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Black Adam Review: బ్లాక్ ఆడమ్ రివ్యూ: బ్లాక్ ఆడమ్ సినిమా ఎలా ఉంది? డీసీ ఈసారైనా హిట్టు కొట్టిందా?

డీసీ కొత్త సినిమా బ్లాక్ ఆడమ్ ఎలా ఉందంటే.

జావుమే కొల్లెట్-సెర్రా

డ్వేన్ జాన్సన్, సారా షాహి, పియర్స్ బ్రాస్నన్ తదితరులు

సినిమా రివ్యూ : బ్లాక్ ఆడమ్ (ఇంగ్లిష్) రేటింగ్ : 2.75/5 నటీనటులు : డ్వేన్ జాన్సన్, సారా షాహి, పియర్స్ బ్రాస్నన్ తదితరులు సినిమాటోగ్రఫీ : లారెన్స్ షేర్ సంగీతం: లార్న్ బాల్ఫీ నిర్మాతలు : డీసీ ఫిల్మ్స్ దర్శకత్వం : జావుమే కొల్లెట్-సెర్రా విడుదల తేదీ: అక్టోబర్ 20, 2022

డీసీ ఎక్స్‌టెండెడ్ యూనివర్స్‌లో లేటెస్ట్ సినిమా బ్లాక్ ఆడమ్ గురువారం థియేటర్లలో విడుదల అయింది. ఈ ఫ్రాంచైజీలోనే ఎక్కువ హైప్ ఉన్న సినిమాల్లో ఒకటిగా ఇది రిలీజ్ అవుతుంది. సినిమాల్లో డీసీ భవిష్యత్తును నిర్ణయించే ప్రాజెక్టుగా దీన్ని అభివర్ణిస్తున్నారు. ఏకంగా 200 మిలియన్ డాలర్ల (మనదేశ కరెన్సీలో సుమారు రూ.1,620 కోట్లు పైనే) బడ్జెట్‌తో ఈ సినిమాని రూపొందించారు. మోస్ట్ వయొలెంట్ సూపర్ హీరో సినిమాగా దీన్ని రూపొందించినట్లు ట్రైలర్లు, టీజర్ చూస్తే తెలుస్తోంది. మరి ఈ సినిమా డీసీకి కొత్త ఊపిరులు పోసిందా? హిట్ కొట్టి తీరాలన్న ఫ్యాన్స్ కోరికను బ్లాక్ ఆడమ్ తీర్చిందా?

కథ: ఐదు వేల సంవత్సరాల క్రితం భూమి మీద కాందాక్ అనే నగరం అత్యంత అభివృద్ధి చెందిన నాగరికతతో ఉండేది. కానీ కొత్తగా అధికారంలోకి వచ్చిన రాజు ఆన్హ్ కోట్ (మర్వాన్ కెన్‌జారీ) ఎటర్నియం అనే లోహం కోసం ప్రజలను బానిసలుగా చేసి తవ్విస్తుంటాడు. ఆ లోహంతో చేసిన కిరీటం ధరిస్తే శక్తులు వచ్చి ప్రపంచాన్ని ఏలవచ్చనేది తన కోరిక. కానీ కొందరు ప్రజలు దాన్ని వ్యతిరేకిస్తారు. వారిని రాజు క్రూరంగా చంపేస్తాడు. అయితే వారిలో ఒకడైన టెత్ ఆడమ్‌కు (డ్వేన్ జాన్సన్) షాజామ్ శక్తులు వస్తాయి. తనకు, రాజుకు జరిగిన యుద్ధంలో రాజు చనిపోతాడు. కోట నాశనం అవుతుంది. ఐదు వేల సంవత్సరాల తర్వాత ఆ కిరీటం కోసం కొందరు తిరిగి వెతకడం ప్రారంభిస్తారు. అలాగే టెత్ ఆడమ్ కూడా తిరిగి వస్తాడు. ఆ తర్వాత ఏం జరిగింది? టెత్ ఆడమ్, బ్లాక్ ఆడంగా ఎలా మారాడు? జస్టిస్ సొసైటీ ఎవరు? ఇలాంటి విషయాలు తెలియాలంటే సినిమా చూడాల్సిందే!

విశ్లేషణ: మార్వెల్, డీసీ వంటి కామిక్ బుక్స్ ఆధారంగా వచ్చే సూపర్ హీరో సినిమాల్లో కథ గురించి పెద్దగా ఆలోచించాల్సిన అవసరం లేదు. ఎందుకంటే అందులో ఉండే కథలు, పాత్రలు ఆల్రెడీ సూపర్ హిట్. వాటిని మనం ఎంత ప్రభావవంతంగా చూపించామనే దానిపైనే రిజల్ట్ ఆధారపడి ఉంటుంది. ఈ విషయంలో జావుమే కొల్లెట్-సెర్రా సక్సెస్ అయ్యారు. సినిమాను యాక్షన్, మ్యూజిక్ నిలబెట్టేశాయి. ప్రారంభంలో కాందాక్ నగరం నేపథ్యంలో వచ్చే సన్నివేశాలు మనకు కేజీయఫ్‌ను గుర్తు చేస్తాయి.

సినిమా అంతా చాలా ఫాస్ట్‌గా రేసీ స్క్రీన్‌ప్లేతో సాగుతుంది. అనవసరమైన సన్నివేశం ఒక్కటి కూడా కనిపించదు. ముఖ్యంగా బ్లాక్ ఆడమ్ తిరిగొచ్చాక యాక్షన్ సన్నివేశాలు వరుసగా ఒకదాని తర్వాత ఒకటి వస్తూనే ఉంటాయి. ప్రేక్షకుడికి ఆలోచించుకునే గ్యాప్ కూడా ఉండదు. కళ్లు చెదిరే యాక్షన్ సన్నివేశాలకు, అద్భుతమైన బ్యాక్‌గ్రౌండ్ మ్యూజిక్ తోడయింది. దీంతోపాటు బ్లాక్ ఆడమ్‌లో కామెడీ కూడా బాగా పండింది. తనకు రాసుకున్న వన్ లైనర్ పంచెస్ బాగా పేలాయి.

అయితే బ్లాక్ ఆడమ్‌తో వచ్చిన చిక్కేంటంటే... ఇది మొదటి సీన్ నుంచే ‘నేను ప్రజలను కాపాడటానికే పుట్టాను. నా పనే అది.’ అనే సాధారణ సూపర్ హీరో సినిమా కాదు. ‘ప్రజలను కాపాడటం నా పని కాదు. అది హీరోల పని.’ అనేది బ్లాక్ ఆడమ్ అజెండా. తను విలన్లతో పోరాడేటప్పుడు ప్రజలు చనిపోయినా పెద్దగా పట్టించుకోడు. రెగ్యులర్ టెంప్లేట్ సూపర్ హీరో సినిమాలు ఇష్టపడేవారికి ఈ కొత్త ప్రయత్నం అంతగా నచ్చకపోవచ్చు. కానీ యాక్షన్ సీక్వెన్స్‌లు, మ్యూజిక్ కోసం అయితే ఈ సినిమాను ఒకసారి కచ్చితంగా చూడవచ్చు. సినిమాలో ఒక సర్‌ప్రైజ్ ఎలిమెంట్ కూడా ఉంది. సినిమా అయిపోగానే బయటకు వచ్చేయకుండా పోస్ట్ క్రెడిట్ సీన్ వరకు వెయిట్ చేస్తే అదేంటో తెలుస్తుంది.

దర్శకుడు, హీరో తర్వాత ఈ సినిమాలో గుర్తుండిపోయేది సంగీతం అందించిన లార్న్ బాల్ఫీ. తను అందించిన నేపథ్య సంగీతాన్ని సినిమా అయిపోయాక కూడా మర్చిపోలేం. జాన్ లీ, మైకేల్ సేల్‌ల ఎడిటింగ్ చాలా క్రిస్ప్‌గా ఉంది. సినిమాలో అనవసర సన్నివేశాలు అసలు కనిపించవు. విజువల్ ఎఫెక్ట్స్ అబ్బురపరుస్తాయి.

Also Read :  'కాంతార' రివ్యూ : ప్రభాస్ మెచ్చిన కన్నడ సినిమా ఎలా ఉందంటే?

ఇక నటీనటుల విషయానికి వస్తే... ‘బ్లాక్ ఆడమ్ పాత్ర చేయడానికే నేను పుట్టాను.’ ఈ సినిమా ఒప్పుకున్నాక డ్వేన్ జాన్సన్ తన సోషల్ మీడియాలో షేర్ చేసిన పోస్ట్ ఇది. చెప్పినట్లే ఆ పాత్రలో తను జీవించేశాడు. బ్లాక్ ఆడమ్ పాత్రలో ఉన్న రఫ్‌నెస్, కేర్ ఫ్రీ యాటిట్యూడ్, డెప్త్ అన్నిటినీ స్క్రీన్ మీద చక్కగా ప్రెజెంట్ చేశాడు. ఒక రకంగా చెప్పాలంటే ఇది డ్వేన్ జాన్సన్ వన్ మ్యాన్ షో. డాక్టర్ ఫేట్ మాత్రలో కనిపించిన పియర్స్ బ్రాస్నన్ ఆకట్టుకుంటాడు. ఈ పాత్ర మార్వెల్ క్యారెక్టర్ డాక్టర్ స్ట్రేంజ్‌ను తలపిస్తుంది. కానీ కామిక్స్ పరంగా చూసుకుంటే డాక్టర్ ఫేట్‌నే ముందుగా ఇంట్రడ్యూస్ అయింది. మిగతా పాత్రల్లో నటించిన వారందరూ ఆకట్టుకుంటారు.

ఓవరాల్‌గా చెప్పాలంటే... యాక్షన్ మూవీ లవర్స్‌కు బ్లాక్ ఆడమ్ కచ్చితంగా నచ్చుతుంది. అయితే రెగ్యులర్ ఫార్మాట్ తరహా సూపర్ హీరో సినిమాలు చూసేవారికి ఈ యాంటీ హీరో నచ్చుతాడో లేదో చూడాలి.

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టాప్ హెడ్ లైన్స్

ట్రెండింగ్ వార్తలు

ట్రెండింగ్ ఒపీనియన్

వ్యక్తిగత కార్నర్

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Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra , and featuring a remarkable lead performance by Dwayne Johnson , the spiky and majestic "Black Adam" is one of the best DC superhero films to date. This tale of a gloomy, seemingly malevolent god who reappears in a long-occupied Middle Eastern nation rejects most of the choices that bland-ify even the good entries in the genre. For its first third, it presents its title character—a champion who challenged a despotic king thousands of years earlier—as a frightening and unknowable force with a bottomless appetite for destruction. Known by his ancient moniker Teth-Adam, his reemergence from a desert tomb proves both a miracle and a curse for people who prayed for someone to defend them against corporate-mercenary thugs who have oppressed them for decades and strip-mined their land. 

Throughout the rest of its running time, “Black Adam” leans into the inevitability of Adam’s evolution toward good-guy status, condensing the transformation of the title character in the first two “Terminator” films (there are even comic bits where people try to teach Adam sarcasm and the Geneva Conventions). "Black Adam" then stirs in dollops of a macho sentimentality that used to be common in old Hollywood dramas about loners who needed to get involved in a cause to reset their moral compasses or recognize their worth. But the sharp edge that the film brings to the early parts of its story never dulls.

Adam initially seems as much of a literal as well as a figurative force of nature as Godzilla and other beasts in Japanese  kaiju  films. It’s initially hard for the people in Adam’s path to tell if he’s good, evil, or merely indifferent to human concerns. One thing’s for sure: everyone wants Adam to help them prevent a crown forged in hell and infused with the energy of six demons from being placed atop the head of someone in Intergang, a global corporate/mercenary consortium whose interests are represented by a two-faced charmer ( Marwan Kenzari ).

Decades ago, Humphrey Bogart played a lot of cynical men who insisted they weren’t interested in causes, then changed their minds and took up arms against corruption or tyranny. Viewers still love that story, and Johnson has updated it many times during his career, most recently in “ Jungle Cruise ,” in which he played a character modeled on Bogart's riverboat captain in "The African Queen." He channels vintage primordial acting by Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger but also poet-brute performances like Anthony Quinn's strongman in " La Strada ," and infuses the totality with his unique charisma. "Black Adam" confirms that he’s studied the classics and cherry-picked bits that seem to work for him. There are even tenderhearted moments of regret and recrimination that seem inspired by 1950s moral awakening pictures like “ On the Waterfront .” 

The latter are usually triggered by three “civilian” characters who appeal to Adam’s presumed innate (though submerged) goodness. One is Adrianna Tomaz ( Sarah Shahi ), a university professor, resistance fighter, and widow of a resistance hero who was killed by the colonizers. Another is Adrianna’s cheerful and indomitable son Amon ( Bodhi Sabongui ), who zips around the bombed-out city on a skateboard that seems to have as many secondary uses as a Swiss Army Knife. And then there’s Adrianna’s brother Amir (comedian Mohammed Amer), who livens up a standard-issue earthy everyman role.

Somehow, though, the script by Adam Sztykiel , Rory Haines , and Sohrab Noshirvani resists the temptation to wallow in unearned sentiment. Nor does the movie insist, despite the evidence, that Adam and the superheroes brought into to confront him ( Aldis Hodge ’s Hawkman, Noah Centineo ’s Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell ’s wind-manipulating Cyclone, and Pierce Brosnan ’s dimension-hopping and clairvoyant Dr. Fate) are wonderful people who have pure motives and always mean well. In conversations about motivations and tactics, nobody is entirely right or wrong. The movie's edge comes from its determination to live in moral gray areas as long as it can. 

It also comes from the violence, which is presented as the inevitable result of the characters’ personalities, ambitions, and duties, rather than being associated with any particular code or philosophy. That framing, plus the sprays of blood and images of people being impaled, shot, and crushed, pushes the movie's PG-13 rating to the breaking point like “ Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ” and “ Gremlins ” did with the PG rating nearly 40 years earlier. There were several walkouts at the “Black Adam” screening this writer attended, and in every case, it was somebody who brought a child under 10. 

In fairness, they may not have expected the movie to begin with a flashback that climaxes with a slave at a construction site getting gut-stabbed and thrown off a cliff, and a boy being threatened with beheading, or for the title character to obliterate an army with electrical bolts and his bare hands seconds after his first appearance. Nearly every other scene—including expository dialogue exchanges—is set against the backdrop of a chaotic city whose residents have been hardened not just by the occupation, but by the catastrophes that are unleashed whenever super-beings clash, which ties into recurring scenes and dialogue about what it means for a small country to be invaded and occupied by outsiders who set their own rules and are indifferent to daily life on the ground.

Film history buffs might note the studio that originated the project: the Warner Bros. subdivision New Line. It rose to prominence with horror films, grew by releasing auteur-driven, down-and-dirty genre pieces and dramas (including “ Menace II Society ” and “ Deep Cover ”), and got into blockbusters with the original “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. You can see that lineage reflected in many scenes and sequences of this film, which is PG-13 in fact but R in spirit. “Black Adam” immediately announces what sort of film it is by weaving in quotes from the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black” (the melody of which is referenced in Lorne Balfe ’s score) and musical as well as visual snippets from “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly”—key works from artists whose best work invites you to root for people who move through their worlds like threshers. 

The film’s director honed his mayhem chops in horror movies, then in R-rated thrillers in which Liam Neeson brutally dispatches adversaries. Collet-Serra makes a PG-13 film feel like an R by cutting away or jumping back from the nastiest violence, but letting us hear it (or imagine it when people watch from a great distance). He also does it by insisting, through actions as well as dialogue, that individuals, even superhuman ones, do things for multiple, often contradictory reasons. (A boy’s bedroom is filled with superhero posters and comics, and when a “good guy” and Adam fight in there, they burn and tear through DC’s most recognizable icons in a way that rhymes with scenes of the city's historic monuments being toppled or pulverized.)

Fidelity to basic film storytelling keeps "Black Adam" centered even when it's doing ten things at once. The film is packed with foreshadowings, setups, payoffs, twists, and surprises, and is filled with well-defined lead and supporting characters. One standout is Brosnan, who delivers a moving portrait of an immortal who is tired of seeing the future and thinking back on his past. Dr. Fate looks at those who can live in the present with a mixture of melancholy, wisdom, and envy. 

Another is Johnson, who has real acting chops but in recent years has often seemed to be constrained (maybe intimidated?) by his lucrative image as the people’s colossus. He’s as minimalist as one could be when playing a god. He takes a lot of his cues from the screen star that the film quotes most often, Clint Eastwood , but he also seems to have learned from action-hero performances by stars like Neeson, Toshiro Mifune , Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Charles Bronson , who understood that the camera can detect and amplify faint tremors of emotion as long as you act with the film—not just in it, and never against it. The peak is a fleeting moment when Johnson lets us know that something deep inside Adam has changed by glancing in a different direction and softening his features. It's maybe half a second. It’s not the kind of acting that wins prizes because if it’s done well—as it is here—you feel as if it happened in your mind rather than on the screen. 

The politics and spirituality of the movie are just as committed and consistent. Even when the story flirts with Orientalism or incorporates simplistic Western heaven-and-hell imagery, “Black Adam” never loses track of what Adam represents in our world: autonomy, liberation, the possibility of redemption and renewal, and a refusal to be defined by however things have always been done. 

The result sometimes plays like the DC answer to the pop culture quake that was “ Black Panther ,” serving up a Middle Eastern-inflected version of the Marvel film’s Afro-Futurist sensibility, and letting its setting stand in for any place that was colonized. But its politics are more clearly defined and less compromised. “Black Adam” is staunchly anti-imperialist to its marrow, even equating the Avengers-like crew sent to capture and imprison Black Adam to a United Nations “intervention” force that the people of the region don’t want because it only makes things worse. The movie is anti-royalist, too, which is even more of a surprise considering that the backstory hinges on kings and lineage. 

"Black Adam" is a superlative and clever example of this sort of movie, coloring within the lines while drawing fascinating doodles on the margins. In its brash, relentless, overscaled way, Collet-Serra's film respects its audience and wants to be respected by it. "Black Adam" gives the audience everything they wanted, along with things they never expected.

Only in theaters today.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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Black Adam (2022)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, intense action and some language.

125 minutes

Dwayne Johnson as Teth Adam / Black Adam

Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall / Hawkman

Pierce Brosnan as Kent Nelson / Doctor Fate

Noah Centineo as Al Rothstein / Atom Smasher

Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz / Isis

Marwan Kenzari as Ishmael Gregor / Sabbac

Quintessa Swindell as Maxine Hunkel / Cyclone

Bodhi Sabongui as Amon Tomaz

Viola Davis as Amanda Waller

Jennifer Holland as Emilia Harcourt

Mo Amer as Karim

• Jaume Collet-Serra

Writer (based on the characters created by)

• Bill Parker
• Adam Sztykiel
• Rory Haines
• Sohrab Noshirvani

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• Lawrence Sher
• Michael L. Sale
• Lorne Balfe

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Black Adam may end up pointing the way to an exciting future for DC films, but as a standalone experience, it's a wildly uneven letdown.

With lots of action, solid effects, and a story you don't have to be a comics fan to follow, Black Adam is one of the best DC movies to date.

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Black Adam (2022)

Black Adam Review

‘Black Adam’ perfectly adapts the character and reinvigorates the DCEU. One of DC Comics best movies ever, 'Black Adam' is action-packed fun from beginning to end led by a commanding performance from Dwayne Johnson.

DC Comics attempt at replicating the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the DC Extended Universe has had some missteps. For every ‘Wonder Woman’ or ‘Aquaman,’ there has been a ‘Suicide Squad’ or ‘Justice League.’ But that will all change on October 21st when ‘Black Adam’ which stars Dwayne Johnson and was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (‘Jungle Cruise’) hits theaters. The new movie brilliantly adapts the source material without ever watering down the brutality of the character and absolutely elevates the DCEU in the process.

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‘Black Adam’ Review: Dwayne Johnson Plays an All-Powerful DC Villain Who Can Be Talked Into Heroism

Set in the imaginary Middle East country of Kahndaq, this meaty, feature-length teaser reframes a fan-favorite 'Shazam!' baddie as an antihero, though his greatest battles are still to come.

By Peter Debruge

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SPOILER ALERT: The following review contains mild spoilers for “ Black Adam .”

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After all, this summer’s “DC League of Super-Pets” wrapped with Krypto (Clark Kent’s companion, also voiced by Johnson) meeting Black Adam’s pet basenji, with whom he debates the meaning of “antihero”: “It’s basically exactly like a regular hero, except way cooler. You make up your own rules, and then you break them.” The prospect that the superegos attached to these two canines might one day collide transforms the spectacular (but otherwise pointless) one-off/origin story that is “Black Adam” into a feature-length tease. The payoff is still to come, but here, audiences are presented with the moral and emotional backstory for a future showdown.

“Black Adam” is built around the notion that Teth Adam, as he’s referred to for most of the movie, isn’t evil so much as really, really angry. The surprisingly serious-minded (but still plenty pulpy) project deprives Johnson of his greatest superpower — his sense of humor — while giving the now-straight-faced star a chance to play a character with some interesting contradictions. His instinct is to kill anyone who upsets him, and yet, he can still be reasoned with. This flexibility will prove crucial, since there’s a far more malevolent (if not especially memorable) character scheming to liberate Kahndaq, the fictional quasi-Egyptian country where the film takes place.

It’s an unusual move for DC to base an entire superhero feature in the Middle East — although it’s a homecoming of sorts for Johnson, whose film career kicked off playing the Scorpion King in “The Mummy Returns.” Doubly daring is the way “Black Adam” aligns our sympathies with the locals, who call upon an ancient hero to help overthrow the white mercenaries extracting precious Eternium from their land. In the film’s “300”-style prologue, the powerful mineral is responsible for transforming a lowly slave into a practically godlike figure — with the help of several wizards.

Flash forward to the present day. Tired of living in a state of oppression, a group of rebels led by tough gal Adrianna (Sarah Shahi) go looking for a legendary crown made of Eternium. Co-written by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani, “Black Adam” features a lot more action than most DC movies, cramming the exposition into a series of supercharged set-pieces — including an early “Tomb Raider”-like sequence wherein Adrianna and three accomplices explore a cave, recovering the crown and unleashing Teth Adam from his millennia-long imprisonment.

Looking thoroughly annoyed, his neck thick as a banyan tree trunk, Johnson levitates into the first of many confrontations, blasting blue lightning from his fists. Bullets bounce off his bald dome; bazookas barely slow him down. Collet-Serra has studied everything from “The Matrix” to “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” basing his visual style on favorite tricks from more original films. Half the reason it’s so hard to take comic book movies seriously stems from lazy devices like Eternium and wizards, which “Black Adam” accepts without the slightest hesitation.

The movie is essentially “Shane” on steroids, set in the Middle East instead of the Old West, but still seen through the eyes of a young boy — Adrianna’s comic book-obsessed son Amon (Bodhi Sabongui), in this case — who idolizes a figure of questionable morality. As with “Shane,” sticking a kid in the middle of the story brings the entire project down to a middle-school-level intellect. And yet, except for the recent Batman movies, that’s how most of the DC films feel.

The most out-of-place characters here are the quartet representing the JSA. Adrianna rightly questions why Hawkman and friends should show up now, after a villainous organization called Intergang has been exploiting them for years. Black Adam may be billed as an antihero, but by the logic of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” he’s more helpful to these Kahndaq freedom fighters than the JSA. Fight scenes involving Hawkman, Atom Smasher and Cyclone pose strange challenges, considering their powers, while Doctor Fate at least gives the visual effects team some fun tricks to animate.

No one’s allowed to upstage Johnson, however — not even a bulging demon named Sabbac who appears near the end. Clearly, the film’s whole purpose is to give Black Adam a suitably grand introduction on the assumption that he’ll be pitted against a more deserving adversary soon enough.

Reviewed at Dolby screening room, Burbank, Oct. 17, 2022. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 125 MIN.

• Production: A Warner Bros. release of a New Line Cinema presentation of a Seven Bucks, Flynn Picture Co. production. Producers: Beau Flynn, Hiram Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia. Executive producers: Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener, Dave Neustadter, Chris Pan, Walter Hamada, Adam Schlagman, Geoff Johns, Eric McLeod, Scott Sheldon
• Crew: Director: Jaume Collet-Serra. Screenplay: Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines & Sohrab Noshirvani, based on characters from DC created by Bill Parker, C.C. Beck. Camera: Lawrence Sher. Editors: Mike Sale, John Lee.
• With: Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, Mohammed Amer, Bodhi Sabongui, Pierce Brosnan.

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Black Adam First Reviews: Action-Packed and Powered by a Charismatic Dwayne Johnson

Critics say the film suffers from a villain problem and a lackluster script, but a scene-stealing pierce brosnan, lots of action, and the hint of something new in the dceu powers it forward..

TAGGED AS: dceu , First Reviews , movies

Almost 15 years after Dwayne Johnson first announced interest in playing the character, he finally makes his debut as Black Adam in the DCEU this week. But is the movie, eponymously titled Black Adam , worth the wait, the promise, and the anticipation? The first reviews of the superhero spectacle are mixed, but those that get what the movie is and who it’s for praise the positives enough to disregard any shortcomings.

Here’s what critics are saying about Black Adam :

Does it live up to expectations?

Johnson has been attached to the Black Adam role for nearly two decades… His love for the DC Universe shines through the film and his passion pays off well throughout. – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

Those who have been waiting for this adaptation long since Johnson first expressed interest back in 2007 will not walk away disappointed. – Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

If The Rock smashing more things than he usually can as human characters sounds like a good time, Black Adam delivers. – Fred Topel, United Press International

Given the number of years this project was in development, and how it was promoted to shift the balance of power in the DC Universe, it’s disappointing that the end result is so unremarkable. – Eric Eisenberg, Cinema Blend

How well does it fit into the DCEU?

Black Adam isn’t a full-on course correction for the DCEU, but it is an encouraging new installment in this larger universe. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

Black Adam feels like the first project in years to take from multiple parts of this universe while also focusing on setting up something big for its future. – Gregg Katzman, CBR

Though we’ve prayed DC would move on, there are more than echoes of the Snyderverse here. – John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

A strong entry into the DCEU. – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

As much as Black Adam is a darker take on Shazam, it also repeats the missteps of lesser DC movies. – Fred Topel, United Press International

It’s not awful, especially when compared to many of the other DCEU films, but it’s far from the game-changer it claims to be. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

Does it feel like any other movies?

The film plays like 2018’s Venom in multiple ways, focusing on brutal action sequences and a mixed tone of dark moments and humor. – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

The movie is essentially Shane on steroids, set in the Middle East instead of the Old West. – Peter Debruge, Variety

One movie that’s clearly a model for Black Adam is Terminator 2: Judgment Day . – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

(Photo by Warner Bros. Pictures)

How is The Rock as Black Adam?

The Rock delivers one of his best performances. He put his heart and soul into this role. – Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

An absolutely terrific performance by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, [the movie allows] him to flex his trademark muscular showmanship and combine that with character-driven appeal. – Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

Johnson keeps up his enchanting screen presence as he lands old-fashioned one-liners and brutal action all with complete passion. – Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

Johnson also breathes just enough emotion and empathy into the character. – Gregg Katzman, CBR

Johnson is grandiose as Black Adam, leaving his charismatic movie star stamp in every scene. This is perfect casting from more than a physical standpoint. – Jeff Nelson, Showbiz Cheat Sheet

No matter what one might think about this Black Adam movie as a whole, The Rock grabs your attention and keeps it no matter what he’s doing. Johnson is the man. – Todd McCarthy, Deadline Hollywood Daily

His charisma and brooding stares can only take the film so far. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

Black Adam is perfect for Johnson’s action-figure frame. He just deserves a better first superhero outing than this. – Brian Truitt, USA Today

The problem isn’t that Johnson can’t act — he definitely can! — the problem is that he doesn’t want to. – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

What about the Justice Society?

The Justice Society of America nearly steal the movie right from underneath [Johnson] as the film gives them a satisfactory introduction, leaving us wanting more from all of them by the end. – Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture

Aldis Hodge and Pierce Brosnan’s portrayals of Hawkman and Doctor Fate are both equally brilliant. – Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

Brosnan is a natural in the role of Fate and it’s a wonder how no one tapped on his talents sooner for a superhero role. Hodge is just as great in the film. – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

Pierce Brosnan [is] the standout, even if his character reads like a second-rate Doctor Strange. – Peter Debruge, Variety

Brosnan steals every scene he’s a part of, and the actor is brimming with charisma. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

On the whole, members of the JSA are dealt short shrift, leaving [them] severely underdeveloped. – Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

Noah Centineo and Quintessa Swindell’s Atom Smasher and Cyclone feel like they stumbled in from another movie. – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

(Photo by ©Warner Bros.)

How is the action?

Black Adam features a lot more action than most DC movies. – Peter Debruge, Variety

The visual spectacle just keeps coming at you for two hours, and the effects are all so stupendous that you could begin to take it for granted. – Todd McCarthy, Deadline Hollywood Daily

This movie is packed with action. When we say that, we mean it is pretty much non-stop action for the entire movie. – Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

Every fight sequence packs a punch, and the film gets extra creative when utilizing Doctor Fate’s powers. – Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

Collet-Serra manages to make these action scenes exciting in everything from Adam wiping out large armies to a hand-on-hand fight through an apartment with Hawkman. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

There is no wit, no thrill, and no slickness to the action. – Witney Seibold, Slashfilm

Does the film have a worthy villain?

The villain doesn’t do much of anything except provide us with a pretty cool battle, so we will take it — reluctantly. – Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

Unfortunately, there isn’t much depth to the big bad, and he’s ultimately there to offer a ton of action in the final act. – Gregg Katzman, CBR

It’s just a shame that the main villain isn’t stronger here because it does overshadow some of the bombastic action on display. – Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

The single most forgettable villain in comic book movie history. – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

How is the script?

The screenplay is so action-orientated that it almost completely leaves out the necessary room for characters to breathe. – Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

The script of Black Adam is arguably the weakest part of the film. Character arcs can feel paper-thin and predictable. – Sheraz Farooqi, Cinema Debate

The character development is shallow. – Eric Eisenberg, Cinema Blend

The script does little to help non-DC-scholars here, briefly alluding to nanobots and relics and the Justice Society of America as if other movies had introduced them already. – John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

Does the movie get political?

The picture’s overarching themes – dealing with colonialism and our desperate need for heroes to speak out against tyranny during bleak times – are affecting and effectively crafted. – Courtney Howard, Fresh Fiction

There’s enough complexity in the post-colonial politics of Kahndaq to engage adults. – Peter Debruge, Variety

It’s an interesting setup: American “heroes” coming to a foreign country to stop the local hero from protecting the citizens. But if you’re hoping Black Adam will get into the complexities of that, this is not that movie. – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

Moviegoers may have trouble finding escapist pleasure here, given the knotty global issues the movie raises but doesn’t fully process. – John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

Will we leave feeling hopeful for the DCEU?

Black Adam will help DC fans restore their faith in the DCEU. – Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

Black Adam might not change things single-handedly, but it certainly feels like the start of a new era of DC movies. – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

What it sets up for the future of the DCEU is exciting and not to be overlooked. – Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

The film’s whole purpose is to give Black Adam a suitably grand introduction on the assumption that he’ll be pitted against a more deserving adversary soon enough. – Peter Debruge, Variety

Perhaps this is a new way forward for the DCEU, but do we really need them to do exactly what the MCU is doing? – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

Black Adam opens everywhere on October 21, 2022.

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Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the Egyptian gods--and imprisoned just as quickly--Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique... Read all Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the Egyptian gods--and imprisoned just as quickly--Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world. Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the Egyptian gods--and imprisoned just as quickly--Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.

• Jaume Collet-Serra
• Adam Sztykiel
• Rory Haines
• Sohrab Noshirvani
• Dwayne Johnson
• Aldis Hodge
• Pierce Brosnan
• 1.8K User reviews
• 285 Critic reviews
• 41 Metascore
• 1 win & 13 nominations

Top cast 65

• Black Adam …

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Did you know

• Trivia Jordan Peele was originally offered the chance to direct the film when it was first announced in 2017, but Peele declined, saying, "I'm not a fan of superhero movies and I'd hate to take that chance away from a director who is passionate about them."
• Goofs At one point, they state the crown weighs 23 pounds. However, in several places in the movie, people are carrying/lifting it like it weighs a few ounces.

Hawkman : In this world, there are heroes and there are villains. Heroes don't kill people!

Teth-Adam : Well, I do.

• Crazy credits SPOILER: The film title appears at the end of the film, following up on the final scene where Teth-Adam decides to rename himself for the new era.
• Connections Featured in The Observant Lineman: DC Fandome LIVE (2020)
• Soundtracks Bullet with Butterfly Wings Written by Billy Corgan (as William Corgan) Performed by The Smashing Pumpkins Courtesy of Virgin Records Under license from Universal Music Enteprises

User reviews 1.8K

• Oct 18, 2022
• How long is Black Adam? Powered by Alexa
• October 21, 2022 (United States)
• United States
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• Official Facebook
• Atlanta, Georgia, USA
• Warner Bros.
• New Line Cinema
• DC Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $195,000,000 (estimated)
• $168,152,111
• $67,004,323
• Oct 23, 2022
• $393,452,111

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 5 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos
• IMAX 6-Track

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Black Adam Review

The DC Film universe has, for nearly a decade now, been pinballing between the lightness of Shazam! or Wonder Woman and the grim violence of Batman v Superman . With Black Adam , Dwayne Johnson and director Jaume Collet-Serra attempt to offer a grand unified theory of DC, mixing family-film tropes with a protagonist who straight-up murders people. The result is sometimes a mess, but it’s a generally entertaining one.

As is traditional, a complicated prologue set in 2600 BCE introduces a superpowered hero who then disappears. Cut to the present day, and the vaguely scholarly freedom fighter Adrianna ( Sarah Shahi ) goes to visit an ancient tomb (as is also traditional). She reads out an inscription and whaddya know, lightning strikes to release Teth-Adam (Dwayne Johnson) to battle the enemies who threaten her, and their shared homeland of Kahndaq. Adam is so powerful, however, that soon Viola Davis ’ Amanda Waller gets the Justice Society involved. They’re led by flying fighter Hawkman ( Aldis Hodge ) and magic user Doctor Fate ( Pierce Brosnan ), who bring newbies Atom Smasher ( Noah Centineo ) and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) to stop this new threat.

There’s never much doubt where all this is going. Black Adam clearly isn’t that bad, given how he bonds with Adrianna (a largely undeveloped character) and her likeable son Amon (Bodhi Sabongui). And the Justice Society, while rightly accused of only caring about Kahndaq’s plight when a superpowered being arises there, are clearly well-meaning. There’s obviously going to be a greater threat to come. But first Collet-Sera stages some fun, destructive action scenes to allow Adam and the Justice Society to strut their stuff in. Brosnan’s a standout: his powers are extremely Doctor Strange-y, down to the glass-shattering of reality, but he has a fatalistic sense of the future and a lightness of touch that feels fresh. The film also wisely doesn’t pretend that Black Adam is ever in much danger: it’s only a question of how angry he gets, and who's hit in the crossfire.

The film’s greatest strength, which runs like a current through it, is the sense that superpowers can be terrifying.

Still, that weird contradiction remains: Johnson, Collet-Serra and their team want edge, but without alienating family audiences. So you get massive action scenes without any obvious civilian casualties, and godlike powers without consequence. It’s all nicely shot in low-lying sun and dusty vistas, but it suffers from the weightlessness that gives superhero movies their bad name: great power, no responsibility.

The film’s greatest strength, which runs like a current through it, is the sense that superpowers can be terrifying. Johnson, far stiller and more stony-faced than usual, shows a sort of bemused amorality, and his killing of bad guys seems as natural as breathing during his impressive introductory scenes. The idea of a superhuman who fights for his oppressed people is also a solid one, and an interesting challenge to the usual small-c conservative superheroes who just save a few individuals from baddies. Black Adam may not make his world better, not yet, but he shows the potential to shake up the DC Universe in ways that may yet succeed in uniting its disparate elements.

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‘Black Adam’ Review: Heroism, but Paint It Black

Dwayne Johnson stars in this overstuffed superhero film about an ancient figure granted god powers.

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By Maya Phillips

Behold: the proselytizing superhero film! Listen as it cautions against moral absolutism! It is not the hero movie we need but, thanks to what’s now a tradition of beloved comic book stories shazam-ed into empty Hollywood schlock, it is the hero movie we deserve.

Which brings us to “Black Adam,” a dull, listless superhero movie that hits all the expected touchstones of the genre under the guise of a transgressive new antihero story.

We begin with a briskly delivered tragic back story involving a magical demon crown, a gaggle of wizards and a people’s rebellion in an ancient land called Kahndaq. We then skip forward 5,000 years to modern-day Kahndaq, a poor yet futuristic country that, for generations, has been under siege by various mercenary groups. Adrianna (Sarah Shahi), an Indiana Jones-esque Kahndaqi professor turned artifact hunter, is searching for the aforementioned diadem of doom, with help from her bumbling brother, Karim (Mohammed Amer), and hero-obsessed son, Amon (Bodhi Sabongui).

Adrianna summons Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson), the champion of ancient Kahndaq who was granted god powers by the same sorcerer who — surprise! — transformed the teenage Billy Batson into the red-spandex-wearing capester Shazam (Zachary Levi) in that 2019 DC action-comedy .

But Black Adam has some rage issues and an inconvenient habit of zapping baddies to death with his lightning powers, so of course, according to the rules of superhero franchises, a superteam must unite to confront him: Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), a meek genius in colorful threads who can manipulate the wind; Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), a rookie hero who’s just trying his best; Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), a Doctor Strange type in a knight helmet; and Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), the leader of this so-called Justice Society of America (not to be confused with the Justice League of America).

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• MovieFreak.com Sara Michelle Fetters Black Adam is nothing more than a splashy two-hour coming attractions reel for future motion pictures.
• NPR Glen Weldon Black Adam is what happens when you build a movie from the outside in - when you start with the visuals and figure everything else will just fall into place. More to the point: Black Adam doesn't work.
• Boston Globe Mark Feeney Collet-Serra seems to think that relentless camera gymnastics (slo-mo, eye-of-God shots, well, you get the idea) make for imaginative and involving visuals. He would be wrong.
• FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) Amy Nicholson This movie is just sort of a lark, and more interesting as [a sign of] where the genre is going.
• Entertainment Weekly Joshua Rothkopf Black Adam is what happens when artists say they want to go dark but don't really have the stomach for it.
• DwightBrownInk.com Dwight Brown It's distinguished itself just enough to satiate action film fans, entertain future streaming audiences and warrant further merging into the DC universe.
• The Atlantic David Sims Regardless of viewers' needs or desires, they've ended up with Black Adam, an expensive-looking shrug that conforms to the trademark dullness of all of Johnson's recent efforts.
• Fox 10 Phoenix Caroline Siede The messiest superhero movie this side of Morbius, Black Adam nevertheless has a certain charm and even a few intriguing - if not downright radical - ideas on its margins.
• Observer Dylan Roth Black Adam is two hours of cinematic soup, the ultimate statement from the god-king of movies that everyone sees but no one remembers.
• Detroit News Adam Graham It's a credit to the lowered expectations of DC that "Black Adam," while incoherent for large swaths of its runtime and tonally all over the place, isn't a complete disaster.
• Movie Mom Nell Minow "Black Adam" does not have a clear idea of where its title character should fall on the spectrum from anti-hero to hero. And he is tamped down emotionally for most of it, which means we get only glimpses of Johnson's limitless charm.
• San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle I don't even want to admit that it's an actual movie, but assuming it is, it's the worst of the year - and one of the worst I've ever seen.
• BuzzFeed News Eric Thurm The issue with Black Adam might not be that the movie is too interested in being a darker take on superheroes -- it's that it's not willing to go further.
• New York Magazine/Vulture Bilge Ebiri The film ultimately overloads us with so much amazing nonsense that we sort of give up and give in.
• RogerEbert.com Matt Zoller Seitz Black Adam gives the audience everything they wanted, along with things they never expected.
• Austin Chronicle Trace Sauveur Black Adam is mostly a movie made up of strictly baseline ideas, or the regurgitation of already existing ones.
• New Yorker Richard Brody There's something morally deadening and aesthetically depressing about the bottomless toy chest of C.G.I. being reduced to the toolbox of cinematic bureaucracy.
• ABC News Peter Travers Question for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson: What happened, dude? How did your passion project playing a Black DCEU posterboy for anger management become a humorless, chaotic bummer that leaves you holding the bag for an epic failure to launch?
• Wall Street Journal Kyle Smith Black Adam is a six-aspirin cacophony of pounding music, exploding fireballs, low-I.Q. badinage and laughable plot twists. Mr. Johnson, forsaking his primary skill of playing a genial lug, spends the movie with an unconvincing scowl.
• Seattle Times Soren Andersen Mr. Rock, Dwayne Johnson these days, is a personable personality who has ridden that personableness to superstar heights. Sadly, there's little sign of that quality in his work as Black Adam.

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Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – Black Adam (2022)

November 22, 2022 by Robert Kojder

Black Adam , 2022.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, Bodhi Sabongui, Viola Davis, Jennifer Holland, Mo Amer, Odelya Halevi, Patrick Sabongui, Jalon Christian, and Henry Winkler.

Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the Egyptian gods and imprisoned just as quickly-Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.

Everyone knows The Rock, but let’s say someone doesn’t. If that person went into Black Adam and, upon exiting the theater, was told that Dwayne Johnson was once the most electrifying man in sports entertainment and one of the most charismatic human beings on this planet, they would assume you’re crazy. But that’s how it feels watching Dwayne Johnson in Black Adam , portraying popular DC Comics antihero Adam Teth, trying to subdue that natural charm and put on a quieter and more brooding performance.

The movie is not quiet, jampacked with nonstop action and mostly hideous special effects despite often feeling like a graphic novel come to life (a busy, overwhelming onslaught of colors and images operating under the stance that more is always better). It’s a cacophony of destruction that rarely allows room for the characters to breathe and interact naturally or do anything beyond smashing each other to pieces (the number of explosions here will have one wondering how there will be a city with citizens left for liberation and freedom) and spout exposition regarding magical crowns and invincibility.

However, whenever there is a small break in that mayhem, it’s usually for Adam to deliver a lame confrontational joke that will, once again, have people wondering how this hulking and smoldering behemoth was partially responsible for carrying WWE into the mainstream. None of this is helped by on-the-nose needle drops during these chaotic set-pieces, introducing the antihero’s superpowers with a sequence set to the Rolling Stones’ Paint it Black (it’s cheesy blaring over the TV spot, too, but straight-up cringe in the final version). At worst, Dwayne Johnson looks completely lost.

The same could also be said about director Jaume Collet-Serra (working from a script by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani based on characters created by Otto Binder and C.C. Beck), who has to take a sloppy narrative and weave it into something coherent with emotional stakes. He somewhat succeeds in the third act but is done no favors by an overcrowded cast of characters.

Black Adam isn’t content just introducing Adam Teth and exploring his unique moral code, also choosing to incorporate the Justice Society, which is comprised of Pierce Brosnan’s Doctor Fate (a sorcerer capable of seeing the future), Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman (a winged warrior), Noah Centineo’s Atom Smasher (able to adjust his height to gargantuan size, coming across as a bargain bin Ant-Man), and Quintessa Swindell’s Cyclone (her powers are fairly self-explanatory). I also couldn’t tell you a single thing about who these characters are beyond their abilities and fighting styles because they only exist as obstacles for Adam on his crash course to understanding what it means to be a hero while retaining his preferred violent brand of justice.

When the script occasionally leans into finding the humor there, such as an amusing moment that sees Adam learning proper interrogation tactics and sarcasm, the film briefly finds a pulse. The majority of Black Adam is an endless stream of battles that, while they are fine to boast considering the genre, continuously eliminate opportunities to explore this character and the fictional city of Kahndaq, he was once a slave under before fighting back against a tyrannical king, ending up entombed for thousands of years. Admittedly, some of this exposition comes back into play during the final stretch and is moderately engaging, but by that point, Black Adam has ignored anything potentially interesting about itself to bombard with lifeless extended CGI action bearing no meaning or consequences.

The urgency is supposed to come from Adam, tasked with rescuing Amon (Bodhi Sabongui), the son of resistance fighter Adrianna (Sarah Shahi), from the organized crime syndicate Intergang, who happens to be taking over the city and depleting it of its magical resources – Eternium crystals. She is aided by friends and family (one of which attempts to provide comedic relief), with Ishmael (Marwan Kenzari) undercover infiltrating their ranks to find the mystical crown infused with Eternium that grants invulnerability. What ensues is Adam and the Justice Society setting aside their differences for the greater good, although at the end of the day, Viola Davis’s Amanda Waller wants what is essentially another Superman detained.

Black Adam’s tortured past and antihero persona offer the potential for something refreshing, but the film only cares about the action beats. I’m also aware that this project has been 15 years in the making and personal for Dwayne Johnson, so it’s not exactly fun picking this apart, but I’m also doing so because I know there is a character worth exploring here. And I would say perhaps a sequel will get that job done, but DC apparently has something else in store that will please the fandom but could fail to expand on the antihero.

Black Adam is another classic case of DC skipping seven steps ahead of themselves like a Brahma bull in a china shop instead of organically building something exceptional from the ground up with care. 

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★ ★  / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check  here  for new reviews, follow my  Twitter  or  Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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Review: ‘Black Adam,’ a superhero franchise born on a Rock

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Dwayne Johnson in a scene from “Black Adam.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Quintessa Swindell in a scene from “Black Adam.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Pierce Brosnan, left, and Dwayne Johnson in a scene from “Black Adam.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Sarah Shahi, left, and Pierce Brosnan in a scene from “Black Adam.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

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Not long into “Black Adam,” a preteen boy looks up at the muscled hulk of Dwayne Johnson and begs for his help: “We could use a superhero right now.” Speak for yourself, kid.

Do we need another superhero with another convoluted origin story that stretches back thousands of years and fulfills a whacko destiny? Do we really need another clutch of secondary level heroes to muddy focus? We’re almost 40 deep into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a dozen in the DC universe. You can almost smell the fumes now, can’t you?

“Black Adam” isn’t bad, it’s just predictable and color-by-numbers, stealing from other films like an intellectual property super-villain. But Johnson is a natural in the title role, mixing might with humor and able to deliver those necessary wooden lines. Why he hasn’t had a starring role in a DC or Marvel superhero flick until now is astonishing — c’mon, he’s built himself into a freaking superhero in street clothes already.

Like Marvel’s “Eternals,” “Black Adam” gets out of the blocks very sluggishly with the tangled tale of our setting — Kahndaq, a fictional Middle Eastern kingdom in 2,600 B.C. that has wizards, a blood-thirsty king, a magical crown and Eternium, a rare metallic ore with energy-manipulating properties (Hello, Vibranium from “Black Panther”).

Flash-forward to present day, where Kahndaq is under the cruel rule of the organized crime syndicate Intergang and its citizens are ripe to rebel. They think they may have a leader in Black Adam (here Teth Adam, when he is introduced), who is released from his 5,000-year-long tomb and is naturally cranky. Is he a force for good or bad? (Or for a new sub-franchise?) The answer is yes to all.

Yet the other superheroes in the DC pantheon aren’t sure about the new guy and send what can only be described as the Plan B of muscle from leftover members of a knock-off organization called the Justice Society of America.

There’s Doctor Fate (a dollar-store Doctor Strange played by Pierce Brosnan, who somehow keeps his dignity), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo, nicely playing a dweeby and always hungry giant), Aldis Hodge as a one-note Hawkman and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, who can control — checks notes — the wind. They apparently left at home the superhero with the ability to open jars.

Black Adam is more than a match for all of them combined. He can fly, move as fast as The Flash, catch rockets, deflect bullets and harness his own bluish electricity. Mostly he does this weirdly passive thing of just floating. “I kneel before no one” he intones, which might explain it.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra and the design team do a great job in every department but are let down by a derivative and baggy screenplay by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani that goes from one violent scene to another like a video game in order to paper over a plot both undercooked and overcooked. At one point, with the audience exhausted by all the carnage, they introduce skeletons who rise up as a legion from hell, just what we wanted.

They nicely include pockets of humor that DC has not always done well — a recurring bit with “Baby Come Back” and teaching Black Adam satire are fun; a Clint Eastwood gag fails — and there may have been three natural endings piling up before the final, manipulative one. (“This can only end one way,” says the script. Don’t believe it.)

Amidst the punching superheroes are two humans — a rebel leader and her skateboard-and-comics-loving pre-teen son, played superbly by Sarah Shahi and Bodhi Sabongui, respectively. Comedian Mohammed Amer is a much-needed bolt of bright humor.

Most intriguing — and the angle most fruitful to lean into — is the notion of hero itself. The Justice Society members are shocked to find that they aren’t seen as heroic to the residents of Kahndaq, living 27 years under oppression. Black Adam has come to help, even if he’s a little more violent. Residents wonder where were the guys with all the superpowers for almost three decades while they suffered — a nice dig at Western nations.

“There are only heroes and villains. Heroes don’t kill people,” a confused Hawkman states. Black Adam replies: “Well, I do.” It is Shahiby’s character who notes that it’s easy to call someone a hero when you’re the one drawing the line.

The number of — ahem — call-backs to other films is pretty sad — “Tomb Raider,” “Back to the Future” and plenty of “Star Wars” (even, unforgivably, the line “You’re our only hope”.) It’s a film that is sometimes self-aware, as when the kid urges Black Adam to come up with a catchphrase that will sell lunchboxes.

He does, but it makes little sense: “Tell them, ‘The man in black sent you.’” Wait, he was sent by someone else? Do they mean Johnny Cash? Actually that may be a clue. What the filmmakers probably had in mind was cash — selling those lunchboxes.

“Black Adam,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release that hits cinemas on Friday, is rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, intense action and some language. Running time: 124 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

MPAA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Online: https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/black-adam

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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‘black adam’ review: dwayne johnson’s charisma carries a morally muddy superhero flick.

The star brings Shazam's maybe-nemesis to the screen in director Jaume Collet-Serra's DC debut, costarring Aldis Hodge and Pierce Brosnan.

By John DeFore

John DeFore

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Politics be damned, the first thing most comics buffs will notice is that, though we’ve prayed DC would move on, there are more than echoes of the Snyderverse here. In the very first sequence, we get slo-mo and flying globules of blood that could almost be outtakes from 300 . Conspicuous slo-mo plagues the film, and rumor-mongers will already know of stronger ties to Zack Snyder’s films.

Identification with the macho side of DC’s mythology might explain why, of the many superpowered costars here, the expected one is absent. The Shazam of David F. Sandberg’s surprisingly charming 2019 film would be welcome, shifting the focus away from revved-up egos and ancient grievances, but no: Don’t expect Zachary Levi’s boy-turned-hero to show up.

Millennia later, a Kahndaq scholar named Adrianna (Sarah Shahi) hunts for the king’s Eternium crown in a forgotten tomb. She finds it, and unwittingly revives the long-dead champion, just as her expedition is ambushed by Intergang, the crew of mercenaries that has terrorized Kahndaq for decades. Violence ensues.

Johnson’s resurrected warrior, Teth Adam, gets most of his briefing on the modern world from Adrianna’s son Amon (Bodhi Sabongui). Mother and son have secretly been working against Intergang, and possessing the magic crown only makes them bigger targets. But Teth Adam cares little about their troubles, and chides the boy for not knowing violence is the answer to such problems.

Others take a greater interest. In America, Hawkman ( Aldis Hodge ) enlists Doctor Fate ( Pierce Brosnan ) and some less famous heroes to go retrieve the crown and lock it up. They zip around the globe in a jet whose detachable cockpit would make any billionaire owner of phallic rockets envious, and proceed to behave (to Adrianna’s eyes, at least) like enforcers of a paternalistic Western power structure.

(The script does little to help non-DC-scholars here, briefly alluding to nanobots and relics and the Justice Society of America as if other movies had introduced them already. With so many new characters in what is basically a two-hour fight scene, there’s no place for much exposition.)

Johnson creates a magnetic antihero, volatile and antisocial. He doesn’t fly so much as stalk the sky; he swats opponents like the bundles of weightless CG pixels they are. And this passion project serves the character well, setting him up for adventures one hopes will be less predictable than this one.

And maybe, while Teth Adam slowly assembles a coherent moral worldview over the course of many movies, America can grow out of its appalling tendency to elect celebrities with no experience in making governments work. Sadly, that’ll take more than wizards and magic rocks.

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"Heroic Conflicts"

What You Need To Know:

Miscellaneous Immorality: Villain kidnaps boy and threatens to kill him if the boy’s mother doesn’t hand over a bejeweled crown with evil demonic powers.

More Detail:

BLACK ADAM stars Dwayne Johnson as a man with superpowers given to him by a council of wizards, who’s released after 5,000 years of being imprisoned in a fictional country, and who reluctantly joins a group of four superheroes from the Justice Society to stop a criminal from wielding a 5,000-year-old magical crown with demonic powers. BLACK ADAM has exciting action scenes, is filled with jeopardy and includes strong performances by Dwayne Johnson, Pierce Brosnan and Aldis Hodge, but a few of the supporting players and characters are lackluster, and the movie has mixed positive and negative worldview content, lots of action violence and about 15 “h” and “s” obscenities.

The movie opens 5,000 years ago in the fictional Middle Eastern kingdom of Kahndaq. The evil king has enslaved the people, making them mine for jewels of Eternium. The king wants to fashion a magical crown of such jewels to obtain the power of six demons. However, an ancient council of wizards grants a rebellious slave named Teth Adam the almighty powers of Shazam, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Strength of Hercules, the Stamina of Atlas, the Power of Zeus, the Courage of Achilles, and the Speed of the god Mercury. However, Adam used his powers for revenge, so the council imprisoned him in the “Rock of Eternity.”

Cut to 5,000 years later. Kahndaq is now ruled by a global criminal group called Intergang. They’re searching for the demonic crown, but a patriotic archeologist named Adriana thinks she’s found the key to the crown’s location. She wants to find the crown before Intergang does and hide it so no one can use it.

However, some Intergang mercenaries follow Adriana to the crown’s underground mountain location. Just when she and her friend, Ishmael, find the crown, the mercenaries attack them. Adriana is able to evade them for a minute or two, but they close in on her, and she reads an inscription on the floor that releases Teth Adam from his prison. The mercenaries start to fire on Adam, but he proceeds to smash them as well as a small Intergang army that shows up outside.

During the fight, however, a weapon made from Eternium knocks Teth Adam unconscious. The next thing he knows, he wakes up lying on a bed with Adriana’s son, Amon, staring at him. Smashing through the bedroom wall, Adam wants to know where he is. Adriana tells him and says he’s the hero their people have been wanting. “I’m no hero,” he replies.

Meanwhile, the world is awash with the news of Black Adam’s re-emergence. Carter Hall, aka Hawkman, summons three members of the Justice Society, Dr. Fate, Cyclone and Atom Smasher, to travel to Kahndaq and restore peace by capturing Adam. Adam refuses to surrender, however, and he has the support of Adriana and the people. The four superheroes decide to trick Adam into saying the magical word, “Shazam.” A fight ensues, but it attracts the attention of Intergang’s forces.

[SPOILERS FOLLOW] Eventually, Adriana’s friend, Ishmael, turns out to be a bad guy. He kidnaps her son, to force her to give him the evil crown with demonic superpowers. Black Adam joins the four Justice Society superheroes to help Adriana and stop Ishmael.

BLACK ADAM has lots of exciting action scenes and is filled with jeopardy. Dwayne Johnson delivers a strong performance as the title character. He’s strongly supported by Pierce Brosnan as Dr. Fate, Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Sarah Shahi as Adriana, and Bodhi Sabongui as her son. A few of the other characters and players, however, are not so strong.

BLACK ADAM has a mixed pagan worldview with mixed messages. This causes some confusion over the values and lessons the movie is promoting. For example, the movie has some false religion and occultism. Thus, there are several references to gods, some talk about Fate and references to magic. The character of Dr. Fate has mystical powers derived from a magical helmet. In the DC comic books, he’s similar to Marvel’s occult Dr. Strange character and can cast spells. However, the good news is his character casts no spells in this movie.

On the positive side, BLACK ADAM has some strong moral content. For example, the heroes team up to fight a villain who wants to use demonic powers. They never want to take the evil crown for their own use. Also, during the movie, Hawkman repeatedly tries to convince Black Adam not to kill the villain’s henchmen. Adam agrees – for a while. BLACK ADAM also has a strong theme promoting freedom. The people of Khandaq want freedom, and they think Black Adam can help them take back their freedom. Finally, there’s an overt theme of sacrifice in BLACK ADAM. In fact, the plot has two or three redemptive examples of sacrifice. This theme of sacrifice gives Black Adam and Hawkman a third way to look at what makes a hero.

In addition to its mixed philosophical, spiritual and moral content, BLACK ADAM has lots of intense action violence and about 20 obscenities. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises strong caution.

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Jaume Collet-Serra

Reviews (1)

It may not be the best superhero movie out there, but I really enjoyed the emotional beats, the exploration of another culture outside of the US, and the rivalry between Henry Cavill's Superman and Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam that will now never come to light.

The movie had some great action, a fun superhero team, and sweet twists around the origins of Black Adam. There were things that held it back, and certainly a lot that didn't make sense, but the movie clearly has a soul that appears to have been willed into existence by Johnson himself.

Noah Centineo

Pierce brosnan, marwan kenzari, aldis hodge, bodhi sabongui, uli latukefu, james cusati-moyer, seasons (4).

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2018), season 3 (2022), season 4 (2026), screenrant reviews, black adam review: dwayne johnson’s dceu debut is action-packed to a fault.

Though suffering from repetitive plot beats and thin characters, Black Adam is powered by Johnson's performance and its promise of an exciting future.

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‘Black Adam’ Review: Dwayne Johnson’s Anti-Hero Superhero Movie Is Anti-Entertaining

“A bad plan is better than no plan at all.” This is a line that pops up at various points during “Black Adam,” and while it’s meant to be a whimsical comment regarding the task at hand, by its second repetition it starts to feel like the movie apologizing for itself and its muddled storytelling.

That task is the capture of an exceedingly powerful ancient metahuman known as Teth Adam (Dwayne Johnson), and despite the movie’s best efforts to jazz up the increasingly predictable superhero genre — this one doesn’t care if he kills people — “Black Adam” feels like both too much and not enough, and none of its narrative gambits are helped by a sludgy visual style that’s either distractingly artificial or dispiritingly gloomy, except when it manages to be both.

A flashback takes us to 2600 BCE, when the nation of Kahndaq is enslaved by its wizard king, who forces his people to mine a stone called Eternium so that he can forge a crown that will give him demonic powers. A young teen rises up, Moses-style, and at the moment of his execution, he is summoned by the same tribunal of wizards (led by Djimon Hounsou) who gave Billy Batson his powers in “Shazam!” The rebel becomes Teth Adam, liberator and hero of Kahndaq, and legend says that he disappeared after bringing down the king.

Also Read: Justice Society Hunts The Rock in Final ‘Black Adam’ Trailer (Video)

Cut to modern-day Kahndaq, which has been occupied by an international criminal organization known as Intergang. Widowed professor Adrianna (Sarah Shahi, “Sex/Life”) wants to find the crown to keep it out of Intergang’s hands, and she’s aided by her wisecracking, skateboarding son Amon (Bodhi Sabongui, “A Million Little Things”) and her comedy-relief brother Karim (Mohammed Amer, “Ramy”). Adrianna finds the crown in the old throne room, and just when Intergang is about to shoot her, she reads an inscription and summons Teth Adam, who dispatches the bad guys.

His return, naturally, draws the attention of the Suicide Squad’s keeper, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), who summons the Justice Society to subdue him. What, you may well ask if you aren’t a comics reader, is the Justice Society? In print, the team has had a long and storied history (even longer than the Justice League’s), but in “Black Adam,” we don’t know if they’re legendary or just go-fers for Waller. The movie doesn’t even offer a roster of members, except for veterans Hawkman (Aldis Hodge, “One Night in Miami”) and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), who bring newcomers Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell, “Voyagers”) and Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) along for the ride.

Also Read: ‘Black Adam’ Was Recut to Avoid an R Rating: ‘The Movie Was Just Really Violent’

The screenplay, from a trio of writers, hardly knows what to do with all these superpowered folks except to fall back on the dullest clichés, including Amon being a superhero obsessive who tries to bring Teth Adam up to speed on capes and catchphrases. The idea of introducing new heroes with powers first, origin later, seems appealing on paper, but knowing nothing about the Justice Society and its members doesn’t make them particularly interesting adversaries for our anti-hero protagonist. (The blankness works for Atom Smasher, since he’s here to be a doofus who’s adorably out of his element, but when Cyclone talks about getting powers when she was kidnapped as a teen, the movie ditches that conversation before viewers can ask, “I’m sorry, WHAT?”)

“Black Adam” briefly addresses the elephant in the room with one short speech from Adrianna, who wonders why the Justice League sat by for years as Intergang occupied her country but then couldn’t get there fast enough when Teth Adam started fighting on their behalf, but that’s as far as the film goes in exploring the potentially provocative subject of criticizing U.S. imperialism. It would rather tell yet another story of finding the doohickey that will destroy the world and stopping the madman who wants to use it, with a few shopworn plot twists thrown in along the way.

Also Read: ‘Black Adam’ Star Dwayne Johnson Teases Onscreen Fight With Superman: ‘Doing Our Best to Give the Fans What They Want’

Director Jaume Collet-Serra made his name directing some of the best of Liam Neeson’s post-“Taken” action movies, but his collaborations with Johnson have been less successful. As a leading man, Johnson works best in films where he balances his formidable physicality with a dollop of winking self-awareness, but Serra seems to let him drift too far in one direction or another; “Jungle Cruise” offered a cutesy Johnson performance that was way too in on the joke, while in “Black Adam,” his attempts at grimdark gravitas just come off as stolid and stiff. (By the time he develops a sense of humor, late in the movie, it’s too much and too late.)

The ensemble does what it can with the material, but no one’s going to be including this in their eventual life-achievement reels. There’s a jarring sense of four-quadrant casting at work here — Brosnan for the parents! Centineo for the teens! Skateboard kid for the tweens! — that reads too obviously as a marketing strategy and not as a cast of characters who would actually be interacting in these circumstances.

Most disappointing of all, “Black Adam” is one of the most visually confounding of the major-studio superhero sagas, between CG that’s assaultively unappealing and rapid-fire editing that sucks the exhilaration right out of every fight scene. (And there are so, so many fight scenes.) The premise of a superhero whose idea of conflict is to throw his opponents as far as he can offers some subversive chuckles the first two or three times, but it gets old quickly, as does pretty much everything “Black Adam” tosses at its audience. Sometimes, maybe, no plan is better than a bad one.

“Black Adam” opens in US theaters Oct. 21 via Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema.