The pre-show to the DCEU’s latest installment of…whatever extended universe they’re trying to create kept using the same phrase, “game changer.” But, of course, it felt like they were being paid to let audiences know that Black Adam is poised to be a “game changer.” Because, well, they were. Do I personally feel like Black Adam is a game changer? Not really. Do I think it’s a good superhero movie? Heck yes. It’s definitely a top tier DCEU movie. I say that because films like The Batman and Joker don’t fit in the same category as Black Adam does. Which were both very different comic book films. Black Adam has a lot going on in this film, but after spending most of my in-person theater going watching superhero films, it’s certainly not in the minority. So, as far as that is concerned, I give it pass.
The freshest thing I think Black Adam does is…well…kill people. I hate to say it, but even the marketing team for this film is stressing the ANTI in anti-hero here. But, like I said, it’s refreshing to have some super dude show up on a scene and not waste time talking. When he first shows up, he’s a shoot first ask questions later type of guy-which I dig. Unfortunately the following scenes of the movie get pretty formulaic. There’s a bunch of, “He needs to be stopped,” and “let’s assemble a team.” After introductions are quickly made, suddenly, we have The Justice Society and they’re flying in to save the day.
The action scenes are pretty stellar, except I couldn’t keep thinking about all the collateral damage they were causing to…everything they touched. The filmmakers use a lot of the fast-action-slowed-way-down (so you can tell what was happening)-then sped back up again. Which I think is being overdone in…every movie these days. The attempt at giving all of these new superheroes personas that we care about was hard-fought, but lost on me. The beginning is just a huge info dump, which I never fully processed. And I couldn’t help comparing everything to Marvel. Dr. Fate felt like Dr. Strange, and Atom Smasher felt like Ant Man. I feel like I had already seen these scenes and action sequences before. Also, you can see the set up and the call backs in the script from miles away.
So, what was so good about it then? The filmmakers do a good job of letting Black Adam’s story unfold throughout the film. There’s a few twists and turns that keep you guessing. DCEU films are notorious for taking things too seriously, and in the beginning I was afraid of that happening here. But eventually some humor found its way to the screen, which I appreciated. That and just the sheer charisma of Dwayne Johnson helped win me over when it comes to this film.
As I mentioned before, the movie really wants Black Adam to be an anti-hero but I never felt he was overtly bad. Which is a nice balance to strike. Often the people who were more in the gray were the Justice Society. Which the film addresses, but briefly. All in all, I enjoyed it. There are worse Marvel films out there, and there are better ones. Which is not what I can say about Wonder Woman 1984 (which was bad, bad). In the end, Black Adam is even able to tie itself to the over arching DCEU. What with the shambles that Warner Brothers Discovery is in now, I’m not sure what that means. Yet, Black Adam was a nice surprise and maybe the rest of the DCEU will bring more of that. Until then, I’m still keeping the bar pretty low.
Power Rangers in Space Reunion Event!
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