Having been attached to the project since 2014, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson finally enters the DC universe as Black Adam, in this big budget comic book adaptation from Spanish director Jaume Collett-Serra.
Predominantly known for directing a string of Liam Neeson action movies, Collett-Serra reunites with the Rock, having worked together on last years Jungle Cruise for Disney.
The character of Black Adam dates back as far as 1945, but was acquired by DC in the 70’s and has been mainly used in the comics as an antagonist for the hero Shazam (Portrayed by Zachary Levi in the 2019 film of the same name).
Here after a prolonged and rather unwieldy prologue, Black Adam or Teth Adam as he is known, is freed from his 5000 year old tomb in the country of Kahndaq to wreak havoc on the world above. Tasked with bringing down this new threat are a superhero group called the Justice society. A super powered scrap ensues, but with both parties harbouring good intentions, it’s only a matter of time before the predictable team up occurs and a common enemy emerges.
Positioning the character as more of an anti-hero than an out and out villain, Black Adam is a indomitable brooding mass of muscle, but also an incredibly boring lead. As an actor Johnson’s strengths have always been his charisma and snappy comedic timing, but the script from Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani fails to harness any of this. Instead Johnson is a mostly silent angry brute, slow motion fighting his way through an array of faceless goons.
The Justice society, who appear to be a second division version of the Justice league, are comprised of Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman and Pierce Brosnan’s Dr Fate, as well as Z list heroes Cyclone and Atom Smasher portrayed by Quintessa Swindell and Noah Centineo. Hodge is fine but underserved by the script, whilst the interesting casting of Brosnan as the magical Dr Fate, pays off, resulting in the veteran Irish actor delivering some of the films more entertaining moments.
In between the copious CGI action scenes, accompanied by Lorne Balfe’s pounding score, the overly complicated narrative is explained ad nauseam. If anyone leaves the cinema knowing or even caring what Eternium is, they are a patient person indeed.
Like most of DC’s output, Black Adam takes itself far too seriously, is dour in tone and mostly devoid of humour. How the film makers manage to squander the talents of one of the most popular and entertaining film stars of the moment and turn him into a posturing, monotone bore, is akin to missing an open goal.
Admittedly, using the fictional Middle Eastern country of Kahndaq as the films setting, and telling the story through the eyes of a non-white mother and son pairing (Sarah Shahi and Bodhi Sabongui) is a step in the right direction for representation, but that doesn’t make for an inherently good film.
Black Adam offers plenty, but delivers nothing you won’t have seen before and will likely be swiftly forgotten in the weeks and months to come. The Rock may have saved worse films, but he can’t salvage this dirge. We can only hope the recent appointment of the talented James Gunn as head of DC studios, can bring some direction to what is currently a wildly inconsistent franchise
⭐️⭐️
Paul Steward
@grittster
23/10/22