Well, The Rock won't shut up about how this movie is gonna make every DC fan shit their pants or whatever, so of course I had to go see this. If you've seen the Shazam movie, the gist of Black Adam was he was essentially the wizard's champion before Billy Batson. He became the champion of the fictional African nation of Kahndaq, but is corrupted on his journey to liberate it from oppression millennia ago. The wizard punishes him, but Black Adam manages to come back in the modern day, and he's here to fuck shit up.
Now, this movie goes over that origin (with some key changes), but it does so in a rushed manner (made worse because they tend to be exposition dumps) and the flashbacks are scattered throughout different parts of the movie. The movie tries to beat it into you that Black Adam "is not a hero" over and over, and sure, he brutally kills people in ways that push the PG-13 rating, but I feel like there could have been more than just that. To be fair, the exact moment where he shifts from champion to villain is sensible (and tragic), but pretty much no time is spent exploring what he does or where his head's at after that turn. Yeah, I could believe that he's a murderous son of a bitch through his actions, but very little about the internal struggle is explored in a way I find substantial. This leads into the modern day, as Black Adam's awakening due to a sort of archaeological incident catches the attention of the Justice Society. Hawkman leads Doctor Fate, Atom-Smasher, and Cyclone in order to apprehend or subdue Black Adam, and Hawkman in particular serves as an ideological foil to the titular character by chastising Adam's violence. They keep farting on about "you can be a hero" or "no killing", and the most we get from Black Adam is some variation of "no." Evidently, they're going from this villain to reluctant antihero arc, but the movie doesn't really have a lot to go on be it the start or the end of said arc. It even gets weird near the end because there's a bizarre choice that effectively takes the literal title character out of the movie because of some moral quandary, and then they quickly rescind that choice not long after. It wasn't even much a swerve, either; you could smell what they were going for plot-wise from a country mile away. They also throw out this one line to the effect of "these powers are a curse." Yeah, no it isn't. Apart from the circumstances that gave Adam his powers, that is not really a struggle that is depicted at any point before or after this is said. To me, this is probably the most egregious thing they try to pull with respect to Black Adam's arc because there is little to no indication that being imbued with the power of Shazam has led to a tortured existence for Adam. They also try to insinuate that Black Adam can lose control of his powers (and that's part of why he's so dangerous), but that happens, what, like twice? He seems pretty in control to me for most of the movie, and I think that the fact that he's quite deliberate in how he uses his powers is what makes him feel like a proper threat. Given my well-documented comic book fandom, I was naturally excited for a live action version of the Justice Society (apart from the one in the Stargirl TV show). I thought Hawkman was really cool and charming but was kind of restricted to being the straight-and-narrow hero forced to serve as the guy to tell off Black Adam's behavior, and both Atom-Smasher and Cyclone are literally just there to pad out the roster (a real shame, but Smasher at least gets a handful of funny moments). Doctor Fate is by far the standout to me (thank goodness, too, because he's easily one of my all-time favorite DC characters), and Pierce Brosnan really captured this weary, wise, and all-seeing sorcerer I was hoping he'd be. I kind of wish we had just gotten a proper Justice Society movie so we could actually spend time getting to know these characters, since you only really see bits and pieces of their personalities as they conduct this big mission. You can tell from Brosnan's performance that this version of Doctor Fate has seen some shit, and I would gladly pay money to see a movie that explores how his character grew to be the one we see here. And Hawkman could have gotten so much more than the dude who sees things in absolutes, both in terms of his crazy backstory and a more substantial personality. Atom-Smasher and Cyclone definitely get the shortest ends of the stick, since they get practically nothing apart from a few moments. Going into this, I thought the whole conflict would be the JSA versus Black Adam, with Black Adam growing as a character by the end (maybe even joining the Justice Society like he does in the comics). Nope, there's a whole subplot involving a magic macguffin found by a bunch of regular people, and some generic villain asshole wants it for himself. As is tradition, the played-out "let's set aside our differences to fight this even bigger douchebag" trope unfolds, and it didn't really do anything for me. It's a bit of a shame, since they do introduce an awesome aspect of the Shazam lore into the mix. The regular people in said subplot hang around for a significant portion of the movie, which I found a bit jarring since they keep getting roped into the JSA vs. Black Adam feud due to the magic macguffin. They do try to go for this thing where these regular folk are who ground Black Adam and try to get him to be the champion of Kahndaq again, but I feel like it falls flat because they try to sell it like the choice to be part of Adam's "not a hero" internal struggle that already barely exists as it is. They also try to add some social/political commentary to the whole thing, as modern-day Kahndaq is currently being occupied by an outside force (and they see Black Adam as a liberator). I was so disappointed that it's only touched upon briefly. I really think there's a juicy story with an entire nation rallying behind an angry murdered with godly powers who freed them from imperialists. The question that is on a lot of people's minds is whether or not Black Adam is literally just The Rock, but as a superhero. I'll give credit where it's due here and say that, for me, Dwayne Johnson felt like he was actually trying to play a character here instead of being just, you know, The Rock. I mean, I feel like it isn't anything even remotely close to a transformative role where he really embodies this whole other character that isn't him, but I'll say that an attempt was made, and I acknowledge that. Although the story goes for a more serious tone, it's not really intensely brooding (when it does try to go for that, it didn't really do anything for me). There are some humorous moments, but they can be hit or miss. For what it's worth, the action is mostly spectacular, and there are lots of pretty special effects and explosions. In this sense, Black Adam feels like a properly unstoppable force, and the depictions of his strength, speed, and lightning are sold like death in all the carnage he causes. He gets some pretty creative kills to boot. The Justice Society all look pretty cool; Atom-Smasher gets to use his size in impactful moments (albeit sparingly), Cyclone's wind powers look dazzling (giving me faith that Red Tornado can be done some justice), Hawkman's armor looks absolutely fantastic, and Doctor Fate's magic is a sight to behold. I want more Doctor Fate, goddamn it! I know DC isn't trying to go all in on the shared universe thing anymore, but there is a key connection to a previous movie here. It's not really a big deal overall, but I liked that it was there. It does raise a weird question about the Justice Society, but that's beside the point. Of course, there's also the connection to the wizards that gave Shazam his powers, but for some absolutely bizarre reason, whoever's steering the ship for these movies refuses to even set up an encounter between Shazam and his literal archnemesis. The hell are we even doing? This movie has one bombshell of a post-credits scene, and if you've somehow been spared from The Rock himself spoiling his own goddamn movie, I envy you. That said, is this one scene worth the price of admission? Hard to say, but I was nonetheless intrigued by DC's potential future in the movies. Overall, I wasn't blown away by Black Adam, especially not after all the hype that this was going to be some game-changer for the DC Universe. To its credit, there's stuff I did enjoy (mostly the joy of seeing Doctor Fate finally realized on the big screen), and there are hints of some cool ideas and themes within, but as it is, the movie wasn't particularly remarkable (and kind of a letdown in some respects). Now can we please have a proper Justice Society movie with more Doctor Fate? - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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