Film Preview: Black Adam (2021)

Film Poster

Page Revisions:

(August 30, 2020) Original
(June 12, 2022) New Trailer (#2) — New Posters (#2-#3) — New Release Date (changed from 12/22/21) — New Synopsis
(July 31, 2022) New Trailer (#3)
(September 18, 2022) New Trailer (#4) — New Posters (#4-#9)
(October 16, 2022) New Posters (#10-#12)

Release Date:

December 22, 2021

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “Plot unknown. A spin-off from ‘Shazam!’ centering on the film’s anti-hero, Black Adam.”

Poster Rating: F / C / C- / B- / C (5) / C / B- / C+

SEE ALL POSTERS BELOW
Review: (#1) A dull teaser that somewhat connects itself to the Shazam! without feeling necessary.

(#2) DC continues to try to co-opt the clever Asian marketing Disney has been using for the last few years and the end result is something of dubious merit. (#3) It’s a generally bland design that sells Dwayne Johnson, but doesn’t make it look like anything special.

(#4) An array of supporting characters carefully aligned in a diagonal against the main character is appropriate yet still a bit dull. (#5-#9) Apart from color changes, the effects are slight and the core image of the character posters just feels cheaply produced.

(#10) Lots of black and a bit of gold are nice touches, but there just isn’t much to this effort. (#11) The design balance is largely effective, though the central fight image feels uninspired. (#12) There’s a nice creative energy to this design, but there’s also too much empty space that the primary image doesn’t effectively mute.

Trailer Rating: C- / C- / C+ / B-

SEE ALL TRAILERS BELOW
Review: (#1) A teaser with terrible artwork, terrible visual effects, and a narration by the star that doesn’t make the film seem at all interesting.

(#2) Putting out the backstory of your character undercuts the impact of the first act of your film. While it’s possible that segment goes on a little longer than we’re given here, it doesn’t really set adequate expectations for the film’s premise or its purpose.

(3) It really is something of an achievement to make an exciting, superhero action film looks this dreadfully dull. This is the third trailer and while it’s an improvement over the ghastly prior two designs, it still ultimately feels rather uninspiring.

(#4) They have been trying desperately to sell this film with a slow dribble of information and after four trailers, they may have finally hit on something that can sell. Still, it feels like a follow up to The Suicide Squad than it does a stand-alone film of its own. Plus, I’m not sure Dwayne Johnson comes off as an antihero very well.