BLACK ADAM starring Dwayne Johnson (TBD) 7 7

[Bosco685]

On 12/26/2022 at 9:09 PM, Cat said:

That's what stings the most. Dr Fate and Hawkman absolutely stole the show, and now they've just been ditched already. Such potential squandered. 

Hate to see wasted potential with logical spin-off films that could have helped build out the next series of shows and other productions.

[Gatsby77]

So I finally watched this the other day.

As expected, mediocre - with a few glaringly obvious ways it could have been been better.

That said, it was fun seeing such high production values given to such a D-list character as Black Adam.

We truly are living in a golden age of comic book movies when a studio opts to spend $195 million on *Black Adam* before more obvious choices like Green Lantern Corps, The Flash or even Supergirl. And honestly, I think it was better than either Suicide Squad or BvS.

I'd rate it as equivalent to the first Blade or Ghost Rider films -- or, more recently, Bloodshot -- a minor character given A-list studio treatment -- for a pleasant but ultimately forgettable experience.

The good?

• Hawkman was really well done, as was Dr. Fate.
• There were a few nods to the real-life political struggles in the Middle East -- with foreigners constantly intervening to precious little affect without true knowledge of or respect for the people involved, their culture or history.
• "It's okay -- I die by electricity."

The bad?

• One-note acting by The Rock -- mostly the fault of the -script, but we've seen the "Superman -- but bad" schtick several times before, and it was nearly always better done (examples include: Watchmen, The Boys, Eternals, Hancock, Brightburn & Looper). All of these featured more interesting choices by the actors -- and/or character development by the writers -- than what we got in Black Adam.

Hell - Denzel Washington aping the Punisher in the Man on Fire remake was more fun - because several times he took obvious glee in his sadistic revenge. Just because you're serious of purpose doesn't mean you can't also occasionally enjoy your work too. And for as solid an actor as Dwayne Johnson's become in the last 20 years, his talents were wasted her e.

• Too much exposition -- *Lots* of talking to give us background throughout. Several explanations would have been better shown than discussed. A few times I wished I was watching The Mummy (Brendan Fraser version) instead.
• Weak vehicles for exposition -- could have done without the skateboard kid or Atom Smasher. As others have stated, T2-style slang and catchphrase training by the kid didn't help.
• Weak villain
• Shazam erasure -- would have been far better to promote a future Black Adam / Shazam conflict in the stinger than leapfrog over him to go right to Superman. And the Amanda Waller intro was weird - if she had access to Superman there was little need to recruit the Suicide Squad in the first place.

Like, it was fine -- just a weird film (and set of characters) for Warner Bros. to choose to greenlight when the bog standard superhero / anti-hero plotting felt so 2007-2010. When comic book movies (and TV shows) have evolved so significantly since then. 

I keep coming back to the barebones "Superman, but antihero" premise - and how much better it's been done elsewhere.

Sigh...so there it is. More words than this film deserved, as it slowly (and rightly) recedes into just a weird minor footnote in the DCEU.

Now onto (checks notes) Blue Beetle. 

[Dr. Balls]

On 12/27/2022 at 6:01 AM, Gatsby77 said:

So I finally watched this the other day.

As expected, mediocre - with a few glaringly obvious ways it could have been been better.

That said, it was fun seeing such high production values given to such a D-list character as Black Adam.

We truly are living in a golden age of comic book movies when a studio opts to spend $195 million on *Black Adam* before more obvious choices like Green Lantern Corps, The Flash or even Supergirl. And honestly, I think it was better than either Suicide Squad or BvS.

I'd rate it as equivalent to the first Blade or Ghost Rider films -- or, more recently, Bloodshot -- a minor character given A-list studio treatment -- for a pleasant but ultimately forgettable experience.

The good?

• Hawkman was really well done, as was Dr. Fate.
• There were a few nods to the real-life political struggles in the Middle East -- with foreigners constantly intervening to precious little affect without true knowledge of or respect for the people involved, their culture or history.
• "It's okay -- I die by electricity."

The bad?

• One-note acting by The Rock -- mostly the fault of the --script, but we've seen the "Superman -- but bad" schtick several times before, and it was nearly always better done (examples include: Watchmen, The Boys, Eternals, Hancock, Brightburn & Looper). All of these featured more interesting choices by the actors -- and/or character development by the writers -- than what we got in Black Adam.

Hell - Denzel Washington aping the Punisher in the Man on Fire remake was more fun - because several times he took obvious glee in his sadistic revenge. Just because you're serious of purpose doesn't mean you can't also occasionally enjoy your work too. And for as solid an actor as Dwayne Johnson's become in the last 20 years, his talents were wasted her e.

• Too much exposition -- *Lots* of talking to give us background throughout. Several explanations would have been better shown than discussed. A few times I wished I was watching The Mummy (Brendan Fraser version) instead.
• Weak vehicles for exposition -- could have done without the skateboard kid or Atom Smasher. As others have stated, T2-style slang and catchphrase training by the kid didn't help.
• Weak villain
• Shazam erasure -- would have been far better to promote a future Black Adam / Shazam conflict in the stinger than leapfrog over him to go right to Superman. And the Amanda Waller intro was weird - if she had access to Superman there was little need to recruit the Suicide Squad in the first place.

Like, it was fine -- just a weird film (and set of characters) for Warner Bros. to choose to greenlight when the bog standard superhero / anti-hero plotting felt so 2007-2010. When comic book movies (and TV shows) have evolved so significantly since then. 

I keep coming back to the barebones "Superman, but antihero" premise - and how much better it's been done elsewhere.

Sigh...so there it is. More words than this film deserved, as it slowly (and rightly) recedes into just a weird minor footnote in the DCEU.

Now onto (checks notes) Blue Beetle. 

Great review! Denzel aping the Punisher in Man on Fire? Sacrilege!

[Gatsby77]

On 12/28/2022 at 11:58 AM, Dr. Balls said:

Great review! Denzel aping the Punisher in Man on Fire? Sacrilege!

That was my only gripe with the 2004 (Thomas Jane) Punisher flick.

It was solid - but then Man on Fire comes out literally a week later and is better across almost every dimension - writing, action, direction, overall style.

And with very few tweaks, Man on Fire could have itself been a Punisher film.

It put the actual Thomas Jane Punisher film to shame.

[Dr. Balls]

On 12/28/2022 at 11:07 AM, Gatsby77 said:

That was my only gripe with the 2004 (Thomas Jane) Punisher flick.

It was solid - but then Man on Fire comes out literally a week later and is better across almost every dimension - writing, action, direction, overall style.

And with very few tweaks, Man on Fire could have itself been a Punisher film.

It put the actual Thomas Jane Punisher film to shame.

Definitely agree there. A lot of people are Thomas Jane Punisher fans, but man - I came out of that movie disappointed again over the lack of a good Punisher show. For me, the decades-long suffering was worth it to have the Jon Bernthal Punisher - which is 98% everything I love about the Punisher.

Man on Fire is one of my favorite Denzel movies (and I have a few). I didn't realize it came out almost at the same time - I know I saw Punisher in the theater, but I must have waited for Man on Fire to come out on video.

[Bird]

finally watched it last night, I thought it was well done and great fun. Surprisingly dark, which clashed poorly with the banal humor. I enjoyed it overall found found the tone too inconsistent to be excellent.

wifey is mostly a non-comics reader and found it highly derivative...especially of terminator 2 (Furlong teaches Arnold to care, to get a catch phrase etc.) but also other superhero movies so she said it was fine but nothing special

 

[godzilla43]

This was pretty good. I hope they will make a sequel with Henry Cavills Superman.

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 12/26/2022 at 8:45 PM, media_junkie said:

...it does seem very "paint by numbers"...

Yup, it's very cookie-cutter. I enjoy basic pepperoni pizza every now and then, though.

[Bosco685]

Quote

As 2023 kicks off, DC bosses Gunn and Safran continue to sift through the rubble and will soon reveal their three-year interconnected vision for the cinematic universe, which won’t include Cavill’s Superman or Wonder Woman at all. But things could have gone in an alternative direction: Behind the scenes, a different group made a play for control of DC. Not long after the Warner Bros. Discovery merger closed in April, Dwayne Johnson directly pitched CEO David Zaslav on a multiyear plan for Black Adam and a Cavill-led Superman in which the two properties would interweave, setting up a Superman-versus-Black Adam showdown, sources say. “Black Adam” producers Hiram Garcia, who is Johnson’s former brother-in-law, and Beau Flynn also were part of the brain trust looking to take DC down a new path. Other sources confirmed the meeting but downplayed any discussion of Black Adam’s future. 

 

Although the move took place amid a power vacuum created as former DC head Walter Hamada and Warner Bros. film chief Toby Emmerich prepared to exit, it ruffled feathers internally, sources add. “Dwayne went around everyone, which didn’t sit well,” says one. 

 

Eventually, new Warner Bros. film co-heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy approved a Cavill cameo in “Black Adam,” despite the fact that Emmerich had made the call in 2018 to find another actor to don the red cape.

 

But “Black Adam,” which bowed Oct. 21, fizzled with a $391 million worldwide haul against a $195 budget plus $40 million in reshoots, scuttling any plans for more outings for the lightning bolt-wielding antihero and officially ending the Cavill Superman era. Cavill parted ways with his manager, Johnson’s ex-wife Dany Garcia, this year, but a source says it was unrelated to the DC drama and she remains a strategic adviser to the actor. Meanwhile, the Johnson-Warners relationship already was wearing thin after Johnson pushed for a producing credit on the animated film “DC League of Super-Pets,” which opened in July, but did little to promote it. The actor also insisted on a tequila bar at the New York premiere of “Black Adam” featuring his Teremana brand, despite the film being rated PG-13.

 

“His demands increased and the returns just weren’t there,” notes another insider.

 

[Gatsby77]

Production budget of $195 million plus $45 million in reshoots?

So Black Adam cost $240 million before P&A?

[paperheart]

On 1/4/2023 at 4:27 PM, Gatsby77 said:

Production budget of $195 million plus $45 million in reshoots?

So Black Adam cost $240 million before P&A?

profitable using ancient Kahndaqian accounting principles

[Bosco685]

 

[Cat]

On 1/5/2023 at 10:27 AM, Gatsby77 said:

Production budget of $195 million plus $45 million in reshoots?

So Black Adam cost $240 million before P&A?

Only ('only') $40 million in reshoots, so 235 million. 

[Gatsby77]

On 1/4/2023 at 8:28 PM, Cat said:

Only ('only') $40 million in reshoots, so 235 million. 

Yikes! I stand corrected.

[Bosco685]

On 1/4/2023 at 7:31 PM, paperheart said:

profitable using ancient Kahndaqian accounting principles

 

On 1/4/2023 at 8:28 PM, Cat said:

Only ('only') $40 million in reshoots, so 235 million. 

 

On 1/4/2023 at 9:26 PM, Gatsby77 said:

Yikes! I stand corrected.

Same 'reporter' that wrote the Rolling Stone piece that the supposed 13% of social media accounts were bots and that was what led to the Snyder Cut's release.

Writes hit piece for WB via Variety: "Oh goody! More cost details to rejoice over!"

[Bosco685]

Goes to show when dealing with WB/DC films nobody is immune from being trashed by the studio.

Even one of the biggest modern action stars.

[F For Fake]

Finally caught this last week. It was late, the wife was asleep, I wanted to watch something but didn't want to have to engage my brain too much. Thought this would fit the bill. It wasn't catastrophically terrible, but it was thoroughly mediocre. Considered turning it off a few times, but soldiered on. The store brand T2 knockoff relationship with the kid made for a great deal of eye-rolling. Otherwise, the movie resembled one long video game cut-scene. I am also sick to death of big slo-mo action moments in these cape movies. Drives me bonkers. Oh well. I will say that Dr. Fate looked very cool, and even though it was like a bit out of an Injustice game, I thought the way they portrayed his powers was kind of nifty. It's a shame what's happened to Pierce Brosnan's career. Regardless, "cool Dr. Fate power scenes" do not a movie make. There's no "there", there. I've seen worse, but that's hardly a rave review. Black Adam makes me Black Sad-am.

[Bosco685]

 

[paullam15]

Enjoyed this movie overall. Found the JSA more interesting then Black Adam. They honestly should do a JSA movie.

[Larryw7]

I watched this on 4k disc tonight. I really enjoyed it. It's not some deep masterpiece, but it was a great action movie, but with likable characters, a good villain, and a nice star turn from Johnson. But that post credit scene...sigh... What could have been.

I think that little cameo may be the last time we see classic Superman on the screen. I don't really have faith in a James Gunn Superman.