Black Adam

[Wor-Gar]

If The Rock wants to be taken seriously as an actor, he has to consider things like The Boys or Invincible, but to him, that would be a step down, to do TV.

He has a TV show. Young Rock, or whatever it is. Not surprised no one's heard of it.

 

[ironwez20]

I have no will to watch this. I’m going to just look up clips online.

 

[Victοr]

You know, upon second glance, Namor kind of looks like Serpentor there.

I mean if there was a live action version of GI Joe RAH on Telemundo, it would totally fit.

Yeah, now that you said it I can see it. I refuse to acknowledge him as Namor, at least as of now, but as a new OC "KuKulKan" I like him.

I think the situation with Black Adam and Wakanda Forever was both more simple and more complex at the same time. They were movies that lots of people just didn't really want. That might the problem with the era of superhero movies and the inevitable saturation point - We've seen just about all of it before, and there's not too much new road left.

You could say that about every comic book related movie and show since Endgame... The problem isn't so much oversaturation I think, but awful choices and the oversaturation of a specific tone. The good thing about capes is that they can be any genre imaginable. Sci-Fi, fantasy, horror, etc. But when everything is the same sloppy CGI over the same pleather, with the same quippy dialogue, what's the point of consuming anything? Them going on for so long means that the pool of actors is thinning, and now they're scraping the bottom of the barrel while trying to cast people like the X-Men and the FF. I was going to go on a rant that'd culminate with me whining about Dreamworks Clown Kang again, but that's better kept for another thread, and you get the point anyhow.

I remember the first time I saw Blade in the late 90's. I was completely entranced the entire time. Even Stephen Dorff's goofy/crappy/gutless performance didn't ruin it for me. There was nothing like it at the time. Now, we are at a point where Avengers Endgame was the big money shot, and lots of these other films are basically cycling through the motions.

Capeflicks back then captured the zeitgeist. Blade is immediately recognizable as a 90s movie. Raimi-Man the same for the 00s. For better or worse, there was a uniformal aesthetic outside of the real world that was different yet familiar. Now that's gone. It's just "CGI". There's no aesthetic to it. And the more bloated it all becomes, the worse it gets. Movie universes were a chance to streamline things, but they're falling on the same pitfalls as any other "revival" attempt.

If The Rock wants to be taken seriously as an actor, he has to consider things like The Boys or Invincible, but to him, that would be a step down, to do TV. But the real open ground for complex superhero stories will inevitably end up in long form formats like prestige TV series. If you get a relatively unknown character, and mostly middling actor in the lead, there's just not much you can do in 2 and a half hours.

I wonder how long it will take The Rock to figure it out. A lot of people like The Rock, they don't like the the most "marketable persona" he keeps trying to sell to people. He turned his back on all the interesting parts of himself that got him famous in the first place.

So when I get to a superhero movie that probably isn't going to be a really good film, I just fast forward to the action sequences. Black Adam I watched all the way through, but in retrospect, like many other films, I should have just skipped to the fighting. If a movie doesn't grip me in the first 10-15 minutes, I usually fast forward to the spectacle.

I never cared about WWE and never got the hype for Johnson, so I'm completely indifferent to the whole thing. I was just interested in seeing how BA and Namor's cinematic debuts would fare against each other considering the release dates of their films.

 

[jedibear]

Okay, I tried to resume my watch of this and only made it about another 40 minutes (just after the Justice Society, um League or Scout Troop or whatever jumped around with Dwayne and the kid ran off with the crown-presumably to douse it with lighter fluid, light it and give it back to Hellboy).

And I'm sorry, just....no. I have loved the Synderverse movies, I even endured Ayer's Suicide Squad and somehow made it through WW84 with my eyeballs still intact, but this....it's unwatchable. It's slick looking with these cute quip-filled characters that quickly veer into just being irritating (I'm looking at you, Antma---er, Atom Smasher) and just doesn't land with any impact. Even an hour in, I couldn't get what was up with Dwayne. No charisma, no real story, no memorable moments, no quotable lines - not even bad campy ones, just boring.

I finally fast-forwarded it to that infamous mid-credit scene and BAM! Just five seconds of Cavill and for that fleeting moment, there was movie magic. In that moment was EVERYTHING that the movie was missing. Makes it all the more tragic that Gunn is tossing Cavill aside for what will likely be something about as watchable as his take on Suicide Squad was, as in NOT.

Yes, indeed. DC movies are a mess to be sure. The so-called upcoming slate looks like more of the same uninspired half-baked attempts at franchise starting as Black Adam was. I'll just say it now...I don't think Gunn is gonna save this. Cavill was the best shot they had...I think folks were ready to see a Superman movie with Cavill front and center that moved past the dark serious tone he was introduced with in the Snyder movies and one that embraced a more traditional approach towards the character similar to the tone of the Reeve movie. Alas, we'll never know.

WB is right to nip this in the bud. Sorry Dwayne, but you didn't even give us something we could laugh at let alone be excited by. Just a colossal bore.

 

[JacktheRipper]

My daughter said the same thing about the mid-credit scene. Excited and then disappointment that Cavill is out.

 

[spindrift]

WB and whomever made the biggest F up possible by letting Cavill announce his return then two months later toss him aside. BIG mistake but that is what they want- hope Gunn can give us something worthwhile.

 

[Wor-Gar]

biggest F up possible by letting Cavill announce his return then two months later toss him aside.

 

[JAWS]

Just an FYI that BA is out on 4K disc today for any who wanted to give up some of their finances in order to permanently own a physical copy of this movie.

Got mine!!!

To be honest… I enjoyed this more than TGM

I have no will to watch this. I’m going to just look up clips online.

It’s dumb fun.

The first half is far better than the second but I enjoyed the whole thing. Fun Superhero carnage

 

[JAWS]

.
Yes, indeed. DC movies are a mess to be sure. The so-called upcoming slate looks like more of the same uninspired half-baked attempts at franchise starting as Black Adam was. I'll just say it now...I don't think Gunn is gonna save this. Cavill was the best shot they had...I think folks were ready to see a Superman movie with Cavill front and center that moved past the dark serious tone he was introduced with in the Snyder movies and one that embraced a more traditional approach towards the character similar to the tone of the Reeve movie. Alas, we'll never know.

Count me in as one of those that were ready for HC to return.

I was no fan of him in the Snyder films. He looked the part but did the scripts did not allow him to act like it. I also felt that his return would be more true to the character

I also liked that he was pumped to play the part again. HC seems like a real fan of his projects and characters. Unfortunately the writers and producers keep getting in the way.

 

[MeatHookGekko]

WB and whomever made the biggest F up possible by letting Cavill announce his return then two months later toss him aside. BIG mistake but that is what they want- hope Gunn can give us something worthwhile.

He could end up being the next James Bond. Which would have complicated everything for the DCEU and Gunn.

I could see Cavill angling his way out of Witcher and Superman to be Bond. That's a legitimate decade long cash cow for him if it works out. Whereas Witcher and Superman had clearly limited lifespans left.