Movie Review: BLACK ADAM
Black Adam is an action-packed, thrill-a-minute superhero movie. Star and producer Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson leads an all-star cast as Teth-Adam, who becomes Black Adam. Pierce Brosnan {Remington Steele, Chiron in Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief (2010), James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and The World Is Not Enough (1999), and King Rowan in Cinderella (2021) has gracefully aged into a silver fox. He plays Nelson Kent, aka Dr. Fate. Dr. Carter Hall, aka Hawkman, is played by Aldis Hodge, Alec Hardison in Leverage, Green Lantern Jon Stewart in Green Lantern: Beware My Power (2022), and Levi Jackson in Hidden Figures (2016). Persian-American actress Sarah Shahi (Shameen Shaw in Person of Interest plays the intrepid archaeologist Adrianna Tomaz who will do anything for her son and almost anything for her country. Shahi voiced Killer Frost in Young Justice. Quintessa Swindell, who played Julie in Voyagers (2021) portrays superhero-in-training Cyclone, aka Maxine Hunkel. Noah Centineo plays Al Rothstein, aka Atom-Smasher II. Henry Winkler (Fonzie on Happy Days) makes a cameo as his Uncle Al, the original Atom Smasher. Bodhi Sabongui steals scenes as the skateboard riding, superhero worshipping Aman Tomaz who tries to help Teth-Adam acclimate to the modern era.
My distinguished colleague, Thaddeus Howze, had this to say on Facebook about Hawkman (as performed by Aldis Hodge:
LACK ADAM’S HAWKMAN BRINGS THE PAIN
Thaddeus Howze | SCIFI.radio | #TheAnswerMan
“Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman was a casual and calm individual with an intense stare even when he wasn’t wearing his trademark wings. We don’t get much backstory on the character other than his magnificent estate whose scale makes the Batcave look like a corner mechanic in the slums of Gotham.
Ostentatious, Carter Hall has the world at his fingertips. You never get the feeling he enjoys any of his wealth or power. He is presented as a man on a mission.
The scenes I enjoyed were Hawkman channeling the can-do commitment to physical carnage that Captain America and the Hulk would be proud of. Carter fought as if he were possessed with the spirit of a hundred honey badgers who had not been fed recently and decided today was the day they were going to fix that problem.
Hawkman may not beat you, but you will leave knowing you were in a fight. Aldis Hodge’s Carter Hall was a relentless, intense, and focused individual. I want to see a Hawkman movie, with Hawkwoman, Thanagarians, spaceships, treachery, alien invasions, and the Shadow Thief to top it all off.
And let’s give the Nth Metal it’s due. Damage reduction, healing, armor, flight, mutable weapons, oh yes, Santa, I would like about five pounds of Nth Metal for Christmas, if you please.
I was a bit surprised to find Hawkman was getting a chance to be onscreen but the CGI made Hawkman’s fights, brutally fantastic, with Carter giving as good as he was getting. Maybe DC will try some other characters from the Golden Age of Heroes. We’re off to a great start.”
all photos via Warner Brothers)
Neither Mr. Howze nor I would complain of Black Aadam2 AND/OR a standalone Hawkman movie. I, for one, want to know how Amanda Waller got in a position to give the Justice Society orders.
bLACK ADAM IS, OR SHOULD BE, A CHICK-FLICK.Warner Brothers is making a marketing mistake in not pushing this as a chick flick. Black Adam is a beefcake extravaganza, with plenty of eyecandy for female audiences no matter what their taste. Pierce Brrosnan has been a Hollywood hottie for years, and has matured into a Silver Fox. For those who like their men musclebound, the Rock is the Rock. For cougars who prefer tall, dark, and handsome, Aldis Hodge plays millionaire archaeologist turned superhero Dr. Carter Hall. oah Centineo is not to my taste, but to each their own, as said the old woman who kissed the cow.Black Adam also features two strong female characters: Dr. Adrianna Tomaz, the patriotic archaeologist and Cyclone, the superheroine in training. Three strong female characters if you count Amanda Waller (but most people don't consider her a good role model).Excuse me, the paragraph two paragraphs ago was rudely sexist, reducing male actors to their physical appearance. I ought not to have done that.
Share
