Black Adam (2022)

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Leisher
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Black Adam (2022)

Post by Leisher »

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Black Adam (2022)

Post by GORDON »

I was so bored by Shazam that this movie hasn't gotten my interest at all. Is this a kid movie, too?
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Leisher
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Black Adam (2022)

Post by Leisher »

I don't know. I would have guessed they were shooting for PG, but he does blatantly discuss killing people in that trailer and then kills a guy, so...?
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Black Adam (2022)

Post by Leisher »

GORDON wrote: Thu Jun 09, 2022 12:46 pm Is this a kid movie, too?
Yeah, there are kid elements, which is very weird considering how many people Adam kills.

Adam's story is pretty solid and isn't finished until towards the end. I don't mean the movie, but his origin. He's a character I'm not super familiar with so it had some nice twists for me.

My biggest problem with this one is Waller (the black lady that is responsible for the Suicide Squads played excellently by Viola Davis). I thought she was a bad guy government type. Like Nick Fury, but evil. I also thought the JSA didn't work for the government. So I don't really get what's going on there. Still, a lite version of the JSA comes to stop Black Adam and they add some interesting wrinkles. Mostly it's Pierce Brosnan and Aldis Hodge trying to deal with Adam via different methods. The other two members are there for diversity and a little comedy. They have legit onscreen chemistry. The guy, Smasher, is a bit "goofy white male", but it's very fun and offset by Brosnan's very serious and not a joke character.

The Rock is fine as Black Adam. I do know Black Adam is an aloof dick, which Rock pulls off. Still, as a viewer it's a bit jarring not seeing him in his traditional wise cracking bad ass role. He more of a fish out of water asshole here.

There is a massive cameo in the credits, and I believe they said this is the starting film of a new DC where they try to emulate what Marvel is doing rather than the ala carte method the old studio heads went with. The cameo is really evident of that because the old studio heads would not have allowed it. They wanted this person gone for some reason (per Rock). I really want to talk more about it because there are elements of #GetWokeGoBroke, long term story telling, and some interesting comic stuff in this cameo.

I heard bad things and really expected it to suck, so I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy it. It's not a perfect film. There are issues with forced humor and an extremely weird end sequence for the non-heroes.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Black Adam (2022)

Post by TheCatt »

Leisher wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 11:28 pm There is a massive cameo in the credits
Guess that explains something else that happened somewhat recently.
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Black Adam (2022)

Post by Leisher »

TheCatt wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 11:57 am
Leisher wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 11:28 pm There is a massive cameo in the credits
Guess that explains something else that happened somewhat recently.
Yes?

You mean him resigning with WB? Then yes. If you mean him leaving Witcher, no. He left Witcher because he was pissed about the writing. He's a complete nerd (Witcher reader, gamer, comic fan, etc.) and wouldn't stick around with writers who never read the original IP and didn't really like it.
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Black Adam (2022)

Post by GORDON »

Ok, wtf.

This movie was serviceable, from a technical standpoint. There were a few action scenes that were violently fun, and cgi was fine. Rock was good in the character.

But the story? Who the fuck thought this was good?

BA is awoken after several thousand years, and is literally, immediately, attacked with deadly force. Dude has no idea what's going on, just knows wizards with weak magic are trying to kill him, so he attacks back. Even gets a stranger out of harm's way, who was clearly a bystander.

Then he goes out into his immediate vicinity and finds his home town occupied by a very hostile force. Sees them oppressing innocents, violently. They immediately try to kill him, so he kills them first.

So now here come the "good guys," who literally attack him immediately without a word. They destroy a lot of the landscape and pause for breath long enough to say "You're either going to kneel before us, or we're going to kill you. We're here to help and restore these oppressive, violent, evil assholes who attacked you and all of these innocent people." They remind each other between scenes that they're the good guys, here. They never try to talk to BA, bring him up to speed on the state of the world, try to work with him. No. It's attack attack attack and stop him, preferably dead, but alive in prison is ok. These are in no way the actions of people we should be rooting for.

And who the fuck are they, anyway? "The Justice Society?" I'm sure they're well established in the comics, but as Leisher said long ago that if I need to be familiar with the written word that came before in order to understand the movie I'm seeing today, then that's bad. WTF were these people called instead of the established Justice League (I know, because they don't want to use those characters). But why are we introducing these copycat, lame B-stringers, now? (I know, because money). And I'm not going to apologize for the copycat line. 3 of the 4 "heroes" have direct correlations, both in appearance and ability, to the already established MCU. Sorry, you may have existed first in print, but the MCU brought it to the screen first and you literally look like a cheap Chinese knockoff that isn't allowed to use the real names of stuff. Let me go grab my "Robert Cop" figurine while I type. And the 4th guy is an awful lot like Doctor Strange, now that I think about it. And even the "bad guy," Black Adam, is already a copycat of Shazam who was a copycat of Superman the Kryptonian, which is all right there in their same universe. I kept picturing Steppenwolf scowl, "The Kryptonian" while I watched BA doing his superman mimicry.

Dwayne Johnson is the only person in this entire production, from writers to producers, who got it done. Everything else, especially the writing, is a fucking train wreck.

And btw, in act 1 they really built up the "Kryptonite" that would stop him, and at the end it was almost never used again. A fucking force field, which literally got turned off once they had enough time to do their monologue. It had no other purpose.

Jesus fuck. I can write a better story while hung over and sitting on the toilet with constipation.
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Black Adam (2022)

Post by Leisher »

GORDON wrote: Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:20 am And who the fuck are they, anyway? "The Justice Society?" I'm sure they're well established in the comics, but as Leisher said long ago that if I need to be familiar with the written word that came before in order to understand the movie I'm seeing today, then that's bad.
That's where Amanda Waller came in, which is what I said was my biggest problem. There was no setup for their inclusion. Why would they answer to her? The Justice Society was more of an underground thing that didn't answer to governments (I thought). Plus, it's well established that she might not be totally evil, but she certainly isn't good. Then sending them to throw down rather than chat... Absolutely none of that made sense at all.

FYI, in the real world, Shazam is one year younger than Superman. So yes, Black Adam is a copy of Shazam and Shazam is a copy of Superman. Where they make them interesting, in terms of conflict, is that Superman is weak against magic.

None of this matters anyway because who knows what is canon anymore and what isn't? WB/DC has completely fucked their own IP's profitability in just about every way possible, and now have again by firing Cavill and alienating The Rock.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
Leisher
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Black Adam (2022)

Post by Leisher »

“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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