Black Adam Movie Review: DC Caper Descends Into An Unseemly Orgy Of Ugly Special Effects Despite The Rocks Best Efforts

Black Man (12a, 124 min)

Like the skinny kid who was a second late in the Egg and Spoon contest, the DC Extended Universe is doomed to be in a race it will never win.

Does the spoon have to be small to make the egg bigger or hit the runner in front? It would be so ahead of Marvel that DC could barely see them, let alone take a picture in the bowl.

Every time a new DC movie comes out, critics ask, "Will this movie save the franchise?" They care about the issue.

The newest is Black Man , a loud, powerful caper that's loosely connected to DC's Shazam 2019 and nobody cares. At least the Black Man has a real movie star in his stable at the Rock.

In a frosty introduction, we hear about the ancient kingdom of Kandak, a relatively prosperous and advanced Middle Eastern country that flourished over 4,000 years ago and was a decent place to live until a tyrant king came to power.

Wielding a magical mineral called Eternium, the king enslaves his people and forces them to mine enough items to create a powerful crown.

End of Halloween Recap: Horror Franchise Reaches New Heights of Sadism with Sickening Ending

He is almost home when the hero boy emerges from the mines and is transformed into a mighty warrior by the immortal wizards. It is Teth Adam (Dwayne Johnson) who defeats the corrupt king, but is then buried under a mountain and spent 5,000 years with his bones in limbo.

Today, Kandak is occupied by agents of alien forces, some of whom seek to find and abuse the magical crown.

When Kandaga is tracked down by patriotic Adrianna Thomaz (Sarah Shahi) to save Corona from falling into the hands of mercenaries, she inadvertently frees old Adam, who has awakened from a thousand-year slumber in an understandable bad mood.

He can fly, smash large objects, pick up bullets, fire electric beams from his hands, and use those powers to crush Kandag's enemies.

But this carnage is sounding the alarm for the Justice Society of America, a kind of yellow vigilante who loves to intervene in international conflicts. Hawkman (Aldes Hodge) and the Avengers, led by wizard and researcher Dr. H. Destiny (Pierce Brosnan), approach Kandak, where Hawkman and Adam clash on the spot.

It's a bad omen for a movie when the reviewer lies in a dark room for 10 minutes just describing the plot.

But such is the nature of the black man , it is a very dirty fun that you are likely to encounter on the way home.

Johnson is as perfect as Adam, who spends most of his time 10 feet above the ground and most of his time at the bottom, all of which are by definition unworthy.

We know all about Johnson's comedy rhythm, and he uses it here and there, but it's not enough. There are ways the black man works: Adam's motive is revenge, not the usual bullshit. He has anger issues and can be an interesting person.

But director Jaume Collet-Serra and his writing team must cater to the broader needs of the DC series and pay homage to other superheroes thrown into the mix.

In addition to Doctor Fate and Hawkman, we have Shazam's werewolf parents, Atom Crusher (Noah Centineo) and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), who can control sound and wind amplification.

I can also grow ipomoea, but it's not very invigorating and not that strong. It's boring as hell and takes up a lot of screen time that Johnson could have done better for Monopoly, although Brosnan's role is, as you'd expect, charming.

It seems that all this was planned by two 10-year-old boys - "Shoot, explode!" - He gets into an unusual orgy of ugly special effects. So, another tangled DC cable made it to the finish line, this time wondering what was going on.

Classification: two stars

Inchiri Waterfall (16, 114 minutes)

Set on a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean during the Civil War, Martin McDonagh 's Inisher tells the simple tragedy of a master switch.

Fiddler, aspiring philosopher Colm (Brendan Gleason) and friendly young farmer Padrick (Colin Farrell) were friends for years, until one day Colm decided he'd had enough. "I don't love you anymore," he says, before explaining that he feels the hand of death on his shoulder and wants to spend the rest of his life writing music that will outlive it.

And when Padraic doesn't understand the message, Colm makes a strange threat: every time Padraic speaks, he cuts his finger. It sounds absurd, but there is Greek grandeur in McDonagh's story.

Farrell and Glesson fight beautifully, Kerry Condon is great as Siobhan, Padraic's smart and capricious sister, and Barry Keoghan plays the young islander. McDonagh's script is perfect, gruesome and witty, but it hides an abyss of frustration and existential despair.

Rating: five stars

The decision to leave (15a, 139 minutes)

Known for his brutal and brilliant revenge trilogy, Korean director Park Chan-wook explores a more subtle plot in The Decision to Quit, a wonderfully layered and evocative work reminiscent of the classic 1940s noir melodrama by Alfred Hitchcock and Douglas Cirque.

In the southern port city of Busan, a depressed cop Hye Joon (Park Hae Il) is working on a frustrating murder case when he discovers a crime he really cares about.

The twisted body of a wealthy rock climber was found at the foot of a famous local peak.

Did he fall or was he pushed? Bits of information gleaned from the man's phone leads him to suspect murder, and Hye Joon becomes suspicious when he nearly bumps into the man's widow, Seo Re (Tang Wei), a beautiful immigrant from China.

But as evidence against her horses, the detective falls in love with her. Delightfully drawn, exquisitely sad,

Chang Wook uses the detective genre as the basis for exploring the intricacies of human relationships, and WWE is as gorgeous as the enigmatic seductive woman.

Rating: five stars

Emily's review: Emma Mackie addresses the situation in the poetic and whimsical autobiography of the author of Wuthering Heights.

Get your weekly dose of culture and entertainment with our free newsletter every Monday afternoon.