Black Adam

[Ilan Preskovsky]

I liked the movie fine, but the idea that there aren't a lot of legitimate gripes that critics might have with it is insane. It's fun, but it is very, very flawed.

[Menacer]

I consistently had no interest in this.

While the Rock has impressed me in a few films, Jumaji and it's sequal for example... mostly I've always seen Dwayne as a poor man's Arnold...

I've consistently been more interested in The Flash and seriously felt I would wait to see Black Adam on streaming for free...

Fast forward And a few good trailers later I'm still pretty disinterested in Dwaynes black adam but Pierce has my eye and Dr Fate and the JSA seem worth the trip...

FRIDAY night me and some good friends decide to take it in.

Okay so again I had low expectations and also generally watch films the first time with minimal critical eye. Just take it in for what it is.

Firstly The Rock nailed Black Adam for me. A cross between The Terminator and Superman with just the right amount of levity and humor totally had me oddly rooting for both Black Adam and the JSA at the same time.

Hackman is so bad ass with intense rage and self-righteousness.

Dr Fate will go down as one of the greatest DC characters on film ever, Pierce has cemented himself as Dr Fate.

Atom Smash and cyclone bring in some extra humor and charm along with some spectacular visuals.

Many Many brilliant music/action moments.

This has become one of my favorite DC films. Not perfect but I for see this doing really well with word of mouth.

Wish I'd seen it in imax... may have to go and see it in imax. This film deserves the big screen and sound.

9/10

End credits was monumental for DC fandom

[Nate Grey]

I liked this a lot, and for some reason did not expect the chekov jokes or whatever they're actually called in scriptwriting. I thought they all landed pretty well. "He didn't make it."

Well some spoilers [SPOIL][ /SPOIL]

spoilers:

Amon had that Freddie Freeman energy which I think is kind of required to offset the inherent darkness of Teth. From the look of it he probably reminded Teth of his son. I fully expected him to get Shazam'd up along with his mom, but, gotta save something for the sequel. Ironic no one liked him but thought Atom Smasher was endearing. He got on my nerves, but maybe that Peter Parker (Tom Holland version) awkwardness is from the comics, I don't know. No problem with Black Adam's revised origin. I guess Rock was like I'm not doing the corrupt with power thing twice (the story of the Scorpion King from the Mummy Returns, unless those Scorpion King prequels retconned that). Sabbac...not great, could have been worse. Worked for the story. "Functional for the story" is the best I can say about him. Dr. Fate stole the show, BUT...where was Inza? :/ Hawkman was great, but I'd like more to know more about him, as well as his friendship with Kent. I thought him saying "I'm not afraid of death" was a hint at his ability to reincarnate. Maybe not. ***1/2 or 9 out of 10, easy. Kinda want to see it again. And welcome back Superman!

end of spoilers

[AnakinFlair]

Ironic you say that as a big joke out right now is the jsa rented the x-mansion from the x-men complete with a blackbird and secret hatch for the x-jet.

Lot of people are saying their hqs looked a little too close to a mutant groups hqs.

I did wonder if they used the same mansion they've used in the X-Men films as the JSA headquarters, but I'm pretty sure it was either a different mansion, or just all CGI.

I never thought I would see the day Black Adam was considered "family friendly" by anybody.

Even before he got ultra-violent, he was pretty brutal and a dick.

Hopefully he goes more evil as the power corrupts him.

Well, that probably won't happen. When was the last time The Rock played a bad guy in a movie- The Mummy II?

[Hulkout42]

I did wonder if they used the same mansion they've used in the X-Men films as the JSA headquarters, but I'm pretty sure it was either a different mansion, or just all CGI.




Well, that probably won't happen. When was the last time The Rock played a bad guy in a movie- The Mummy II?

You forgot DOOM

[Wildling]

Dwayne Johnson was meant to be Black Adam.

The presence, the arrogance, the charisma, the anger. And the one-liners.

This feels like a whole lot like John Cena discovering his Peacemaker role, or Robert Downey Jr. taking on the Tony Stark role, or what it must have been for Arnold Schwarzenegger finding The Terminator role.

It's the perfect match of actor and character.

I assume Rock felt the exact same way and it's why he'd been chasing this project for years.

I never thought I would see the day Black Adam was considered "family friendly" by anybody.

Even before he got ultra-violent, he was pretty brutal and a dick.

Hopefully he goes more evil as the power corrupts him.

Well spoilers:

Adam got more sympathetic as the film went along, and the massive body count is directed at Intergang occupiers, enslavers, and a guy who shot a child and literally sold his soul to demons to enslave a country his ancestors were not a part of

end of spoilers, so the movie doesn't really come across as off-putting that way.

Me too!

It has to be filled with really overpowered/dangerous people. We've seen Suicide Squad recruits are kept in a more conventional prison. Is there an equivalent in comics?

[Frontier]

You forgot DOOM

And Get Smart.

[Ramsay Snow]

Seems like most of the critics biggest thing was the plot, which was too shallow for them. Welcome to comic books! A lot of the silly shallow plot was what resonated with me. You just don't need to explain all the watermelons in these kinds of movies or try and explain comic book science or something.

Considering the rich back-story of both Black Adam and the JSA, the critics have a more valid criticism than they realize. What was conveyed onscreen was shallow compared to what's been shown in the comics.....And I'm sure the critics found the ham-fisted "occupiers" mantra as eye-rolling as I did. It was practically (and seemingly constantly) spelled out to audiences like we would've been too dumb to get that aspect of the plot, otherwise.

And I still laugh at Middle Eastern characters pronouncing Adam with a western accent. Did the filmmakers think a Middle Eastern pronunciation of Adam would confuse audiences? With characters like Dr Fate, Hawkman, Atom Smasher, Waller, and Cyclone there to give it that good old western pronunciation, I'm sure film audiences could put two and two together.

[Menacer]

Considering the rich back-story of both Black Adam and the JSA, the critics have a more valid criticism than they realize. What was conveyed onscreen was shallow compared to what's been shown in the comics.....And I'm sure the critics found the ham-fisted "occupiers" mantra as eye-rolling as I did. It was practically (and seemingly constantly) spelled out to audiences like we would've been too dumb to get that aspect of the plot, otherwise.

And I still laugh at Middle Eastern characters pronouncing Adam with a western accent. Did the filmmakers think a Middle Eastern pronunciation of Adam would confuse audiences? With characters like Dr Fate, Hawkman, Atom Smasher, Waller, and Cyclone there to give it that good old western pronunciation, I'm sure film audiences could put two and two together.

Ummm I'm personally glad this wasn't some boring origin heavy film.

The rest of your complaints are so minor I can't be bothered to comment further then this statem--

[Scott Taylor]

I liked this a lot, and for some reason did not expect the chekov jokes or whatever they're actually called in scriptwriting. I thought they all landed pretty well. "He didn't make it."

I laughed out loud more than once during the movie and "he didn't make it" was one of those times. Just something about the Rock's delivery. He reminded me in a good way of the character he played in Central Intelligence.

Considering the rich back-story of both Black Adam and the JSA, the critics have a more valid criticism than they realize. What was conveyed onscreen was shallow compared to what's been shown in the comics.....And I'm sure the critics found the ham-fisted "occupiers" mantra as eye-rolling as I did. It was practically (and seemingly constantly) spelled out to audiences like we would've been too dumb to get that aspect of the plot, otherwise.

And I still laugh at Middle Eastern characters pronouncing Adam with a western accent. Did the filmmakers think a Middle Eastern pronunciation of Adam would confuse audiences? With characters like Dr Fate, Hawkman, Atom Smasher, Waller, and Cyclone there to give it that good old western pronunciation, I'm sure film audiences could put two and two together.

Well I see your point, but DC has also done more than one reboot of Adam's backstory, and some of them were so bad that they became ignored within a few years after they were done. Looking at you, "A New Beginning." During the movie, it seems like it was mostly modeled after New 52 Black Adam.

He's like Power Girl and a host of other marginal DC characters. Origins and powers changing all the time.

The JSA, I totally agree with you, however. I wasn't a fan of this depiction of the JSA, never have been a fan of Cyclone and Atom Lamer in particular and felt that Legends did the whole team more justice, which isn't saying a lot.

[Ramsay Snow]

Ummm I'm personally glad this wasn't some boring origin heavy film.

The rest of your complaints are so minor I can't be bothered to comment further then this statem--

lol, what I mentioned wouldn't have consisted of any more origin screen-time than what was given in the movie. Keep trying to defend your "9/10" film, though.

[Ramsay Snow]

Well I see your point, but DC has also done more than one reboot of Adam's backstory, and some of them were so bad that they became ignored within a few years after they were done. Looking at you, "A New Beginning." During the movie, it seems like it was mostly modeled after New 52 Black Adam.

He's like Power Girl and a host of other marginal DC characters. Origins and powers changing all the time.

The JSA, I totally agree with you, however. I wasn't a fan of this depiction of the JSA, never have been a fan of Cyclone and Atom Lamer in particular and felt that Legends did the whole team more justice, which isn't saying a lot.

Agreed. I would've preferred the Johns/JSA origin, or the one from Justice (Krueger/Ross), but they chose something close to the New 52 origin. Not to my tastes, but it makes sense to go with what's currently running in the comic.

I didn't mind this portrayal of the JSA. Doctor Fate was pretty cool, Hawkman wasn't bad (a little too powered up, though), and I was actually OK with Atom Smasher & Cyclone.......I don't think I was into Cyclone in the comics (Well, the Geoff Johns run), while Atom Smasher was alright.

[Jim Kelly]

I went to see BLACK ADAM on Tuesday. In fact, if it wasn't for fear of having the entire movie spoiled, I would have waited to see it in a few weeks or else in a few months on streaming. This is the first movie I've gone to see in a theatre in over a year.

But people are everywhere online trying to spoil this movie (and other movies); so much so that I was afraid to look online for anything in the event that a spoiler would be hiding where I least expected it to be. I'm not going to look at any other posts on this thread, because it's quite likely someone has spoiled another movie on here, as well.

While I wouldn't say this was one of my top super-hero movies, I was happy to see characters on screen that, when I was younger, I would have never expected to see in a major motion picture. I had the same feeling watching the first SUICIDE SQUAD movie--I'd have never predicted I would see those characters on the big screen either. And BLACK ADAM was a better movie than that. Dr. Fate was probably my highlight in that regard.

[CaptainEurope]

I really liked and, and I rarely like DC comics (I did like Shazam, maybe there is a pattern here.)

One of my favorite line was "Was that expensive?" when Atom Smasher topples some ancient monument in a moment of clumsiness. The fight visuals were awesome.

I wish Sabbac had worn his canon shoes, though:

[stargazer01]

I wasn't very interested in this movie, but then The Rock came out talking great things about Superman and then the cameo rumors changed my mind, so I went to see it last Friday.

I ejoyed it A LOT! I liked almost everything about it. I was not very familiar with Hawkman and Dr Fate, but I ended up loving them in the movie. The actors were great in the roles. Adam and Cyclone were kind of adorable too. I liked their chemistry.

The action was very exciting and the story solid, imo. I didn't expect some of the twists and reveals, but I loved them. The music was very good too. And The Rock as Black Adam was perfection. I really wasn't ready for that. He embodies the role very well. I'm happy his passion role is now a reality.

The cameo at the end was also perfection! Everything about it really works, imo. I'm very excited for the future of the DCU right now. Hope they finally got their sh!t together. All the connections to the DCEU were so sweet to see.

8.5/10 One of my favorite DCEU movies.