Black Adam
Ten Second Review: This CGI fest will scratch an itch for Dwayne Johnson content, but doesn’t inspire confidence in the DCEU for those not already converted.
The DCEU or DC studios or the DCCU or whatever it is by next week has suffered more than its share of setbacks. A lot of this is due to rushing to catch up and not playing a slower more convincing hand. Jumping from one Superman film to a team up film to a “cinematic event” group film didn’t build characters or universe it just told us to agree it was all there and it would be worked out in time. With the rehash of the disastrous first outing of Suicide Squad a success, a middling Wonder Woman sequel, a surprise hit in Shazam, an Aquaman sequel marred by publicity issues, a successful Batman and Joker, neither of which are in its main universe and The Flash looking like a disaster thanks to its leading star, DC hasn’t had the most convincing start. It seems if it’s not incredibly serious or incredibly tongue in cheek, it’s not going well.
Well the space between is where Dwayne Johnson sits, so let’s see what he can do.
In the ancient world a brutal king has enslaved his people to mine a rare mineral. When a hero rises up he’ll free the people. Five thousand years later the city will need him to rise again.
To be clear, this isn’t an awful film. If you’re in the mood for generic superheroism then this will likely do it, but it doesn’t go much further than place-holding till Black Panther at the end of the week.
It fits the the DCEU mold well in that it chooses not to build slowly and instead rely on rapid narrated word building to get to big CGI filled set pieces that feel low stakes and low impact. When Falcon clips War Machine and paralyses him it feels serious, it carries weight and it is a storyline for several films. You can’t manufacture journeys like that at pace. There’s a few too many characters here and far too few are developed. I could name some of them, but even those I couldn’t say I cared about.
DC needs to start building characters and organic team ups that we actually care about. It can’t just be throw shit at the wall, see what sticks and give them a sequel. Where are these characters going? Hint it to me and I’ll become invested. You can’t just *SPOILER* drop in a Superman cameo in and wink at me like you did something. When you hint at the Joker at the end of Pattinson’s Batman you got an audience excited. Here you literally have Superman walk through the smoke and smirk. That’s not world building or fan service. What it screams is running out of ideas.
I was in the right mood to see Black Adam, on a different day I’d have torn the film apart as opposed to DC Studios. It doesn’t negate my disappointment but it will help its score. What I will say is that DC should slow down or they should focus on what they’re good at, individual unconnected films. Maybe they’ll come together eventually, but don’t jam them together from the beginning.
