Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Movie Mix Movie Podcast. It
Speaker 1: is a spoiler review today. We're talking about Black Adom,
Speaker 1: so continue listening. If you have seen the movie Black Atom,
Speaker 1: or you're one of those people who don't mind having
Speaker 1: a movie ruined for you, or maybe you had no
Speaker 1: intentions of ever seeing Black Atom and now you get
Speaker 1: to hear all about it and then maybe decide later
Speaker 1: if it's worth your time. So Black Adam was one
Speaker 1: of my most anticipated movies of the year. I am
Speaker 1: a huge comic book superhero movie fan. I think the genre,
Speaker 1: though it's starting to get a little bit just repetitive.
Speaker 1: So I was looking to Black Adam to revive d
Speaker 1: C and help them where they've really needed somebody to
Speaker 1: come up and step up to the plate to be
Speaker 1: their new savior, and I thought that was going to
Speaker 1: be the Rock. So going into this movie, I had
Speaker 1: very high expectations, and I think that's what greatly influenced
Speaker 1: my rating of giving it a two point five. It
Speaker 1: was an entertaining movie, but I was looking for some
Speaker 1: more substance here, and I really thought I was going
Speaker 1: to get that from the Rock in this movie. I
Speaker 1: really thought I was going to get that from the
Speaker 1: character of Black Adam, and I thought this would change
Speaker 1: the trajectory for d C, which is historically just not
Speaker 1: made the best decisions when it comes to their superhero
Speaker 1: origin stories. And the more I talk about this movie
Speaker 1: with friends and family and with you guys, I maybe
Speaker 1: didn't make that completely clear in my first review. Is
Speaker 1: that's what I held so much against it is the
Speaker 1: expectations going in. I think this is still an enjoyable
Speaker 1: superhero movie. I think kids will probably enjoy it more
Speaker 1: than thirty year old adults to go on and on
Speaker 1: about superhero movies, and there are some moments where this
Speaker 1: movie shine, but overall, it just didn't leave me with
Speaker 1: that excited feeling that I normally get from superhero movies.
Speaker 1: So let's get into more of the details about Black Adom,
Speaker 1: which the movie is the origin story of Adam, who
Speaker 1: later gets called Black Adam at the end of the movie,
Speaker 1: and it's his introduction into the d C universe, which
Speaker 1: is always kind of struggled with balancing a darker character
Speaker 1: like Black Adam with bringing in some of the fun elements.
Speaker 1: And that is one of the main things that I
Speaker 1: did not enjoy about this movie, where it takes place
Speaker 1: is Black Adam gets woken up and then Amanda Waller
Speaker 1: played by Viola Davis sends out the Justice Society to
Speaker 1: recapture him and put him into his self for eternity.
Speaker 1: But then they realize Black Adam ain't going down so easy,
Speaker 1: and it starts with that battle, and then you have
Speaker 1: this other villain who appears named Sabak, and he is
Speaker 1: this villain who draws his power from these six Demons
Speaker 1: of Hell. So there's this struggle of him trying to
Speaker 1: get the crown so he can get all these powers.
Speaker 1: And then you have in the middle of that the
Speaker 1: origin story of Black at Him and how he got
Speaker 1: his powers. Another major thing that made me not enjoy
Speaker 1: this origin story is DC themselves ruined so many things
Speaker 1: going into this movie that even I felt we were
Speaker 1: doing my normal review because there was things mentioned in
Speaker 1: the trailer that were supposed to be turning points and
Speaker 1: plot twists inside the movie that I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna play this from the trailer because they ruined
Speaker 1: it themselves, so they lost me there a bit. And
Speaker 1: this is the eleventh movie in the d C EU,
Speaker 1: and in this movie they introduced a whole slate of
Speaker 1: new characters, and my favorite one out of all them
Speaker 1: was Doctor Fate played by Pierce Brason and who became
Speaker 1: my favorite character throughout the entire movie. I wanted to
Speaker 1: hear more about his origin story, see more of his powers,
Speaker 1: and they killed him off. I just thought that was
Speaker 1: such a bad move to make when you finally have
Speaker 1: this cool character, one that looks visually amazing, and Pierce
Speaker 1: bras and then just did a really great job kind
Speaker 1: of carrying a lot of that supporting role in this movie.
Speaker 1: He was the standout performance, I felt like, and they
Speaker 1: killed off his character, and in doing that, they actually
Speaker 1: gave Doctor Fate what I believe to be the more
Speaker 1: epic moment in this entire movie. Him sacrificing himself and
Speaker 1: try to defeat him. I thought was the coolest part
Speaker 1: of the entire movie and the coolest thing done by
Speaker 1: anybody in any fighting situation in this that I felt
Speaker 1: like that took away from what Black Adam was supposed
Speaker 1: to be. And that's a problem because throughout this entire movie,
Speaker 1: the Rock isn't his normal self. And I'm a fan
Speaker 1: of the Rock. He is very enthusiastic, He has a
Speaker 1: lot of charisma to him, and he brings that into
Speaker 1: his movie roles. So if I would have had just that,
Speaker 1: I would have enjoyed that. But we didn't even get
Speaker 1: the trademark Dwayne Johnson in this movie, and I think
Speaker 1: he kind of battled with some of the acting involved
Speaker 1: in this. Black Adam is a more serious character that's
Speaker 1: supposed to have some debt. He's supposed to have his
Speaker 1: backstory that makes him the way he is, and that
Speaker 1: doesn't really get conveyed from the Rocks performance in this.
Speaker 1: A lot of the times he is just they're floating,
Speaker 1: staring off into the distant nothing, and I can't pick
Speaker 1: up on any of his energy throughout this movie that
Speaker 1: makes me want to care about his character or care
Speaker 1: about what he's doing. I just didn't buy it. And
Speaker 1: that was a rare thing for me from the Rock,
Speaker 1: who is just this larger than life person built like
Speaker 1: a superhero for crying out loud, and he just fumbled
Speaker 1: on the performance in this And I think in order
Speaker 1: for him to succeed in this role, they should have
Speaker 1: made Black Adam a darker character. They should have got
Speaker 1: rid of all the attempts at comedy in this movie.
Speaker 1: Which really felt like them trying to be like Marvel.
Speaker 1: It didn't really work here. When it came to Black
Speaker 1: Adam trying out these catchphrases as he kills his enemies,
Speaker 1: it felt entirely cheesy, and it was really hard to
Speaker 1: believe that somebody who who had been asleep that long
Speaker 1: and is now living in this modern world. He doesn't
Speaker 1: really question a whole lot of it. He's just like, Hey,
Speaker 1: this isn't the home I'm used to, but then just
Speaker 1: quickly adapts to everything else, quickly adapted to the language,
Speaker 1: and somehow has developed a somewhat sense of humor in
Speaker 1: all of this, and doesn't really ask questions when it
Speaker 1: comes to the posters in his room with all the
Speaker 1: other superheroes, and it kind of glosses over the fact.
Speaker 1: Even though there are some mentions of Shazam in the
Speaker 1: comic books, Shazam and Black Adam don't like each other.
Speaker 1: Black Adam is the joker type villain to Shazam, and
Speaker 1: I think a lot of the direction they took in
Speaker 1: this movie, and the reason it took so long to
Speaker 1: be made, was because the Rock had some demands. He
Speaker 1: essentially wanted to be a character that is the most
Speaker 1: powerful person in d C, or at least equally comparable
Speaker 1: to Superman, and he demanded that, and he the entire
Speaker 1: reason that Superman is in the post credit scene, and
Speaker 1: now that Henry cavill is coming back to play Superman allegedly,
Speaker 1: he's talked about it in interviews, and other people inside
Speaker 1: of Warner Brothers have mentioned it as well. But he
Speaker 1: wasn't going to come back unless him and Superman could
Speaker 1: have that screen time and unless his character could be
Speaker 1: a threat to Superman instead of a threat to Shazam
Speaker 1: like he's supposed to be. And I get it. I
Speaker 1: don't always believe that the movies have to follow exactly
Speaker 1: how it is in the comic books, but I just
Speaker 1: think it didn't really set that up like it should
Speaker 1: have been. And the best part out of this entire
Speaker 1: movie was that post credit scene, whenever everything is said
Speaker 1: and done, Black Adam is there talking to Viola Davis,
Speaker 1: and Superman appears and Superman looks like the best on
Speaker 1: screen version he's ever looked, very classic Superman with the
Speaker 1: curl in his hair, and the suit looks amazing, And
Speaker 1: that part of the entire movie got me pretty hype.
Speaker 1: But if the post credit scene is my favorite scene
Speaker 1: out of the entire movie, and my other second favorite
Speaker 1: scene is from a supporting character. I don't think the
Speaker 1: movie did its job, And when it came to the ending,
Speaker 1: it was so generic that after Pierce Brast's character dies
Speaker 1: in this and then Black Adam restores his powers, he
Speaker 1: comes back to fight the bad guy who it's just
Speaker 1: this c g I bad looking devil, which, out of
Speaker 1: all of the c g I in this movie, I
Speaker 1: thought it was actually pretty good. I just don't really
Speaker 1: like it when you get to that final battle and
Speaker 1: you're just fighting the c g I bad guy who
Speaker 1: kind of comes out of nowhere and never really feels
Speaker 1: like a threat. So whenever the Rock defeats him in
Speaker 1: this movie, you don't really care, And it's like, why
Speaker 1: didn't you do that a long time ago? If you
Speaker 1: had the ability to rip somebody in half, why weren't
Speaker 1: you doing that back or later in the movie. And
Speaker 1: when it came to just the entire feeling this movie
Speaker 1: gave me, it feels like it's a movie that should
Speaker 1: have came out back in two thousand and seven, back
Speaker 1: originally when the Rocks signed on to do this movie,
Speaker 1: like there is a good movie in there, it's just
Speaker 1: not this cut. Maybe it got lost in editing. Maybe
Speaker 1: it got lost with the changes, maybe with the demands
Speaker 1: trying to be made for the rock and what he
Speaker 1: wanted this character to be. Too many cooks in the kitchen.
Speaker 1: The fight scenes were pretty good. There was some good
Speaker 1: action going on in this movie. The dialogue is really
Speaker 1: where it lost me. I think, out of all the
Speaker 1: superhero movies I've seen recently, probably the worst dialogue in
Speaker 1: a very long time. And the supporting cast again just
Speaker 1: wasn't there. And I think the best example of me
Speaker 1: not enjoying any of the supporting cast is I found
Speaker 1: the kid on the skateboard to be very annoying, and
Speaker 1: I don't know disrespect to the kid actor in this movie,
Speaker 1: but I don't know what his purpose was in the
Speaker 1: entire movie. And then and there were a couple of
Speaker 1: things that made me crazy at the end of the movie.
Speaker 1: Is whenever this character who hasn't really done much throughout
Speaker 1: the entire movie somehow now rallies the entire city to
Speaker 1: fight back against these zombies that come out of nowhere.
Speaker 1: I hate the zombies that come out of nowhere. For
Speaker 1: no reason, and then this kid gives the weakest speech
Speaker 1: ever in a movie, and somehow now the city is united.
Speaker 1: And it reminded me of Halloween Kills whenever the entire
Speaker 1: city of Haddonfield gets all riled up and wants to
Speaker 1: go fight Michael Myers. Now, that's exactly what this movie
Speaker 1: did with the people in this city. It just created
Speaker 1: this weird, out of nowhere dynamic from the crowd mob
Speaker 1: mentality and then just kind of went away. So when
Speaker 1: it comes down to it, this movie I still believe
Speaker 1: was mediocre at best. And the sad thing about that
Speaker 1: is I don't think that's going to change for d
Speaker 1: C and out. If they can get away with a
Speaker 1: movie like this to do still pretty well at the
Speaker 1: box office, they can keep the rock happy and sign
Speaker 1: them on to do another movie. And overall, in the
Speaker 1: long run, if this movie does pretty well for them,
Speaker 1: I think they're like, Okay, this is the level we need.
Speaker 1: This is all we need to do to appease both
Speaker 1: sides of the fandoms and the only glimmer of hope
Speaker 1: that I really see now, even though I didn't love
Speaker 1: this movie, I do feel like d C is building
Speaker 1: towards something now. I want to see another solo Man
Speaker 1: of Steel movie. I want to see this quote unquote
Speaker 1: epic battle between Black Adam and Superman and maybe, just
Speaker 1: maybe they will learn from their mistakes with Batman versus Superman.
Speaker 1: I still hope they bring shah Zam into the mix
Speaker 1: on this franchise, because that's really what it should have
Speaker 1: been the entire time. And I know the Rock has
Speaker 1: really also celebrated the fan of this movie, which is great,
Speaker 1: but I hope he does look a little bit at
Speaker 1: some of the criticism he got surrounding this role and
Speaker 1: maybe takes a different approach when playing the character. Again.
Speaker 1: All I think this character needs is a little bit
Speaker 1: more depth. He needs to react a little bit more
Speaker 1: with some facial expressions or just something to give across
Speaker 1: the essence of the character and just make um somebody
Speaker 1: to root for even though he is an anti hero.
Speaker 1: I think they should find a way to bring back
Speaker 1: Dr Fate, even though he died. And I think if
Speaker 1: they make another Black Audam movie, stay away from some
Speaker 1: of the old DC tropes. Too much of this exposition
Speaker 1: trying to character build the flashbacks which make the entire
Speaker 1: plot feel just kind of disjointed, and just get over
Speaker 1: some of those other DC tropes of making it look
Speaker 1: like a two thousand's met music video. We can get
Speaker 1: rid of some of the sound effects from two thousand
Speaker 1: and seven, and as long as they don't put that
Speaker 1: kid in any other movie, I'll give Black Adam another chance.
Speaker 1: And that'll do it for my spoiler edition of my
Speaker 1: Black Adam review. I'll talk to you again on Monday,
Speaker 1: which you have an interview coming up with David Silverman.
Speaker 1: He is the director of movies like Monsters, Inc. And
Speaker 1: one of my favorite movies of all time, The Simpsons Movie.
Speaker 1: He is an animator who has been with the Simpsons
Speaker 1: from the very early days. I'm talking Tracy Ullman show
Speaker 1: back in the eighties, and we're going to break down
Speaker 1: the fifteenth anniversary of the Simpsons movie, talk about his
Speaker 1: time at Pixar, and me being a super mega Simpsons fan.
Speaker 1: This is going to be one of my favorite things
Speaker 1: I've ever got to do on this podcast. So excited
Speaker 1: for you to hear that. And until next time, go
Speaker 1: out and watch good movies and I'll talk to you later.