It would not be controversial to say that there are a lot of superhero movies these days, from Marvel’s ever-expanding state to DC’s differently amorphous lineup, to countless offerings from other studios. The general public is literate not only in the stories of individual characters but the workings of these wider worlds, and who belongs where. This, at least, is the assumption behind Black Adam.
The film stars Dwayne Johnson as DC Comics character Teth-Adam, recurring adversary of the hero Shazam, as he is reintroduced to the modern world and set on a collision course with the Justice Society of America and a man working to revive an ancient evil. It’s a simple story and much of its background work hinges on an understanding of the wider DC cinematic franchise, as the story is largely driven by the will of Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), a character introduced in 2016’s Suicide Squad. Given its star’s constant promises that the “hierarchy of power in the DC universe” was about to change, one might expect a film that feels at all important, but if anything this film feels more like just another episodic entry than any before.
Dwayne Johnson is a performer with an interesting presence; there is often a sense that he’s more interested in building a brand outside his work than disappearing into it, and Black Adam is not an exception. Johnson’s performance as Adam often feels as if he’s picked an IP to superimpose his brand onto rather than having any particular passion for this character. Owing to his time as a wrestler, this movie positions Teth-Adam as a heel in contrast to the more straightforward heroes of the DCEU, introducing him as a character who is willing to kill when others won’t. Given that this franchise once made its name on the reinvention of classic DC heroes as more morally nuanced, Black Adam introduces the Justice Society for this approach to butt up against. Though, given how dull the character of Black Adam is, they are also responsible for any charm the film hopes to provide. To its credit, they’re a charismatic bunch who succeed in injecting character to a story otherwise only concerned with letting The Rock eventually fight Superman (Henry Cavill). Aldis Hodge delivers a real superhero performance as Hawkman while Pierce Brosnan’s surprisingly committed Dr Fate feels as if he’s fallen from another universe where these films went very differently. Quintessa Swindell and Noah Centineo are similarly charming as the team’s younger heroes Atom Smasher and Cyclone, with Centineo almost single-handedly responsible for any levity in the film.
For a film like this, the audience’s familiarity will come as both a blessing and a curse; as much as people will be willing to accept the more unusual ideas packaged with the genre, they will also have much less patience for its constant deference to tropes and cliches. But Black Adam seems entirely comfortable residing in that space, offering people something they’ve seen before a dozen times, complete with magic sky beam and a generic demonic villain. The slightly egotistical hope is that an audience will care this time because The Rock is doing it. The effect is a film that feels like it only exists for what it can offer going forward to an even more comical extent than other examples as it doesn’t even wait to find out if you’re on board before kicking into gear.
What the film does have going for it is some compelling action direction from filmmaker Jaume Collet-Serra, who is no stranger to the genre and like Shazam director David F. Sandberg, also cut his teeth working in the horror genre. The weighty, explosive sequences make use of the JSA’s unique powers and Teth-Adam’s random collection of beams and waves with a visual language that owes more to Zack Snyder than I imagine this studio would like to admit. At points this goes a little far, with the film spending an unbelievable amount of time in slow-motion, but this is perhaps the only place the film lives up to its star’s promises of status quo shattering power. Generally the film has a frantic, forward moving energy that, in tandem with its balance of action and moments where people wait for the action to start, make it hard to be entirely bored
For fans of the DC Extended Universe who have been hoping for some stability, this film’s epic uneventfulness will probably be enough as it hinges on the pretense that this is the next entry in a story we already care for. But as a film, Black Adam is pretty dire, with a lead who seems constantly distracted as if deciding what to post on Instagram when the director calls cut, and a story that seems only to promise the next one will be better.
