Black Adam is an entertaining movie but not a perfect one. Redditors have thus pointed out a couple of things that could have made it better.
DC’s big-screen arena has become somewhat of a seesaw, with some movies getting a stamp of approval from critics and others getting panned. Unfortunately, for the latest offering, Black Adam, critics feel it’s closer to the ground rather than high up in the air.
As for the fans, they have generally liked the movie, and the 90% Rotten Tomatoes score is proof of that. However, many agree that there are things that could have been done differently. On Reddit, several people who already sat through the 2 hours have mentioned what they could have done differently if they were in the director's chair.
To many Redditors, Pierce Brosnan’s performance as Doctor Fate was too good hence the character shouldn’t have been killed off. TenThousandFisy says Fate had “so much potential” before adding, “the character was popular in the trailers and the film.”
As the most seasoned of all the actors in the movie, Brosnan does take the material very seriously hence his character stands out more. And given how powerful Doctor Fate is, it’s a bit unfortunate that he is killed by a villain who appears weak for the most part. However, in superhero movies, death isn’t always the end and Superman already proved that in the DCEU. There is, therefore, still a possibility that Fate might show up in another movie.
To make the action scenes appear cooler, Black Adam slows them down a lot. However, RuneAloy feels the movie “could have done without like 90% of the slo-mo scenes.”
It’s a suggestion some might disagree with since slow-motion scenes have been used in thousands of movies ever since the birth of Hollywood. However, a look into most of the greatest superhero movies reveals that most of them avoid this technique, and there could be a good reason why. For that reason, the suggestion is very valid.
A couple of Redditors think the dialogue could use some rewriting. One, HiLookAtMeeseeks, says, “some lines and parts of the story were a little cheesy or cliché.”
The Redditor isn’t wrong since Black Adam even ends with the most reused line in cinema history: “We need to talk!” As a movie about an antihero, Black Adam is also meant to be dark, and it tries to go that route with the visuals. Sadly, the cheesy lines prevent audiences from taking it too seriously. It's highly likely that the use of humorless dialogue, as is the case with Matt Reeves’ The Batman. might have made the critic scores shoot up.
Adrianna’s son, Amon, becomes a major part of the movie after befriending Black Adam. Well, audiences didn't warm up to him, with NoComfortZone stating that he “acted way younger than he looked.”
After Freddy Freeman, one of the best DC sidekicks was adapted quite brilliantly in Shazam, Amon was always going to be subjected to plenty of scrutiny. But when the two child sidekicks are compared, Amon doesn’t measure up. A more mature storyline for him would have helped.
Legenver2 thinks “that opening exposition was pretty drawn out.” In it, Teth-Adam comes to Adriana's rescue when she and her crew get attacked during the mission to find the Crown of Sabbac.
In terms of moving the plot forward, nothing much happens in this sequence except for Ariana getting her hands on the Crown and Black Adam emerging. But as bored as the Redditor might have been, it could be argued that the extended one-man-army show at the start of the movie does a great job of establishing Adam as the badass character that he is.
A lot of the character motivations aren’t explained. Why would the JSA only show up in Kandahar after ignoring the other events in the world for years? Why would Doctor Fate let Black Adam get imprisoned? Redditor mkhello feels “they could've explained it pretty easily tho, like a few lines here and there.”
Indeed, simple lines of dialogue go a long way in making events seem more sensible. Unfortunately, audiences are forced to be okay with the suspension of logic. A number of character decisions end up making little sense, even though the actions that result make the movie more entertaining.
Since Sabbac isn’t traditionally a well-known villain, some Redditors feel he should have been fleshed out more for audiences to understand him better. MallardDrake comments: “I would have liked more character development with him in the movie.”
There are plenty of details about Sabbac from the comics that the movie leaves out. Adding more layers to the character might thus have helped in making him look more competent. The use of an actual Black Adam villain might have helped too since Sabbac is traditionally a Shazam villain.
The Superman cameo in the post-credits scene has been widely talked about. However, Rk1llz has a problem with “Superman being a Waller stooge” and feels it might have been better if the character just showed up out of his own will.
Not so long ago, Amanda had entertained the idea of killing Superman, hence it’s baffling to see him work with her. Amanda is also an amoral person who is never against using violence to get the job done. It's for this reason that the Suicide Squad is always the go-to team for her. It, therefore, baffling for Superman to accept to do a favor for someone who he differs in principles with.
ThailurCorp wishes the similarities to a rival franchise should have been avoided. They argue that Black Adam “Seemed like a strange mix of Marvel movies.”
Doctor Fate is similar to Doctor Strange, but DC has every right to use him since he debuted 23 years earlier than the Marvel character. And even though it's not, the scene where Fate duplicates himself while fighting Sabbac seems copied from one of the best MCU fights where Doctor Strange does something similar while taking on Thanos. A little creativity in Fate’s fight scenes could have helped make the movie better.
Many fans have been impressed by Hawkman, but there was a chance to make him even more solid. Ronin-Y2K writes, “I just wish they'd explain a bit more about his background.”
From a costume that’s comic-accurate to a great moral compass, there is a lot to love about Hawkman. Nonetheless, a better script should have explained what made him become a person that strongly adhered to his values, while at the same time representing the interests of the US government.
Philip Etemesi is an author, journalist, screenwriter, and film critic based in Nairobi. Kenya. As a child, he preferred watching movies like Goodfellas and North By Northwest instead of Home Alone. His girlfriend constantly has to pull him from the front of the TV, but he just keeps returning. Stubborn dude! An animal lover, Philip also has a pet giraffe called Refu.
10 Subtle Changes That Would Have Made The Black Adam Movie Better, According To Reddit – Screen Rant
