Black Adam: Movie Review

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Sarah Shahi, Pierce Brosnan, Aldis Hodge, Bodhi Sabongui, 
Director: Jaume Collett-Serra

It's not that Black Adam is massively bad, more that it's repetitive in extremis.

However, it does in some ways feel a very small step in the right direction for the DC Extended Universe, which has struggled all throughout in terms of tone and pacing.

In this tale of dealing with foreign invaders in the middle East, Johnson stars as Teth Adam, a demi-god whose imprisonment is cut short after 5,000 years by a Tomb Raider-style explorer looking for a magical crown that's seemingly possessed by evil.

When Adam is seen as the saviour to the oppressed region of Kahndaq, and a chance to rid them of their western oppressors, a shadowy group known as Intergrade, chaos starts to ensue - and the Justice Society is brought in to try and rein him in. However, a new threat soon rises...

Black Adam does a good job of widening the universe and delivers a film that brings multiple superheroes together in an introductory tale.

From Pierce Brosnan's dignified turn as the Doctor Strange-lite Doctor Fate to two young whippersnapper heroes (one an anti-Ant-Man), the film has its vicarious highs. The connection to Viola Davis' character from The Suicide Squad series works nicely, enlivened by a few cameos. 

And it's great to see a film set in the Middle east, dealing with contemporary middle eastern problems and oppressors without the sign of any white saviours. 

But ironically, this is where the film's problems also begin.

Too much of Black Adam feels like it's a shallow and hollow attempt to build something that doesn't have enough foundations laid down. The idea of heroes failing their people, of Westerners failing their duties, of western imperialism and the moral quandaries are thrown in and left to wither as the usual rote CGI mayhem ensues.

An aloof Johnson floats around like some poor man's Zod, vowing never to kneel before others, and delivering his lines with such monotone and flatness there's a charisma vacuum following everywhere he goes.  The film also never really has any sense of threat thanks to scant characterisation. Adam is indestructible and unstoppable and so the feeling of what's at stake is never really forthcoming.

There's also a repetitiveness to proceedings - fight, mayhem, exposition, fight, mayhem ad nauseum as it all rumbles toward its 2 hour conclusion. Slow mo scenes and various CGI escapades draw things out and the tension crumbles within - perhaps it's the after effect of the Snyderverse excesses, but the franchise could use a shake up and a creative breath of fresh air.

More muddled than ultimately messy, Black Adam is fine for those looking for superhero bluster, but lacking for anyone looking for a cerebral outing.