The Rock is a wrestling legend who also happens to be a Technician. Tech N9ne, has been known to have a lifetime perk of private screenings at his residential Regal for repping Killa City. So it was only right that for my first viewing of Black Adam, I got the private screening treatment at Citrus Park’s Regal, since no one showed up to the early viewing. Front row and all, I readied myself with Fruit Gushers and some other sugary snacks and got ready to experience the Rock’s latest blockbuster.
The Rock was his namesake in “Black Adam” – sturdy and stoic, but his choice of demeanor for the role made him appear wooden throughout a majority of the film, whereas if he was more familiar with the character, The Rock could have keyed in the arrogance from his greatest heel runs in WWE’s Attitude Era to portray the true nature of Teth-Adam’s character from the comics. There’s been a Justice League film and a few Suicide Squad pictures, so why not have a JSA. Their inclusion was enjoyable, but I would have swapped some of the members around.
Atom Smasher was too goofy, in an attempt to match Paul Rudd’s portrayal as Ant Man, Noah Centenio should have played the role with an air of seriousness instead so he wouldn’t draw comparisons to Paul Rudd’s veteran acting skills, which far surpass the upstart Centenio.
The budding romance between Smasher and Cyclone didn’t need to be there either. The best Bond, Pierce Brosnan’s Dr. Fate and Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman were all well enough, but I would have rather gender swapped the two. Give audiences Hawkgirl. Give the crowd Inez.
Black Adam is Black Adam, and there was a healthy enough focus on the character, but somehow this turned into another team movie nipping at the heels of the success of Snyder’s Justice League and The Suicide Squad. Though, it might have been cool to hear Kanye on the big screen while Black Adam was performing fatalities left and right, not all of the songs matched the action on the film, and the slow motion was just gratuitous.
Sabbac was a cunning villain, but essentially having Black Adam play stepfather throughout the film to Isis’ son works with The Rock’s filmography as being a force in family friendly media, but it leaves much to be desired for the moviegoer who feels nothing for the plight of single mothers, no matter how they ended up in their solo parenting situation.
The brutality in the film was great, far from gory, and heavily inspired by Netherrealm. Nearly every fight looked like something out of the Injustice franchise, which is cool … but people could just play Injustice and damn near get the highlights of this film with a more faithful adaptation of the characters without having to spend two hours of their life to earn that gratification.
Tribalistically, I am biased to want to see Black Adam succeed in the box office. It’s only competition as an Afro-Centric led in superhero film history is the bombs Meteor Man and DC’s Steel, but honestly a better experience of The Rock in Africa can be found nearly two decades ago in “The Scorpion King”. A film heavy in special effects, but compared to “Black Adam”, is stripped down. DC didn’t have to throw the whole kitchen sink and Superman into this film. Less could have been more if Warner Bros. would have focused on Black Adam, the character, instead of trying to make “The Suicide Squad : The MCU – Edit”.
Score : 2/5
*Al Mega disagrees 150%