Things don’t exactly get off to a promising start with Black Adam. It’s all a bit Scorpion King – and not only because of the Dwayne Johnson connection. There’s an oddly echo laden narration. The grading is dire. As for the narrative itself, it all feels immediately suffocated by its grandiose sense of self importance. The mythos is as nonsensical as the setting is bizarrely groundless. Somewhere Middle Eastern, potentially but inconclusively on a different planet, and yet in an age long before the pyramids were built. Not that you’d think it from the fashion. A more adventurous romp will eventually ascend from the hogwash but only in the sense that it’s prelude achieved such a sterling feat in crippling expectations.
Bros is the first mainstream Hollywood romcom to feature a gay couple in the leading roles. Even seeing it written down strikes an off note. An urge to contradict bubbles to the surface. But what about…? And yet, it’s true. A fumble through the classics may find a dozen gay best friends, each one more cliched than the last, but the finale is always the same. They all lived heterosexually ever after. Not so here. While the weight of expectation and historical significance do at times bear a heavy burden on Bros, it’s a winning starting shot for a much queerer future of funny at the multiplex.
Through all the terrors of the past two years, it’s hard to believe that the horror film has proven the most enduring genre at the post pandemic box office. Marvel have had more disappointments in the past two years than in the preceding twelve combined. All the while, the likes of Candyman, Old and Smile have proven consistent and bankable hits. Pray for the Devil is exactly of their ilk. It is, put simply, a creaky and unholy preposterous, Exorcist lite pretender. One that boasts box ticking attributes. Attractive young leads, psychological plot notes and an appealingly frugal runtime. It’s all there. To boot, the ending begs for the birth of a franchise.
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