Let me make something clear. I don’t get paid to review movies. That must come as a huge shock to…honestly, no one if you know me or have become familiar with this site. I’m just a guy who has seen and enjoys a lot of movies. But I will say that because I watch so much, I’ve started to notice the same story outlines and lines of dialogue being used over and over again. And I was starting to feel a lot of familiar tropes in this movie. But tropes & cliches aren’t inherently goo or bad. It comes down to how they are presented, how they are delivered, and if anything new and/or unique is done with them. As far as this movie goes, they utilize the familiar tropes like an average movie. No surprises are thrown in to make them feel driven.

But a lot of that can be somewhat forgiven if the acting is good enough. I’ll admit right off the bat that Dwayne Johnson puts in a great performance as Black Adam. Our first scene with him is a fight scene and we do get to see him deliver out some ruthless hits. Admittedly, it would be cooler if the movie is rated R, but that’s a whole other issue with comic book movies we don’t have time to get into. Another aspect of Black Adam that works well is some of the comedy directly involving him. You can probably predict that Black Adam faces a “fish out of water” scenario where he is adjusting to how the modern world works. And most of the jokes that are based on that do land. While still keeping him a pretty intimidating and powerful force.

As for the supporting actors in this movie, it can be hit or miss. The character of Adrianna is performed well. Her son, Amon, does admittedly have some annoying scenes. He plays the kind of character you probably expect him to have when it comes to interacting with Black Adam. As for the members of the Justice Society…I’m afraid there is more disappointment. As for how they all look, their costumes are pretty good. And part of me is always happy when the JSA get adapted in a major project like this. But of the four members in this movie, two of them aren’t essential to the story. The younger members – Cyclone & Atom Smasher – can be replaced or written out entirely. And unfortunately, Atom Smasher is written to be the comic relief that is in every comic book movie these days. Probably the most annoying character in the movie.

But let’s move onto the older members of the Justice Society. Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate is great. A major highlight of the film. As for Hawkman…it’s underwhelming. He looks great, and as a reader of JSA comics, I’m excited this character has a chance to go up against Black Adam. But the writing for him is severely lacking. He is made to be the leader of the team, working with Amanda Waller and views Black Adam as someone who needs to be stopped. Except we don’t know anything about his backstory. What is his origin story? How long was he a crime fighter before the events of this movie? If he stopped for a while, what made him decide to pick it back up again? How and why did he decide to work with Amanda Waller? And why is he stubborn and so insistent that Black Adam is a bad guy? All we get regarding that is “heroes don’t kill people.” But we don’t know anything about this version of the character to have that carry any weight. If he had a backstory that elaborated on his beliefs, that would be something. But as is, he is a character that I want to like more than I actually do.

And finally, we have that villain that doesn’t appear until the final act. The type of villain that simply wants to take over the world and do the usual evil things. He looks a little cool, but you can replace him with so many other villains from a lot of different comic book movies. What’s so funny is that the plot that eventually introduces this villain can be taken out entirely out of the movie. They could have done something similar to Deadpool 2 and have no clear cut bad guy. Have the conflict be entirely about heroes with conflicting perspectives and fighting about it. They could have expanded on Hawkman’s backstory, give the younger heroes of the team a story where they decide that it isn’t the JSA’s place to say if Black Adam can be free or not. Create a conflict that puts the JSA against each other, make Hawkman the on screen bad guy with Amanda Waller the background villain that can continue to go up against Black Adam in future projects. But no, we have the plot that introduces a standard villain where both the JSA & Black Adam team up together to take down. It’s a very standard plot.

Having said all of that, there is stuff in this movie I liked and appreciated. As mentioned, the JSA heroes all look good and the performance from Dwayne Johnson is great. There are some fight scenes that are cool to watch and Black Adam does get a chance to showcase some of his ruthless behavior. And the movie does shine a small spotlight on how the people of Kahndaq view these heroes. They jeer Hawkman for saving the lives of a couple of Intergang members, a group that has invaded and controlled their country for many years. But when Black Adam kills them, they cheer and support him. And Adrianna points out how the JSA has never once been to their country, despite their claim that they are supposed to fight for global stability. And she points out the only reason they are here is because a country that isn’t the United States now has a superhero, one that could potentially a threat to whatever interests or agenda the US government has on an international level. If the movie had delved into this a lot more than it did – in addition to the story change I previously mentioned – the movie would have a lot of intriguing questions for the audience to discuss.

At the end of the day, this movie turned out to be all right. Definitely not one of the worst comic book movies ever. But certainly not one of the best. The movie does start going down the right path in a few areas. It has elements and pieces that could serve the foundation for a much stronger, unique movie. But it does ultimately turn out exactly how you expect it to. Hopefully, these characters get a chance to really push things down the road. And fans of these characters can truly see them in a story that captures everything amazing about them, not just some.

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