The Rock Confirmed To Play Black Adam In DC's "SHAZAM" Movie

[Autbot_Benz]

I just hate that they killed Dr Fate in his first ever movie. The one character everyone is raving about in the movie and they do that.

[Leo656]

Nabu always finds a new host anyway. Fate is Eternal.

[AquaParade]

I kind of figured they would when they cast Pierce Brosnan.

As long as the new Dr has the awesome outfit, is relatively chill, and has badass magic, I’ll be happy. I love the character because he looks cool and has magic powers, what can I say.

Have you guys seen this? I’m probably gonna skip the theater but if it’s like… as good as Man of Steel, I’d head to to theater. I doubt that but it’s hard to tell because Man of Steel didn’t really please audiences anymore than this seems to.

[Autbot_Benz]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

I kind of figured they would when they cast Pierce Brosnan.

As long as the new Dr has the awesome outfit, is relatively chill, and has badass magic, I’ll be happy. I love the character because he looks cool and has magic powers, what can I say.

If they follow the comics his apprentice Khalid Nanssour will take up the mantle next.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

Have you guys seen this? I’m probably gonna skip the theater but if it’s like… as good as Man of Steel, I’d head to to theater. I doubt that but it’s hard to tell because Man of Steel didn’t really please audiences anymore than this seems to.

It is nowhere near as good as Man of Steel but it also isn't playing the same sport. The story isn't as good, nor as well-told, in fact it's rather sloppily told to be perfectly honest. It all makes sense when you stop to think about it, but that's just it, you have to try and reconcile it all in your head because on the surface, certain things they do seem really "just because", except they're not, they only seem that way because the movie presents information in a very disjointed manner.

Also, as Andrew alluded to, they really don't do anything to put over Black Adam as someone who needs to be "redeemed" in the first place. They TELL you he had a hissy fit and killed a bunch of people a long time ago, and that he's trying to rise above and overcome being controlled by his rage... but you don't even really see "his rage", he seems rather stoic the entire time. So that's a bit iffy. Like yes, he violently kills a bunch of people, but he's not even making "angry face" or anything he just very calmly kills them, and the movie and its characters (except Hawkman) ALL keep saying how much they deserved it so everyone should just get out of Black Adam's way and let him kill people. Very mixed-messaging in the movie, for sure. Like the mom character basically spends the entire movie telling the JSA they're a bunch of useless pussies because they don't go around killing everyone.

But when you're watching it it becomes very apparent that it's not the kind of movie where you're supposed to care too much about anything except 1. Rock wrecking house and being a badass, and 2. The razzle-dazzle of the fight scenes.

I don't know if you'd like it, honestly. The comic book movies I've seen you get the most enjoyment out of in recent years were Joker and The Batman, and I'm not sure if this kind of blatant CGI-fest is up your alley but I don't know, something tells me you wouldn't enjoy this one as much as I did, although you'd probably be impressed at least with a lot of the fight scene visuals. Fate and Cyclone really were very well-done.

I stand by my "It's at worst a 7" opinion but I confess I'm also grading on a curve because I know standards are lower in a post-Snyder DCEU. They want to catch up to Marvel as soon as possible, which means less plot, more CGI and jokes. We'll never get anything Man of Steel quality again, those days are gone. At best we'll get stuff like this, "Copy some of the shots but do them less-well." It's good enough for what it needed to be. "Good enough" is gonna be the best case for everything in the DCEU going forward since they want to play it safe as a rule from now on.

[AquaParade]

I ended up seeing Black Adam. I thought it was okay. Probably wouldn’t watch it again. Clunky storytelling, dialogue, and acting in parts. Overall, very cliche and nothing we haven’t seen before. No artistic touch or heartfelt moments.

On the other hand, it doesn’t sink as low as films like Suicide Squad or JL 2017 - not even close.
The film has it’s moments and there is some quality action to behold, though again, nothing that’s a cut above it’s competition.
Doctor Fate was indeed the highlight.

So, yeah, not a bad movie but not truly worthy of a recommendation, imo.

[Andrew NDB]

Thinking on it more, do we really want to see Black Adam vs. Superman? It seems like it'd just be a less interesting Zod fight, except Black Adam has lightning instead of heat vision and there'd be no stakes or emotional hook to the fight.

I kind of wonder if Dr. Fate, Hawkman, and Atom Smasher are in the movie so as to announce, "See? We have our own Dr. Strange, Falcon, and Ant-Man! DC is back in the game!" I mean, I guess the movie did need them such as it was written.

[Leo656]

From the way Flex talks, it's not gonna happen for a few movies (which would mean 3-5 years or so) anyway so I'm not even really contemplating the Ifs. I'll give a sh*t when it actually happens, same as anything else.

Plus it's WB, which means it's never gonna happen anyways. There'll be another regime change and reboot long before any Black Adam vs. Superman thing gets done. All just hopeful/wishful thinking, nothing more.

Like they'll coexist and interact in things, probably, but they've said out loud, the next time you see these guys onscreen together it's not gonna be jumping right into a big fight scene like a lot of people expect it to be.

The only reason to care or be excited about this is that in the interim we MAY finally get another Cavill solo movie before the next big regime change/reboot, and then they'll let him go for being too old.

Knowing the way WB operates - and do NOT give me any "New Regime" bullsh*t, please, none of that matters - standard operating procedure of any fan should be, "Don't even think about this sh*t until the movie comes out." Because 9.9 times out of 10... movie never even comes out.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I kind of wonder if Dr. Fate, Hawkman, and Atom Smasher are in the movie so as to announce, "See? We have our own Dr. Strange, Falcon, and Ant-Man! DC is back in the game!" I mean, I guess the movie did need them such as it was written.

I mean, those characters are way better than their insipid Diet Coke Marvel Versions any goddamn way.

Falcon. Snerk. ANT-MAN, for f*ck's sake. People swear that Marvel fans aren't easily amused when they'll accept a Z-lister like Falcon as Captain America, and Ant-Man has TWO solo movies. The only way that sh*t happens is if your audience will swallow literally anything with your sticker on it.

[AquaParade]

Black Adam v Superman doesn’t necessarily excite me, no.

Even after seeing Black Adam, I don’t feel invested in his character at all.
Even if I were, I’m not sure I’d be excited at the idea of yet another superhero film structured roughly around “let’s fight and then we’re friends”.

Conceptually, that isn’t exciting. Same with most crossover comics (even though I’m looking forward to Batman vs Spawn).

I’m open to seeing more of The Rock’s Black Adam and I definitely want to see another Superman film, ideally with Cavill, but they don’t need to be one and the same by any means.

I just want a honest to goodness sequel to Man of Steel, assuming they get a great director on board.

[TigerClaw]

I thought the movie was pretty good, a lot of the action in the movie was very Snyder like with the use of the slow motion scenes.

[Leo656]

Apparently it had a good opening at $67 million domestic and about $140 million worldwide total, which was above expectations. Rock's biggest opening in a starring role and the biggest DC opening since Aquaman. It's expected to hold steady as there's no real competition for a few weeks yet and general audience word-of-mouth is that the critics were way too harsh. So it will probably do alright when all is said and done.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Apparently it had a good opening at $67 million domestic and about $140 million worldwide total, which was above expectations. Rock's biggest opening in a starring role and the biggest DC opening since Aquaman. It's expected to hold steady as there's no real competition for a few weeks yet and general audience word-of-mouth is that the critics were way too harsh. So it will probably do alright when all is said and done.

Huh, for as big and prevalent Johnson (bazinga) is as a movie star, I am surprised he hadn’t yet headlined a box office debut that high.

[Andrew NDB]

200 million dollar budget (did it NEED that high, for this?) plus I'd wager around 50 for marketing. That's still a steep hill to climb. Next weekend should reveal how it'll go.

[AquaParade]

Pretty sure it’s not the biggest DC opening since Aquaman.

[Leo656]

Might be right, the article I was looking at originally said "of any DC opening since Aquaman" but now it says "of any DCEU opening since Aquaman" which is a whole different conversation.

I'm guessing the person writing it didn't really get the difference between "DC movies" and "DCEU movies" and thus they changed it when a reader pointed out the error.

[Andrew NDB]

I hate to say it, but as much as I hear "it took 15 years to make this"... I don't see it. Not at the script level. Possibly some of the casting choices and direction.

[AquaParade]

Yeah, people keep making a distinction between DC films and DCEU, but unless we are speaking directly of story canon, we may as well group them all together imo.

Audiences aren’t trained to look at these films that distinctly yet. They are just “DC films” to people, if they’re even somewhat informed.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I hate to say it, but as much as I hear "it took 15 years to make this"... I don't see it. Not at the script level. Possibly some of the casting choices and direction.

OH, god no, they wrote that script on a napkin the day before they shot it, absolutely. "15 years in the making" absolutely refers to getting all the moving parts to align, nothing more.

To be fair, though, most comic book movies have bad scripts and many start shooting with NO script. Even Burton's Batman only had a partial script, they made up huge chunks of that movie while they were shooting, especially the third act. All of that cathedral stuff was booked on the fly when WB had concerns about Batman beating a senior citizen to death with his bare hands as the original script outline had ordained. Nobody knew how the movie was really going to end until they were deep in production. Nicholson had no idea why he was even climbing those stairs, and neither did Burton.

So I mean, yeah, weak script, but that is always the most extraneous part of these projects anyway. Comic book movies are only one step above horror movies in the "Nobody Watches These Movies For Plot" department.

[AquaParade]

Yeah, I like how constant delays are played as a selling point. Thats funny.

“This late bill was in the making for 15 years. Get hyped.”

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

I just hate that they killed Dr Fate in his first ever movie. The one character everyone is raving about in the movie and they do that.

Well.... opened the thread from "New Posts" and the first thing I saw. LMAO
Guess that spoils that!

Ah well, no big deal. Just another comic book movie disappointment.