Black Adam Review

 

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is truly a force to be reckoned with in the latest installment of the DC pantheon of films, Black Adam. A picture fifteen years in the making Johnson was born to play this anti-hero as he brings a strong sense of charisma and considerable edge to the role. The story itself follows the events that unfold after Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb after 5,000 years and sets out to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world. His quest puts him at odds with the Justice Society led by Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and his mentor Dr. Fate (Pierce Brosnan). What ensues despite a weak underlying story and the even weaker villain is a highly-entertaining fun-filled ride that sets up an exciting future for the DC Universe. 

 

Described by The Rock himself as the most important role of his career, Johnson brings to life a formidable and intense player to the DC Universe. Not a hero or a villain rather Black Adam is what you would call an anti-hero. He lives by his own code born out of the rage of his tragic slavery backstory from long ago. A man of mystery with a tough-as-nails demeanor, he is a modern-day Clint Eastwood playing in the sandbox of the DC Universe. This very inspiration is even reflected in the film directly via a gag involving Eastwood’s The Man with No Name film showcasing his classic gun-draw standoff scene first seen by Black Adam on TV and then put to life in an electrifying battle with some Intergang goons. During Johnson’s feverish round of global promotion for the film he conveyed that he could relate to his character on a deeply personal level recalling:

“Well this was certainly a departure from anything that I’ve done and in terms of I thought well let me not try and tap into a dark side because I feel probably energetically that’s not a good healthy place to go um even though my friends who are actors do it all the time. So what I did do was just try to think of times in my past where I really felt uh constrained and like I had the chains on me and people telling me you can’t do this you have to do it like that. For example, when I first got to Hollywood um many moons ago I was told out of the world of pro wrestling uh I was told well if you want to be a star the biggest stars at that time were George Clooney and Johnny Depp and Will Smith I was told then you can't call yourself The Rock don't talk about pro wrestling you got to lose weight go on a diet you're too big don't go to the gym as much there was a lot of things like that I was being told. So and if you don't know any better you buy into it and I bought into it for a couple of years before I said this ends right now and I'm going to be myself and at least if I fail I'm going to fail being me so I tapped into that because a lot of that those elements are what surrounds Black Adam's uh life and his existence of being told you have to do it like that you can't do it like that superheroes act a certain way superheroes do it a certain way and Black Adam says well I'm gonna do it Black Adam’s way.”

 

 

Black Adam’s unique ideology is what is the driving force behind much of the conflict of this film pitting him against the Justice Society who themselves are game-changers for the landscape of these stories. Much in the same way that the original X-Men movie introduced audiences to a whole new world of characters that felt like it had a layered backstory behind it you could have done a whole series of movies on alone it is the same here with this iconic team. Johnson fought hard to get WB to look past the Justice League and to bring the original DC superhero team to the big screen and here they finally make it. The chemistry is undeniable amongst the team with Hawkman and Dr. Fate’s brotherly-like dynamic especially compelling. And Pierce Brosnan steals the show as Dr. Fate acting as a sort of James Bond meets Professor X-like figure. Also Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone brought to the table a very sweet and charming wholesome-feeling romantic storyline. The rich storytelling beats within the fabric of the Justice Society makes a strong case to see the team get its own franchise independent of Black Adam down the road as not only did you get to see this team pull off some crazy high-powered action but you really connected with them on a human level. And that in effect is what really is resonant throughout Black Adam… non-stop action and characters that jump off the page or the big screen rather. 

 

 

To be honest the story as scripted is pretty weak with an incredibly underwhelming villain that had no real depth or emotion to him in deep contrast to the surrounding stable of characters around him. Black Adam’s anti-hero journey was serviced properly though with his incredibly fun yet tension-filled dynamic with the Justice Society balanced out by Sarah Shahi’s character, a fiercely spirited rebel to the Intergang threat in her country, and her son who acted as a point of comedic levity to the character’s dark journey to heroism. All in all as many things that didn’t work about Black Adam there was a lot more that did and that’s what counts. And the best is yet to come as indicated by that post-credits scene. 

 

SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT

For years Johnson rallied to bring back Henry Cavill as Superman who has been missing in action since 2017’s Justice League. And the harsh reality is that for a long time that was not to be as under the old WB leadership Walter Hamada vetoed Johnson’s request to put Superman in Black Adam as the executive had other plans for the character. But now that in recent months WB was bought by Discovery and now under a new charge, Johnson’s long-held wish to see Black Adam and Henry Cavill's Superman share the big screen together became a reality in a scene that was shot just last month! That scene in question is when after Amanda Waller iterates to Black Adam that he is sentenced to not step foot out his country followed up by the arrival and return of Henry Cavill as Superman who insists that he and Black Adam “have a talk.” It was a moment that brought much joy to me as Man of Steel is undoubtedly one of the most underrated comic book films of all time and Henry Cavill’s portrayal of the character never really got a chance to run its full course capped off by the underwhelming crossover events of Batman v. Superman and Justice League. What’s more, is that Henry Cavill’s new Superman costume popped off the screen with the colors displaying a level of vibrancy to it that lends itself to a strong contrast to the dark saturated colors of Black Adam. And if you’ve been paying any attention at all to the movie news circuit lately you know that Johnson really wants to see these two characters go at it against each other in a movie. Black Adam vs. Superman?

 

 And it’s safe to assume that Zachary Levi’s Shazam will play a pivotal role in those proceedings as well. On the one hand, such a film has the potential to make the same mistakes as Batman vs. Superman or rise to the occasion and not only deliver an operatic action thriller but also tell a deep tale of ideological conflict in the vein of Captain America: Civil War. How do Black Adam and Superman come to be allies when one fights for truth, justice, and due process and the other savagely kills his enemies without restraint? It should be interesting to see how that unfolds for sure and even more interesting to see what is to come with the fast-tracked development of the long-shelved Man of Steel 2. The “S” stands for Hope after all.