Popcorn for One: Black Adam, a movie review

 Boy, if DC/WB thinks that Black Adam will save or turn around the DCEU, the execs over there are taking long liquid lunches. What a disappointment and poor use of characters. Way too long, with only some scenes focusing on Dwayne Johnson worth the ticket price. Was Pierce Brosnan on the set more than a few days? I don't think he was even in the same room as the other actors in some scenes. No real spoilers.

Thousands of years ago a group of wizards gave powers to a mortal so that he could fight a demon being brought to Earth by an evil tyrant. A group of rebels are trying to find a mystic crown before an army of international terrorists can lay claim to it, reviving the demon. By accident, the rebels release the imprisoned Teth Adam, whose powers come to the attention of Amanda Waller. Waller calls in the Justice Society, a group that predates the Justice League, to capture Adam so he can be imprisoned. Things go as you expect with all the heroes fighting before they join forces in the end. Yawn! 

Atom Smasher and Cyclone are pretty much second-string characters from a CW show, and not one of the better ones. They have turned Carter Hall into a real a**hole and I have no sympathy for the character. Also, why would Dr. Fate ever work for Waller? What could she possible have on him considering his power level? Another cookie cutter villain way too easily defeated and we all saw it coming. Surprised he didn't dance like the Enchantress in the first Suicide Squad film, about as scary.

The worst thing they could have done was to have the trailer for the second Shazam film run before this feature. No way could the kid in the red & gold costume last more than a minute, and that is if he hid for the first thirty seconds, against Teth Adam. The power levels are way too unequal.

Add to all this some CGI scenes that looked like they came from a '90s video game and we're looking at something, barely better than Marvel's

The Eternals. Ditch the rest of the JSA, focus on Black Adam meeting with members of the Justice League and you might be able to make this into a franchise. Not saved by the post credit scene, with a major character whom, as with Dr. Fate, I can't see helping Waller.

I really wanted to like this film and it turned into one of those 'glancing at your watch' deals. I think the folks on IMDB.com giving it a rating above 6 out of 10 (all I could give it), must have seen a different cut.