Black Adam Review

Black Adam sees a megastar join the DCEU with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson playing the titular anti-hero.

Over 5000 years ago the kingdom of Kahndaq was liberated by a legendary figure known as Teth-Adam (Johnson). In the present day, Kahndaq is operated by the Intergang, a group of ruthless mercenaries. Some of the citizens harbour hopes of Teth-Adam’s return to liberate them.

Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi) is an archaeologist who is searching for the Crown of Sabbac, an ancient artifact of great power. When the Intergang attack Adrianna, she awakens Teth-Adam to save her. However, Teth-Adam’s reappearance catches the attention of Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) and she sends the Justice Society to capture the super-powered man.

Johnson has been attached to the role of Black Adam for a long time. He was cast in 2007 and he was set to appear in the 2019 Shazam! movie. His involvement with Shazam! was significant enough to earn him an Executive Producer credit. Johnson was heavily involved with Black Adam because he acted as a producer and reteamed with his Jungle Cruise director Jaume Collet-Serra.

The idea of Johnson leading a superhero film seemed like a no-brainer from a financial standpoint. Its first weekend has been lucrative, even if the critical reception has been lukewarm.

Superhero films have become a staple of the film industry. Marvel and Disney have been churning out films and TV shows and Warner Brothers and DC have been catching up. There has been oversaturation to the point that there have been think pieces about the MCU being on the decline. It takes a lot for a superhero film to stand out these days and Black Adam doesn’t manage it.

Black Adam was a standard if derivative superhero flick. This was down to the story and direction. It’s a film that has story ideas audiences have seen many times before. The story of the heroes stopping the villains from getting the magic artifact was a cookie-cutter plot and adds nothing new to the genre.

Black Adam had a blistering pace. It started with a long prologue about the origins of the characters in 2600 BC, then shows Adrianna being smuggled out of the city, and when Black Adam is awakened the film becomes near relentless action. There was little downtime, and this was done to mask the film’s thin story.

Black Adam did feel like it lifted from a lot of films. The prologue felt like the opening to a Mummy film, which was fitting considering Johnson started his acting career in the Mummy franchise. When Adrianna was in the ancient temple she acted like she was Middle Eastern Lara Croft. The Middle Eastern setting and a scene showing off Black Adam’s super speed made the film feel like X-Men: Apocalypse, which isn’t the best-regarded X-Men movie.

Black Adam also felt like it took some story ideas from the 2021 Suicide Squad film. Most of the action takes place in a small nation and shows the American government willing to send in a superpowered team to interfere in their internal affairs. They both have the same theme of America only caring about other nations if they are perceived as a threat. The setting of an occupied Middle Eastern nation made it look like Black Adam was produced during the height of the Iraq War.

As a superhero action film, Black Adam was fun. It was a typical CGI fare that the genre has become. The big battle between Black Adam and the Justice Society was the highlight of the film as a variety of powers were used.

Black Adam was made as a vehicle for Dwayne Johnson. His recent output has been light-hearted adventures like Jumanji and Jungle Cruise. Black Adam allowed Johnson to play something a bit different because his character was a more brooding, serious type. He was someone who was willing to use violence, had no problem killing, and didn’t like working with others. Whenever there was humour from Black Adam, it was dry and deadpan.

The strength of the film was the character interactions. Black Adam, Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan) were the main trio, and their moral debate gave the film some substance. Black Adam and Hawkman didn’t just have a physical confrontation, there was an ideological clash since Hawkman was a boy scout who believed in law and order and due process, and had a no-killing rule, whilst Black Adam was a rogue who played by his own rules. Doctor Fate had to act as the mediator between the two since Hawkman was his friend, yet he saw potential in Black Adam as an alliance. Brosnan gave the film a lot of gravitas as the wise, powerful figure who has seen too much for any person to handle.

The other emotional aspect of the film was the relationship between Black Adam, Adrianna, and Adrianna’s son Amon (Bodhi Sabongui). The family unit acted as the conscious for Black Adam, especially Amon who tried to convince Black Adam to become Kahndaq’s liberator. Whilst Adrianna had a dual conflict since she wanted to save her nation and protect her son and sometimes those goals weren’t compatible.

In the grand league of DCEU and the superhero genre as a whole Black Adam would be placed in the middle of the table. It was a decent if unremarkable comic book adventure that will provide popcorn entertainment for multiplex audiences.