Black Adam (2022)
Dir: Juame Collet-Serra
Writers: Adam Sztykiel; Rory Haines; Sohrab Noshirvani
Starring: Dwayne Johnson; Aldis Hodge; Pierce Brosnan
by paulieb2003@gmail.com
Juame directed The Rock in Jungle Cruise, which was a crowd pleaser, so these two teamed up again for DC’s Black Adam. I have to say this movie is just pure critic proof because DC has been stagnant since WW84 in 2020. That movie was laughable and embarrassing and I think it gave DC cold feet as to what to do next.
Well The Rock knew exactly what to do. Not only is Black Adam perfect for Rock, but it’s new blood in a very old and stagnant DC Universe. Superman was on hold for years, after WW84 faltered. The Batman got a release, because it’s Batman. There is no more bankable character than him.
DC fans have been waiting, heck, all of comic book fans have been waiting for DC to do something cool, and here it is. Black Adam. Even if Black Adam bent over and took a shit for 2 hours, this movie would be incredible. Just the fact that a new DC character is on the big screen is reason to celebrate.
Actually, we get Carter Hall (Hawkman), Dr. Fate, Atom Smasher and Cyclone, together, on the big screen.
The good and bad thing is – Juame took a lot from the Avengers book, and from Marvel. Cyclone is Storm, Atom Smasher is Ant Man, Dr Fate is Dr Strange and Hawkman is Falcon. This movie even has the same ending as Avengers – “so what do we call ourselves?” And we cut right before Chris Evans or Rock says the inevitable.
So they followed the Marvel blueprint very closely. Aldis Hodge who plays Hawkman, speaks and acts a lot like Anthony Mackie who plays Falcon/Captain America. He speaks at his pace, sounds like him and acts like him. Atom Smasher has the quips like Paul Rudd does with Ant-Man. So it’s really like you are watching the Avengers, except of course for Black Adam, who is awesome. Hawkman’s suit just appears on him and disappears, as does his wings, like Iron Man. His wings fold and unfold like Falcon’s does. I mean I know the two mega comic book companies have similar characters, but this is ridiculous. Pierce Brosnan is great as Dr Fate, he is the John Turturro of this film, meaning he gives it legitimacy and weight that it would otherwise just not have and it was a joy to see him in this. This story I believe is taken right out of a Hawkman/Black Adam book, which is good, or you could just call it DC’s Civil War version. I mean it’s similar but again, Rock makes it fun and he is great in it.
The story is simple here. Like super simple. So kids can really get into this. I mean the story is simple. It’s like, board-game simple. “Get the crown” is basically the pitch line here. Which is good in many ways – because you have to set up Black Adam and they do a great job doing that piece by piece throughout the film so we don’t fall asleep in the beginning.
I think maybe that’s what critics are hung up on, is the incredible lack of story – which nobody cares – but what little story there is – actually makes sense. (unlike WW84). Nothing in this movie is ridiculous, like wishing something or flying a museum piece across the Atlantic Ocean.
Everything makes sense, it is simple, The Rock hits a home run as Black Adam – and in doing so he kickstarted the DC Universe. Now they have direction, now they have confidence – and now they have Black -.
See you here every Thursday! Don’t be a stranger, email me with questions / comments. Thanks for reading! – Paulie
