Media Trip Report – BLACK ADAM
(Originally posted on facebook November 26, 2022)
(Disclaimer: At the time I wrote this, my primary source of income was contracting for Warner Brothers Discovery.)
TL:DR; I’ve seen worse DC movies
It was okay, a good test of my new 4k projector with a decent Dolby Atmos mix.
It was better than either version of JUSTICE LEAGUE.
It was better than JONAH HEX.
It was not better than AQUAMAN, but I can almost guarantee it will be better than THE FLASH. (ed. a fairly low bar to clear, and yet Flash fell flat on its face.)
It accurately represented the power level of the referenced characters, but ignored their (established) backstories entirely. At the same time, it was quickly established as demolition porn, a trope which so far only one DCEU movie has escaped.
That movie was canceled without a release.
The story was limited in scope and duration, but still delivered. That ain’t nothin’ and most likely will earn a repeat viewing in my home theater. Whether that viewing will come during my rental period, on/from a streaming service, or from my own purchased copy (not yet ordered) is yet to be seen.
HOWEVER
I really can’t recommend it to comic book fans, or movies fans of any kind.
Mainly because halfway through the film it switches antagonists, and the problems caused by the first villain(s) are neither adequately explained nor resolved; but also because the fight-to-teamup trope endangers more innocent lives than the bad guys.
Left to his own devices the PROtagonist (Black Adam, if so far you’ve failed to keep up with a movie that features four actual named heroes (only two of which have a through plot), one anti-hero, a bewildering array of mooks, and a final-form boss villain so laughably one-note I’m surprised he lasted more than a minute against the title character) would have resolved both plotlines in half the time.
He just wouldn’t have learned anything in the process, which is where the movie ultimately fails for me.
YMMV, if course. Spend your movie cash on another viewing of WAKANDA FOREVER.
One last thing. It was also better than WW84, but I liked that movie more. I also streamed that movie at home, and fell asleep at key moments. I did not even yawn during BLACK ADAM, even when CG action figures were duking it out.
Go figure.