Black Adam

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Quintess Swindell, Marwan Kenzari, Bodhi Sabongui, Mohammed Amer, James Cusati-Moyer, Henry Winkler, Jennifer Holland, Djimon Hounsou, Viola Davis (uncredited), Henry Cavill (uncredited)
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
2022

Times Seen:
Tim: 1


Summary:A man (Dwayne Johnson) is granted extraordinary powers and 5,000 years later, is awakened from his slumber.

Review:

Tim: DC's Black Adam had a decent amount of controversy around it. Nothing major, but rumors of Dwayne Johnson overstepping, an unexpected cameo at the end, and then the big DC directional shift, bringing in James Gunn and rendering much of this film's momentum moot. It's yet another data point in the story of how badly DC and Warner Bros. have mismanaged what should have been an incredibly lucrative property. In a day and age when Marvel is dominating everything, DC continues to flounder.

But, that's all context. How is Black Adam as a movie? Surprisingly, it was good. Nowhere near great. Still below every movie in the MCU, but I enjoyed it more than I didn't. In my opinion, this is the first good DC movie since 2019's Shazam. It's still somewhat of a disappointment. It didn't revitalize the brand. It doesn't set the films on a new course. It's good, but flawed and it doesn't achieve what it set out to achieve. So, while I was quite surprised I liked the movie, you still get a bit of a bad taste in your mouth thinking about it.

I do want to highlight some of the issues, first. I mostly cringed at the humor throughout this film. DC has never been all that funny and that's on display here. I appreciate the attempt to mirror Marvel, but the film is short on laughs. A few scenes and lines might work, but generally, it falls below the "humorous" threshold. It tries too hard to be funny. Mohammed Amer is the chief example of this. He's supposed to be comic relief, but his performance was surprisingly forced, flat, and the opposite of what it was supposed to be. He wasn't funny. Aldis Hodge is asked to carry some of the comedic load and it's hit-or-miss. I smiled at some of his lines, but again, not especially funny.

The broader story has some issues, too. It feels like it digs deep into the DC catalogue (I'm not a major fan and I admit knowing extremely little about Black Adam). The wizards, the crown, it's a lot to take in for those not versed in the comics. I was trying to think who the main villain was and it took me a minute. He's not especially memorable. I will say that the movie actually does a better job of balancing Black Adam as an antihero than maybe any other film I've seen. Superhero movies featuring "bad" guys as the protagonist are tricky. We're supposed to believe they are bad, but the movie needs us to root for them anyway. Both Suicide Squad movies somewhat failed in this regard. This movie does balance the darker aspects of Black Adam's character with some of the more heroic ones. I wasn't always completely sold on his motivations, but the movie did a decent job here.

Where I thought the film succeed most was in pitting Black Adam against the Justice Society, but also having a different, menacing big bad. I thought this was done exceptionally well- you see that he's not fully the "good" guy, but he's not the worst "bad" guy either. This is how you do an antihero movie. I loved that the movie painted him in the middle, in the gray area. He really does seem like Gray Adam here, which benefits the movie immensely.

Another major benefit here is that the Justice Society is actually really interesting. Black Adam doesn't quite have the layers of complexity the film tries to give him. But, the Justice Society was very intriguing. You have Hawkman in the lead role. Dr. Fate was the older mentor with wisdom and nearly unfathomable powers. Atom Smasher is young and unproven, not quite in control of his powers. Cyclone was underdeveloped, but she felt like a future leader, still early in her career. I actually loved getting to know these four characters. Their relationship dynamics were fascinating, especially when you pair them up with a mostly humorous (despite the "tell them the man in black sent you" lines, which weren't very funny) antihero. The contrast between this group and our protagonist is what added great depth to the film. This is also helped greatly by the performances of Aldis Hodge and Pierce Brosnan. Hodge has been doing terrific work for several years now. Add this to the list. Hodge is totally believable as Hawkman and infuses the character with life- Hawkman has always seemed like a bit of a joke, an afterthought in the world of DC. Hodge makes him interesting. I loved how he was portrayed here and I'd actually have been excited to see a standalone Hawkman movie. That probably won't happen now, but Hodge was extremely enjoyable in this role. I thought Brosnan stole the show as Dr. Fate. It was so unexpected to see Brosnan in a superhero role, but his performance is excellent. I wasn't familiar with Fate before this film, but he seems like a truly fascinating character. Godlike powers, but a darker underbelly to using them. Brosnan is able to channel all this into his performance. He worked extremely well with Hodge. Dr. Fate was perhaps my favorite part of the entire film. I thougth Noah Centineo was fine as Atom Smasher. His performance felt a bit forced and not as funny as he imagined, but his character offered a lot as this unproven, untested youth. Quintessa Swindell was really hurt by the script. She gives a strong performance, but her character is an absolute afterthought. I couldn't even remember her superhero name, I had to look it up. She needed more screen time and more to do. Despite this last miss, the Justice Society was fascinating, which was the biggest plus for the film.

Now, it's not great when the supporting characters are more interesting than the main character. I didn't love Sarah Shahi's performance, but Bodhi Sabongui adds a great supporting turn and you really love his character's enthusiasm. They are both part of the horribly cheesy conclusion, in scenes that made me want to get up and leave the room they were so bad. But, they were interesting characters, mostly. That brings us to Johnson. While the film handles his antihero character well, it still feels like he's caught in the middle. He's not menacing enough to be truly viewed as a villain, but too stoic to be that likeable. His attempts at humor mostly fall flat. It's not uninteresting to learn about his back story and the few surprises that brings, but it's not exactly compelling. You're left with a weird feeling when the titular character isn't close to being the most interesting in the film. I kept wanting to spend more time with the Justice Society and less time with Teth Adam. Johnson is fine in the lead role. He certainly looks the part.

In the end, I have to admit, I was surprised that I liked Black Adam. It has many flaws, but it was mostly enjoyable. I'd put it in the top half of the DCEU films, although I have to clarify that the bar had been set really, really low. Top half of the DCEU films and yet worse than every MCU film. That's not very inspiring. It doesn't help matters that (SPOILER) Henry Cavill shows up for a pointless cameo during the credits, especially since James Gunn and company are taking the series into a new direction. It gives this film a "cut off at the knees" quality. This film couldn't even beat Sonic the Hedgehog 2 at the box office, let alone touch any of the 3 Marvel movies released in 2022. So, there you have it. Black Adam has a few things to like, but within the larger context, it's further proof that Warner Bros. and DC haven't yet figured out how to do things right.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Man of Steel, Suicide Squad