Best Artist of 2016

Those mad idiots have finally achieved success. The Rock was cast in a superhero motion picture. Black Adam is a face-melting big-screen spectacle that blends the most famous action actor with the most effects-driven genre. This is the definitive box office hit, for better or for worse. Black Adam, which is now a box office smash, is a ton of fun if you appreciate this sort of picture. The film features a humorously murderous antihero who injects irreverence into the superhero genre, with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson playing a rare villain(ish) role and wreaking devastation with a knowing smile to the camera. Director Jaume Collet-Serra delights in dishing out death and destruction, as seen by the main character's skull-crushing debut and a ludicrously violent spoof of the X-super-speed Men's sequences (but in a humorous way). Black Adam is an utterly guiltless guilty pleasure from start to finish, including the inevitable post-credits sequence and fan-pleasing cameo basketball stars Which makes Black Adam, the film's biggest shortcoming, all the more sad. Dwayne Johnson, or the Rock, one of our most magnetic performers, depicts the role as a humorless, heartless block. One may find inspiration in the following: Earlier in his career, the actor was often compared to Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the film sometimes has a Terminator 2: Judgment Day vibe; a skateboarding teen tries to teach Adam catchphrases and how to behave heroically. Despite his limited range, Johnson was never as unsettling an actor as Schwarzenegger. Even if his films often pale in comparison to those of Arnold Schwarzenegger, he has always been a much more personal and emotionally expressive actor, and witnessing him perform stone-faced leaves us feeling cheated out of something invaluable. Only towards the conclusion of the film does our protagonist's face exhibit a trace of recognition, as his gloomy lack of expression gives way to something closer to deadpan. It is appreciated, but unfortunately it is too late. Johnson's failure to act is emphasized by his disagreeable stoniness, which is maybe even more significant. Even though we know he is competent, the sometimes emotive conversation over the state of his property calls for emotion. ("Simply utter the word "shazam" and we're all sent home. "I have nowhere to reside." You are not allowed to be present.) Imagine these lines voiced with even a hint of bitterness, depression, or raging rage, and you may begin to comprehend how much more effective and pointed Black Adam might have been. There is a narrative rationale for the character's refusal to feel emotion, it turns out. However, this is a weak justification that seems like an excuse. Worse, it undermines the narrative: Johnson is so emotionless for the most of the film that I would think he wasn't there throughout production and that his sections were animated using an image of his face.