After a strong marketing effort from Warner Bros Discovery, Black Adam reviews have begun to pop up online and they haven’t been encouraging.
In what may be a shock to many viewers, reviews for Warner Bros Discovery’s newest DCU film have been aggregated on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, and Google, and they don’t bode well for The Rock’s long-awaited super-powered Teth Adam.
Another low point for the Warner-DC franchise.
Rafer Guzman, Newsday
Black Adam makes his debut
Black Adam was originally intended to appear in Shazam!, however, DC didn’t want to confuse viewers or take screen time away from Billy Batson’s journey and transformation from orphan to Shazam in the breakout 2019 film.
The Wizard Shazam, played by Djimon Hounsou in Shazam!, explains to Billy that he’d chosen the wrong champion years ago, one who released the seven deadly sins that destroyed entire civilizations. The wizard explains that this is why he chose Billy and a likeness of Dwayne Johnson is displayed as a hologram in the film.
A bit of unfortunate foreshadowing by Hounsou (if the reviews are to be believed)? Could Black Adam destroy the DCU?
Black Adam’s true superpower is Dwayne Johnson’s likeability. He’s good even when he’s bad.
Sukayna Verma, Rediff.com
As exciting as the trailers have made the film out to be (my girlfriend and I are still going to watch it), many reviewers have already labeled the film exhausting, boring, and “borderline-irritating.” Oof.
Brian Orndorf, from Blu-Ray.com, says “The viewing experience is fatiguing, borderline irritating, which isn’t what comic book entertainment should be.”
And Nadine Whitney from FilmInk.com says “…just another exhaustingly ordinary cape flick which will only really be discussed for its post-credit scene.”
If the critics are to be believed, this is incredibly disappointing news. Die-hard fans have waited years to see Hawkman, Atom Smasher, and Isis hit the big screen. Not to mention it is rumored that this would be Henry Cavill’s next appearance as the Man of Steel.
Missed opportunities?
The inclusion of popular DC characters who’d not received their own series yet gave many comic book fans hope for DC’s newest superhero showdown. However, based on feedback from the Twittersphere, DC may have not learned its lesson about appeasing the base yet.
“It’s funny because Hawkman kills in the comics,” says one Twitter user. Apparently, given how much destruction Black Adam is set to bring to the DCU, showrunners appear to have adopted a no-kill policy for Hawkman, the film’s protagonist.
In a clip titled “Black Adam vs. Justice Society,” we also see that Black Adam may not be for children as Johnson rips off the arms and fries one of the soldiers alive. Another missed opportunity? Hawkman was a favorite among kids in the 90s animated cartoon series.
In the opening moments of the second trailer, Black Adam says “my son sacrificed his life to save me.” We still have hope for the film, but if the critics are to be trusted (Jurassic World and Man of Steel have proved they shouldn’t always be), we’re already starting to wonder who sacrificed their career to get this one past the goal line.
But it wasn’t all bad on Wednesday. Dan Murrell of Dan Murrell Reviews wrote, “Black Adam feels like the product of putting every other DCEU movie in a blender. Sometimes you get a delicious character morsel like Wonder Woman or Man of Steel. Sometimes you nearly choke on a chunk of Suicide Squad. But it won me over.”
Either way, we’re excited to find out. Will you be checking out Black Adam in theaters?
Related: Is Man of Steel One of the Best Films From the Synderverse?