Review: ‘Black Adam’ vs. The Hierarchies of Power

Black Adam has had a very, very interesting production history. For those uninformed, the film is more or less Dwayne Johnson’s passion project, which he’s been cooking for nearly 15 years. He spent a long time trying to convince producers that the Black Adam character had enough depth to carry his own movie, and such skepticism seemed completely warranted. To explain Black Adam’s DC comic book origins briefly, he is the archnemesis of Shazam, and serves as his mirror image in every way, except Black Adam is EVIL. When Shazam already has a movie of his own, the redundancy of Black Adam is unavoidable. The MCU gets its fair share of criticisms about producing homogenized content, but they’re not out there doing anything as egregious as producing films for both HULK and RED HULK, which is the equivalent of what DC has done here. Walking into the theater for Black Adam, audiences have one question—simply put, why does a Black Adam movie even exist?

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Review: ‘Red Notice’ is an Action-Comedy that Leaves the Action at Home and Forgets What Comedy Looks Like

In the lead-up to the release of Red Notice, stars Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds promoted the film by calling attention to the  massive budget granted by Netflix—$200 million, a record for the streaming service. Most of the budget was likely reserved for the three-headed dragon that is the cast: the aforementioned Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Ryan Reynolds also team up with Gal Gadot, with Rawson Marshall Thurber as writer and director, providing a known formula that’s followed almost to a T but disregards quality at every step of the way.

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Review: ‘Jumanji: The Next Level’ is a Pleasant Surprise

Jumanji: The Next Level is another entry into the updated Jumanji series, from board game to video game, that seems to print money for Sony for some reason. It stars Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillen, Nick Jonas, and newcomer Awkwafina to lead the audience through another Jumanji adventure. The 2017 film Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is, unfortunately, not one I can say I enjoyed. I found it to be a middling reboot to a long-forgotten franchise. Its sequel, however, in a surprise to myself, I can confidently say I enjoyed. While by no means is it this a masterpiece, it does surprisingly enthuse me for the future of the franchise as the film ends on a rather tantalizing cliffhanger.

Writer and director Jake Kasdan, coming back as director and taking over as writer, injects much-needed levity into a sequel whose predecessor felt excessively drab. While the body-swapping gag fell flat on its face last time, I found myself enjoying it as the writing this time around is far superior. It knows not to take itself seriously and really dials it up to eleven. The additions of Danny Devito and Danny Glover are welcome and provide numerous laughs as watching the other actors try and pretend to be them is a real treat. The ensemble dynamic flowed far better this time around, likely due to the writing shakeup. While last time the plot felt aimless, meandering far too much like the video game it was trying to portray, The Next Level has a strong sense of direction for both its characters and overall story. Even when it’s hamfisted and a bit cringey, it’s far more preferable to the nothingness of its predecessor.

It is important to note that while it is an improvement upon the last installment, that does not necessarily make all elements good. Both the plot and character arcs are recycled classics, and while they are appreciated after the absences in the last movie, that does not make them any less predictable here. The villain is about as generic as they come, although still well acted by Game of Thrones alum Rory McCann, lacks interesting motives or backstory. Despite the film feeling tired and generic, it doesn’t detract too much from the experience as the emphasis of the film is clearly on the relationships between our lead characters. Said interactions are well sold by the on-screen chemistry of the cast, powering the film through to the credits.

With fun, new concepts and a killer cast, Jumanji: The Next Level has enough charm to stand on its own as a piece of new cinema. While not anything to stop the presses about, this is an enjoyable experience that proves it is worthy of yet another sequel, one that is teased to take it back to the franchise roots.

3.5/5 STARS

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Review: ‘Hobbs and Shaw’ Is… Exactly What You Expected

Going into watching Hobbs and Shaw, a Fast and Furious spin-off, I didn’t expect much. I was hoping I could be pleasantly surprised and say that despite being a bad movie, at least it’s got dumb, fun action. Sadly, however, when I say that this movie isn’t very good, it’s because it didn’t even succeed at that.

This summer’s newest action flick stars Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Vanessa Kirby and Idris Elba. Dame Helen Mirren also makes in an appearance in what is perhaps the saddest underutilization of an actress in recent memory. Johnson and Statham, as our bickering leads, have a painful lack of chemistry. Most of the movie’s dialogue is their banter, which is clearly intended to be clever and humorous. Unfortunately, almost every joke and quip in the runtime just falls flat on its face.

Idris Elba, another unfortunate misuse, was clearly not given enough to work with. He gives it his all to and tries to deliver his lines with as much potency as he can, but there’s just not much he can do with the material. In fact, I’d say most of the actors here are trying their best to make something out of nothing. Statham and Kirby really seemed to try and sell their characters (Johnson’s effort was there too, but really only as a conciliation prize), but the end of the day, a movie like this can only be held up by its action sequences. Unfortunately, Hobbs and Shaw doesn’t really deliver on this front either.

In a far cry from the street racing roots of Fast and Furious, the action here is all completely outlandish and ridiculous. Now, this isn’t bad in and of itself; when disbelief can be suspended, such scenes can work really well. In fact, one set piece towards the end, which was perhaps the most insane, I found oddly compelling. Perhaps that’s because it was paired with a touchstone to Dwayne Johnson’s Samoan culture, a plot point which was heartwarming, exhilarating, and the highlight of the movie for me. Regrettably, nothing else is as good. Set pieces with drones and jumping off of buildings and a cybernetically-enhanced Idris Elba are just sloppily put together, not very well shot, and come across as nothing more than adequate. To sell this movie for me, the action had to have been heart-pumping back to front; sadly, it wasn’t.

Other aspects of Hobbs and Shaw are exactly what you’ve come to expect from the franchise. The plot, which delivers a weird anti-technology message, is contrived and unfulfilling. The musical choices all sound like mid-2000’s club rap (although some of them were, admittedly, fire). There’s an uncomfortable sexist aura about everything they painfully try to lampshade with lines referencing male chauvinism. It just feels like every aspect of this movie trips over itself. I can see what they were going for here; I can see where they tried to make unique stylistic choices. I wanted to enjoy Hobbs and Shaw, I really did. Unfortunately, it is a better movie to laugh at, than to laugh with.

1.5/5 STARS