citizens of the reject Nation Greg and what's your name I'm John I think we just saw Black Adam at a
special screening at this building right here the Dolby Laboratories building and uh we got to shoot
this quick before Burbank PD finds US hey Burbank we're coming to Crime the hierarchies reviews
did you clear this with the city did you pay Black Adam now if you guys haven't seen the trailer
Dwayne Johnson's passion project for DC and it's it's like the dark version of Shazam that's all
you pretty much need to know been waking after uh thousands five thousand years they said it
several times in this movie 5 000 years he wants to protect his City conduct black Adam's been
awakened and so Justice Society of America comes in because he's a he's like a nuclear
bomb waiting to go off Superman level threat Amanda Waller's always warning about exactly
so the Justice side he sent in there um okay well where to begin with this film I would say
that for starters one of the things that surprised me the most about it was that post-credits scene
man if that wasn't ruined for you boy would it have been awesome if it wasn't everywhere Dwayne
Johnson himself pretty much wasn't confirming that whatever was put out about that post-credit
scene is true if it wasn't something you've been told to expect it was a great post-credit scene
it is awesome we'll talk about it some other time because it was like you know what even though this
was ruined for me it's pretty sweet yeah I'm so excited to be here right yeah I still will
remember this moment in terms of the movie itself the thing that really surprised me was how they
actually really let Black Adam be pretty violent he is pretty brutal in the trailer they do have
that one line where he's having a standoff with Hawkman and hawkman's like uh Heroes don't kill
he's like I do and in this movie he kills a lot there's a lot of actual there's a lot of death
actually and I had that exact thought at one point like a lot of people were dying right away he's
killing a lot of people in this movie and it's pretty sweet and they get pretty creative with
bordering on that PG-13 to R rating you believe it was cut down from an Arya yeah it's not like those
Sony movies you know uh where they're like he's an anti-hero beer not really you want to be good this
guy doesn't want to be good he doesn't want to be good and he's actually you know straight up I mean
granted he's not killing like good people and a lot of the visual effects are pretty Dynamite like
there's so much of it that at times it becomes very overwhelming at the same time time though
there are some very very impressive visual effects with Black Adam like I actually really enjoyed the
way they chose to capture how he flies you know that a lot of the way we're just sort of hovering
up forward it's kind of like playing a video game character to a certain extent and I thought that
was great to bring it to life the Justice Society of America everything with Hawkman looked awesome
Dr Fate he looked great right he looks incredible yeah especially the way they realize his various
powers and the choices they make visually to separate themselves from not being too much like
Doctor Strange yeah you know they actually managed to make it so you're not even thinking about that
the music choices by Lauren Buffy which sounds like a werewolf to me I thought the music was also
wonderful the movie itself was fine it was a fine movie yeah I honestly it was pretty messy in a lot
of ways and I think like Dwayne Johnson actually does do an all right job you know it was something
that I was very questionable about I didn't go all I see is Black Adam when I watch this movie and it
didn't necessarily reinvent the Dwayne Johnson wheel in terms of acting but yeah I mean he does
sell a much more hard line violent character he doesn't have to rely on his charm in this
movie which is nice no he's not really a character who Smiles like there's humor to be had with the
character but some of that is with its Fish Out of Water qualities and the deadpan qualities yeah
yeah he's he's a very stoic character which which is fitting for this guy Dwayne Johnson definitely
played a character you know what I mean was I aware I was watching Dwayne Johnson for most of it
yeah I was aware the character he should play but I appreciated what he was doing yeah I appreciate
that he really played a character instead of just relying on Dwayne Johnson charm this is
gonna sound like a nitpick but it's not all right I want you to think about this for one second
he wakes up after 5 000 years and he's speaking English in a country where that's not what they're
speaking you know speaking English he's got an American accent and no one's bringing this up
no one's questioning why it immediately pulled me out of the realm of believability on what they're
doing because I couldn't move past that it was ancient Shazam magic translates that's that's
the power they don't tell you about if that's something they don't tell me they should have
mentioned no no yeah it is a little bit silly that way it's very distracting and I think the problem
with Dwayne Johnson's performance here is while I appreciate what he was going for I didn't really
feel the internal struggle they kept telling me he's having no he's just kind of stoic the whole
movie is saying you could be a hero Black Adam and he's like now I'm no hero and that's about
his first his whole internal struggle is I have no problem killing people but I guess I have a few
people around me who I would benefit from working from so I guess I should kill less people it's
sort of his whole journey you know while I think that there's some charming performances to be
had like Aldous Hodges is Hawkman here yeah this Hodges brings a lot to his performance like he's
really giving it his all Pierce Brosnan kind of just slips into this poetic magician all-knowing
kind of role of Dr Fate I think he's perfectly cast and then Noah centineo and quintessa Swindell
are in the movie well mainly mainly Cyclone is yeah I think they gave a decent Charming amount to
Noah centineo he brought some humor to it that was he was funny he's more of a character than she is
and yes he has bits that are identifiable and that are fun to watch come back yeah it's like watching
Spider-Man she though is nothing in this film I don't blame the actress I really blame the writing
of this film I wanted to see more of her yeah main takeaway I had with the experience by the end of
it because at first it starts off clunky and then it started smoothing out and I thought oh it's one
of those movies that probably gets better as it goes but then it went right back into no this is
pretty clunky this is a messy movie it's very very messy and it feels almost outdated with a
lot of the types of tropes they decided to play into especially third act wise especially with
the villain it feels very perfunctory and com and especially the villain first how cool the villain
looks it does feel like oh yeah that's right we have to I guess have a villain in this that's
not just Black Adam trying to become good even that quality feels underwritten that's the main
takeaway I had was the scenes that are not action feel very rushed and there's so much information
being thrown my way that it becomes about just keeping up with the most Baseline piece of here's
what you need to know about this character to kind of give a [ __ ] but you're not really gonna give
a [ __ ] but you hear maybe you will but you you probably won't yeah you probably won't and it's so
underwritten and the editing is just all over the place well that's the thing is Yo Macaulay Sarah's
style like when the movie is Flowing I think his style really works because he likes a lot of shots
a lot of editing a lot of coverage but when the movie is you know it's a movie you could tell
has been reworked and when you're in one of those patches his style does not help itself out so then
it feels extra messy at those times yeah it's a brick it has like some of that cool Zack Snyder
slo-mo [ __ ] that you you love and needle drops and needle drops Galore which surprisingly worked
for me in a movie that I didn't think if you told me needle drops were in here those scenes I
thought were fun they were fun needle drops to be had I thought it did nicely to emulate Zack Snyder
in in enough ways to kind of make it cohesive with what has come before in the you know Snyder verse
line of the DC EU but not so much that it's like oh that's all they're trying to do or oh that's
the only idea they have and there's nothing else brought to the table but it does feel very much
like no no we want to reinforce this Vision because I wanted to walk away just going you
know what it was a schlocky fun but it doesn't quite feel that way to me there are times of
it where it just felt kind of monotonous I think there is like an equal amount of things that are
kind of fun and unique and especially you know looking at Dwayne Johnson in a more harsh heavy
role you know like that's interesting but then on the opposite side you have a bunch of things that
feel very requisite you eventually not only do you have your villain tacked on but you also get
your requisite you know Army that we can easily kill because there's vaguely Supernatural and
there's not going to be any blood or whatever uh you got the family element of like I lost my wife
and kid and now I've got this surrogate wife and kid I feel like they could have chosen some more
unique aspects I know the the thing with his family comes from the origin of the character
but it's kind of mostly what his backstory is for the whole entire thing you know you get some lore
with the Shazam Wizards and all that stuff but it really feels like there's not a lot of meat
on the bone when it comes to the characters and the most interesting idea the movie has is just
about the thin line between good and evil and the way like the Justice Society looks at everything
in those terms when this is about you know a more gray world and you know we need to be in charge
of how we see that Justice through but even that's just like one conversation and it never comes back
and it doesn't really like imbue the movie with a sense of weight it's just like oh I guess points
for having an idea and putting it in the movie between fights the parts where the care seem to
most go into it was the action scenes because the action's cool the action's great it's it's like
really great action and I feel like that's the point that we're past with superhero movies now
that we at least ought to be where he is a little bit more past the action scenes that's not one of
things you have to get right yes guys there's this freaking Sky Beam at the end of this movie
that's what I mean by outdated there are things that felt like this was the kind of movie I would
watch in the late 90s early 2000s the whole movie feels like the Aries fight with Wonder Woman Kind
of imagine if you just took that part of act 3 and stretched it into an entire movie and that's
kind of what this feels like I didn't feel like the movie really brought anything new other than
a cool new set of powers seeing that brought to life was fun and there's there is fun to be
had the movie's messier than I expected it to be I think it falls flat in a lot of areas that I think
you thought it was bringing dramatic heft to in some ways it's about what I expected in other ways
it's a little bit of a letdown and in other things they did better than I expected them to do it's a
little of everything it's a little bit better here and a little bit worse here than I expected you
know it's a mixed bag yeah overall I like whatever if you're gonna watch or go watch it I I feel like
you don't have to see it in the theaters even though I feel like some of the action scenes are
worth more watching in the theaters than watching at home for the first time if you're just watching
to keep up with the continuity watch it at home if you care about any of the characters and if you
care about the action go see it in the theaters because that's where the best parts of the movie
Will Shine the brightest but yeah it's not really such a game changer that you gotta rush out didn't
see it you know no I feel like I've seen this movie already I do too like this is about by the
numbers as you'd expect in every way and sometimes flatter than I would expect but that's where we're
at it's fine it's a good skateboarding I have a kid actors there's so many laughable moments in
there oh a lot of ADR too oh well what do you know well you take things too seriously Greg all righty
well subscribe click that Bell are you excited for the follow-up film where you know what the
follow-up's gonna be and I'm excited I'm still excited for it I feel like it'd be cool Shazam