First Black Adam Reactions Pour In
Critics and fans are sharing their thoughts on new DC movie Black Adam after the film's world premiere screening. Is this a new beginning for the DCEU?
It’s almost here! The long promised Black Adam movie, starring Dwayne Johnson in a role that the actor has spent over a decade preparing for, has finally screened for critics and a handful of fans. And the response so far? Well, we’ll call it mixed but positive. Early viewers (including this writer…and you can spot my reaction tweet later in this piece, as well) are praising Black Adam as an action-packed spectacle, one that is packed to the absolute gills with DC Comics and DCEU lore, and Johnson’s performance, while singling out the writing and pacing something of a mixed bag.
That all seems fair enough. Black Adam has a hill to climb as a movie based on one of the more obscure characters in the DC pantheon, not to mention one of the less explored corners of the DC Universe as a whole. Still, Warner Bros. is betting big on both the film and Johnson’s star power, not to mention the actor’s willingness to promote the movie as something that will restore the DCEU to a state that fans will embrace. There’s enough confidence here that positive word of mouth will carry the movie to box office success when it opens on Oct. 21.
There’s still some time before we get the official, full reviews of Black Adam, however. The social media embargo was timed to the film’s New York City premiere on Wednesday evening, but the actual review embargo won’t lift until Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 5:30 EDT. That’s when we’ll have full reviews from a wide range of critics, as well.
Here’s the official synopsis for the film:
Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the ancient gods—
and imprisoned just as quickly—Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson) is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to
unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.
Here are those early reactions. And just one final word of warning, if you’re perusing the Black Adam hashtag on Twitter, beware of spoilers, as there are some pretty major ones out there!
Black Adam also stars Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, Sarah Shahi as Adrianna, Marwan Kenzari as Ishmael, Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, Bodhi Sabongui as Amon, and Pierce Brosnan as Dr. Fate. Jaume Collet-Serra directed from a screenplay by Adam Sztykiel and Rory Haines & Sohrab Noshirvani.
Black Adam opens on Oct. 21.
Written by
Mike Cecchini is a man with a deep and abiding love of comics published before he was born, low-budget sci-fi, lo-fi garage rock, giant monster movies,…