Black Adam
Year: 2022
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Aldis Hodge, Dwayne Johnson & Sarah Shahi
Runtime: 124 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 26/10/22
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Aldis Hodge, Dwayne Johnson & Sarah Shahi
Runtime: 124 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 26/10/22
If Black Adam has proved anything to me it’s that I’ve entirely lost patience for the DC Extended Universe films that started back in 2013 with Man of Steel. Now the eleventh film in the franchise, Black Adam is supposed to represent a reset of sorts following a major restructuring at Warner Bros., but despite this it can’t help but seem to want to desperately tie itself in to previous films in the franchise such as Shazam!, Suicide Squad, and the aforementioned Man of Steel. Regardless, it seems that even taking things back to square one isn’t something DC can seem to do right with this franchise.
In 2600BC a young slave boy is given the powers of Shazam, transforming him into the hero Teth-Adam (Dwayne Johnson), the liberator of Kahndaq.
In present day Kahndaq is under oppression from the crime syndicate Intergang, who are trying to locate the mystical Crown of Sabaac. When archaeologist Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi) discovers the crown and is attacked by Intergang she summons Teth-Adam to vanquish them. Unclouded by a moral compass, Teth-Adam kills indiscriminately to protect the crown, drawing the attention of the Justice Society of America.
Having agreed to save Adrianna’s son from Intergang, Teth-Adam must also fight off the Justice Society and affirm himself judge, jury, and executioner over Kahndaq.
In 2600BC a young slave boy is given the powers of Shazam, transforming him into the hero Teth-Adam (Dwayne Johnson), the liberator of Kahndaq.
In present day Kahndaq is under oppression from the crime syndicate Intergang, who are trying to locate the mystical Crown of Sabaac. When archaeologist Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi) discovers the crown and is attacked by Intergang she summons Teth-Adam to vanquish them. Unclouded by a moral compass, Teth-Adam kills indiscriminately to protect the crown, drawing the attention of the Justice Society of America.
Having agreed to save Adrianna’s son from Intergang, Teth-Adam must also fight off the Justice Society and affirm himself judge, jury, and executioner over Kahndaq.
By definition an anti-hero should be more interesting than a straightforward hero, they have more going on under the surface and are considerably more morally grey than the ‘good guys’ or the ‘bad guys’. Unfortunately, that is not the case for Black Adam. Whilst he does indeed kill indiscriminately, his complete lack of a moral code actually makes him an extremely bland character to watch, and it’s hard to root for him as he’s totally devoid of a personality. Dwayne Johnson is a good actor, he usually brings a great deal of charisma to the roles he plays, and you can always count on him to deliver the physicality needed for an action movie performance. But in Black Adam he’s about as interesting as drywall, and most of the action sequences he doesn’t do because it’s so CGI heavy.
This problem doesn’t stop with Johnson as every single character and performance in Black Adam is so lacking in personality and enthusiasm. Clearly this was a ‘creative decision’ made by the director or studio to make it seem grittier and darker, but instead it just makes it tediously boring and forgettable.
Black Adam also disappoints visually. The films many action sequences are brought to life with excessive and cheap looking CGI. Everything looks rubbery, The Matrix Reloaded comes to mind when watching many of Black Adam’s combat sequences as I may as well be looking at a mid 00’s videogame. It also suffers from the same problem that man of Steel did in that many of its fight sequences lack impact because almost all of them take place in the air, and physics don’t apply to any of these characters.
There was one moment in the film that I loved though, and it came reasonably early on. A slow-mo sequence of Teth-Adam obliterating an entire military force before they even knew what was happening. But I think I lobed it because it reminded me of the Quicksilver sequences from X-Men Days of Future Past & Apocalypse…both of which were better scenes in better films.
Whilst I’m sure DCEU acolytes will find some enjoyment in Black Adam, for the masses its yet another bland entry in the mostly mediocre franchise. It’s genre fatigue at its finest with hardly an ounce of originality or creative competence on display. When compared to films like Morbius the film certainly doesn’t stoop that low, but it’s something that you can let slip you by and forget it ever exists and not miss a single thing which might just be worse.
This problem doesn’t stop with Johnson as every single character and performance in Black Adam is so lacking in personality and enthusiasm. Clearly this was a ‘creative decision’ made by the director or studio to make it seem grittier and darker, but instead it just makes it tediously boring and forgettable.
Black Adam also disappoints visually. The films many action sequences are brought to life with excessive and cheap looking CGI. Everything looks rubbery, The Matrix Reloaded comes to mind when watching many of Black Adam’s combat sequences as I may as well be looking at a mid 00’s videogame. It also suffers from the same problem that man of Steel did in that many of its fight sequences lack impact because almost all of them take place in the air, and physics don’t apply to any of these characters.
There was one moment in the film that I loved though, and it came reasonably early on. A slow-mo sequence of Teth-Adam obliterating an entire military force before they even knew what was happening. But I think I lobed it because it reminded me of the Quicksilver sequences from X-Men Days of Future Past & Apocalypse…both of which were better scenes in better films.
Whilst I’m sure DCEU acolytes will find some enjoyment in Black Adam, for the masses its yet another bland entry in the mostly mediocre franchise. It’s genre fatigue at its finest with hardly an ounce of originality or creative competence on display. When compared to films like Morbius the film certainly doesn’t stoop that low, but it’s something that you can let slip you by and forget it ever exists and not miss a single thing which might just be worse.