in Africa
so...
10 rings in asia....
wonder what DC universe will answer with to copy MU