Set in the ruins of Kahndaq, the story begins with a flashback to 2600 BC, in which we see how adversity in the city gave birth to a champion who stays by the side of the people to fight for their justice. In the present, Kahndaq’s people are once again enslaved by the villains, coldly known as the Intergang, until a rebel in Adrianna (Sarah Shahi) awakens the “champion” and we see his origin story as Teth Adam (Dwayne Johnson).
Teth understands his mission to free his people from the villains, but faces opposition from members of the “Justice Society” because he is an “anti-hero”. Oh yeah, like all superhero movies there is an item (here a crown) that gives great power to the person who owns it. Teth Adam becomes Black Adam at the end, I wished the movie would also become interesting but it didn’t happen.
Black Adam Movie Review: Screenplay Analysis
The story of bringing in a superhero from your culture’s history book to police your city’s current scenario starts off interesting, just like Dwayne Johnson’s career, but similarly starts off monotonous and ends up mundane. Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani’s story follows all the basics that a superhero movie should have and isn’t even polished with mind-numbing VFX to at least grab your attention.
The effects look great as Pierce Brosnan’s Fate spreads the web of his mental powers, but they aren’t used well to create any kind of interesting tension. Lawrence Sher’s camerawork occasionally saves a sinking ship, but that doesn’t guarantee it will keep it afloat until the end. Everything melts together.
Black Adam: Star Performance movie review
Dwayne Johnson proves why you don’t have to be muscular to be a good superhero. He just couldn’t maintain the pattern of being brooding, confused and funny all at the same time. It crushes every emotion, leading to one big ball of “why am I even here dafuq?”.
Pierce Brosnan tries to balance the disorganized chaos that spreads like Fate by being as subtle as he can. The problem is that his performance along with the supporting cast just doesn’t have any meat to be remembered for. Noah Centine’s Atom Smasher does everything the Hulk has mastered over the years, and DC isn’t trying to do anything new with him.
Aldis Hodge as Hawkman tries to lead the JSA (Justice Society of America) but fails to lead for the better part of the film due to his poor character sketch. You don’t even get into the mindset of Sarah Shahi who feels her pain because that’s why she rebelled against Intergang. Everything related to her is just a touch and leaving things unfinished like her performance. Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone is as unremarkable as Dwayne’s career without jungle movies.
Black Adam Movie Review: Direction, Music
Jaume Collet-Serra takes the traditional route of directing a story that has already been dragged to death. In designing a superhero movie in the post-Avengers era, he faces a problem every director faces.
Lorne Balfe’s score disappoints as he fails to compose a single scene that will stick with you long after you leave the cinema. The integration of The Good, The Bad & The Ugly soundtrack is a nice surprise, but it’s not an original Balfe creation.
Black Adam: The Last Word Movie Review
All said and done, Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam is at least a decade too late to make any sort of impression on audiences.
Star Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centineo, Aldis Hodge, Sarah Shahi, Quintessa Swindell
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
What’s Good: The duration of 2 hours remains to be the only positive thing
What’s Bad: DC once again trying to be like Marvel in a failed attempt of doing so
Loo Break: If you’ve seen any decent superhero film before, take a loo break anytime during the film & you’ll still get what’s happening without even knowing what happened
Watch or Not?: Even if you had liked Black Adam from the comics, avoid this to keep that memory intact!
Available On: Theatrical Release
Runtime: 124 minutes