Movie Info
Movie Name: Black Adam
Studio: Warner Bros/New Line Cinema/DC Entertainment
Genre(s): Comic Book/Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Release Date(s): October 19, 2022 (Premiere)/October 21, 2022 (US)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
The Justice Society is invading MY movie?!?!
The country of Kahndaq needs a hero. Overrun by Intergang and other outside groups, Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi) is searching for the fabled Crown of Sabbac. When she and her fellow rebel Ishmael Gregor (Marwan Kenzari) find it, they are forced to awaken Teth-Adam (Dwayne Johnson). Now, Teth-Adam is in a world that he doesn’t understand and a land that isn’t his. Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) has dispatched the Justice Society led by Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), and Hawkman, Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), and Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) cannot allow Adam to gain power…but Adam has secrets too.
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, Black Adam is a DC superhero movie. The eleventh film in the DCEU, the film follows The Suicide Squad in 2021, and was released to bad reviews and poor box office returns.
Black Adam was a strange choice to begin with. Black Adam was the flipside to Captain Marvel (aka Shazam), but he was generally considered a villain or antihero…but the movie has a lot to deal with to even start telling a story. It doesn’t quite succeed.
Dr. Fate can your mask tell us if this is the end of our appearances?
It has the right idea, but fails in the execution. It isn’t the worst movie, but it also isn’t good. The film doesn’t feel like it has any real identity. The movie is a little about Black Adam (who doesn’t get his new name until the end), the rebels led by Andrinna Tomaz, and the Justice Society. I like Ismael Gregor once he transforms into Sabbac, but until then he feels pretty generic.
The cast is led by Dwayne Johnson, but Johnson is doing his normal thing. The character is written almost like Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy in that he doesn’t understand anything and just speaks literally. The rebels are played by Sarah Shahi, Bodhi Sabongui who plays her always-skateboarding-son Amon, and her brother Karim played by Mohammed Amer. The fun of the film is the Justice Society who feels like the real stars. Pierce Brosnan is a solid Dr. Fate, Quintessa Swindell brings the lighthearted aspect as Cyclone, and Noah Centineo is the “fun guy” who plays a Peter Parker-eque version of the character. I would also like to see more Aldis Hodge as Hawkman as well. The movie also features a cameo by Henry Cavill as Superman in addition to Djimon Housou, Viola Davis, and Jennifer Holland from other DC films.
Can’t wait to see the sequel…oh…wait
The movie is a mix of visuals. I like some of the Black Adam combat visuals and I also like that he’s just a powerhouse. He doesn’t move or look like Shazam and he also doesn’t fly like Superman. He does provide a different “style” of heroes, but the execution is poor.
Black Adam isn’t unwatchable as some would have you think, but it isn’t a movie that is very inspired or different enough to necessitate the movie. With word that the DC Universe film are rebooting, Black Adam also feels a bit irrelevant. I doubt we see him again in any significant role or get any closure to his story…the movie feels like a one-off. Black Adam was followed by Shazam!: Fury of the Gods in 2023.
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