Source: Warner Bros. / Black Adam
Dwayne, The Rock Johnson, has been promising for months that the hierarchy of the DCEU is about to change with the arrival of his blockbuster anti-hero film, Black Adam. That sounds good, but the consensus is that the critics are not smelling what The Rock’s Black Adam is cooking.
Black Adam is just days away from striking movie theaters with a tremendous lightning bolt, but when the film arrives, it will do so by being critically panned among movie critics across the board.
Right now, The Rock’s 15-year passion project is sitting at a disappointing 54% after being reviewed by 79 reviewers. If there is any positive to get out of that, 43 reviews are fresh, while 36 or rotten. We also don’t have an audience score, and if Black Adam keeps the same energy as other critically panned DCEU films, the loyal DC Comic fans will love it, despite the negative reviews.
Among the “top critics” aggregated on the website, Black Adam sits at 32% rating, and if that holds, it will be the lowest-rated DCEU film since Joss Whedon’s Justice League, which got a well-earned 23% rating from top critics.
It was so bad that fans started a movement called #ReleaseTheSnyderCut, which led to the revival of a long-rumored theatrical cut of the film that Zack Snyder, the film’s original director, worked on.
In some reviews, Johnson’s performance as Black Adam was praised. In his fairly positive review of the film, the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw wrote The Rock’s “massive bulk, planet-sized head, and sly gift for deadpan humour all make him a great superhero.”
While IGN’s Joshua Yehl praised Johnson’s performance and at the same time slammed the film’s “repetitive action scenes.”
Early Reactions To Black Adma Tell A Different Story
Based on the early reactions of those who had the opportunity to screen the film, you would have thought Johnson single-handedly fixed the mess that is the DCEU.
The Rock even spoiled his film’s biggest surprise, getting Henry Cavill to don the Superman costume again. It’s even reported that Johnson is why Cavill is back as the iconic DC Comic superhero, and talks of a Man of Steel 2 are alive and well again.
Well, Black Adam sounds like it’s going to be one polarizing piece of work, like most comic books adapted for film and streaming.
Peep what the good folks at For All Nerds had to say about Black Adam below.
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Photo: Warner Bros. / Black Adam