MovieChat Forums > Black Adam (2022) Discussion > My thoughts and observations (Spoilers)

My thoughts and observations (Spoilers)


I mostly enjoyed watching the movie and I recommend it to casual superhero movie fans. It looks like the Rock was trying to elevate Black Adam to a first-tier hero even though the character was historically a second-tier villain. Comics tend to have weird twists
over the years so Black Adam was apparently a hero at some point. I watched a few episodes of the live-action Shazam 1970's show and had a View-Master with Black Adam in it and I own a JSA comic book from the early eighties.

I didn't like hearing this weird social justice message about heroes not killing. I support killing evil people and I thought that this was some message against capital punishment and even police brutality.

The kid advising Black Adam to work on his catchphrase was also annoying and made a mockery of the genre. Similarly, there was a scene where the Rock was mimicking the gunslinging scene of a Clint Eastwood western movie and that showed a lack of
creativity.

Another scene that bothered me was when Hawkman picked up Dr. Fate's helmet and effortlessly performed his spell. To me, that implied that Dr. Fate's spells were not difficult to master and anybody who picked up the helmet could do tricks.

The casting was difficult for me to handle since a lot of the characters were blackwashed and they added inexperienced team members to the JSA. Hawkman is a significant character who also appeared in the Justice League and he's now been race-swapped for an emotionless actor of color. The wizard Shazam was an old bearded white dude but he's now a elderly black man dressed like Gandalf. The New 52 went woke ten years ago and swapped the wizard's race from a Semitic old wizard to an Australian aboriginal wizard.
Cyclone was a pretty redhead in the comics and they cast a plain mixed-race waif to replace her. I also thought that casting of an old guy as Dr. Fate was lame since Dr. Fate is a good character with a really slick costume. There were also some significant members of the JSA that would have been more impressive team members.

https://www.cbr.com/justice-society-members-ranked-by-experience/#wonder-woman-has-spent-decades-in-the-fight

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'It looks like the Rock was trying to elevate Black Adam to a first-tier hero'

That was the problem. Johnson didn't want to play the DC character Black Adam. He wanted to play 'superhero Dwayne Johnson'. 'Black Adam' was just a flag of convenience. He thought he could swoop in and remake the DCEU in his (and Cavill's) image. He made a power-play. And it blew up in his face.


I had a View-Master too, with some cool slides from Adam West's Batman! 👍

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Ironically, had the Rock played Black Adam far more villainous and edgier than what we got, I think it would had done better. It'd been seen as a change of pace from his regular persona. That seems to be what most people want from him nowadays, to break out of his comfort zone.

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'Ironically, had the Rock played Black Adam far more villainous and edgier than what we got, I think it would had done better.'

Yes, possibly.

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