Black Adam review

BLACK ADAM: 

DWAYNE JOHNSON SHINES IN DCEU ANTI-HERO MOVIE, THE FILM ITSELF? NOT THAT MUCH! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND NEW LINE CINEMA

Dwayne Johnson, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Shahi, Bodhi Sabongui, Quintessa Swindell, Aldis Hodge, and Noah Centineo in Black Adam

 

            Dwayne Johnson (The Scorpion King, Fast & Furious franchise, Jumanji 2 and 3) is reawakened as the titular anti-hero, Black Adam, the latest film in the DC Extended Universe and spin-off of the 2019 superhero film, Shazam!. If you remembered my review of Shazam! then you know that Johnson was originally set to portray the character, but never came through and the role ended up going to Zachary Levi while Dwayne would eventually play his arch nemesis, Black Adam, which brings us to this film. 

            The film is directed by Jean Collet-Serra (Non-Stop, Run All Night, Jungle Cruise) who had previously collaborated with Dwayne Johnson on the 2021 Disney film, Jungle Cruise, and takes more of a Hancock or PG-13 Punisher approach compared to other DCEU films as it revolves around an anti-hero rather than a traditional superhero. Honestly, I think it’s a good contrast in comparison to the light-hearted tone of Shazam!. 

            I know virtually nothing about Black Adam, I’ve never read any of his comics nor the Shazam!/Captain Marvel(DC’s Captain Marvel) comics featuring him, and I don’t recall ever seeing the character in DC’s animated shows or movies before (At least not in the ones I’ve seen!). All I know about him is his relevance in the Shazam! universe and that he’s almost like a darker half of that character given the similar powers he has, but that’s about it. 

            With all that out of the way, how is Black Adam’s feature film debut? It’s okay! 

            I don’t think the film is nearly as bad as what most critics are making it out to be as there are a lot of things in it that work, particularly Johnson’s against-type performance as a relentless anti-hero and the titular character’s arc throughout the movie. Unfortunately, the film gets bogged down by an uneven, overstuffed story that tries to do too much at once (Just like a certain other DC gem that everyone loves!), hit-or-miss humor, excessive rapid-fire editing and slow-motion during action sequences that even Michael Bay and Zack Snyder would tell the filmmakers to cut it out, and the burden of an incredibly dull villain. 

            The film follows Black Adam (Johnson), an anti-hero from Kahndaq who was imprisoned for 5000 years and given the powers of Shazam. When Black Adam is suddenly set free in the present day and ready to unleash his unique form of justice, this gets the attention of a team known as the Justice Society of America consisting of Carter Hall/Hawkman (Aldis Hodge-Straight Outta Compton, Hidden Figures, One Night in Miami…), Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan-James Bond franchise, The Tailor of Panama, The Ghost Writer), Albert “Al” Rothstein/Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo-The Fosters, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Charlie’s Angels (2019)), and Maxine Hunkel/Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell-Trinkets, Euphoria) tasked with apprehending him and taking him into custody due to Adam’s vengeful and destructive nature. 

            As dark forces rise that threaten the destruction of Earth, Black Adam is forced to make the ultimate decision between being the planet’s savior or its destroyer. 

            The film also stars Marwan Kenzari (Wolf, Aladdin (2019), The Old Guard) as Ishmael Gregor/Sabbac and Sarah Shahi (The L Word, Alias, Bullet to the Head) as Adrianna Tomaz. 

            Overall, Black Adam may not be among the DCEU’s biggest misfires, but compared to films like Wonder Woman, The Suicide Squad, or Shazam!, it’s an unfortunate step backwards from some of their recent hits. It’s a shame because there is a lot in this movie that I found very interesting and entertaining. 

            Dwayne Johnson in this movie is great as a ruthless and violent anti-hero, it’s a very against-type performance for him and he has a lot of fun with the role. There’s also a running joke about saying a catchphrase before defeating the enemy that’s reminiscent to Natalie Portman in Thor: Love and Thunder, but I feel it works a lot better here because of Dwayne Johnson’s charisma and somewhat playful persona despite portraying a more brooding and serious character. 

            I was really invested in the Black Adam character’s story throughout the film, I like how he was a man who tragically lost his loved ones at the hand of a tyrannical king and is torn between being a hero or brutally kill those standing in his way. It reminded me a lot of Robert Pattinson’s version of Batman where he was mostly fighting for personal reasons but during the course of the film, he learns to fight for a bigger cause, the protection of the people. 

            Black Adam falls into the same kind of category and goes through an arc where he changes for the best while still retaining what made the character endearing in the first place. 

            The humor is hit-or-miss because while Dwayne Johnson and Pierce Brosnan’s dialogue and banter get some laughs as well as Black Adam’s fish-out-of-water humor in the beginning, characters like Atom Smasher and Cyclone do not, as if their inclusions were an afterthought as a desperate attempt to add unnecessary comic relief that barely impact the main plot. You could easily write these characters out and it would still be the same movie…also, Atom Smasher’s mask totally looks like a recolored Deadpool mask! 

             While I was invested in Black Adam’s storyline, everything else gets lost in the usual DCEU traps like the film trying to do too much at once and establishing a bunch of future DC projects and less focus on the one we’re watching right now. It’s not quite as overstuffed as Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, but still very busy and cluttered without much breathing room. 

            The action scenes are fun at times with my favorite being a chase through the city involving Black Adam and bad guys on hover-bikes, but a lot of them are filled to the brim with excessive rapid-fire editing, slow-motion, and tons of CGI to the point where it’s like watching a video game cutscene and the fast-paced editing ironically makes many of the fight sequences not all that exhilarating. 

            Marwan Kenzari in sadly yet another failed villain performance, but unlike his performance as Jafar in the Aladdin remake where it was very uniquely miscast, Black Adam’s villain is boring as the typical power-hungry guy who wants to get the magic artifact to become a giant CG monster for the hero to fight. He is neither intimidating, funny, nor interesting, basically a lesser version of Mark Strong’s character from Shazam! minus just about everything that made him a fun villain. 

            Black Adam can be best described as a mixed bag with elements that work and others that don’t. Not a terrible movie, but you’d be better off waiting for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever or Shazam! Fury of the Gods.