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The Rock give Adam

 Black Adam is a bit of a mess, but in the most entertaining way. Indeed, when most modern superhero films tend to drip feed world building to the viewer over multiple entries, the kitchen sink approach of DC's latest offering is actually quite refreshing. 


The start is slow, with some fairly dull backstory leading up to a couple of cookie cutter characters discovering a crown that has been hidden for thousands of years (deapite the fact its just sitting in a cave on the outskirts of a major city). This leads to Black Adam being awakened and business picking sharply up.


The fight scenes are great, selling speed and impact in a way the competition doesn't bother trying to. Props also to the costume designers who put up some of the best looking comic book suit interpretations yet put to film, even if the big bad ends up looking a bit naff. Dwayne Johnson has been waiting quite some time to get the titular (not really anti) hero to the screen and as you can imagine he certainly looks the part. He also makes an effort to not just be "The Rock tm", raining it in a bit in order to sell Adam as somewhat subdued and conflicted. The other heros joining him on screen are all fine, except for Pierce Brosnan's Dr Fate who is great. Brosnan gives the character the appropriate gravitas, make him feel established and world weary despite this being his first big screen outing and the costume is fantastic. 


While its big pluses for the action and heroes, sadly the same can't be said for everything else. The bad guys are bland to say the least, the pace is uneven and characters make decisions that are stupid even by the standards of superhero blockbusters in service of a plot thinner than the skin covering one of Dwaynes bulging arm veins.  Still, if you like your comic book movies big and dumb (and why wouldn't you?) Black Adam should hit the spot. And probably break it. 


7 unmissed leg days out of 10 gym sessions. 






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