Black Adam (2022)

Try counting the slow-motion shots in Black Adam and you’ll run out of fingers before the first act is over. Every punch, every leap, every henchman flying backward through a wall gets slowed down like a sports replay. Dwayne Johnson plays Teth-Adam with one face, a frown, for 125 minutes, and the movie keeps insisting he’s the scariest thing alive while he tosses goons around like laundry. A kid with a skateboard tries to teach him catchphrases, which is just Terminator 2 with more sand. Then the Justice Society drops in, and Pierce Brosnan’s Doctor Fate is so classy in that golden helmet that he makes the guy in the title look like an extra. Aldis Hodge is a good Hawkman, too. The real villain shows up late and leaves no mark. It made $393.5 million worldwide on a reported budget somewhere between $190M and $260M. A 3.6 because Brosnan deserved his own movie and this one is all frown. $661 says you forget the villain’s name before you’re out of the parking lot.

What works: Pierce Brosnan’s Doctor Fate brings real class and warmth, and Aldis Hodge makes Hawkman more fun than he has any right to be.

What doesn’t: The slow motion never lets up, Black Adam has no personality beyond a frown, and the villain is so thin he barely registers.

Who it’s for: Dwayne Johnson completists and kids who want to watch a guy in a black suit throw cars around for two hours.