Black Adam is the much-awaited DC film starring Dwayne Johnson that had promised to be the one to pull DC out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s shadow. Although the film does not fail to entertain with its non-stop action scenes and one-liners, the main problem with the Jaume Collet-Serra directorial is that we do not know much about the supporting characters, who are superheroes in their own rights, and thus the audience is never able to connect with them. They are just pawns introduced to capture the 5000-year-old Egyptian superhero who has laid buried under the city of Kahndaq.
It seemed that DC had learnt its lesson with the latest Batman movie, where spectacle was set aside for a while to build proper character arcs. However, Black Adam solidifies the idea that DC Entertainment Universe (DCEU) films often feel disjointed from the rest in spirit.
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Dwayne Johnson is one Hollywood star who should have been cast as a superhero a long time back. Be that as it may, Black Adam seems to be the perfect concoction for the superstar, who went by the name The Rock during his heydays in the WWE. The Rock was an egotistical, narcissistic character who referred to himself in the third person, and although Black Adam does not do the latter, he pretty much ticks off the remaining boxes.
Black Adam could have been a serious statement about the difference between good and evil and what, if any, is the line that separates the two. There are some parts of the film that do deal with such questions, but repetition and flat characterization prove to be the film’s banes. Black Adam is instead so filled to the brim with mic-drop moments and fast-paced action, that the viewers will struggle to catch their breath.
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The central character does not hesitate to kill. In his very first kill in the film, Black Adam electrocutes an Intergang guard at an eternium mine till the individual’s skin, flesh, and bones are fried. He often takes these guards high up in the air and throws them to their death.
This is where the Justice Society of America comes in. They consist of Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell,) and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan). They are a bunch of superheroes who have been asked by Amanda Waller to capture Black Adam (who is known as Teth-Adam throughout the film) so that he does not continue his destruction. However, Teth-Adam proves to be too strong for them as well.
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Another major problem with the film is that it takes a lot of time to create a direct conflict between Teth-Adam and the central villain. Too much time is spent showing what each superhero’s powers are.
One thing that viewers must stay for is the mid-credits scene. The fact that DC plans to go big with Black Adam is made clear in this part, when Tech-Adam, who seems like an immovable object throughout the length of the film, is confronted by a certain superhero who was born on a distant planet away from the Earth, and can easily be considered as DC’s unstoppable force.