Melvin & Dan discuss the latest entry in the troubled, frustrating, and extremely strange DC Universe. This time it features fan-and-mom favorite Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson donning a cool black suit and looking maliciously confused. Neat!
Topics:
- (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 35-minutes talking about Walter Hamada stepping down from the DCU, James Gunn replacing him, and the lack of cultural permanence DC has compared to Marvel, or even Horror/Slasher icons. (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)
- Daniel briefly details the 15-year journey Dwayne Johnson took to get Black Adam made, featuring himself in the titular role.
- Melvin & Dan agree: The first half of the film is pretty dang fun, albeit nothing new.
- Despite a marginally enjoyable experience, Melvin feels like it’s “a movie that I’m already tired of seeing”, one that has been made for the last decade and a half.
- Every two years the DCU has shifted and turned and changed its mind; do we really care anymore? Does it matter? Why even bother speculating?
- Black Adam‘s trailer, its opening exposition drop, and its plotline all tell a different story about Black Adam’s origin, which is obviously cleared up by the film as it unfolds but makes the experience of watching the movie extremely confusing.
- Apparently, parts of Black Adam were “Rated R” worthy, and the current product in theaters is a trimmed edit to reach a PG-13. Melvin wonders which scenes were different.
- Apart from Black Adam feeling like most mid-Marvel flicks, it’s also a superhero film releasing after Marvel had, like, 5-7 film and TV projects. The Superhero genre is feeling especially tired in 2022.
- Discussing Darren Mooney’s Escapist Review of Black Adam where he felt the film was functionally worse than Morbius for various reasons.
- Melvin proposes that HBOmax start putting up the R-rated cuts of DC flicks since they can’t seem to decide what they want with their DC films.
Recommendations:
- Wendell & Wild (2022) (Movie)
- Emily the Criminal (2022) (Movie)
Black Adam is Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, intense action and some language. It features Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hordge, Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Quintessa Swindell, Marwan Kenzari, and Bodhi Sabongui. Directed by Juame Collet-Serra. Black Adam is currently in theaters.
Consider supporting Cinematic Doctrine on Patreon! As a bonus, you’ll gain access to a once-a-month movie poll where you decide a movie we discuss on the podcast, as well as early unedited episodes of the podcast!!
Melvin Benson is the Founder, Editor-In-Chief, and Lead Host of Cinematic Doctrine. He’s written fiction and nonfiction for over a decade with short stories featured on the Creepypasta Wiki and Wattpad. His novelette Ethereal Temptation, a teen drama with a tinge of magical-realism, can be read for free here. His hope is to see King Jesus glorified as far as the east is from the west!
Cinematic Doctrine is available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and other major podcast apps.
Cinematic Doctrine 