credit: Black Adam
In terms of being an action movie, Black Adam is entertaining since the effects are impressive, and the story, if you can get around certain issues without rolling your eyes, isn’t too bad. The fact that it stars so many well-known actors is great since people have something to look forward to, not to mention that the emergence of Black Adam does add another name to the DC roster that will help to push things forward. But there are issues within the movie that don’t really need to be addressed but are going to be talked about since they are noticeable and they do kind of undermine the whole idea of the movie.
The truth is that the box office numbers are bound to make the movie look great, moderate, or horrible, but it’s not likely that this movie is going to be dragged through the muck that much thanks to the actors who made it a little more visible and the effects that were bound to be over the top. It’s an action movie with Dwayne Johnson, so of course, people are going to love it initially.
Here are five issues with Black Adam that need to be recognized.
5. The reaction of the people of Kahndaq feels unreal.
Now, there are going to be spoilers since the movie is still fairly new in the theaters, and there are people who might not have seen it. But during one scene, when the main villain has been revealed and summoned his demonic army to Kahndaq to wreak havoc, the young boy who has somehow bonded with Black Adam, Amon, rushes into a public square to rally the people.
These are people who have been beaten, battered, seen their city all but destroyed, and are likely in shock, but somehow they see and hear a young boy trying to rally them to fight against something they don’t understand…and it works. This is where suspension of disbelief takes a firm hold and demands that people just watch and enjoy since, otherwise, it would not happen in real life.
4. It absolutely needed big-name stars to work.
Trying to think of an unknown actor taking this role is kind of tough since, well, it probably wouldn’t happen, and if it did, then there’s no doubt that it would have needed a LOT more hype and would have required something extra to push it through. But with Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Peirce Brosnan, and several others, it was possible to get people interested since the big stars of this movie have already gained a following that made it possible for Black Adam to be given a great deal of attention. Creating this movie with well-known stars was absolutely necessary, otherwise, it might not have been that big of a deal.
credit: Black Adam
3. The city roots for a hero that causes more damage than he prevents because…reasons.
This feels rather common since the MCU has dealt with this just as much as the DCEU has. If anyone remembers Man of Steel, and many do, Superman was still embraced by millions of people around the world since he was seen as the man that stopped the world-disrupting aliens, even though he didn’t appear to have any regard for the damage he was doing unless it happened to be necessary for the story.
In other words, the people he saved in the train station make him a hero, while the damage he causes fighting Zod in the city isn’t his fault. Black Adam is just as bad since he causes damage without even thinking about it and kills people without much more thought than it would take to squash a bug. But he’s still seen as the champion of Kahndaq due to a legend that many don’t fully understand.
2. This movie doesn’t feel like a unified effort.
Between Black Adam, the JSA, and Sabbac’s storylines, it feels as though there were three different stories that were attempting to collide and gain prominence throughout this movie, and not a single one of them could gain the type of prominence they needed to tell one point of view. It’s fair to say that Black Adam’s narrative took over more often than not, as it should have, but there was a great deal of history that wasn’t revealed and probably couldn’t be due to time constraints. But the manner in which this movie was put together is tough to call unified since, well, there are different points of view that needed another movie to develop.
credit: Black Adam
1. The roles of the heroes and villains are hard to sort out.
Sabbac is the easiest person to figure out in this movie since he wants to rule over Kahndaq and destroy anyone and anything in his way. Black Adam and the JSA are a little more difficult, however, as is Amanda Waller (like always), since they all appear to want the same thing, but the manner in which they go about it is a bit confusing. If nothing else, this makes the movie look as though it’s arguing with itself over one point or another when the easy route to a resolution could have been taken without as much fuss.