Black Adam
[4K/Bluray combo]
Look, I like the Rock, OK? I have for a long time. I know he acted like a total jabroni through the entire making of Black Adam, trying to become the universe runner of the DCU while peddling his brand of wrestler-turned-legitimate-actor and his weird liquors, but maybe having the Rock be the new face of DC wasn’t such a farfetched idea. And of course it didn’t work out. This was all too little too late. And what was going to happen anyway? Black Adam was going to be a massive hit and DC was going to restructure their franchise based on the Rock’s ideas? I don’t think anyone thought that was going to happen, and I bet James Gunn was in the mix long before even Black Adam was released. Maybe DC saw the writing on the wall as the movie was being made. So, it’s best to consider Black Adam as a standa-alone superhero instead of the last gasp from DC.
I was a bit confused when I heard there would be a Black Adam movie because I always thought of him as the antagonist to Shazam. Spoiler alert, Shazam is nowhere to be seen in this movie. So, a movie about the anti-hero? Should be interesting, right? And Black Adam does try some new moves. For one thing, it allows superheros to evolve and become heroic. A strange thing considering Black Adam has been responsible for numerous innocent deaths. But this movie swings for the fences. The main obstacle for the movie-watcher has to be understanding that this movie is made for kids, specifically young teenagers. Because, ever single teenager in this movie is given the moral compass of the story. If not, then they’re allowed to treat the events of this movie as a playground, joking through all the horror and destruction happening around them. Any normal person would be terrified to death. So, once you realize that these are the real heroes of the movie, what’s left? A surprisingly enjoyable movie.
Like I said, there’s no telling who is gonna get it in this movie because the hero of this movie is a bad guy. But the actual bad guys are worse? That was kind of fun to see. Also, the Avengers wannabes had some very cool characters, especially Dr Fate who I wanted more of. Finally, there are some interesting twists and turns in this story, some of which actually made sense. Lo and behold, I liked this superhero movie so much I might actually rewatch it someday. For someone who generally hates superhero movies, isn’t that something?
Marvel, DC, it’s all the same. It’s kind of nice to watch a superhero movie that doesn’t require you to know the 20 movies that preceded it to get it. Black Adam is a one-shot and might scratch that itch if you give it a chance.
