Shazam Rate then review Black Adam

[psylockolussus]

This is now showing in my country but I would wait til the weekend to watch it.

But for those who have seen it, post your review here and don't forget to vote in the poll.

 

[TheScarecrow]

REALLY enjoyed it here. It’s a 6/10 but it was good fun. My theatre was packed and buzzing the whole way through. Everyone was saying how good it was coming out.

Crowd went insane in the mid credits scene.

This was probably the better version of what this movie could have been. It’s not about plot. It’s about having fun. It’s sooo funny, and way more connected to the Shazam mythos than has been let on.

 

[Bats123]

Black Adam?
More like
Black MIDam

Just boring and generic. Meh.

 

[Superhero 101]

6/10

My quick thoughts on this movie after seeing it last night is that I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It’s a fun popcorn flick. It’s not a bad film… but it’s definitely better than Ww84 SS and JL17

The Rock really does cary this whole movie. The other cast were great but my issue was the story. The Story was pretty average and had a lot going on and I think the JSA were not developed enough. A lot of shots I also felt like they were also borrowing from other superhero films that came before I don’t know if it was homage or just plain laziness.

the action was good it definitely keeps you interested
The last act with the showdown with the villain wasn’t that good though in my opinion.

I feel the sequel will be a lot better if DJ and co can learn from their mistakes.

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

Maybe my expectations were super low but I thought there was a lot to like.

First off, I think we need to remember that Black Adam is part of the Shazam franchise, ya know, for kids first and foremost, and so the mom and son didn’t feel out of place to me. It gave me Transformers 1 vibes, and not necessarily in a bad way. Did it lean too far for my tastes with Black Adam in a child’s bedroom surrounded by comic books? Yes. But it’s not in the wrong ballpark completely.

The film reallly sold Black Adam’s power too. I wasn’t getting that from the trailers at all, but it really came through in the film, in a way that felt unique to him.

My main gripe, other than the obviously terrible end villain, and corny music choices, was just how they injected too many Marvel rip-off elements into the JSA. Still, even with that, they were cool as hell. The costuming on Black Adam, Fate and Hawkman was so good. So much glorious gold on display.

 

[Karelia]

It was a fun/solid movie. Black Adam's powers were awesome to see, as well as Dr. Fate. The Rock honestly did a good job in the role too. All the actors were good... well, aside from the main kid actor, and that may be more of his dialogue than anything. If Black Adam 2 happens, I hope they get a better script writer honestly. Solid 7.

Generic? A little bit. Freaking cool fight scenes and action? Heck yeah! A little dumb fun never hurt anybody, lol! That said, I want to see a bit more of a cohesive story in the sequel, if we get one. It definitely jumped around a bit.

 

[heatvision38]

I give it a 7. I enjoyed it. It was definitely better than I thought it would be given some of the criticism. Lots of action, good score, likable characters. Not really much of a story as it is one long game of keepaway, but it still works.

Spoiler

I like that they introduced Intergang.

 

[The Duh]

6/10

Enjoyable enough, to an extent. This felt like a Zack Snyder film if it had some Marvel-y elements. Dwayne Johnson was likeable enough, but his stoic delivery makes him come off as too soft for a character who's ruthless. I did like the twist that his son got the powers and then transferred them over to save his life. I wish the movie wasn't centered around the mom and the son; they, along with the JSA, felt like the actual main characters. No surprises that James Bond was the best character, but I also liked Hawkman and was irked at how the movie seems to take a dump on his character almost every turn for being the traditional hero with strict moral code. The other two JSA members were just there, though they at least had some personality and Atom Smasher was comic relief (though he did remind me a lot of Tom Holland Spider-Man and Paul Rudd Ant Man).

The amount of slo-mo was over the top it crossed into unintentionally humorous, particularly in the sequence of Black Adam/JSA/the mom desperately reaching out to the son while a bullet is coming for his head. CGI was rather spotty in a couple areas, such as when Black Adam and Hawkman are involved in any kind of aerial sequence, Doctor Fate when he's using his clones, and the main villain is slathered in CGI that a lot of fights looked very video game-y. I'm also surprised they unironically used the "sky beam to generate CGI army fodder to get beat up on" trope. It is for these reasons that even though I'd say Black Adam is a "bad" movie, it isn't on the verge of being absolutely terrible. It's just that ultimately, I came out of Black Adam wishing I was watching a JSA movie instead.

I have not watched Shazam yet (or much of the DCEU since Wonder Woman 1), so maybe I'll go check that out after having watched Black Adam.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

Liked it 7/10
I liked this more than Shazam, Birds of Prey, Suicide Squad, The suicide squad, WW84, and TC JL

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I liked it more than I thought I would after the reviews. The movie isn't clever or special in any way but seeing BA unleashed was awesome and the JSA were great. Especially Hawkman and Fate who I would love to see a movie around.

Sabbac was a let down but how they established BA as an anti hero was good and I did like the twist with his son. 6.5/10.

 

[The Lazarus Pit]

Upon first watch, it was pretty decent but I need to rewatch it sober

 

[Iceman]

I liked it more than I thought I would after the reviews. The movie isn't clever or special in any way but seeing BA unleashed was awesome and the JSA were great. Especially Hawkman and Fate who I would love to see a movie around.

Sabbac was a let down but how they established BA as an anti hero was good and I did like the twist with his son. 6.5/10.

Yeah, unfortunately there wasn’t really much to Sabbac at all, but Hawkman and Fate were awesome.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Yeah, unfortunately there wasn’t really much to Sabbac at all, but Hawkman and Fate were awesome.

Yeah I think we needed a bit more from Sabbac he was basically another Sivanna.

Definitely want more Hawkman and Fate though I really liked them here and the JSA newbies as well.

 

[BlackFox]

Rather generic and forgettable, nothing terrible apart from the dodgy child acting and voice over but it had some decent moments amongst a lot of rather bland chemistry and conversation about "fate" and being or not being a "hero". Nothing really special or unique about it. Some characters were utterly pointless to the plot or lacking character in general such as cheap Ant-Man/Deadpool knock off and girl that spins around in green for some reason.

Somethings arent even explained or defined such as powers or motivations it all seems done by the numbers until it can get to another fight which are numerous and not badly done but lack any sort of emotional connection and the over use of slow-mo to make everything "epic" was mind numbing by the end and only seemed to be used to pad out the run-time to an overly long 2 hours.

The Rock was rather stoic and one note but I guess maybe thats the point of the character I dont really know, kind of an opposite Shazam. A couple of humorous moments here and there but it was a lot lighter on this than I expected and it was hard to take it all too seriously otherwise. 6/10

 

[Karelia]

Ended up catching it again in theaters. (My wife's grandma loves The Rock lol) enjoyed it more the second time tbh. It's just a fun movie.

 

[Slick]

Ended up catching it again in theaters. (My wife's grandma loves The Rock lol) enjoyed it more the second time tbh. It's just a fun movie.

Yeah I caught it a second time on Tuesday which was discount day at the theater and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time as well. Had to leave towards the beginning of the last battle but still enjoyed myself. I ordered the 4K Steelbook off of Best Buy too so can’t wait to get that.

 

[Karelia]

Yeah I caught it a second time on Tuesday which was discount day at the theater and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time as well. Had to leave towards the beginning of the last battle but still enjoyed myself. I ordered the 4K Steelbook off of Best Buy too so can’t wait to get that.

Dang you can already pre-order it?! Gonna have to do that soon.

 

[Slick]

Dang you can already pre-order it?! Gonna have to do that soon.

Yeah it’s a Best Buy exclusive Steelbook so I figured why not and preordered my copy.

 

[super85]

This was a enjoyable film. Best DC Comics movie in years.

Solid and fun and with a awesome post credit scene. Nothing overly preachy in it either.

A good time at the movies.

 

[DoomRulz]

Before I write a mini-Black Adam review, I have to say this...

An oppressive, occupying force in a "not-Arab" nation crying out for help while outside nations ignore them, only to respond when those being oppressed finally have a means to fight back.

The metaphor isn't lost on me, and I'm positive I'm not the only who noticed it.

(FWIW, from my perspective, I'm on board with that too ❤)

 

[tek]

just saw Black Adam. This was like that Tom Cruise movie trying to establish that monsters universe. Like that movie I knew 10 minutes in as I was watching Black Adam that it was going to be terrible and was it ever. The writing, the horrendous comedy, the predictable side characters made me miss the screeching goats from Thor love and thunder. The action just became mindless and bland. The rock was not as charismatic as he usually is. just shocked how bad this was. This was close if not the worst dc movie for me. Hopefully black adam the character can be saved in future movies. not surprised this is not getting multiple viewing. really disappointed 3/10

 

[SomeOldGuy]

So life conspired, in both good and bad ways, to keep me out of theaters the last two weeks, so I didn’t get around to BA until this morning. It’s not without issues, but overall I enjoyed it. The cast is solid all around, with Odelya Halevi and Bodhi Dabongui being my standouts. The story takes some entertaining twists, with the slow development of BA’s origin over the course of the film especially well-handled. The action is good but waaaaaay overused slow-mo imo. This contributes to the film’s biggest drawback: it’s just overlong and drags in weird spots. The score didn’t impress me, though it generally went unnoticed aside from the weird choice to back a scene with Fate and Hawk and talking about Hawkman’s supposed impending death with some jaunty generic hero music. Like, sometimes silence is ok, guys.

End of the day, 7/10.

 

[GreenKToo]

15 years to get this to film. 15. And this was the best they could do?

 

[Captain Tired]

I enjoy Doctor Fate's OP move of simply standing in the corner and stroking his helmet while watching all the pounding happen offscreen.

 

[spiderdan83]

A few things with this movie - I use MOS as the bar in terms of tone, reality, so straight from the off set, it felt different to previous DCEU movies, Intergang and their weapons/vehicles stood out like a sore thumb in a world so far that to me had been as realistic (with exceptions) as they could.. it was explained, it just felt very futuristic and maybe deserved a better origins of sorts.

I liked the carnage of BA stepping out into the world, but once he befriended the family of sorts, the movie changed and felt weak.

I wanted the West to send in military and try and negotiate and have Shazam appear, on behalf of Amanda Waller to help ease matters - the west see BA as a threat and game changer, the west would have no bargaining tool over the nation and thus lose out on minerals, money etc.

I loved the fact it was highlighted the west and their heroes were a no show until it suited them - that angle showed have been played up more. I liked the rock - he didn't seem a threat or any different than Batman in BvS. I liked the JSA it just felt rushed sadly.

The JSA - terrible introduction, way too gimmicky at the start and felt like an x men knock off.

Had Dr Fate, HM appeared and negotiated, explained who they are, we see a montage of them in the 40's, 60's, fighting oppression, bringing justice, BA would have been able to relate, esp to HM, but HM to me seemed just as aggressive and heavy handed at times as BA.

The final third was rushed - I didn't buy BA just handing himself in and it wasn't necessary either.

In summary, an enjoyable film with good points, but largely forgettable if it was not for the cameo.

To me, once BA was free and word was out and the carnage caused, the west should have instantly felt threatened and it should have been BA against the west, with the JSA/Shazam acting as peace negotiators to show the west he's not that bad, to show BA he has potential and they can work on it. Could have some cool scenes with the UN and a one many army, could have explored the JSA place in the world and how the west manipulates the media.

A side story could have been the kid trying to reach out to people via social media and the Daily Planet to what really is happening - BA just defending his nation from a manipulative west.

Do I want more BA? Hmm... I want him as a villain but I feel he's too nice now to really be a villain, unless ofcourse he gets set up and played.