Movie Review: Black Adam (2022) *Very Minor Spoilers* - and Some Commentary About the Future DCU

Movie Review: Black Adam (2022) Very Minor Spoilers - and Some Commentary About the Future DCU

Ever since Dwayne Johnson started promoting Black Adam with his The hierarchy of power in the DC UNIVERSE is about to change catchphrase my expectations for the film were lowered. Not that they were high, or even that I had any, because I'd actually never heard of Black Adam until Dwayne was announced as taking on the role.

However, the idea that a supporting character from Shazam's comics was gunning to be seen as the most powerful superhero of all DC, telegraphed to me that maybe Dwayne was serving himself more than serving the character and the character's fan base. Especially because Dwayne was always pushing for a Superman, Black Adam show down.

While I do like Dwayne Johnson, his whole campaign for this film felt like he was hijacking DC more than wanting to be a part of it. As it turns out, he kind of was, by putting himself and his production company in the running for being the Head of DC Films at Warner Brothers Discovery.

His whole plan seemed to revolve around Black Adam fights The Justice League - which I guess would be awesome in its own way but there didn't seem to be much thought of what would happen after that?

As a result, I had no interest in seeing Black Adam in cinemas. Even after the trailers came out. It looked well made in terms of the action. There was a bit of comedy to it. But there wasn't really anything compelling about it. Then the reviews started coming in, and they weren't encouraging. So I decided to wait until the movie was available at regular prices on streaming.

Good call.

The story revolves around Black Adam. Initially he's a slave, who is given godlike powers, that allow him to free his people before he is captured and imprisoned for 5000 years. Jump forward to the modern world and Black Adam is freed, where he begins to dish out his lethal form of justice on anyone who gets in his way.

This puts him square in the crosshairs of The Justice Society who set out to return him to his prison where he can do no harm.

I can't fault the special effects and action scenes in this movie. If that's your thing then seeing this movie on a big screen would well be worthwhile.

The story premise is not bad, neither is the acting. There's a bit of a twist at the end that kind of elevates Black Adam as a character but doesn't really mean a lot, because it only serves to reframe your view of Black Adam.

What lets the film down is the story structure is a bit all over the place and much of the humor is miss timed. Seriously. Some of the jokes are set up well but the pause between the set up and the punchline is too long, or the punchlines are just weak call backs.

Dwayne's Black Adam is all over the place too. He's a man out of time but also wants to be the smartest man in the room at all times. He's super serious and intense but wants to be quippy.

Then there's the comparisons of The Justice Society looking too much like the X-Men with their mansion like headquarters and fancy plane that they keep underneath the grounds.

For some reason with this big HQ and plane the Justice Society only has four members, and for two of them, this is their first day on the job? One of them is clearly there as comedy relief with jokes that are often quite random to lighten the mood.

Overall it is a fun film, with really strong action sequences. The comedy isn't bad, it's just the timing is so off on several occasions, to the point where it's no longer a laugh, but you still may raise a smile.

If Dwayne got to do a sequel the character would be better served for not being an origin story but where this ends doesn't really give you much to hook onto for a sequel.

I feel like we needed to get to know Black Adam through the Shazam movies, where he should have originated from initially. Perhaps that would've given the character time to grow in power instead of being a god right from the get go.

Maybe then we'd see a sequel where the Justice League has to save the Shazam Family from a overpowered Black Adam. Sure it's a lot of characters but it is Black Adam versus two superhero teams instead of one.

That might have been something?

I feel the DCU dodged a bullet with Dwayne and his production company. While James Gunn doesn't always land with me, at least with his appointment to head of DC, and his end of January (2023) announced plan going forward, you can see he casts a much wider net. He still has his pet projects but he has a proven track record for developing lesser known characters into something interesting.

DC needs that right now. As much as I like the big three, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, and I also like The Justice League, there are so many more DC characters that could easily be popular given the spotlight.

For example, until James Gunn's Suicide Squad movie I'd never heard of Polka Dot man. But if they gave him a spin off series I'd definitely watch. Heck I didn't even know who Peace Maker was until that movie, and I showed up every week for his TV series... it was awesome.

Black Adam was kind of a fun movie, particularly for its action sequences. It's just a shame Dwayne didn't get out of the way of his own ego and allowed Black Adam to build through the Shazam movies (that were already being made) instead of trying to do it all with one big film.

This could've been a character we cared about from at least one other film (or even two) before he got his own movie.

Comments

How to Transfer Any Line Art to Your Griptape - Easy Skateboard Griptape Art Tutorial

Dog Star Griptape Art by TET Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging. Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake. To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all. Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your de

Skateboard Trick Tips: Two Ways to Ollie North (Ollie One foot)

You have to be quick to see my Ollie Norths! Ollie One Foots, otherwise known as the Ollie North, is one of those skateboard tricks you learn and then tend not to do very much as more interesting trick challenges grab your attention. However it does look really cool if you learn how to kick your front foot well past the nose of your skateboard. Still shot from Braille Skateboarding's Ollie North tutorial. I was inspired to make my video below, showing two different techniques to achieve a successful Ollie One Foot, when I not only saw that Braille Skateboarding's Tutorial used a different method to the one I had learned but also, when I looked at various other video tutorials, I discovered yet another technique, with no one using the method I had originally learned. Braille's method is to simply Ollie and drag your front foot past the front of your board. The second method I came across in several video tutorials is to Ollie, drag your front foot and tap your

Are Ion Thrusters the Future of Flying Cars? Spoiler - Probably Not But... Hover Boards... Maybe?

Undefined Technologies Ion Propulsion Drone prototype 3D concept image. You may have heard of Ion engines or, more likely, Ion thrusters. NASA uses them on their spacecraft to help maintain a craft's position or to propel them through space. Upon hearing that you might think they're big, powerful engines, but actually they are not. They work well in the vacuum of space but, once any kind of atmosphere and gravity is involved they'd be hard pressed to launch you off the ground if you strapped four of them to your lawn chair and yelled "up, up, and away!" I am no expert on Ion thrusters - they're basically magic that science has an explanation for. If you want to know the details, The Space Techie website has a layman's explanation . Build Your Own Ion Thruster Earth based Ion Thrusters work a bit different to their space based cousins by Ionizing the same air that we breathe to create thrust (an effect known as Ionic-wind ). While they sound highly soph

Book Review: Brand It Purple by Ashley Knoote-Parke

Ashley Knoote-Parke. Image: Facebook It seems almost redundant to review Brand It Purple given you probably won't find a hard copy edition without digging into the second hand market. The book's author and publisher, Ashley Knoote-Parke, seemingly, disappeared off the face of the Earth around about 2015. Which is a story in itself. However, the book is still a very informative guide and, while not specifically targeted at women, many may relate more to a book written by an experienced female entrepreneur. Brand It Purple is a personal marketing and branding guide released in 2009 by then, star on the rise author, Ashley Knoote-Parke, an English born, South African expatriate, who made Adelaide, South Australia her home. There she started her own publishing company releasing a photographic, coffee table book of South Australian sights, along with books showcasing female, then male, entrepreneurs. As well she published 'Brand It Purple'. I came across the b

I'm Joining the Illuminati Brotherhood By Personal Invitation of Hiltom Rothschild... Wait, What?

How special am I to have finally come of age (53 years young) and am now eligible to participate in building the world alongside other members of the Illuminati Brotherhood... Yes I've received the call by way of an email, which I'm sure is real because I had to translate it from the Dutch language and it was personally written by Hiltom Rothschild, one of the non-existent members of the Rothschild family (or perhaps deep undercover because Google has never heard of them?). A Transcript of the email below: To: etourist From: Illuminati Brotherhood Subject: Illuminati Broederschap (Illuminati Brotherhood) I am Hiltom Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family, one of the 13 families of the Illuminati brotherhood. I'm here to let you know that you've come of age and are eligible to participate in building the 🌎 world. It is a calling and a privilege to honor him with pride and gratitude as not everyone will ever be chosen by the LIGHT, many are called but few are ch

Is AI Art 'Art'? The Say NO to AI Art Movement, and Why Human Artists Will Adapt

AI Art No T-Shirt by TET Also available on other items . Right now there is a big debate over not just whether AI art is 'art' but whether AI's are actually ripping off the work of actual human artists, without their consent, to create their images - particularly images 'in the style of' specific artists. From my own observations this debate started to get more traction when artist's signatures began appearing in the output of AI Art image generators. Is It Art? Cool Froyd the Cat Sketch by TET. My style is very much influenced by classic Disney and WB character styles. To get some clarity on how real human artists work (of which I am one)... we, that is all of us... take influences from the art that has come before. i.e. whatever artists we like, have studied, seen etc. we are influenced by. It shows up in our work, intentionally or not. If you really study my own cartoony art style you'll see I'm heavily influenced by early Disney and Warner Bros cart

Movie Review: Force of Nature - The Dry 2 (2024) No Spoilers

Eric Bana returns as Detective Aaron Falk in Force of Nature - The Dry 2 , and that's the only real connection between this and 2020's The Dry . This is an all new mystery set in a new location. I will say, given that it's either wet or rainy, with the incoming threat of a major storm for most of the movie, the filmmakers really missed a trick in not renaming the film, The Wet. Back when I reviewed the first film I noted that I would love to see the second book made into a movie too, and here it is. This time Aaron and his detective partner, Carmen (Jacqueline Mackenzie), head into the mountains to investigate the whereabouts of a missing informant, who disappears on a workplace, team bonding retreat. All the performances in this film are easily on par with the first, though I do think some pretty outstanding actors really didn't have a lot to do here. In terms of mystery the first movie was better constructed as a who dunnit film you could play along with. Here you mo

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Search This Blog