Black Adam (2022)

[Mike Blakesley]

This one comes with a fun story from CinemaCon.

Warner Bros. was doing its product presentation, and the studio rep said "Dwayne Johnson would love to be here to tell you about 'Black Adam,' he's in Hawaii right now with his family but he sent a video message, so here it is." Then the video comes on with Johnson talking about the movie and how awesome it's going to be, and after a minute he said "You know what? Fuck this!" and the real Dwayne came walking out onstage to riotous applause. He hung out for about 15 minutes and even posed for a few pictures. A lot of the celebs sort of seem to be phoning in their CinemaCon appearances but he really seemed to enjoy being there.

On to the movie.

It's the latest action-fest from Marvel, oops, I mean DC, but can you really tell them apart?

I had high hopes for this one, because I like Dwayne Johnson - he's got a great sense of humor and is good in "serious/funny" scenes, so I was hoping this movie would have that kind of vibe, like "Shazam" did, but no, it's just your basic battle scenes stacked one on top of the other for about four hours, or maybe it's just over two hours, but it feels like four.

Supposedly this movie contains a hint somewhere about the return of Superman, but I didn't see it -- maybe it's buried after the end credits or something.

Bottom line, it's not my kind of movie (I got off the Marvel/DC train a long time ago). A lot of people are giving it the thumbs up though, so what do I know? It has a good sound mix with a lot of thump, so there's that. It's doing "OK" business for us, and word of mouth is generally good, so I guess it will pay the bills.

[Jon Dent]

It's alright. An okay diversion. It felt like the last fifteen minutes were tacked on and the story ended logically around the 1:45 mark with a strong setup for a sequel. But then someone realized they didn't have a CGI orgy final battle so they pulled one out of some random story guy's ass. Biggest crowds we've seen in months though, so that's good.

That being said, overall the CGI looked better than the last few Marvel movies. To me anyway. And yes it tickled the seats on a pretty consistent basis.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I had high hopes for this one, because I like Dwayne Johnson - he's got a great sense of humor and is good in "serious/funny" scenes, so I was hoping this movie would have that kind of vibe, like "Shazam" did, but no, it's just your basic battle scenes stacked one on top of the other for about four hours, or maybe it's just over two hours, but it feels like four.

Yeah, this movire definitly missed out on the comic relief part, the part that made Shazam watchable. Dwayne Johnson may have been the perfect opportunity to bring some lightness to his "Black Adam" character, but the "DC Cinematic Universe" apparently required him to be as likeable as a piece of brick.

Supposedly this movie contains a hint somewhere about the return of Superman, but I didn't see it -- maybe it's buried after the end credits or something.

It's actually burried within the end-credits... in a "mid-credits" scene and it's not just a hint.

[Lyle Romer]

This one comes with a fun story from CinemaCon.

Warner Bros. was doing its product presentation, and the studio rep said "Dwayne Johnson would love to be here to tell you about 'Black Adam,' he's in Hawaii right now with his family but he sent a video message, so here it is." Then the video comes on with Johnson talking about the movie and how awesome it's going to be, and after a minute he said "You know what? Fuck this!" and the real Dwayne came walking out onstage to riotous applause. He hung out for about 15 minutes and even posed for a few pictures. A lot of the celebs sort of seem to be phoning in their CinemaCon appearances but he really seemed to enjoy being there.

On to the movie.

It's the latest action-fest from Marvel, oops, I mean DC, but can you really tell them apart?

I had high hopes for this one, because I like Dwayne Johnson - he's got a great sense of humor and is good in "serious/funny" scenes, so I was hoping this movie would have that kind of vibe, like "Shazam" did, but no, it's just your basic battle scenes stacked one on top of the other for about four hours, or maybe it's just over two hours, but it feels like four.

Supposedly this movie contains a hint somewhere about the return of Superman, but I didn't see it -- maybe it's buried after the end credits or something.

Bottom line, it's not my kind of movie (I got off the Marvel/DC train a long time ago). A lot of people are giving it the thumbs up though, so what do I know? It has a good sound mix with a lot of thump, so there's that. It's doing "OK" business for us, and word of mouth is generally good, so I guess it will pay the bills.

Dwayne is a really nice guy and as far as I can tell didn't let his success turn him into Hollywood jackass.

[Carsten Kurz]

What a marveless waste of life-time...