What's up bros, I'm Jonathan.
And I'm Caleb.
And we're a couple of bros on a mission to give you guys the most detailed movie reviews
out there with as little bias as possible.
Welcome to the all bros.
This week on the podcast we got nothing for 4k spotlight.
Thank you coming from my wallet on that.
With through the wall we have some news that will relate to what we are talking with for
our headliner.
So we're excited to talk about that.
And then after that of course we'll be moving on to our headliner of the evening which
will be our breakdown of Black Adam.
Hell yeah.
So Caleb what do you say we get started?
I say let's do it.
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Alright so starting off with Through the Wall, this relates to Black Adam where should we
talk about the post credit scene for this movie with this or just talk about this news?
Yeah I was actually just thinking about that as we were playing the promo.
I am going to say this entire, so let's just start off and just say like this entire episode
is going to be full of spoilers.
So if you have not seen Black Adam, we recommend you go check this film out first.
Obviously it's probably been the worst kept secret ever of what this post credit scene
is but still we don't want to be the ones to ruin it for anyone so please stop listening
now and if you listen past this point and anything is spoiled for you, it's your own
freaking fault.
So I'll give you ten more seconds.
That's not really going to work because I crop out the silences remember.
Oh yeah that's true, oh yeah my bad sorry.
Okay so if you listen past this point.
Then it's all on you.
So for those that have seen Black Adam, there is one post credit scene and it is the return
of Henry Cavill's Superman confronting Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam.
And oh my gosh.
Exactly.
I like your troll 2 reference.
Holy shit.
Yeah.
He looked amazing.
He did.
Oh my gosh.
Dude they like, I don't even know how to explain what it is that they fixed about him.
It just like, it feels like they added more color.
Yeah they did.
His suit's not as dark.
But I'm cool with that.
Yeah same here.
Like he-
I like the more vibrant blue.
Yeah like everything's more vibrant.
Like the yellow is a lot more vibrant, the red.
Like his, even his hairstyle.
Like he has like, he's felt more Superman than I feel he's ever felt.
Yeah.
I absolutely agree.
And I freaking love it.
It was incredible to see him.
Like he had the classic freaking Superman swirl.
They played, they played the theme song dude.
Yes they did.
And it was great.
Oh my gosh.
Oh dude like, I freaking geeked out like no man's business.
And I'm so glad that my theater was empty.
Oh really?
You were the only one in there?
Yeah which is freaking bullshit but whatever.
That's sad.
Yeah.
Dude I felt so bad.
Caleb texted me like, oh hey is there anything after the Superman post credit scene?
I didn't text him back until like four hours later.
I'm like I hope you didn't sit through the rest of the credits.
Yeah I didn't.
I did a quick Google search and it was just like nope just one and I'm like alright cool.
Because I had to pee like a mother.
I kind of figured you did.
Yeah I'm looking at like someone who took like a quick snapshot of it, of the post credit
scene on their phone.
That's illegal.
I know.
But the S too.
Like his Superman logo.
Like it's even like stretched out a little bit more.
Like it doesn't feel like the S is super freaking fat.
Here I gotta look this up.
Yeah like I just put Superman cameo black Adam.
And like I might be wrong but I'm seeing like another picture of Superman in his classic
suit or like his Man of Steel suit and they look very different.
Yeah they do.
It's like just stretched out a little bit more.
Like it always kind of felt like the Man of Steel logo was just kind of scrunched up to
be restricted to his chest.
But this one it kind of like goes down further.
Like kind of below his pecs a bit.
So it feels a little bit more stretched out and it feels like it has more room.
It does.
Absolutely agree.
But it looks incredible dude.
It looks so freaking good.
Like I could not be happier.
No me neither.
But that's not really the news item that we're talking about.
Henry Cavill is actually coming back as Superman in a few new projects.
And I could not be happier about it.
I feel he always like he I feel he got gypped as Superman.
Oh he absolutely did.
Absolutely.
Yeah and it freaking sucks.
But yeah I think I don't know if he like I know he's signed on for a couple more cameos.
Like I know he's going to be in the Flash movie.
Oh he is?
Yes I'm pretty sure.
And I'm just trying to see if there's like any other.
Yeah I'm not seeing anything else about him being Superman.
Yeah nothing really.
Yeah nothing really set in stone like other than him just announcing that the actor says
his recent cameo is just the beginning.
So I'm assuming that just means eventually we're going to get more of him.
So okay hell yeah.
Yeah could not be freaking happier about that.
I love Henry Cavill's look.
I think he's an incredible actor.
He's the reason I actually started liking Superman because ever since I was a kid I
was never the biggest fan of Superman.
Just thought he was overpowered.
But for some reason after I saw Man of Steel I actually started to warm up to the character.
Yeah it's just be honestly my only issues with Superman has never been like the actor's
problem.
That's fair yeah.
Like even um what was his name Brandon Routh like from Superman Returns never had an issue
with his performance as Superman.
My issues always came with how he was written.
And I feel like he got like I said I think Henry Cavill got gypped.
So I mean that's where I feel I'm sitting with like Henry Cavill.
I can agree with that.
Yeah I think they'll do some good things.
I have some high hopes and then also with Dwayne Johnson behind them and kind of pushing
I have a hard time saying it pushing his agenda but pushing his like ideas into the DCEU and
like creating what he what he said like this new hierarchy and everything.
But he says that Superman needs to be like the staple of that.
And like oh I get it.
I am wondering though because if there might be a clash of like ideas because I don't know
if I'm where Dwayne Johnson wants to take the DC because they're just calling it the
DC universe now right.
It's not I think so anymore.
Yeah I have no idea what they're calling it now.
I'm still calling it the DCEU.
Fair enough.
I'm just wondering if there's going to be a clash of like ideas between Dwayne Johnson
and James Gunn and Peter what's his name?
Saffron.
Just because I feel that I don't know the way that I know James Gunn likes to do superhero
movies might be different of how Dwayne Johnson wants to take the DC universe in a different
direction so it's going to be very interesting.
This is a tough area.
Like you bring up a really interesting point.
James Gunn I think he excels at bringing good realism to characters that just are completely
out there.
Like with the Guardians of the Galaxy or the Suicide Squad like he brought in characters
that were just completely absurd made them somewhat cool.
Obviously he killed them off but like who would have ever thought that we would have
gotten a peacemaker TV show and one that's like wildly popular.
Yeah that's true.
Like if you would have told me.
Like the polka dot man would actually be cool.
Yeah right?
It's like shit like that.
I think that's where he excels.
Like he excels at bringing absurdity to the DC universe and Dwayne Johnson knows what
the fans want.
So I hope and pray that they're open to feedback from the others.
From what I can tell I mean obviously I don't know what he's like behind the scenes but
I feel like The Rock would be easy to deal with.
Like he seems like he's easy to get along with.
I've just heard that like a lot of people are very surprised that Dwayne Johnson hasn't
like reached out and like congratulated James Gunn and Peter Safran about their new titles
at DC.
Well it's like has it been like confirmed that he hasn't?
Fair but usually The Rock with that kind of stuff he's very vocal about that kind of
stuff.
He would have made it a big point to be like oh hey you know I just want to congratulate
James Gunn and Peter Safran for taking the reins on the DC.
You can't wait to see what they do.
I feel like he's more I don't know I think with something like that I think he's more
like behind the scenes like yeah like I think when it comes to like congratulating his friends
publicly I think he's really good about that.
I think with someone that he maybe doesn't know as well as James Gunn like I think that
be just kind of a private conversation maybe something that's not like publicly recognized.
Fair enough.
I don't know like I'd like to think that maybe he has said something but again I don't know
the man personally.
I don't either.
I mean he just seems like the type of person that would.
He just seems like such a genuine nice guy.
Yeah like he really does.
Just speaking of that real quick have you ever watched any episodes of The Young Rock?
No I've not.
That's actually a pretty decent show.
Is it as good as Young Sheldon?
Oh that's a toughie.
I'd actually say it's somewhere on the same level.
Like I love Young Sheldon but I mean I did not think that I was gonna like Young Rock
as much as I did.
And I'm super excited for the new season coming out.
Have you stayed up to date on Young Sheldon?
Yes.
Yes I have.
I've seen so many comments because you know how like Ian Armitage is going through puberty
and everything.
Yeah.
It's the best call.
It's just like damn his voice is lower than the freaking grown-up Sheldon is in The Big
Take Theory.
It totally is.
Dude I love that they've just started bringing into that world the comic book shirts.
Oh they have?
Yeah like the end of the last season they close off with him opening up the flash shirt.
Oh hell yeah dude that's awesome.
And you see him actually put it on and it's just the classic red flash shirt with blue
sleeves I think.
Dude that's so cool.
It is so cool and then they've started like incorporating that a little bit more into
his wardrobe.
Like it's a slow transition but he still mostly wears just like button-up shirts?
Yeah for the most part but like I said slow transition like he's wearing a little bit
more NASA stuff.
He's wearing like the flash shirt.
Like it's good.
It's really good.
Okay sweet I'm like a season behind I need to catch up.
Yeah dude last season was freaking nuts.
Like the last half was crazy.
That's what I've heard.
Oh but yeah.
So anyway getting back on topic we don't know the full extent of what Henry Cavill has signed
on to do other than the cameo for Black Adam and I believe a cameo for The Flash.
If it's not if he doesn't have one in The Flash I'm pretty sure it's for Aquaman.
It's like for one of those two.
So whatever ends up happening with that like I'm very excited for the future of the DC
Universe.
This spoiler alert this movie has reignited my love for like the DC Universe.
I'm sorry to say I wouldn't go that far but it comes close.
That's what's going to make this breakdown interesting.
Yeah.
Well with talking about that what do you say we just get into our headliner then?
I say let's freaking do it.
Alright so like we said for this week's headliner we will be breaking down the new DCU or DCU
whatever you want to call it.
Film Black Adam.
So Caleb do you want to let people know how we break down movies on this podcast?
I would love to.
If you are new to our breakdown system we have split movies into eight different categories
that we individually score to come to a final Albrows letter grade.
The eight categories that we score are story, writing, acting, character development, effects,
music, costumes, and then we give it our own personal score at the very end.
All of those numbers get magically added up and thrown into our algorithm that spits out
a letter grade to compare this movie to others of a similar grade and then it gives us a
percentage to figure out what our ranking of these movies would be.
Like down to like a thousandth.
So it's some tight margins over on the Albrows podcast.
So with that again if you have not seen Black Adam and somehow made it through our new segment
without receiving any spoilers there's going to be more spoilers up ahead.
So if you listen past this point and anything is spoiled for you it is your own fault.
So Rose is about to read off the entire synopsis for the movie so you have been properly warned.
Superman dies.
There you go.
That's what happened.
One of these days you're going to actually say what the spoiler is.
I know right.
We lied there actually was an end credit scene.
It wasn't just a post credit scene.
Yeah the end credit scene is Superman dies.
Yeah the mid credit scene is Superman saying Black Adam we need to talk and then the end
credit scene is Superman getting his head ripped off.
Yep.
Cut.
Print.
Alright in 2600 BC the tyrannical king of Condoc.
Condoc I always screw up this name.
Isn't it Condoc?
Is that how I say it in the movie?
Hold on I need to look at how it's spelled.
Yeah Condoc.
Okay so in 2600 BC the tyrannical king of Condoc Octon creates the crown of Sub-Och
which gives the were great power.
After attempting to stage a revolt a young slave boy is given the powers of Shazam by
the council of wizards transforming him into Condoc's heroic champion who kills Octon
and ends his reign.
In the present day Condoc is oppressed by the inter gang.
Archaeologist and resistance fighter Adriana Tomas tries to locate the crown of Sub-Och
with the help of her brother Karim and their colleagues Samir and Ishmael.
Is it Ishmael or Ishmael?
Ishmael.
It is Ishmael thank you.
Yeah at least that's how I remember them pronouncing it.
Okay as Adriana obtains the crown inter gang ambushes them and Samir is killed.
Adriana reads an incantation that awakens Teath Adam whom she believes to be Condoc's
champion from a slumber.
Adam slaughters most of the inter gang troops.
US government official Amanda Waller deems Adam a threat in context of justice society.
Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Cyclone, and Adam Smasher to take him into custody.
The justice society arrives in time to stop Adam from causing further destruction to Condoc
and inter gang's troops before explaining to Adriana that Adam was not a savior who
was entombed but a madman who was imprisoned.
Ishmael reveals himself as the leader of inter gang in Condoc and chases Adriana's teenage
son Amon who has stolen the crown.
Adam, Adriana, and the justice society intend to use the crown to trade for Amon.
They reach Ishmael who reveals that he is the last descendant of King Octon and wanting
his rightful place on the throne demands the crown which Adriana willingly gives to save
Amon's life.
Ishmael betrays his part of the deal and shoots at Amon and Adam trying to save Amon loses
control and destroys the hideout with his power killing Ishmael and wounding Amon.
Guilt ridden, Adam flees to the ruins of Octon's palace where he reveals to Hawkman that the
legends of Condoc's champion were told incorrectly.
It was Adam's son Harut who was granted the powers of Shazam and became Condoc's champion.
Knowing that Harut was invincible, Octon's assassins were instructed to execute Harut's
family including Adam and Harut's mother.
Harut gave Adam his powers to save his life and Octon's assassins immediately killed the
depowered Harut.
An enraged Adam slaughtered all of the king's men and inadvertently destroyed Condoc's palace.
He was subsequently deemed unworthy by the council of wizards and in the resulting scuffle
Adam killed them all except Shazam who imprisoned him along with the crown of Sabacc within what
would become Adam's tomb.
Feeling incapable of becoming a true hero, Adam surrenders.
The Justice Society takes him to a secret task force ex-black site where fate has a
premonition of Hawkman's impending death.
As the Justice Society returns to the city they realize Ishmael intentionally made Adam
kill him while he was wearing the crown of Sabacc having shot at Amon so that he could
be damned to hell and reborn as the champion of the six demons of Sabacc arising from the
underworld to claim his throne and the power held within.
Sabacc summons the legions of hell to terrorize Condoc but Amon, Adriana, and Kareem rally
the people to repel them.
The Justice Society prepares to face Sabacc in Octon's ruins but fate creates a magical
force field that prevents Hawkman, Cyclone, and Smasher from entering.
He reveals that Hawkman's death can be avoided with his own sacrifice.
Fate fights Sabacc alone and uses an astral projection to release Adam after talking to
him in his cryo-sleep.
Sabacc then kills fate causing the force field to disappear and allowing the others to fight.
Justice Sabacc is about to kill the Justice Society.
Adam arrives and engages him.
With aid from Hawkman using fate's helmet, Adam kills Sabacc.
The Justice Society departs on good terms with Adam who accepts his new role as the
protector of Condoc and adopts a new name, Black Adam.
In a mid-credit scene, Waller communicates with Adam and warns him against leaving Condoc
before he arrives and suggests that they should talk.
Hell yeah.
Alright, just kicking it straight off with story.
There were a lot of changes from Black Adam's original comic book origin.
He's had a couple different origin stories and this was different from both of them and
I think this was different in the best possible way.
So I have to ask with that, was the whole like Condoc thing, like his son actually being
like the real Black Adam but he gave his powers to his dad, all that stuff, is that in the
comic?
Uh, no, none of that is in the comic.
He was actually just like, just a straight up villain.
Okay, so in this one they made him more like an anti-hero.
Yes.
So in the comics he is just the straight up, like he kind of has the Doctor Doom vibe,
like how Doctor Doom is like the ruler of Lapveria.
It's the same thing, Black Adam is like the ruler of Condoc, like in the comic.
And he just kind of rules with an iron fist and whatever, like he's the protector of Condoc
and he's more, he kind of leans more towards like Venom, in a way.
Like it.
Not gonna lie, I would have actually loved to see that, but that might have, and this
is nothing against the Rock's acting abilities, it might have been hard for me to take the
Rock seriously if he was like having to be that kind of, in that kind of role.
Yeah, that's where I disagree with you.
I think the origin that they gave him is like way more interesting.
Yeah, okay.
It gave him like purpose, I feel.
I don't know, it's just someone who, it's like his son like bestowed the powers, like
wasn't giving the powers to his dad.
He was like utilizing the powers that it gives to, I would say to like quick heal his dad,
and then I assumed that they were just gonna give like the powers back.
Like it was just gonna be a quick one for one, like swap.
Because Adam was like on the verge of death, and then Harut gave him like the powers to
heal him, and then I just assumed he was gonna give the powers back, but unfortunately Harut
was shot with the arrow.
Yeah.
Which damn, talk about going out in a gruesome way.
Yeah, it was extremely gruesome.
Or just heartbreaking too for everyone.
And one thing that I don't think I'm gonna be able to bring up later, the Shazam version
of Harut was actually played by the actor that is playing the 20s, like the 20 year
old Rock in the TV show.
Oh, that's cool.
Right?
Yeah, that's awesome.
I thought that was like the coolest shit.
But yeah, it's just, I think they gave him like a super interesting background, but I
feel like they spoiled it.
Like how much of the trailers did you see?
So, I saw both trailers.
I only remember seeing the first trailer like maybe like two times, so like I don't have
any recollection of that trailer.
But the second one I did see like five times, so I had a decent recollection of that one.
Okay, because they straight up spoil the reveal of him not being like the original Adam.
Oh, they do?
Yeah, like they say my son sacrificed himself to save me.
And like they never revealed that.
Like I thought for the longest time, like when Harut was, like I knew damn well that
the guy that he was talking to was the Rock.
Like at the beginning I was just like, okay, so how does he get the power?
Like because eventually he's going to, but then they're just like, oh, Harut is the one
that disappeared.
And I'm just like, well, that doesn't make sense.
Like he was just talking to the Rock.
Like and if you want to tell me that that's not the Rock, like you're out of your freaking
mind.
It freaking sounds like him too.
So like I had a real hard time just like buying into that and just, but I think the way that
they took the story where Harut was the original Adam or I don't even want to say Adam, like
the, well.
The original champion?
Yeah.
Where Harut was the original champion and then just gave the powers to his father to
like save him.
I think that was a really interesting turn.
Yeah, I can agree with that.
And like, did you, did you get like, assume that that was the case too?
Like did you know that Harut, that that wasn't Harut?
No.
See, this is why you're like so better at picking up on this shit than I am.
Cause like I didn't even notice that the guy that he was talking to, the kid that was talking
to, I didn't realize that the guy the kid was talking to at the top of the rock was
the rock, was black Adam.
I didn't realize that that was doing Johnson for some reason.
Yeah.
I figured as like, as soon as I heard him talk, I'm like, okay, so that's the rock.
He's eventually going to get the power.
Like how is this going to happen?
And so that kind of like spoiled it for me.
Cause I also remembered the trailers too, where I was just like, okay, where's the sacrifice
from his son?
Like his son, cause they're, they kept saying like, oh, his son disappeared.
His son disappeared.
And I'm just like, wait, what the hell?
So that was, that was confusing the hell out of me.
But I think, I think overall, like they, they pulled the, like that whole backstory off
pretty well.
And I really like the, the conundrum that they were bringing where they were saying
that he wasn't really, or he didn't want to like market himself as a hero.
Yeah.
I did like that as well.
What did you though feel about like that?
I'm like not mentioning, uh, well wait, no.
Like did, oh my God, I'm sorry.
Um, how did you feel about them?
Like not mentioning like Billy, uh, oh my God, Shazam's.
Oh, Billy Batson.
Billy Batson.
How did you feel about them?
Not mentioning him at all?
I don't know.
Yeah, I feel the same way.
They didn't like, okay, that is like a really good question.
Because it's like, they didn't really have an opportunity to, like they didn't have like
a good reason, I feel, to bring him up.
Yeah.
Fair enough.
I feel like they did still talk about Shazam.
So well, technically, but that's just because that's the word he uses to transform.
That's yeah, that's true.
So I feel like that's not technically like, I don't count that as a Shazam reference.
Fair.
Because that's like something that, uh, I mean, Black Adam's always had to say Shazam
to transform.
Like it's never been anything different.
Just imagine if it was like Adam Black or some shit like that.
Oh, that would have been so dumb.
That's the only thing that I could think of.
Oh, yeah.
But I think they did a really good job with like how they, they paced the story and like
the way that they kept throwing in the, uh, the origin.
No, I can agree with you.
Yeah.
Like if, I think they just alluded to it maybe a little too much where it did, where like,
yes, when we finally did get to see the entirety of the origin, it was like really satisfying,
but it just kind of like felt like we got blue balled a little bit throughout.
Dude, straight up.
Like here we go.
Now we're going to get the explanation and then no.
It's just like, come on.
So I thought that was really interesting.
Trying to think of like any other, like, oh, what'd you think of like the, the JSA portion
of it?
I really liked that.
Um, I w I do feel that, um, Adam Smasher and, uh, oh my God, what was her name?
Cyclone.
I feel like out of the Justice Society, they were definitely pushed to the side.
Um, I feel it was definitely Dr. Faye and Hawkman.
Uh, they got the, uh, most love.
Um, but I, I feel it worked.
Um, I loved Hawkman.
Um, dude, he was so cool.
They like, Hawkman doesn't get enough love.
He always gets shit on and I hate it.
He's such a great character.
Um, and I'm really glad that he, he, he got a great representation in this movie, even
though I hated how much he got his ass handed to him by Black Adam.
Okay.
That makes sense though, because Hawkman's never been able to go up against Black Adam
or other heroes like Superman.
Like his, his like endurance or just ability to take a beating has always been like incredible.
So he can take a beating from them.
He just can't dish it out.
And I think that just showed.
Yeah, you know, fair enough.
So I can kind of forgive that stuff, but yeah, like the way that the, like even Adam Smasher
like pointed out, he's just like, dang, Hawkman just doesn't quit.
So I really, really liked that part, but dude, his, I think his mask was a little cheesy.
Like this, that's just getting into costumes.
I'm spoiling it.
Nevermind.
Spoiler though, I absolutely agree with you.
We're talking about Adam Smasher here, right?
Oh no, I have thoughts about Adam Smasher.
Okay.
Um, but no, I was talking about, uh, Hawkman's mask.
Oh, I strongly disagree.
We'll get into it.
Um, but yeah, just sticking with like the story, I feel you kind of hit it right on
the head.
I feel like, cause after you saw the movie, I asked you what you would compare it to.
And you said you compare it most to like Ant-Man and the Wasp.
And I absolutely agree with you there in more ways than one.
Yes.
I am not going to remember Sabacc.
Yeah.
Like, and that's kind of the, was the thing with the Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Like I can't even remember the, like, I know Ghost was in there, but there was like some
other like bad guy in that, that was like trying to steal tech or whatever.
That was kind of like going after Ant-Man and it just meh.
Like, I can't remember that villain for shit.
And I'm pretty sure I'm going to feel the same way about Sabacc.
The only reason I know him by name now is just because I saw it yesterday.
Yeah.
And you read it.
I was going to say because I read it so many damn times.
Yeah.
So I think that's what's keeping it fresh in my mind.
Fair enough.
I'm going to completely forget all that stuff.
I will, like, don't get me wrong.
I'll remember all the cool stuff.
Like I'll remember all the JSA stuff, all the interesting conversations that Dr. Fate
had with Adam, the interesting conversations or fights of morality between Hawkeye, or
not Hawkeye.
Hawkeye.
Yeah.
But Hawkeye, and Adam as well, like that whole backstory that they did.
Like I'll remember all that.
But I'm pretty sure I'm not going to remember Sabacc.
Hey, we all know that even though Hawkeye couldn't take Black Adam, Hawkeye could totally
take Black Adam.
He'd kick Black Adam's ass.
Like is that during the coma that Black Adam would put him in or?
I don't know what you're talking about, man.
You are living in a fever dream.
If you think Hawkeye has even the slightest chance against someone like Black Adam.
That's like putting Hawkeye against Silver Surfer.
Like absolutely zero shot.
Oh shit.
But yeah, overall I feel like the pacing was pretty good.
My only issues are technically in writing and that's just because the villain was a
little bleh.
Yeah, no, I would agree.
But everything else was like really well done.
Yeah.
So where are you sitting with the story?
I'll go a solid 80.
That's not bad.
It's a lot higher than I thought you were going to give it.
I'm actually a little higher than you.
I'm actually sitting at like an 85.
I think the story overall was pretty above average.
Nothing too, I think like the biggest downfall is the main villain with Sabacc.
I think Sabacc definitely had like potential but I think he needed to be a bigger part.
I think he should have come into play like earlier on.
Yeah, no, I absolutely agree.
So I'm going to give it an 85.
Moving on over to writing.
When Adam was being like a badass, he was written like a badass.
Yes.
It wasn't until he started talking to Ammon and having to come up with a catchphrase that
he kind of got ruined for me.
Yeah, I have to agree.
How did you feel about the whole situation at the end where he goes to sit on the throne
and they make such a big deal out of it and all of a sudden he's just like it doesn't
feel right and then he freaking just breaks it?
That was purely to get the iconic Black Adam pose.
Yeah.
That is all that was.
I knew he wasn't going to.
The way that they just kind of like...
They held on it too long.
Fair enough.
I think that it had the potential to be cool and I think he should have just smashed...
Actually, I don't even think he should have flown up to smash it.
I think he should have just stood back up and then zapped it.
Yeah, that would have been cooler.
I'm not going to lie.
Yeah, but the way that he flies up and then smashes down just felt a little overkill and
a little overdramatic.
You're just like, I see what you're trying to do here, but it feels a little out of place.
Yeah.
If he...
I don't know.
That's one of the things that he should have just been like, no, and then maybe made a...
I wouldn't say a throne or whatever, but he should have made himself a seat to overlook
Condoc and then had the iconic...
Then end on that pose.
Yeah, see, there we go.
But obviously, like I said, not do the throne thing where it's like he's ruling, but just
have him with a seat.
Or maybe break the seat off and move it somewhere else so he could sit and overlook Condoc.
I think that would have come off a little bit better.
Just something else.
Just smashing it is just like, okay, now what?
You're just going to stand everywhere you go?
Oh, dude, seriously though, straight up.
Yeah, super cheesy.
I will say this, the catchphrase that he ultimately ends up going with and saying, tell him the
man in black sent you, or it's just bullshit like that.
I looked it up to see where that came from, and that is a thing that he says in the comments.
Oh, good Lord.
I know, I hated it too.
I was just like, gross.
That did not translate well at all.
Not even a little bit.
But I will say this, the rest of the stuff that he had when he wasn't doing stupid catchphrases
and whatnot was pretty well done.
I liked when he was searching for Ammon in the bikes, and the last bike he rips open
and he's not in there, and he grabs the dude and just fricking throws him, and then Dr.
Fate comes and is like, hey, where's this guy?
Did he survive?
We can break into his mind, and he just has that moment of like, oh shit.
It pans over a little bit, and you just see the guy fall and hit the ground, and he's
like, he didn't make it.
That was easily the best joke in the movie.
There was a lot of them.
Yeah, I absolutely agree.
How did you feel about the whole, what the hell was the kid's name again?
Ammon.
Ammon, like how he was really pushing to make sure that Condoc had a protector and all that
kind of stuff.
How did you feel about how that was written?
I didn't hate it.
At least in the moment I think I did.
But I think Adam just kind of like always saying like, oh, I'm not a hero, I'm not a
hero.
That was his issue, was saying that he wasn't one.
And it's because of the whole morality thing where he kills people.
I think that was like the biggest struggle with him, like knowing that violence kind
of sometimes answers all your problems.
I think he struggled with that a lot, and that made for some interesting storytelling.
But yeah, I think everything else was, I don't know, maybe I think it made sense.
Like it made sense because it's like pushing Adam to be more like his son, who he looked
up to.
And so I think that has an interesting take to it.
That's fair.
And maybe like, you can also like, again, like, after having seen the movie and like
knowing all this backstory behind him, I think you can understand his hesitation, like knowing
that he's never going to live up to who his son was.
And it just kind of brings up that whole like, maybe not the hero they want, but the hero
they need.
I don't know.
Black Adam's tough, dude, because it's like he's not really a true hero.
But it's also, they did a really good job.
Like, this is exactly what I want from like a villain, like, quote unquote villain movie,
where you make the heroes look like the assholes.
Yes, I absolutely agree.
Like if they did anything correct, it was that.
I was not rooting for the JSA at all.
Like when they showed up and like, Hawkman started like, freaking preaching his whole
like, we don't like heroes don't kill bullshit.
I'm like, get out of here.
Like I was exactly with the freaking civilians.
Like when he saved those people and they started booing him, I'm just like, yeah, straight
up, dude.
Like these people will face due justice and then freaking Adam blasts the hell out of
them.
Like it is again, another like super interesting discussion that you can have like the morality
behind killing.
It's true.
It's like, who's really the bad guy?
Like the freaking superhero that saves the asshole or the villain that kills the person
that's causing damage to people.
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right.
Like there is kind of like, it's just interesting there.
I think there's a fine line between that because it's like you, you don't want to like just
start killing people off left and right because like you kind of want the police to do their
job.
Yeah.
Like you kind of want there to be processed, but it's like, again, it's a super fine line
to walk.
And I think Hawkman brought that up like a decent amount.
It's just like, if we like just bringing that up, like that exact point, where's the line?
Yeah.
Because like you couldn't push it too far one way or the other because it's like, okay,
you still need to like protect these people like in a vigilante sense, but then ethically
like you're kind of playing God if you're killing.
And it's like, okay, and then who decides or how do you decide who lives and who dies?
And it's a tough line.
It is a very tough line.
Yeah, no, no, you're absolutely right.
But I think that they chose like with inner gang being the big bad, like the threat that
needed to be stopped.
I think that was kind of the perfect line because I think if he just started attacking
like government people, like that would have been like a little shady.
Yeah, fair enough.
Like I think even like a corrupt government I think would have been a little on the like
side.
So I think like these people that came in and are enforcing these rules and like not
allowing this country to live in peace and freedom.
Perfect villain, like, and like made me totally okay with all the killing that Black Adam
was doing.
Like, okay, I got you, boy, I got you.
I can get behind this.
Yeah.
Like, it's these people that are like enforcing these really harsh rules on these people instead
of allowing them to like live peacefully and like do their own thing, like putting curfews
and whatnot on that.
Like, again, totally get it.
The fact that like the one guy literally asked tells a kid to get in line for a security
check when he's on a frickin skateboard.
Are you freaking kidding me, dude?
Yeah, like what a dick.
Yeah.
But I think that's my writing score I think is a little higher than my story.
And it's solely because of the great like moral and ethical questions that can come
up through this.
And I'm definitely going to be docking for the cheesy like catchphrases bullshit that
they tried doing.
Other than that, I didn't hate a lot of what they wrote.
I think maybe another thing that I might dock for the whole like cyclone, Adam Smasher love
connection, felt really out of place here.
Yeah, yeah, I can definitely agree with that.
I really liked the friendship though between Dr. Fate and Hawkman.
I really liked that.
Yeah, dude, that was great.
Like you really felt like the emotional impact on Dr. Fate's death and it was all because
of how Hawkman was reacting.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
So where are you sitting with writing?
I'm the same with you with how you said that the way that they approach some things and
gave more detail into why the agenda with com...
Oh my god, I'm going to butcher the freaking name.
Comron?
Do you remember that name?
What is it called?
Comron?
Are you talking about a person or the city?
Condoc.
I'm saying comron.
That's not even freaking close.
I know, I was like, who the hell is comron?
I would say that the writing is slightly better than the story.
So I'm going to go...
I'm going to just go slightly above.
I'm going to go an 81.
Yeah I'm going higher than my story score by a couple.
I'm thinking I'm going to be at like an 87.
Okay.
All right, moving on over to acting and the main people that we have in this.
We have Dwayne Johnson, who of course played Black Adam, or as he was known through this
for a majority of it, Teth Adam.
We have Aldous Hodge, who played Hawkman.
Pierce Brosnan, who played Dr. Fate.
Noah Centineo, who played Adam Smasher.
Quintessa Swindell, who played Cyclone.
Sarah Shahee, who played Adriana Tomaz.
And then we got Bodhi Sabangui, who played Aman Tomaz.
Let's see, Mohamed Amir, who played Kareem.
James Kusati Moyer, who played Samir.
And then I think that's it.
Oh, almost forgot the bad guy.
Marwan Kanzari, who played Ishmael, King Akhtan, and Sabak.
So yeah.
This is going to be an interesting one.
Yes, it is.
Do we want to do top three or should we do five?
It's up to you.
I'll let you decide.
I'm leaning more towards...
I feel like our top three is going to include the same people, so I kind of want to do top
five.
Okay.
That sounds good to me.
All right, so let's start off with our number fives.
Okay.
Sorry, Kiba.
No, I think I'm going to go with Cyclone for my number five.
I'm the same.
Dude, her powers were so cool.
They were.
They were freaking awesome.
They looked absolutely stunning, which we'll get into with effects, but the way that she
was dancing...
Yeah.
It looked so cool.
Yeah.
It was freaking badass.
And I feel like maybe she could have been considered a little bit on the bland side,
but I thought the way that she was really smart and really tech savvy and everything
was really well done.
No, I absolutely agree.
It kind of just made her feel like, okay, this is why some JSA alumni like Hawkman and
Dr. Fate would allow Cyclone to be included in this group.
Yeah.
Like they said, Cyclone and Adam Smasher are the nail and the hammer respectively.
Yep.
And with Cyclone being the nail, she's very direct, but I think she also has some really
solid skill sets outside of her abilities that would be useful to the team.
Adam Smasher, not so much.
Anything else you want to say about the actress?
No, she was great.
She was fantastic.
What's your number four?
Four?
I would actually give to Noah Centineo, Adam Smasher.
We did not make my number four.
Okay.
What was your number four?
My number four, I would actually give to Sarah Shahee, who played Adriana Tomas.
Okay.
I think she made very interesting arguments about...
Obviously, she kind of had an Indiana Jones vibe with her archeological background.
I think that's the right word.
Sounds right to me.
Yeah.
And then she was just kind of giving it to Hawkman when it came to his feelings about
Black Adam and pointing out...
You allowed the inner gang to come into this country and basically take over without so
much as visiting us.
And now all of a sudden, we have a hero of our own or a protector of our own, and then
suddenly you're all interested in what goes on here.
Yes, not wrong.
I was just calling them out on their shit.
Like exactly.
I was just like, yeah, freaking call them out on their shit.
That is an absolute load of crap.
So I loved the freaking sass that she was giving Hawkman.
And just like her whole story, you completely understood why she was the way she was with
all that.
Oh yeah, totally.
So explain your Adam Smasher choice.
I really liked his performance.
I had a fun time watching him.
He's definitely the comic relief character of the Justice Society, but I didn't mind
that.
I just had a good time watching him.
I feel I had more...
Don't get me wrong, I really liked Quintessa's Cyclone, but I feel I just had a little more
enjoyment watching Noah as Adam Smasher.
That's fair.
I think the reason he didn't make my top five was because he was maybe too funny.
Okay.
Or too played for laughs.
Yeah, I can understand that.
Yeah, but I mean, I really liked that actor.
Yeah, oh yeah.
If they wanted to bring him back, I would not be upset about it whatsoever.
I think just in this, I think he has a place within the DC universe just not quite here.
Okay, that's fair.
Alright, next up, who would be your number three?
This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I'd actually give it to Dwayne Johnson.
Dude, me too!
Seriously?
Oh yes, I love it.
Oh man.
We are just one, aren't we?
Dude, I freaking love him, but he plays the same character in everything that he does.
Yes, yes, yes he does.
Okay, did this fit for Black Adam?
Absolutely.
It's so hard to separate, I think it's damn near impossible now, but I don't know if you
can separate Black Adam from The Rock.
Other than The Rock actually smiles every once in a while and Black Adam just smirks.
I think that's the most that he's done.
The Rock has such a big personality and it is so hard to hide.
It really is, yeah.
So it's hard to say that he has the acting capability to hide.
Yeah.
I will say this, I do think he got it spot on with making Adam as sympathetic as he needed
to.
Yeah, I can agree with that.
So yeah, what are your thoughts on him?
No, honestly.
I like freaking overrode you.
No you're good, like honestly, freaking all I saw with him, a lot of it was just, have
you seen Hobbs and Shaw?
Oh my gosh, yes.
Yeah I really just saw, because in that his character is very grungy, brutal, doesn't
really smile a lot, yeah that's literally just what I saw here with.
But it's him with superpowers now.
Oh my gosh dude, you are so right.
That sucks to say because you could tell through everything that he's been able to push for
Black Adam that he really loves this character.
Oh yeah, absolutely.
And I mean even going as far as like, he just loves the DC universe in general and you can
totally feel that.
And like, I mean obviously he voiced Crypto, he voices Black Adam, he voiced Black Adam's
dog.
That's awesome.
Like come on, you can't say that he doesn't like the DC universe at all.
Like it shows.
And it's hard not to have some appreciation for that love.
No, I absolutely agree.
So yeah, I loved him, but I think he just got outshined a little bit.
Yes, I agree.
I will say this, the margin between, I knew our top three were going to be like, happily
with the same people, unless you freaking hit me with a wild card.
I doubt it.
Yeah, but gosh, I thought you were going to put him higher.
I thought I was going to be the one with the unpopular opinion.
No, man.
Alright, who would you put for your number two?
I feel this is probably where we're going to differ.
Number two, I would give to Pierce Brosnan's Dr. Fate.
That is where we differ.
Yep.
I had a feeling.
Danganronpa, I loved him.
He was fantastic.
Literally every superhero in this movie, I knew jack shit about.
So I love being able to see these new characters.
So I knew nothing about Dr. Fate, but the performance that Pierce Brosnan gives as the
character is amazing, it's fantastic, it's very, very emotional at the ending between
him and Hawkman, which I absolutely love.
Both of these actors played it off so well.
Yeah, nothing but great things to say about his performance.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I have nothing bad to say about him because he was my number one.
So I'm assuming your number two is probably my number one.
Yeah.
And honestly, like I said, tight margins, tight, tight, tight margins.
The reason that I loved Pierce Brosnan so much was because he played someone that had
a haunting secret so well, but also had just like a certain class about him.
Yeah.
That is just, I feel it's hard to obtain.
And like, I don't think they could have cast anyone better than Pierce Brosnan.
Oh, I absolutely agree.
For a character like Dr. Fate.
Absolutely agree.
And I think the way that he fought, I will say this, because like the MCU equivalent
to Dr. Fate is obviously Dr. Strange, right?
I think that's something we can all agree on.
Absolutely.
It feels like Dr. Strange has to put forth so much more effort for his magic than Dr.
Fate does.
And I think that works out in Dr. Fate's favor.
Yeah, you know what?
I would agree.
I would absolutely agree.
Like dude, I was getting ner- like I found myself getting nervous about the shit that
Dr. Fate was going to do, because I was just so under that mindset that Dr. Strange has
to do all this like cra- like I don't think Dr. Strange would have had the time to pull
stuff off that Dr. Fate did.
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right.
Like no joke, like I think Amon would have been fried if Dr. Strange had to save him.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
But yeah, I've always kind of been really a partial to Dr. Fate in general.
Like he's one of my favorite like mystical heroes in all of like comic book.
Like I've always loved him.
Like Dr. Strange probably doesn't crack my top five favorite mystical beings.
Really?
Yeah, like I like- like honestly, I think my top three are all DC characters.
Okay.
Like I'm talking like magic users.
Yeah.
Yeah, my number one has always been Dr. Fate.
My number two I'd probably give to John Constantine.
My number three I'd probably give to Zatanna.
And then honestly, I think Dr. Strange used to be my number four until Wong came along.
You know what, fair enough.
And so yeah, my number four would be Wong and then number five might be Dr. Strange.
Alright, fair enough.
So yeah, so Dr. Fate's always been like a fan favorite of mine.
So I just feel he was cast perfectly.
But just getting into my number two and your number one, Aldous Hodge.
Holy crap, dude.
I freaking love him.
Right, oh my god.
He was amazing.
Dude, he- nothing but good to say about him too.
He pulled off like the badass Boy Scout so well.
He did, like oh my gosh, I loved it so much.
And he also just had a sense of class and style about him as well that just stuck.
His weaponry was off the hook.
Like the freaking mace that turned into an axe that was also like a shield, like dude.
Dude, so cool.
I freaking loved what they did with Hawkman in this.
Like Hawkman's always kind of been, for me, a little character.
It's always the Hawk characters that get the short end of the staff.
Okay, well don't get me wrong, Hawkman's cool.
I've always thought he was cool, but it's just maybe he's never really cracked my top
list.
If that's fair.
Like even with like the full Justice League.
Like the old animated Justice League show.
Like I was never the biggest fan of Hawkman.
And it's not necessarily because he would- like he just kind of had a douchey vibe about
him.
Like I don't know if you like watch that show at all or remember him.
I only watched like a couple episodes, but I do remember him being, yeah, he was quite
a douche.
Yeah, like he's always kind of been that way to me.
But Aldous Hodge, dude, he did freaking great.
Oh my god, he's so good, so good.
And honestly, I think I would have, I know that they were not going to recast him, but
I think he would have made an excellent replacement, Black Panther.
Yeah, you know, I could see that.
Yeah, I would have loved to see that happen.
But unfortunately, we're probably not going to.
And honestly, it's probably for the better, you know, just out of respect.
Yeah.
Dude, I will say this, I do wish, and this is nothing against his acting, this is just
something maybe the movie didn't explore super well, which I don't think they should have.
Like I think it's fine that they didn't give us the background on Hawkman, because obviously
it wasn't his movie.
So like I said, totally fine that they didn't do this.
But a little bit bummed.
I hope we eventually get to see it.
Like I hope this version of Hawkman gets his own movie.
But I would love to see a little bit more about Hawkman's origins.
Oh, I would love that so much.
So do you know the whole like the story between Hawkman and Hawk Girl?
I don't actually.
So I believe Hawk Girl was like ancient royalty, right?
Oh, okay.
And I think Hawkman was either like a guard or just some sort of like peasant that she
fell in love with, and their love was cursed for some reason.
Like I'm probably butchering this, this tale, but their love was cursed.
And so they were only able to like be together for a short period of time before one of them
died.
But that's like part of the curse because each time they die, they're both reincarnated.
And they have to like start the whole cycle again until they find each other.
And then once they find each other, eventually one of them is going to die.
And it's like it could be like one of them, it could be both of like whatever the situation
may be, they can never be together for too long before the other one dies.
And it's always like right after they fall in love.
Interesting.
And then they, from what I recall, I think they retain their memories or they're able
to like remember certain things.
Like I don't know, like the only reference I have for this was from the Legends of Tomorrow
TV show where Hawk Girl did not have her memories for a few episodes.
And then when she finally like obtained them and then realized, oh, like I love Hawkman,
that's when Hawkman died.
Oh, that's just the kicker.
Yeah.
So I would love for them to explore that.
Like I think that'd be so cool.
Like, and again, I would love to see like a Hawkman interact with like a new Dr. Fate.
That'd be badass.
Or even like an original, like if they were to do that whole like traveling through ancient
times situation, because Hawkman and Dr. Fate both have ties to Egyptian.
Like they have Egyptian roots.
So I think that would be a really interesting thing to just play off of, like if they gave
them like a team up movie or something.
But anyway, just getting back to Aldous Hodge's performance.
He did something that I think is really difficult to do and is playing off that whole Boy Scout
while being badass at the same time.
Yeah, I would agree.
Like I think that's really hard because it's like if you get a Boy Scout, he's usually
pretty boring.
It's kind of like Cyclops.
Yeah.
Like he just sticks to his morals too hard and it's just like, okay, like.
We get it.
Yeah.
Like this one, like it felt like Hawkman could do some could do some shit.
But again, loved his performance, like absolutely blew me away and actually made Hawkman someone
I would love to see in the Justice League.
Hell yeah.
Like he gave such like good personality to a character that I could give two shits about.
Like prior to this.
Yeah.
So what are you thinking for acting?
I'd say I'm like the mid to high 80s.
So I'll go on 86.
I'm actually cracking the 90s on this one.
Okay.
Not very much though.
I'm not going like too deep into the 90s.
I'm sitting like maybe a solid 91.
That's fair.
Yeah, I think they they did a decent enough job to earn that.
All right.
Next up we got character development, which obviously we do on Black Adam.
Yes.
What did you think about this?
Overall, I thought it was decent.
Like I said, I don't know.
I knew jack shit about Black Adam.
I'd never read any of the comics.
Absolutely nothing.
So discovering just because I don't remember them, like I didn't pick up on them, like
spoiling the kind of a twist in the trailers that turns out that the kid that we're focusing
on in the flashbacks is not actually Black Adam or the Rock.
It's actually his son.
And so, you know, seeing how good of a person his son was and then how his father looked
up to him.
And because of this, he saves his father.
You know, that's how he gets the powers of Black Adam, but he doesn't consider himself
a hero.
And just just watching his transition to to realizing that, oh, you know, hey, maybe actually
I can do some good.
Maybe I can actually be the protector of Condoc.
I thought it was a decent character arc.
And I mean, I have nothing to be angry about with them like changing.
Oh my God.
I care the characters origin story like Caleb mentioned that they did change some stuff
just because I've never read anything on Black Adam.
So if you would have told me this is how the comics were, I would have believed you.
Like I said, I don't have like a super deep like history on Black Adam.
The only thing that I've gotten off of him is what I've heard in the the dynamic duel
podcast, which if you haven't listened to that, definitely go check that out.
They do a really good job of giving you like a quick history of the characters.
And they try to keep it like on on topic when it comes to like characters coming to theaters.
OK, our characters related to movies.
So I think they just recently did one with Black Adam.
But they did like a big old deep dive with him and it was great learning about that.
And they actually review this movie and I haven't listened to that yet.
So I'm excited to.
I try not to if we're breaking down the same movie, I try not to listen to theirs before
I do ours.
That's fair.
I can understand where you're coming from with that.
Yeah.
But what am I getting at?
Yeah, I think.
I think maybe the way that they incorporated or explored the idea of.
Maybe his acceptance of not being a hero, but rather being a.
Just a protector.
Over the freedom of this country.
I think that really serves the the character well.
At least like from like what they set up of him.
So I really love that.
And I think it was like a slow transition.
Like I don't know what his plan was.
Like once he like got.
Like I think he was just taking out what he viewed as bad guys.
So I don't know what his plan was going to be had like with him just kind of being out
in the world.
So I think it's like it's nice that they gave him some sort of purpose.
And then just kind of like rejecting that purpose, I would say.
Yeah.
And then like ultimately accepting it.
And I think the way that they showed him accepting it with that conversation with Dr. Fate.
Was like inspired.
So I love like that connection that he had, like the I think he was under the water a
little too long for me to believe that he didn't die.
That's fair.
Yeah, that's absolutely fair.
But I do feel like the conversation that he had with his family outside of like within
his self-conscious or whatever or in like whatever afterlife, I do think that that was
a really powerful discussion between him and his son.
So really, really love that stuff.
And unfortunately with that, I think that's kind of one of the more average character
arcs.
It's just like someone.
I'd agree.
Yeah, just someone just not accepting their role and then ultimately accepting it after
a rousing speech from a colleague.
Yeah.
But I think it was really well done.
But I think I'm sitting at like an 83 for that.
I'm just going to go slightly below you.
I'm going to go an 81.
Totally fair.
All right.
Next up, we got effects.
There was some sketchy shit in this.
Not going to lie.
Yeah, no, I can absolutely agree with you there.
My biggest issue with that kind of came with Adam Smasher's mask.
It looks so weird, right?
Dude, and it looks funky because the rest of his suit looks super good.
Yeah.
Like even when he was transformed, it's just like the way that his face was moving.
It was like rubbery.
Yeah, I did not like it.
And it's so weird because like I said, the rest of his suit, like even when he was like
transformed or whatever, looked great.
How did they screw up the mask so bad?
You got me, man.
You got me.
And it's like the rest of the movie looked freaking bitching.
Like all of their budget must have gone in a frigging Hawkman and Dr. Fate and Black
Adams.
Yeah.
Or and Cyclone.
Maybe Adam Smasher just kind of got pushed to the wayside and they're just like, oh yeah,
we need to animate him.
It's like, oh shit, we forgot one, dumbasses.
Yeah.
And I don't think I really appreciated how much it looked like Deadpool.
Yeah.
Yeah, I can definitely agree with that.
I mean that I can let go to a point because that is how he looks in the comics.
Yeah, fair enough.
But the rest of his like fate, like the rest of his face looked weird, dude.
It really did.
I did not like it.
Yeah, it was funky.
And especially when he was moving around a lot, like when he was just kind of like sitting
there and not really doing a whole lot with his face, like it looked fine.
But once he started like moving around, it was weird.
It really was.
The other effects that I can think of, like I said, Dr. Fate's looked amazing.
Hawkman looked badass.
Yes, oh my god, amazing.
Yeah, so I don't know if you know this about Hawkman, but he is supposed to have like normal
wings.
I did not know that actually.
Yeah, so they made a creative decision about putting those like metal wings on him.
And I think that just worked in their favor here.
It did.
Like he looked so freaking cool, dude.
We'll get into this a little bit more with costumes.
But gosh, he like everything that they did with his suit, like looked incredible, like
the movement of the wings.
Like I love that he was like even used his wings in like a defensive way.
Like kind of gave me some Falcon vibes, but yeah, it did.
I think they pulled this off better than Falcon.
You know what, fair enough.
I'd honestly agree.
Oh, and then Black Adam, like he just looked awesome.
Like there was very little that I had issues with with his, any effect that they had on
him.
I think my biggest issue, if any, was when he first came into the movie and he was like
flying around, but it was just more like stand floating.
Yeah, that's a good point.
Like I think that looked super weird.
It just, not weird.
It just felt off.
Like he wasn't putting very much effort into his flying around.
And especially when they would do it in like slow mo and he's like sitting there like flying
somewhere super fast, just kind of like standing there.
I'm like, nah, you should kind of be Supermanning it everywhere you go.
Yeah, dude.
Dude, straight up.
I don't understand the physics of like flying and whatnot, but I know you should be Supermanning
it around.
Dude, just the freaking brutality that Black Adam had in this, though.
Like all of those effects looked amazing.
Yes.
Yeah, I had no problems with that.
Yeah, like the way that he melted that first guy.
Yeah, like, God damn.
Yeah, I did that.
Freaking blew up a bunch of other people.
He ripped Sabacc in half.
Honestly, my favorite kill is when he threw that one dude that lost his arm.
Oh yeah.
It's like everything you want to, you kind of want to see Superman do.
Yeah.
You know, he would never.
Like Superman, when he's fighting normal people is more of the I'm just going to lightly tap
you and have you go flying into the wall and knock yourself out.
Exactly.
Like Black Adams just like does not give a shit.
But all that shit looks so good.
I think my only issues was was with how he was flying in the beginning, at least when
he was like going fast and then Adam's smasher's mask.
Other than that, the effects were incredible.
Sabacc looked a little funky, but honestly, it wasn't too bad for me.
Yeah.
Yeah, I kind of agree with that.
So where are you sitting with effects?
I'll go an eighty two.
Damn, I don't know if I'd go that low.
I think I'm sitting at like a solid 90 for the effects.
I think they were really well done, like especially frickin Dr. Fate, dude.
Like he was really good.
Yeah, he looked amazing.
Like, honestly, I'm sitting I'd be at an eighty two with just frickin.
Fate and Hawkman alone.
That that's fair.
And then, oh, not even taking into consideration frickin Cyclone.
Oh, yeah, that's true.
Dude, her effects looked.
Yeah, I'm actually I actually talked myself up higher because I think I forgot Cyclone.
I think we're going up to like a ninety two, though.
But yeah, like.
I was kind of afraid that Cyclone was just going to end up looking like just a straight
up tornado the entire time.
I like that her wind manipulation wasn't.
Just like straight up just wind that had like some color and life to it.
Yeah.
Like, I think that just kind of made her stand out from like other wind manipulation that
we may have seen or just straight up making her a twister.
Like, I know she like would eventually like when she was doing tornadoes and shit, like
it was just like a basic tornado, but it started off with her.
Like color.
Yeah.
And we'll get into this with costumes, but I appreciated the color that they added to
her costume just to kind of make the color that she was shooting out with her wind make
sense.
All right.
Next up, we got music.
I don't know nothing really to write home about this.
It was just all right.
This is where I kind of disagree with you.
Really?
They had a freaking bitch in soundtrack.
Like it's not a 10 by any means, but it was still freaking like amazing soundtrack.
Like my favorite was when they were playing Paint It Black.
Like when he was coming out to freaking beat the shit out of Inner Gang, like their big
slow mo scene.
Okay.
Yeah, that was a really cool moment.
Yeah like that was that was the shit, dude.
I will say though, there are at least like maybe the beginning, like I think the overall
songs that they chose worked well, but there was a few songs that they chose that felt
a little funky.
Like I think they just kind of started off and they felt a little bit like too lighthearted.
Fair enough.
I'm trying to see if I can find like the soundtrack for this on IMDB.
Where do they usually keep that?
I swear I scroll over it like all the time and it pisses me off.
Yeah, whatever.
Yeah, I'm not seeing it.
Anyway, I really like the music that they used for Black Atomic.
It made it like stick out and not always in like the best of ways, but I mean, I think
a soundtrack that kind of works it like with good songs in it is better than one without.
No, that's fair.
So personally music, I'm at an eight.
Okay you know what?
I can match you there.
Oh hell yeah.
All right, next up we got costumes, which I am super excited to talk about.
Yes, these were so freaking good.
Yeah, so first one I want to talk about is is Hawkman and this is kind of what I was
alluding to earlier.
I don't know how Aldous Hodge pulled off that goofy ass helmet.
Oh shit.
I love that.
Am I wrong though?
No you're not wrong.
This is funny as shit though.
The helmet itself, like just like the basic helmet looks okay.
What threw me off is like the big ass wings that he had on the side of his helmet.
Like they were ridiculously big, but somehow he pulled it off.
Yeah he really did.
And the rest of the suit looked amazing as well.
Like I freaking loved everything that they did with Hawkman and then Dr. Fate looked
ugh.
He looks so freaking cool.
So is that how Dr. Fate looks like in the comics?
Did like they get very comic accurate?
Um, the helmet is on the right track.
Okay.
So okay, so Dr. Fate's helmet usually has eyes.
Oh okay.
But I think the them not giving him eyes worked out really well.
Like he looked super cool without the eyes.
But like if you're talking classic Dr. Fate, the accuracy just isn't quite there.
But it's not in a bad way.
I think everything that they did with Dr. Fate was an improvement.
Like the classic Dr. Fate has like the gold helmet.
He usually has like the two eye holes.
And he has like a basic white or yellow cape.
And it's usually like a pendant, kind of like the Eye of Agamotto looking thing.
It's more just like circular so that's what's kind of holding his cape to his chest.
And then he kind of has like a big waistband or a belt.
And then the rest of his suit is like blue with like the gold boots.
So kind of just typically a very basic design.
But I think the stuff that they did with him, like with this suit, like giving him like
the armored shoulder pads instead of like having a cape draped over his shoulder.
And then like the Egyptian symbol of order or fate or whatever it might be.
I don't know what that symbol is supposed to mean.
But how that tied into his chest piece looked awesome.
And then just pair that with like his super like minimalistic belt, his big old golden
gloves.
I think that his gold gloves look like a metallic fabric instead of like armor.
I think you could have gone a very medieval knight with his design.
But I think that the gloves look really freaking cool.
I agree.
And then nothing too special to talk about with like the boots or whatever.
But everything else look freaking sick.
Then Cyclone.
Trying to see what her...
Okay, so her costume is pretty accurate.
Actually has a little bit more color to it in Black Adam.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
But from what I can tell, she usually only wears like a green dress.
Huh.
Interesting.
Yeah, it's like a green dress with like some yellow straps.
But I mean, Cyclone in this, she had like a purple chest piece, green dress.
Can't really see a decent picture of her pants or anything.
Just kind of like maybe a purplish hue to her pants.
Like, looks really freaking cool.
Oh, you know what her freaking chest piece looks like?
It kind of looks like a mood ring.
I'm trying to remember what it looks like at the top of my head.
What her chest piece?
Yeah.
Yeah, have you ever seen like a mood ring where it's like really dark color and then
you touch it for a little bit and then let your finger off and it's like a really light
blue?
Oh, yeah.
That's kind of exactly what it looks like because it's like a purple overall chest piece,
but then there's this like...
Honestly, it's like a tornado looking...
Blue piece down her chest.
It's freaking cool.
So I freaking love her costume there and I love how it just flowed when she was using
her powers.
Getting into Adam Smasher.
I'm honestly just Googling these to see what the comics look like.
Yeah.
Fair enough.
He looks as comic accurate as you can get.
Hell yeah.
Like honestly, the only difference between his suit and the suit in the movie is he's
usually portrayed being sleeveless.
Oh, okay.
But I mean the rest of the design, like the chest piece looks the same.
I think the only difference is on his normal suit, the red goes all the way over his shoulders,
whereas in here or in the movie, he has blue shoulders.
Okay.
Yeah, but everything else looks pretty freaking close.
All right.
Hell yeah.
Even going as far as the mask, the mask has the same vibe as Deadpool.
In all honesty.
It really does.
Dead serious.
That's even talking to my comic books.
Honestly dude, I wish they would have just animated...
I wish if they were going to copy Deadpool, they would have just gone full Deadpool and
just only animated his eyes.
You know what?
Fair enough.
Yeah, so he looks freaking cool.
And then Black Adam.
How did you feel about his costume change?
Like I know it was like super subtle.
I thought it looked fine.
What did you think?
Yeah?
I thought it looked good.
So for those of you that don't know, Black Adam starts off the movie in a mostly all-black
suit.
I don't think he has...
Other than the lightning bolt on his chest, he doesn't have any gold on him until he comes
back from escaping the prison that Amanda Waller puts him in.
And so there, it's the exact same suit except gold bracers, a gold belt, gold boots, and
then he gets a cape.
And I actually really like that change.
Like for whatever reason, that subtle change just made the world a difference to me.
It looks so badass.
It looks a lot better.
I mean, I had nothing wrong with his original appearance, but like you said, the slightest
changes that they made just made it look that much better.
Yeah.
You know what?
I'm almost thinking that he...
I mean, I know that the cape was kind of to differentiate himself from how he looked originally,
but I don't know if he needed the cape.
I honestly don't think he does.
Yeah, he looks freaking sick though.
Like I love that suit.
And I love that the explanation of like why his suit is black.
And it was just kind of because he was cursed with the powers of Shazam and like born out
of rage.
I thought that was so cool.
I thought that...
I appreciate them explaining that because when they originally showed him, it was more
like a...
Like if you can imagine like an ancient Egyptian necklace type thing, like that's what his
original suit looked like.
And then he went and like murdered everyone and then like got...
His suit got seared to his body.
But he looks freaking dope.
Anyway, costumes here.
Yeah.
I'm having a hard time not giving this a 10.
I can absolutely give it a 10.
Hell yeah.
All right, last up we got our own personal score.
Do I may take this one?
Because I feel you have a lot more to say about this movie than I do.
No, I feel like I've been like rolling over.
No, you're good.
No, man.
I'm sorry.
No, dude, that's not you.
I'm sorry.
I just haven't had a lot to say about this movie.
Like Don't Get Me Wrong, I had a good time with Black Adam.
It was a decent DC superhero film.
Just wasn't my favorite.
Didn't really reignite my interest in the DC going forward.
Don't Get Me Wrong, I'm very interested to see what they do from here, but I'm not like
counting down the days until the next DC project.
But for what it is, I feel they did a decent job.
Dwayne Johnson was a he was fun to watch.
Aldous Hodge was amazing as Hawkman.
I absolutely freaking loved him.
He's incredible.
Pierce Brosnan was great.
The whole cast was really good.
It's just I did have some problems with the story.
It just wasn't my favorite DC movie and it just didn't fully, it just didn't reignite
my interest in the DC going forward.
So with that, I'm going to give it an 80.
I mean, that's not horrible.
I don't I really like like I've never I'm obviously like I've expressed this.
I'm more of a Marvel guy than I am a DC guy.
But I I can find enjoyment in both universes.
And my issue with DC so far has always been the dark take or not maybe the full understanding
of who the character is and like what they're supposed to be.
And I feel like some projects like have captured that better than others.
And I think with Marvel, Marvel works better with a big universe because all of the Marvel
comics kind of do have similar vibes and feels to them.
Whereas the DC universe, each of their characters feels very different from each other.
Like Batman does is does not release the same type of comics that Superman does.
And Superman does not release the same type of comics that Wonder Woman does.
So the differences between these characters is is a lot.
And it's hard for me to view the DC universe as one big thing.
Just because like like I said, they're every character is so different from each other.
Like this was the perfect tone for Black Adam.
Just like I thought Shazam had the perfect tone in that movie.
And yeah, it's it's it did kind of reignite maybe not my love for the DC you just more
my faith in it.
Like my faith that I OK, they can release something that's good.
And yeah, I think that's just where I'm or my head's at with with the DC reverse right
now.
It's just like, OK, like now that I know what you're capable of, like I think the letdown
is just going to be more if the if future projects suck.
Fair enough, man.
Fair enough.
But with that, I'm actually going to be a little higher than you, but surprisingly not
by much.
I'm actually sitting at like an 83.
Like I had a really decent time with this movie.
And like I said, makes me excited for future projects.
But also wary of them, because it's like this is kind of.
It's building me up.
Like Marvel's always kind of like built me up and then when they do let me down, it's
not by a lot.
But I think the biggest letdown that I've gotten out of Marvel is Love and Thunder.
Fair but even that letdown was not nearly as bad as some other like DC letdowns.
Yeah.
Looking at suicide squad.
Yeah.
And it's tough, it's like because when DC is good, they're like really good.
But when DC is bad, it's it's it's bad.
And this is just kind of one of those ones that's like one of the few middle ground.
But I think it's leaning more on the good side.
So yeah, like I said, sitting at an 83.
And with that number, that concludes this week's breakdown.
So I'm doing this all one handed because I'm not in my normal studio space.
All right.
So starting off with story, we ended up averaging out to an 82.5.
The writing we felt was a little bit higher sitting at a solid 84.
Acting jumped up once again, sitting at an 88.5.
Character development dropped down quite a bit, sitting at an 82, which actually is our
lowest category.
Effects made a big jump up back up to an 88.5.
Biggest sitting at a solid eight.
Costumes absolutely sitting at a really firm 10.
And our personal score ended up averaging out to an 81.5.
So with that, the final Albrows letter grade for Black Adam has come to a B.
Okay.
That's not bad.
Yeah, right.
So it is sitting at an 84.5, which is not horrible at all.
I'm not sure where I thought this movie was going to be.
But it's kind of one of our more average.
Oh, it's kind of in the middle of our B movies.
So like I said, Black Adam is sitting at an 84.5, which puts it above Prey, which was
at an 84.43.
Puts it above Avengers Age of Ultron, which is at an 84.37.
Puts it above Solo, which is at an 84.21.
Puts it above Free Guy, which is at an 84.06.
And also it is above Thor Ragnarok, which is at an 83.90.
I think the only one I disagree with there is Prey.
Okay, that's fair.
The other ones though, I get.
But yeah, like saying that this is like, I mean the difference between Thor Ragnarok
and Black Adam is very small.
Yeah.
It's again, like less than one full percentage point.
So that's basically saying Black Adam, Age of Ultron, and Thor Ragnarok are basically
the same level of movie.
And I could absolutely agree with that.
Okay, fair enough.
Yeah.
Going the other direction though, Black Adam ended up below Christopher Robin, which is
at an 84.56.
It is also below the Matrix Resurrections, which is at an 84.70.
It is below the Oath, which is at an 85, as well as Hocus Pocus, which is also at an 85.
And then finally it is below the Lion King, the remake for those of you that are wondering,
which is sitting at an 85.1.
Okay.
Yeah, so I think that has a pretty decent home.
Yeah, you know what, I would agree.
I would absolutely agree.
Yeah, not quite.
So I just, just for shits and giggles, I wanted to see what other, what else this was above.
Ooh, this ended up above Shazam.
Really?
Yeah.
Damn.
I wanted to see where it ended up against Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Just cause that's the movie we were comparing it to, when I guess our real comparison should
have been Age of Ultron.
Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Oh, this one was like really low.
Shit.
Ant-Man and the Wasp was a full, like a full letter grade below this movie.
Oh damn.
Yeah, Ant-Man and the Wasp is sitting at a C. Damn.
Holy shit.
So obviously it was a little bit better than Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Oh damn.
But yeah, so it's sitting, it's above Shazam.
It's also above the Suicide Squad.
Wait, like James Gunn's Suicide Squad?
We never broke down the other one.
Oh yeah, we didn't.
Oh, I call Blasphemy.
I don't know about that.
Oh we're about to throw some hands here buddy.
Okay, okay, fricking check this shit out.
If you want to fricking fight me on this.
Yeah, I'm gonna fight you on this shit.
Alright, let me see where it's at.
Alright tell me if you would agree with these scores.
The story sitting at an 80.
Yay or nay?
I give it higher.
Dude, what?
Ah, fricking bullshit.
Writing sitting at a 90.
Okay, I would agree with that.
Acting sitting at an 87.
Okay, yeah I can agree with that.
The character development at a 76.
Fair.
The effects sitting at an 89.
Okay.
The music at a 7.
What, we gave Black Adam higher than the Suicide Squad for music?
Yeah, cause Black Adam had a better soundtrack.
I wholeheartedly disagree.
Oh you want to fricking fight on this dude?
Yeah.
Alright, hold on.
I'm pulling this shit up cause screw you.
Okay other than the Folsom Prison Blues played by Johnny Cash, there's not another song on
there that I bet you could name.
Yeah, I got another one.
People Who Died.
That's not on the list.
It's not?
Nope.
Okay, I'm saying the name of the song wrong.
Give me a minute.
No looking it up.
But that wasn't part of the rules.
That is absolutely part of the rules.
Damnit, I can't find it now son of a bitch.
Yeah, People Who Died.
Yeah that was on it.
People Who Died?
It was after the Suicide Squad gets raided and they switch from group A to group B.
Okay, then this Wikipedia page is not showing all the songs.
Alright, whatever.
But no.
Yes.
Alright, let's see.
Costumes we gave an 8.
Okay, I can't respect that.
And then our personal score, an 81.
Which you can't fight with because we only gave Black Adam.5% higher on our personal
score.
Fine, I'll accept it.
I'm not happy about it.
Dude, isn't this just some bitch sometimes?
It is.
It very much so is.
Oh, friggin love it.
Anyway, before I get more heated.
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Yeah, next week on the podcast, we will be breaking down the new Daniel Radcliffe weird
Al Yankovitch movie, which from what we have seen, it's on Roku.
I didn't even know Roku had their own streaming service.
That's new to me.
Yeah, so we'll see if we can find a way to watch this movie.
Yeah.
So yeah, your guests will be just as good as ours.
If it will be broken down next week or not.
So anyway, this has been the all bros podcast.
I'm Jonathan.
And I'm Caleb.
And we'll see you guys next week.
Deuces.
Ah, you dick.
Ah, gotcha, bitch.