18 years later and it's almost here. Glad this trailer is dope!

https://youtu.be/X0tOpBuYasI

If I'd heard about this combo, like, five to seven years ago, I'd be way more excited. But The Rock's movies have been, by and large, sooooooo flat. And even Collet-Serra, who's made some really dope movies, had his style completely nullified by the non-stop CGI in Jungle Cruise.

I just have this fear that this'll be the most sanitized, dull version of Black Adam possible. lol.

The Rock seems quite comfortable playing the heel and he'd be well served to do so here.

I'ma withhold judgement until I start getting some solid reviews.

Like, truly played the heel? Played a bad guy that wasn't some charming misunderstood tough man, but was actually just, like, a murderer?

It has to have been over a decade ago, minimum. He's just so clearly Brand Management Above All at this point that I'd be stunned if Black Adam doesn't have his edges softened. They already allude in the trailer that any violence he commits is motivated by revenge more than by the corrupting nature of power or his desire to conquer and rule. That alone is a major, major softening tactic imo.

>Like, truly played the heel? Played a bad guy that wasn't
>some charming misunderstood tough man, but was actually just,
>like, a murderer?

I see your point, probably Doom? lol
>
>It has to have been over a decade ago, minimum. He's just so
>clearly Brand Management Above All at this point that I'd be
>stunned if Black Adam doesn't have his edges softened. They
>already allude in the trailer that any violence he commits is
>motivated by revenge more than by the corrupting nature of
>power or his desire to conquer and rule. That alone is a
>major, major softening tactic imo.

Yeah, Geof Johns beat this movie to the punch by at least a decade. This softening of the character was writen into the comics AWHILE ago.

I enjoyed his story in 52.

But when he started chillin' with the JSA, it just didn't feel right. It's like it all happened all at once instead of being a slow, gradual process.

I still look forward to seeing some JSA members in this move though.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve heard the wave of comic book movies over the last 15 years has led to an increase in merch sales, but not really comic book sales. That’s a huge failure, and it feels like the big 2 companies simply don’t give a shit about anything besides their IP. I’ve yet to see Marvel or DC harness the excitement for comic book movies into excitement for the actual comic books. I think a lot of casual fans are interested, but don’t know where to start and just stick to the movies, so it’s nice to see “check out these books if you’re interested in this character.”

That being said, I’m not a huge fan of the more “magical” characters, especially in the DC universe. This trailer does very little for me. Feels more like “we need a character for The Rock to play” rather than “people want a Black Adam movie AND they love The Rock!”

i thought the trailer looked bad

….Black Adam looks dope in this.

I love my birthday homie Rocky Maivia, but he seems so out of place in this.

The first ten to fifteen minutes are wonky. But, once we hit modern day, the foot never let's off the gas. Would love to get more mid-scale blockbusters like this.

This plays to The Rock's strengths as an actor, which after 18 years, I'd hope so.

Like Shazam!, great fucking world-building in the DCEU thus far. In fact, I'm excited for Shazam!: Fury of the Gods.

HUGE mid-credits scene.

You've been quite the skeptic. lol

I'm excited to see it now.

>The first ten to fifteen minutes are wonky. But, once we hit
>modern day, the foot never let's off the gas. Would love to
>get more mid-scale blockbusters like this.
>
>This plays to The Rock's strengths as an actor, which after 18
>years, I'd hope so.
>
>Like Shazam!, great fucking world-building in the DCEU thus
>far. In fact, I'm excited for Shazam!: Fury of the Gods.
>
>HUGE mid-credits scene.

I knew it was going to do numbers cause duke has 350M+ followers but glad to know it lives up to billing. It's clearly been a passion project of his for awhile that he basically had to go out and box office smash to earn the rights to have.

Could I see this at the drive-in or will it be too dark to see?

If not, mask up and hit up your local Dolby Cinema or IMAX.

Spiderman No Way Home looked real bad - so did Shang Chi anytime there was a scene set at night.

>If not, mask up and hit up your local Dolby Cinema or IMAX.

I might have to just wait - I'm avoiding crowded in-door spaces even with masks. Risk is low I know, but......

I do have a private rental for Black Panther II - but this one'll be on HBO Max in January I'm sure.

The writing and acting is par for DC which is not a good thing. The Rock is by far the best thing about it, but that makes sense.

And seriously how many scenes can they bite from the mcu in one movie? Jeez. The scene where they basically copied seeing Wakanda for the first time? Fucking major eye roll.

Two hours of completely weightless CGI. Outside of the two or so times Black Adam and Hawkman actually fight hand-to-hand, it just all looks like PS4 cut scene stuff. Especially the villain of the movie, who might be the least memorable or interesting villain in modern superhero cinema.

And every time it looks like it's going dark or it could be a movie with actual vision behind it, we get the shoehorned-in one-liners or the corny needle drops-- all the things that the most risk-averse movie star alive always has to make sure the movies are as safe and studio tested as imaginable. Even the big cameo at the end doesn't feel epic, it just feels like a calculation.

MVP obviously Brosnan. Hodge acquits himself well too.

>Two hours of completely weightless CGI. Outside of the two or
>so times Black Adam and Hawkman actually fight hand-to-hand,
>it just all looks like PS4 cut scene stuff. Especially the
>villain of the movie, who might be the least memorable or
>interesting villain in modern superhero cinema.
>
>And every time it looks like it's going dark or it could be a
>movie with actual vision behind it, we get the shoehorned-in
>one-liners or the corny needle drops-- all the things that the
>most risk-averse movie star alive always has to make sure the
>movies are as safe and studio tested as imaginable. Even the
>big cameo at the end doesn't feel epic, it just feels like a
>calculation.

the bar to step over to make a decent DC film is fairly low, which it does IMO, but it could have been more. And the "most risk-averse movie star alive" is tough but true. I wonder is he building towards something else that he has to keep it all so well manicured??

Considering that dude had to take his lumps in abundance and create a persona in new territory that became a household name. He did so by pushing the envelope. Even with Ballers, he was often looking less front cover and more back page.

But now, it is unfortunate that his image consultant seems to be the highest paid employee. I probably need to rewatch but the part that threw me the most is his change in tone from stoic, aloof, and not in touch with modern society Black Adam to DJ, even with the tagline "The Man in Black sent you" or parts where he wants to be distant but uses colloquial language.

Considering this was a long time passion project with less than anticipated box office returns, hopefully he takes a harder look at how other movies take more deliberation with story telling (Wakanda) so that he doesn't look over his shoulder so much. His fans ain't going nowhere, might as well commit to making better art.

Which is why Young Rock, which is his most authentic production, comes off the best to me, and I didn't anticipate it actually being good. I say that having not watched Season 3 yet and hoping it doesn't make me eat my words.

Went in with pretty low expectations and it still underwhelmed. Nothing surprised me here. Least of all the soundtrack. Every song was the most obvious choice. I love the Rolling Stones, but there should be a moratorium on using their songs in movies for the next 30 years at least.

Cyclone and Atom Smasher were the 2 most unnecessary side characters ever. Felt like they were contractually obligated to add them in, cause they had zero personality and were not crucial to the story. They don’t even make Atom Smasher annoying enough for Hawkman’s joke about him dying to work

The Dr. Fate/Hawkman stuff was almost better than the main story. At least it didn’t need too much exposition.

This trend will never reverse, but I could do without the slow mo scenes in these movies for quite a while. It makes sense for Quicksilver and Flash, we don’t need it for every superhero, regardless of how powerful they are.

Maybe I’m just being a baby, but it was really annoying how few chances this movie took while pretending to be an “edgier” superhero movie.

tied with JW: Dominion as worst movie I've seen this year.

Black Adam & Hawkman had this one brooding/angry facial expression for the entirety of the movie.

If this is the result of a process/development that took well over a decade, then I'd atleast expect an engaging story, but it was sooo formulaic.

So yea, my expectations were already low, but didn't expect it to be this bad.

and both times I've fallen asleep. I'm like how do they keep getting worse?

this shit was bad.

just overkill on several fronts (cgi, slow mo, one liners, etc).

its unfortunate because they had legit compelling characters they could have built a pretty good movie around (black adam, dr fate, hawkman).

The KID fucking sucked. He see horrific violence and is like "Yeah!! Yeah!! Woo hoo!!!"

Kid's a psychopath.

One liners being forced in were lame.

Very much a T2 kid vibe - and I never like the kid in T2.

Would these movies hit differently if I read the comics? Like I like Batman and Wonder Woman (at least the first one) but I know those characters and their history.

I really don't know Black Adam or any of the justice league folks in this movie and it all seemed sooo dumb. Would it be different if I read the comics?

And why this fake country? Like I get Wakanda as a mythical place for black people but why this fake middle east country where people had no consistent accents with advance tech but run by intergang (what the heck is intergang)? Would all this make more sense if I read the comics?

The movie was an incoherent mess needlessly complicated to me. Like the Rocks kid had the power then he gave it to the dad who gave it what who? Why do they overly complicate these stories or do they make more sense in the comics?

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

It was fine, yes derivative, but it was fucking fine.

Maybe we've just collectively reached our limit with DJ.

IDK

Fine as in it technically meets the qualifications to be called a movie?

Or fine as it has memorable sequences or something that will make it last in any way?

Like, I don't think it was *much* worse than many comic book superhero movies that've come out the last 3-4 years. But that's just, for the most part, an insanely low bar to clear.

I also do think Johnson's commitment to never once making a truly good movie, even when he calls it a passion project like this one, definitely is starting to be noticed by a wider swath of moviegoers. He said this would change the hierarchy of the DC Universe... and then it was the usual dull, drab-colored, iffy-CGI-filled mid-fest.

People just want something different. Even this phase of the Marvel movies disappointed both critically and commercially for the most part.

Will I remember it?

NO.

I don't remember MOST films.

Was it special in anyway?

No.

Most art is derivative these days.

but I laughed a few times. Some of the fights were good. It was nice seeing BA on the screen (as a fan)

It was what is was advertised as.

I did lose interest 3/4 of the way through. Even the twists were predictable. A lot of goofiness. Basically just a typical action movie blockbuster. It wasn't hard to get through but it doesn't get me excited to see another movie in the universe.

I saw Shazam (finally) last week and they're about on the same level as each other.

I think it might be time to pull back on all the superhero movies.

Again, perfectly fine.

One thing I'll give it is that it didn't try to go too far with the tie ins and world building. I'm sure all that stuff was there but I didn't feel like I was watching a commercial for 4 different movies that will never come out (aside from the standard post credit scenes).

That said, the musical cues were awful.

>That said, the musical cues were awful.

Honestly, a better music supervisor could've made a BIG difference.

>It was fine, yes derivative, but it was fucking fine.
>
>Maybe we've just collectively reached our limit with DJ.
>
>IDK

It was completely fine, but there was absolutely nothing memorable about it. I mean BA went from being aloof to picking up on social cues way too quickly then referring to himself by the cliche moniker. It was like the marketing campaign within the movie itself.

It had decent bones to work with, but brought in two useless characters and only scratched the surface of the complexities it touched on regarding heroes and their responsibility.


Wakanda and The Batman just had so much more care and deliberation into their processes. BA could have spent more time telling the story and making folks care more about the characters than just setting up a showdown with Superman.

Frank stays right on this analysis about DJ's inability to deliver a great performance in a movie. He is a shit talker, ball buster, irreverent, and charismatic as all get out but that NEVER shows up except for in his "bio" show Young Rock. He is definitely locked in on BRAND over everything. He's too busy tryna make his tequila take him to a billy to worry about bringing gravitas to a movie role. Makes me wonder what his real beef with Vin Diesel was about.

He was good in Ballers, but that character had some complexity and some glaring flaws, not just a good guy hero. Movie wise, he'd do well in some Arnold franchises (thinking Terminator but there's been 200 of them).