Make space for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as DC Comics antihero Black Adam. That seems to be the sentiment at South African cinemas this week, as there are only two new releases facing off.
Black Adam
In ancient Kahndaq, the slave Teth Adam (Dwayne Johnson) was gifted the almighty powers of the gods. But he used those powers for vengeance and was imprisoned. Now, 5,000 years later, he is freed and once again wields his dark sense of justice onto the world. Refusing to surrender, Teth Adam is challenged by a team of modern day heroes known as the Justice Society—Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell)—who seek to return him to eternal captivity. Jaume Collet-Serra, who made Orphan, The Shallows, The Jungle Cruise, and a bunch of Liam Neeson thrillers, is behind the camera.
Leaning hard into its edgy dark hero side, superhero blockbuster Black Adam is the 11th film in the DC Cinematic Universe, and a spin-off of Shazam! Look out for cameo appearances by other characters from the DCEU, and make sure to stay for the post-credits scene, which points (possibly) to an exciting future for this big screen universe.
Detective Knight: Rogue
Bruce Willis plays Detective James Knight in this first film of an original action crime trilogy. As Los Angeles prepares for Halloween, mask-wearing armed robbers wound Knight’s partner in a shootout during a heist. Chasing bandits from L.A. to New York, Knight crashes into his dark past, imperiling his case… and his life.
Willis’s collaborator of the past few C-grade years, writer-director Edward Drake is also behind this one. The movie is notable as one of Willis’s last roles before he retired earlier this year due to his aphasia.