Black Adam (2022)

Black Adam is one of the 3 main arch enemies of the Billy Batson Captain Marvel, otherwise known as Shazam! So to have a Black Adam movie without the Big Red Cheese is a pretty odd move. 

2022's Black Adam is what many call Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's failed attempt to take control of the DC Cinematic Universe. After Scott Snyder's Justice League failed to garner the interest of a cohesive universe of life action films, many saw The Rock's picture as make or break for the Snyder-verse. 

Having a superstar like Johnson was a smart choice for Warner Bros. The former wrestler is charming. He's got a legit, strong fan base. He's proven that he can bring in the fans. And most of all, compared to Ezra Miller, Snyder usurper Joss Whedon, and Suicide Squad visionary James Gunn, Dwayne Johnson is clean-cut and family friendly. But to make your first entry into DC films a big budget potential blockbuster about a character that is the complete opposite of Johnson was just a mistake.

That's not to say that Black Adam didn't have its merits. The first act of the film was great. It told the origin story of the character. Having Djimon Hounsou return as the wizard Shazam was a smart choice that I appreciated. We learn of the rise of fictional Middle Eastern nation Kahndaq through the ages to becoming a land full of oppressed people ruled by that ruthless organized crime syndicate, Intergang. 

We then meet young Amon Tomaz and his family. Amon's mother Adrianna is a freedom fighter who longs for a day when Kahndaq is free. Her pursuit of the legend of the ancient champion of Kahndaq awakens Black Adam, who while disoriented by how modern everything has become, the legendary figure also hates to see his ancestors oppressed and begins to clear house of Intergang. 

Enter the Justice Society of America. Summoned by Amanda Waller, the team lead by Hawkman are to bring Black Adam down. When the JSA arrives to stop Adam's violence, Adrianna makes an interesting point. Why is it that America can have superheroes to save Americans but when another country does the same thing, the USA intervenes? 

The argument made sense to me. Sure, it brings up some problematic thoughts of colonialism, and American foreign diplomacy. But why is it in all the DC books when other countries get powers, the JLA, JSA or Suicide Squad have to put those countries in their place?

At this point, the movie got predictable. JSA fights Adam. Amon gets kidnapped. Black Adam feels bad for the kid's capture and surrenders to Hawkman. The surprise villain of the movie gets mega-evil powers. The JSA realizes that they need Black Adam to defeat this powerful new foe. Big battle. Victory. End of story. I've seen the 2nd and 3rd act a million times and I just got bored. And I really shouldn't have.

This movie gave viewers the first ever live appearances of 3 super heroes. Atom Smasher II, Cyclone, and Doctor Fate. Fate was one of my favorite figures in the Super Powers action figure line-up from the 80s and Pierce Brosnan was excellent as an aged, wise Kent Nelson. As for Hawkman, this was the 4th incarnation of the character on screen. But Aldis Hodge's Carter Hall was by far the best of the quartet. Having these guys should have really helped make this a great film. But in reality, they mostly all just brought the story down. 

Why couldn't we have gotten Zachary Levi as Shazam and Mark Strong returning as Sivana, playing angel and devil to try to convince Black Adam which path to choose? That would have been a much better movie. Though, you would have to keep Pierce Brosnan's character. His Doctor Fate did add that extra layer of cool.

The film made just under $400 million dollars globally. Some analysts say that Black Adam broke even. But it was far from a hit. I think the biggest problem was that Johnson and director Jaume Collet-Serra managed to piss off Warner Bros. and DC. During the big Black Adam/JSA battle, Adam and Hawkman wind up in Amon's bedroom which is decked out in Justice League stuff. Black Adam manages to punch holes through pictures of Aquaman, The Flash and a Superman S-Shield, symbolically telling viewers that Black Adam is the new main man of DC films. But when Black Adam knocks over a statue of Batman from a high display shelf and it crashes to the floor, I think execs cried foul. Because nobody can topple Batman as the biggest box office draw of them all!

Just before this film debuted, DC and Warner announced that James Gunn would be heading all future projects both live action and animated. I think producers and high ups saw that scene in post-production, told the director and star to remove it. They declined and as a result, the studio pulled their backing. 

Think about it. Where were the toys? The t-shirts? Happy Meal toys? There were literally zero tie-ins to this movie other than some variant comic covers and a Black Adam miniseries. I really think this film was intended to be a bold new direction for DC films after the debacle with Justice League and it slapped a lot of people right in the face. Instead of bringing DC movies ahead of Marvel, Black Adam managed to push all DC projects back at least 3-5 years. 

A film that had so much potential. But egos got in the way. Cliches seen in countless superhero films and TV shows just oozed throughout every scene. Plus, some great superheroes were misused or just ignored completely to prevent this from being a classic in the superhero movie genre.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

San Andreas

 

So, yesterday, I didn't get much of a chance to type up a review and that's for good reason. I spent my Saturday with my beautiful wife at the movies. The film we choose to see was the disaster film, San Andreas. Starring the Rock, Carla Gugino, and Paul Giamatti, I almost expected this film to be a disaster unto itself, but I was pleasantly surprised.

    The premise of the film is simple: California which is long overdue for a giant earthquake, experiences the biggest earth shaker in recorded history. The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) is a chopper pilot for the LA Fire Department and must rescue his estranged wife and daughter from a pair of quakes in the City of Angels and San Francisco. Meanwhile, a professor at Cal Tech played by the always great Paul Giamatti, has developed  a new system for predicting earthquakes and uses the new found knowledge to alert the general public thanks to an intrepid reporter played by Archie Panjabi of the Good Wife. 

   It's pretty standard disaster movie fare as everything that the expert warns about at the beginning of the film must occur (and does) before the end of the film. Throw it a handful of helpful survival tips, some incredible bad luck and even more unbelievable good luck and you have San Andreas. Oh, and don't forget the cliches such as the highrise door that plummets to nowhere, scientists yelling 'nobody is listening to me" and at least one super-heroic adrenaline filled toss of a child and/ or girl from impending doom!

   Now here's what surprised me: The Rock actually wasn't that bad of an actor in this movie. He was intelligent enough for me to believe that he could actually save the day. However, there was a couple of scenes, like one where a guy tries to carjack him that I was ready for the former wrestler to lift his trademark eyebrow and give the gunman a flying elbow. 

  Another thing that surprised me was that despite a recent commercial giving away the ending, mostly in particular who lives and who dies, I actually did not feel like that trailer ruined the entire movie. Plus the stunning visual effects were realistic enough for me to forget that blasted commercial and enjoy myself. Sadly, whoever was in charge of photoshop didn't do such a great job as old photos of the Rock's family looked like superimposed heads on a 1980s nuclear family.

    I had mentioned earlier that the Rock's acting wasn't so bad and it wasn't but who stole the film for me were the duo of Hugo Johnstone-Burt and Art Parkinson who play English brothers in San Francisco on holiday (that's British for vacation) and end up befriending the daughter of the Rock's character during the melee. I expect to see much more of them in the future, especially younger Parkinson whose already gained some fame as Rickon Stark from Game of Thrones.

   More of a feast for the eyes and that part of the brain that enjoys guilty pleasures. If Jurassic World is sold out, this isn't a bad alternative to turning around and going back home. 

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Movie Review: GI JOE Retaliation

If you regularly read Madman with a Book, then you know I don't usually review movies. But, since I read the prequel comics and I've been raving about wanting to see the movie on which they were based, I figured I should talk about them some. Be warned, there will be spoilers!

The film was in my opinion much better than the first movie. Maybe it's because I just finished reading the original 155 issue run of the Marvel series. Or maybe it's because this film actually seemed to be more in tuned with the comics than the first film!

The movie has Channing Tatum returning as lead character Duke. In the mix this time is Lady Jaye, Flint, and Road Block, played by the Rock of WWE fame. Girls, don't get too excited as Duke is only in the first 15 minutes of the movie. This is the Rock's show and I think it worked.

In the last movie, Zartan was impersonating the POTUS. In this movie, he's still the PREZ and now he's framed the Joes for killing an important Middle Eastern diplomat. While Road Block, Lady Jaye, and Flint try to find out why they were framed, Snake Eyes and ninja apprentice, Jinx are on the heels of Storm Shadow, who just freed Cobra Commander from a top secret military prison.

Badly injured from the rescued, Storm seeks refuge and healing in a Himilayian temple. Those scenes have some of the best martial arts battles this side of Bruce Lee and some of the most rediculious mountain repelling scenes since Stallone in Cliffhanger. Much of the Snake Eyes trilogy is played out her as Storm Shadow realizes that Zartan, that Cobra master of disguise, killed his master and led him down the path of evil. With that bit of info, the ninja and the ousted Joes team up to bring the President of these United States down! But they are going to need some fire power.

That brings us to Bruce Willis who steals the show as original Joe- Joe Colton and in his retirement manages to possess a gigantic armory. While Colton goes to save the real POTUS from his summer retreat, the rest of the Joes head to South Carolina. There, Zartan tricks the most powerful men in the world into destroying their nuclear weapons and then hands over power of the US to Cobra Commander.

I'm going to leave the plot synopsis at that. I don't want to give away much more. There's supposed to be a sequel and I hope there is. I really enjoyed this film. While watching it, my wife in our office, kept running in the living room thinking something was wrong. I had to take a moment and go "Oh, no nothing wrong. But, (insert name) just did (insert action) and if he doesn't move fast, he's gonna get it."

I don't remember my wife having to ever do this before when I watched another movie or show and she was online in the other room. Obviously, I got into the movie.

I know this film isn't ever going to win a best picture Oscar, but I did not watch it to be informed or moved. I wanted to be entertained and I clearly was. I think Retaliation was one of those few times that the sequel was better than the original.

I highly recommend this movie is you A) love GI Joe, B) love action movies, C) are a fan of the Rock, D) loved to read comic books as a kid or currently still do, and/ or E) was a boy growing up in the 80s. I was all of these and it was a blast.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars. Rated PG-13 for mild violence, torture, sexuality (but no nudity) and a occasional swear.