Black Adam Trailer

[ShardWarrior]

 

[Techwright]

I'm intrigued.  I didn't expect to see Hawkman, and certainly not Atom Smasher.  Looks like Pierce is going to own his scenes as Doctor Fate. 

 

I don't see everything the Rock is in, but when I watch something, he always seems to come across as the loveable, wisecracking, goofball strongman.   I've been hoping to see him in this role as the intense, unrelenting, rarely-humored anti-hero.

 

Hey, is this going to be the Egyptian-origin Hawkman or the Thanagarian-origin Hawkman?  I suppose Egyptian-origin makes better sense when you're doing the Kandahar story, though I prefer the Thanagarian.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

14 hours ago, Techwright said:

I don't see everything the Rock is in, but when I watch something, he always seems to come across as the loveable, wisecracking, goofball strongman.   I've been hoping to see him in this role as the intense, unrelenting, rarely-humored anti-hero.

 

I like Dwayne. I do. There's a lot of self-effacing humour that offsets the oversize personality and physicality, a sense of his own ridiculousness.

(And genuine warmth - if you haven't seen it yet, check him out in the mighty Flo Pugh's breakthrough Fighting With My Family. My hometown produces a lot of fierce people, y'know.) Playing slightly against type to go full Terminator is going to be interesting.

 

But this flick... erm... hmm. It's not getting me yet. I'm aware trailers don't and shouldn't tell a whole story, but right now I'm genuinely confused about what the story core is likely to be, where and when it's set (speeder bikes and VW buses?), why they've wasted Pierce on what looks like a Strange knockoff with a passion for airborne disco moves (I know Doc Fate is very much his own thing, but what it looks like is what it looks like), and why I should spend my hard-earned Inf on it.

 

[ShardWarrior]

I have to admit, I have never really smelled what the Rock was cooking.  He just does nothing for me to be honest.  I think the last time I saw him in a movie was Scorpion King.  Pierce Brosnan would be the reason for me to see this, if anything.

[Techwright]

2 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

But this flick... erm... hmm. It's not getting me yet. I'm aware trailers don't and shouldn't tell a whole story, but right now I'm genuinely confused about what the story core is likely to be, where and when it's set (speeder bikes and VW buses?), why they've wasted Pierce on what looks like a Strange knockoff with a passion for airborne disco moves (I know Doc Fate is very much his own thing, but what it looks like is what it looks like), and why I should spend my hard-earned Inf on it.

 

If anything, its the other way around.  Doctor Fate first appeared in 1940 whereas Doctor Strange appeared in 1963, but I'm sure you meant the movies.    I won't say someone didn't draw inspiration from Benedictine Cumberbund's performance, but I'm guessing we'll see Doctor Fate can be a lot colder in personality than Doctor Strange, at least when the helmet is on.  When it is off, we'll see Kent Nelson, and what little I know of him suggest the character will be a more pleasant person.

 

The story is likely a journey to hero story.  Black Adam has been portrayed as everything from villain to anti-hero, and I suspect that's the path he'll take, but starting in his mortal life before the Shazam.   I suspect the high tech craft you see are off-world in nature, rather than future time.  Assuming they've not cut loose all that has happened before, we've already seen invasions by Kryptonians and Apokalypse, so why not another.  Shoot, this may be DC's version of Spiderman: Homecoming, with Earthers retro-engineering alien tech left behind.

[Techwright]

35 minutes ago, ShardWarrior said:

I have to admit, I have never really smelled what the Rock was cooking.  He just does nothing for me to be honest.  I think the last time I saw him in a movie was Scorpion King.  Pierce Brosnan would be the reason for me to see this, if anything.

 

 

If Scorpion King was your last look at the Rock, no wonder you feel the way you do.

 

[ShardWarrior]

22 minutes ago, Techwright said:

If Scorpion King was your last look at the Rock, no wonder you feel the way you do.

 

He just does not do anything for me as an actor.  From clips I have seen of the various films he has been in, I do not see anything that impresses me.  I should mention I did enjoy him in Moana.  I grew up during the era of Schwarzenegger and Stallone competing in the action films of the 80s and 90s.  I have had my fill of those kinds of movies.

[El D]

50 minutes ago, ShardWarrior said:

 

He just does not do anything for me as an actor.  From clips I have seen of the various films he has been in, I do not see anything that impresses me.  I should mention I did enjoy him in Moana.  I grew up during the era of Schwarzenegger and Stallone competing in the action films of the 80s and 90s.  I have had my fill of those kinds of movies.

 

Compounding that is the fact that as much of a 'modern 80s-era action hero' as the Rock has become... There's no one challenging him for said roles like with Stallone/Schwarzenegger. It's just him, all the time, in just about every other trailer that shows up. Hell, it's become 'just him' so much that he effectively reinvigorated/took a big bite out of The Fast & The Furious franchise. I'll admit I still enjoy some of the roles he does (the Jumaji movies were fun) but I can easily see how some folks wouldn't feel a need to see them or get annoyed at the oversaturation. Especially given how much it's just kept going. Not begrudging the man work just... It's a lot of content. xD

 

Also, I'll echo someone else's comment elsewhere on the internet that 'I would have been more interested in a Dr. Fate film starring Pierce Brosnan with Rock's Black Adam as a supporting character.' It seems like they could have had more original story beats for a trailer with that, rather than 'Scorpion King-Superman and the scenes we lifted from other superhero movies' that this trailer showed. Atom Smasher and Hawkman looked cool, at least.

 

... all that said, I still might see this. It's a comic book movie, and my willpower does not a Green Lantern make.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Thinking on't: Rock is dropping two of his core strengths for this flick.

 

The first is he's a fine foil for pretty much anyone else to bounce off. (Sometimes literally bouncing off them.) For example, Jungle Cruise shouldn't have worked as a movie, frequently clunks with the plot beats and some of the cast, but by the goddess Blunt and Johnson make one hell of a classic screwball comedy pair. 

So a solo lead movie with no-one to directly play with/off isn't easy.

 

The second is the whole self-deprecating humour kick. Black Adam is a very serious man, and while you can throw in a few situations where that seriousness gets put paid to from the outside (seen here: bending a blackjack with his head, finding out what missiles do): just throwing him Tex Avery coyote gags is going to get repetitive.

 

So this is a big, expensive summer tentpole gamble for DC/WB. Not sure it's going to pay off on the strength of what we've seen, but...

[Techwright]

1 hour ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

 

just throwing him Tex Avery coyote gags is going to get repetitive.

 

 

That may be because we've not really seen his vulnerability after he becomes Black Adam, that which would keep a super-powered character interesting.  I really think we've not seen the bad guy in the story yet.  We've seen technological opponents, which don't really strike me as a serious threat, except perhaps a swarming effect since he's only in one spot at any time.  Both Fate and Black Adam are magic wielders, so I suspect the ultimate baddie will likewise wield magic, and that might reveal Black Adam's vulnerability.  I do know from other sources that one emotional vulnerability that he has is his love for Kandahar, and I think that's what were seeing in the moment the speed bikes are racing away from a cliff with a city and a statue up top.

[El D]

2 hours ago, Krimson said:

Somehow, I don't think that people are going to rush to see a superhero movie with a 69 year old leading man. I mean, there are Superhero fans, and there are Pierce Brosnan fans. What's the overlap here as opposed to 50 year old Dwayne Johnson with a Mr Universe body?

 

Fair point! The Rock is definitely the more bankable movie star with a much broader fanbase, and Brosnan's age would cause issues. Mentally I was comparing it to the beats of say, Logan or Joker - a similar sort of 'aging comic book character has to deal with an advancing world where they fit in less and less' feel - but those still had much younger leading actors and actual film franchises to build on. Even if it leaned on being 'DC's Doctor Strange' it'd still have a pretty big uphill battle to climb.

 

... now I wondering what younger actor will get Nabu's helmet next. Because I seriously doubt Grandpa Bond is going to make it out of this film.

Edited June 9, 2022 by El D

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

17 hours ago, El D said:

Because I seriously doubt Grandpa Bond is going to make it out of this film.

Yup. Serving Connery in League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen vibes.

(Though Dwayne and Brosnan seem to have enjoyed the process more than Connery did, who quit filmmaking entirely because of his experiences on LXG. Alan Moore also distanced himself from it, though oddly not from the money).

[Techwright]

2 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Yup. Serving Connery in League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen vibes.

(Though Dwayne and Brosnan seem to have enjoyed the process more than Connery did, who quit filmmaking entirely because of his experiences on LXG. Alan Moore also distanced himself from it, though oddly not from the money).

Now you have me thinking Brosnan would make a fantastic Quartermain in a well-written reboot of LXG.