Black Adam Movie Review

“Black Adam” is larger-than-life Superhero movie, in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Of course, to play larger-than-life, you need someone who IS larger-than-life. Enter Dwayne Johnson, in his first comic book movie adaptation. Based on his size, perhaps the movie could have been called “The Incredible Bulk”. Or based on his earlier roles, “The Scorpion King: Extreme CGI Makeover”.

In some back story, set in the way, way back – the country of Kahndaq was thriving. Until an evil king took over and made everyone slaves. He forced them all to look for a valuable gem called ‘Eternium’. That was because ‘Unobtainium’ could not be obtained and ‘Vibranium’ was too shaky.

One small child led a rebellion, and he was chosen by a group of secret wizards who say “Shazam”. But instead of a boy turning into a goofy grown up superhero, he turns into Teth-Adam (played by Dwayne Johnson). Wrap it up here – Adam takes revenge on the king, and he destroys the palace. The wizards lock up Teth-Adam up in a mountain for five thousand years.

In modern Kahndaq, it is not looking to good for the locals. They have hundreds of years with external control by different groups. Now there is some tough-guy gang called ‘Intergang’. They have hundreds of military type goons on the streets, always asking for papers. There are rebels in the town, looking for something mysterious in the mountain. Would this be the same one where Teth-Adam locked up, you might ask. Why of course!

The groups is led by Adrianna (played by Sarah Shahi), and her brother Karim (played by Mohammed Amer). There is also Ishmael (played by Marwan Kenzari), might be interested for different reasons. Adrianna knows there is a special crown buried deep in cave, the crown made of ‘Eternium’ and worn by the evil king. She has told her brother all of these stories, and also told her son, Amon (played by Bodhi Sabongui). Intergang thugs show up and try to take the crown that Adrianna has found. She also happens to awaken some big dude…

Teth-Adam is up and ‘Adam’ – ready to stroll on the streets of Kahndaq. His motto is get out of the way or be killed. He proves that motto out on the Intergang thugs back at the mountain. Adam sees that Adrianna and Amon are working to bring justice to the people of Kandaq. They would really use a Champion, a great Hero! Nah, I’m good, and ‘Black Adam’ walks out to cause more death and destruction. Little do they know, but ‘justice’ is coming to Kandaq.

Justice is in the form of the ‘Justice Society of America’, an American band of Superheros ready for the Good Fight. These include the flying, fighting man called Hawkman (played by Aldis Hodge). He also has along an old friend and super mystic arts guy — Doctor Fate (played by Pierce Brosnan). Rounding out the crew there is a young Superhero named Cyclone (played by Quintessa Swindell), who controls the wind. There is one other younger guy called Atom Smasher (played by Noah Centineo). He has a special suit that turns him really big.

They face off so that every square inch the Kahndaq can be mostly destroyed. Black Adam has no use for any of this jazz; he is on a mission to find Ishmael. It turns out that he was working with the Intergang to get that ancient king’s crown. He is the last descendant and yada yada. Only he can wear the crown and rule again. The Justice group decides to work along with Black Adam. After all, Hawkman is tired of getting his butt beat all the time.

So the Justice conglomeration works with Black Adam. Of course, it makes sense to bring Adrianna, and her brother Karim, along to the rescue mission. After all, it will only be a potentially deadly and bloody battle. Ishmael has captured Amon, and he wants the crown. Easy trade-off, as long as everybody does not get killed. But Black Adam has to do what Black Adam will always do – that place gets devastated. It appears that Ishmael is killed, and the crown was saved.

What at time to close out the story… As you guess, there are further disasters to come. After Black Adam has beat his foe, he agrees to be locked away — once he is turned back into his human form. But that human form is massive, by the way. It’s a good thing that the ancient crown is safe, and that Ishmael is more of a crispy critter… Nothing is gonna happen now, right?

“Black Adam” is a festival of CGI blandness that goes along with the script. Dwayne Johnson might be one of the most charismatic actors and personalities on the planet. But this movie goes into weak but familiar plot points that tone down almost all of that Johnson personality. He never really even gets to have one of his eye-brow raising moments, and that is a shame right there. Pierce Brosnan is pretty good, as a former ‘James Bond’ gets to cos-play as Dr. Strange.

Many of the other characters are not given enough time to make an impact. Quintessa Swindell is really fine as Cyclone, but mostly because her skill is so colorful. Mohammed Amer plays out some funny lines, and that is refreshing. In fact, that is the biggest problem with this movie. They take a fantastical comic book character, and it is all treated with deadly seriousness.

In the 1999 movie “The Mummy”, Brendan Frazier and the gang played it on the edge of a farce or like in a comedy. On the other hand, “The Mummy” in 2017 was a complete failure. Even a big star like Tom Cruise could not lift the Titanic of a movie when it struck an iceberg of self-importance. It was too much of a fantasy to be realistic, but the movie worked to wring out any joy or humor out of the plot.

“Black Adam” is a new DC movie that wants to bring a hard-edged, difficult-to-like anti-Hero to the screen. Only to make that Black heart-of-evil reside in the most positive-thinking, most likable actor anywhere…