“Black Adam” Review
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars as the titular anti-hero in “Black Adam,” the 11th film in the DC Extended Universe. In it, Black Adam possesses the powers of gods much like Billy Batson in “Shazam!”
After “The Suicide Squad” became one of my favorite films of 2021 and “Peacemaker,” its spinoff series on HBOMax, was an equally entertaining followup, I was excited for the next chapter in the DC Extended Universe. I was becoming more interested when I discovered that the next film was going to star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the brutal anti-hero Black Adam. “Black Adam” was a deeply uneven film with interesting heroes, but dull side characters that left something to be desired after nearly a decade of development.
Before Superman, Batman and the rest of the heroes and villains of the DCEU, there was Teth-Adam (Dwayne Johnson): a slave who was given the powers of gods and used them to exact vengeance. 5,000 years later, Teth-Adam is awakened to find his home of Khandaq not only in the 21st century but also subject to a brutal occupation by a crime syndicate. When Teth-Adam seeks to liberate his people by killing anyone who stands in his way, The Justice Society of America is called in to take him out. But when an ancient demonic threat (Marwan Kenzari) seeks to subjugate the world to the forces of hell, Teth-Adam, now going by Black Adam, and the Justice Society must band together.
When the DCEU was still in its infancy, Dwayne Johnson was confirmed to be cast as Black Adam back in 2014. After years of planning, writing, the COVID-19 pandemic and filming, it’s pretty obvious why Johnson was cast. He really embodies this antihero and shows a new side of the actor. Johnson has always been cast as a comedy star or an action star with a likable charm but I’ve been wanting something a bit more serious from him. As Black Adam, he’s more serious and isn’t afraid to kill which makes him a very interesting character.
As for the rest of the superheroes who fight this new metahuman, they’re a lot of fun with Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan) all bringing their fun powers to take out Black Adam. Pierce Brosnan is especially engaging as the mystical Doctor Fate who has premonitions of the future and uses magic. Their chemistry as teammates is sincere and all of them are welcome additions to the DCEU.
Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan) and Hackman (Aldis Hodge) are a lot of fun as leaders of the Justice Society of America who are sent to bring down Black Adam before he causes any more destruction.
What isn’t welcome are the human characters who are terribly boring and fail to be as cool as the metahumans who fly, shoot lightning and use magic. They’re in the story way too much and they detract from sequences that should be awesome. The film’s opening narration, which should be a way to build up this intimidating man, is done by a child and not a child like Edward Furlong in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” or Dante Basco in “Hook.”
This character (Bodhi Sabongui) is a bland pain-in-the-ass who contributes nothing. I don’t normally criticize the performances of child actors but it’s not really his fault. How can anyone make the dialogue he’s given work?
Really, all that you would need to improve this so-so film is get rid of two things: the human characters and the attempts at comedy which come from them. I don’t understand why the filmmakers felt the need to inject lame laughs in a film that is trying to be epic in scale. “Black Adam” also desperately needed to improve its villain who is so undeveloped that I could swear he was on loan from “Thor: The Dark World.”
Fortunately, the film dedicates a lot of its time to intense action sequences which sees Black Adam and The Justice Society either fighting each other or the demons of Hell in the final act. “Black Adam” is also not afraid to be a bit graphic with some of its kills, exploiting its PG-13 rating, although I think the film could have pushed the rating even more. But they’re not without merit. One sequence, which shows Black Adam taking out mercenaries to the song “Paint It Black” by The Rolling Stones, I found to be visually stunning.
Overall, I can’t say I hated “Black Adam” because I loved quite a few sequences and the superhero characters. However, when they’re sewn together with scenes that I found uninteresting, it makes for an uneven experience. But at least they didn’t wait until the end to show us the fun stuff like “Halloween Ends.” I am excited to see what Dwayne Johnson brings to the future of the DCEU, even if his first experience was a rocky start.
