21 Oct Black Adam Review

BLACK ADAM

dir. Jaume Collet-Serra, starring Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Noah Centeno, Pierce Brosnan, et. al

Decades ago, back in 2014, it was announced at San Diego ComiCon that Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson would be starring as DC’s anti-hero Black Adam, prompting years of speculation of how the hero would fit in with Shazam and other members of Warner Bros’ shared universe of DC Comics. After years of delays, company-wide reorgs, and an almost complete faltering of what was known as the DCEU (or Worlds of DC depending on who you ask), Black Adam has finally arrived at screens, bringing the Justice Society of America along with him.

Five millennia after being granted the powers of ancient gods, Teth-Adam is roused from his slumber and needed to become a hero for the people of the fictional Middle Eastern city of Kahndaq once more. After being awakened by university professor Adrianna Tomaz to help them against the organized crime syndicate of Intergang, Black Adam simultaneously fights off constant attack from the Justice Society (yes, they’re different from the Justice League) who attempt to imprison him again while begrudingly helping the people of Kahndaq. What results is a standard superhero movie with a few surprising twists along the way.

How does Black Adam fit into the DECU? For those who bemoan the denseness of the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe, this film might be more your speed. It works both as a companion piece to 2019’s Shazam! as well as its own entity. Very little prior knowledge is required, and with the goal of the film being to entertain, Black Adam mostly succeeds at just that. The biggest failing of the movie is almost exclusively contained to its first act. Opening with a clunky voiceover and flashback sequence that does a lot heavy lifting and table setting, not successfully, the signs of a weak script are there from the very beginning (not always the case with heavy voiceover, see: The Shawshank Redemption). Once it settles into it second act, things thankfully improve significantly, and the film becomes far more enjoyable. If viewers are willing to stick out an initial rough 30-45 minute patch, they’ll be in for the ride.

Starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Black Adam shows the actor tackling possibly his darkest and most right of center role to date. As an oppressed slave who fights for the freedom of his people, Teth-Adam appears to be a classic template of the superhero origin story. Johnson plays on the darkness of a man fueled by rage and despair expertly; as often as he’s criticized for coasting through movies by just being The Rock in every role, here there’s no winking at the camera to show the audience what fun he’s having on set. While still fun and slightly charming, he’s nowhere near what we’ve seen in previous films.

The surprise standout of the film is Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall, also known in the DC universe as Hawkman. The leader of the Justice Society, Hawkman has always been brash, arrogant, and quick to action and Holdge embodies all those qualities here. A formidable hero, but quite obviously outclassed by Black Adam, Hodge brings his own sort of charm to the movie, a cocksure arrogance that invites a good-natured eye rolling yet you still want to root for him to succeed. Joining Hodge’s Hawkman is Pierce Brosnan in an inspired casting as Doctor Fate. One of DC’s most powerful sorcerers, a man gifted and burdened with knowing possible outcomes of the future, Brosnan plays Fate with something like a sense of fatalism. Easygoing and relaxed until it’s time to get to business, Brosnan hasn’t been this likeable since his Mama Mia days.

As for the human members of the cast, Sarah Shahi leads the way as Adrianna Tomaz. The most developed of those without superpowers, but still woefully underserved, Shahi plays Adrianna with a strength and a confidence needed to lead the resistance in Kahndaq. With one brilliant scene dressing down the Justice Society’s handling of worldwide policing that feels pointedly directed at United States foreign policies, Shahi steals both the scene and the other actors’ lunch money. While the focus is of course Black Adam, it’s still a shame that the audience only gets a peek at both the skill of Tomaz as an actress and Adrianna as a character.

The low point for the movie comes in with Marwan Kenzari as Ishmael Gregor, aka Sabbac. Reminiscent of an early MCU Phase 1 or 2 villain, Sabbac is given little development and even less motivation. Why Sabbac is striving to do what he does is hardly touched upon, other than there needs to be a bigger bad than Black Adamn for the story to work. A shame for Marwan Kenzari, who gave the role his best shot, but thanks to some shoddy script work and Adam hogging the focus of the majority of the film, he’s relegated to popping up when inconvenient before suffering the Wonder Woman third act fate of transforming into the CGI monster of the week.

Directed by Jume Collet-Serra, Black Adam’s greatest strength is in its action scenes. While the fight scenes devolve into computer-generated pixels waging war against pixels, as is part and parcel for movies of this ilk, Collet-Serra’s action scenes are creatively entertaining. Sidestepping the old X-Men movie formula of heroes and villains pairing off to fight individually, the Justice Society work as a team, playing off each other’s strengths and weaknesses to fight both Black Adam, and the film’s overall villain. Unfortunately, the movie lands in a pitfall that a number of high-octane movies do: heavy on action and light on character development. Outside of Black Adam himself, and the relationship between Doctor Fate and Hawkman, the film lacks any serious mining of the people on screen.

Overall, Black Adam is a fun enough time to be had in theaters. While not going to any lengths to redefine the genre that has become superhero movies, it’s instead a solid addition to the whole that doesn’t require much in the way of what some like to refer to as “homework.” Dwayne Johnson isn’t his usual charming self, but he still brings his typical energy and likability to the performance that makes it easy to root for the antihero. With the exception of the first act, Jaume Collet-Serra’s direction and pacing make the two hours move by a quick clip, ensuing plenty of action and destruction. As the year’s penultimate blockbuster, the movie starts rough but has just enough magic to delight and surprise. Black Adam is currently in theaters.

Review by Darryl Mansel