After a prolonged eight years in stages of early development, Dwayne Johnson was finally confirmed to portray Black Adam — one of DC Extended Universe’s most anticipated villains, who is finally making his debut in his standalone film, “Black Adam.” Released on Oct. 21, the film conducts a morally ambiguous plotline for its characters, juxtaposing Black Adam’s merciless kills which clash with the Justice Society’s ethos of overthrowing their villains with “due process.” Skirting the lines between hero and villain, Black Adam toys with his destructive powers of superhuman strength and the ability to generate lightning.
Nearly 5,000 years after Black Adam was granted with his almighty powers, an archaeologist named Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi) awakens him from his tomb to liberate her country of Kahndaq — a resource-cursed country that has been under the thumb of a paramilitary crime ring called Intergang. Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) and Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) — collectively known as the Justice Society — are all assigned to take down Black Adam. However, they quickly realize that there are other battles to fight. Putting their differences aside, the omnipotent Black Adam and the Justice Society team up to defeat Sabbac (Marwan Kenzari) — a demon-manifestation that takes over the body of the Intergang’s leader after he inherits an ancient crown relic that was forged by six demons.
At its best, “Black Adam” is a fun, entertaining superhero film, but a deeper look will mark it as generic, mediocre and forgettable. While its climatic pacing and stunning visuals do most of the heavy lifting, the film takes on the most damage from its plot, which is void of originality and leaves its viewers longing for something with more substance. The story relies on a marriage of superhero tropes and clichés. The final battle even consists of a CGI sky beam that summons an army of zombies. From several different angles, the film suffers from a lack of imagination and meaningful characters.
“Black Adam” is marketed as an origin story, yet it wastes its time on cliché characters that are never fully developed. Ultimately, this hinders Black Adam’s screen time and overcrowds his origin story with more intriguing characters who share just as much, if not more screen time.
Throughout the film, Adrianna persistently vouches for Black Adam’s altruism and defends him when the Justice Society confronts them, believing that he can end her country’s systemic oppression. Although the two characters do not necessarily share a romantic storyline, the trope between a scientist and an almighty god is something strikingly similar to what we have already seen from Thor and Jane Foster in one of Marvel’s early projects, “Thor.” Unfortunately, Adrianna becomes completely one dimensional after the first half where her only motive is to search for her kidnapped teenage son, Amon (Bodhi Sabongui).
It’s about drive, it’s about power. However, Black Adam only depicts the latter since he is given a character arc that never fully takes flight. The existence of Amon’s character, along with his unbearably corny remarks and diehard fan persona, ends up jeopardizing the storyline for the film’s protagonist. The film unconvincingly tries to paint its protagonist as an antihero.
However, the nonchalant character never teeters on the brink of a superhero, villain or antihero because he never possesses any altruistic or malicious motives. Instead, the wandering Black Adam spends the entire film trying to protect Amon — not because he has any emotional or paternal ties to the kid, but because he just so happens to be there at the right place and time for the convenience of the plot.
On the other hand, the Justice Society is a comedic and entertaining team, sharing strong similarities to the clumsy yet charming X-Force in “Deadpool 2.” Still, the younger recruiters were often kept on the backburner for the entirety of the film as filler side characters. Centineo’s himbo portrayal of Atom Smasher, who has the ability to grow to the size of Marvel’s Ant-Man, pops in once in a while for cringeworthy dialogue and comedic relief. Swindell’s paper-thin Cyclone is captivating with her wind manipulation abilities whenever the camera is on her, but her character never winds up being important to the plot.
The real star of the show, however, is Brosnan’s Doctor Fate, who effortlessly embellishes every scene he is present in. His ability to see into the future, along with his impressive magic-like powers, make him the standout of the bunch. With his charming wisdom, Doctor Fate uses his rich knowledge to guide his team to success. The live action design of his character is exceptionally loyal to its comic book design. However, the film adaptation opted for a more muted shade of yellow that looks like liquid gold — a creative choice that was done to match the darker tone of the DC Extended Universe films.
The actor openly talked about how Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange inspired him to take on the role in an interview with Variety, as the comparison between the two characters can be jarringly uncanny at times. In the last battle, Doctor Fate multiplies himself and surrounds Sabbac with his clones in a shot that identically mirrors Doctor Strange’s infamous fight with Thanos in Marvel’s 2018 film, “Avengers: Infinity War.”
Nonetheless, the action scenes are packed with heavy CGI and stunning visual effects, showcasing the range of flashy abilities Black Adam and each member of the Justice Society possess. From the bright lighting bolts to Doctor Fate’s mirror-like reality warping, the film packs a punch with its creative visuals and cinematography — each shot feels like it was pulled straight out of a comic book panel or video game.
However, the film’s setting never travels anywhere beyond the land of Kahndaq. Besides a short scene where Black Adam is imprisoned in the middle of the ocean, the film’s most exciting action sequences all occur around the same time of the day in the afternoon. This hinders the film’s cinematography with a bland color palette of browns and beiges and a color grading of dark contrasts that would better suit a more vibrant and stimulating environment. Rather than choosing dynamic settings and atmospheric lighting that could elevate each superhero battle, the film shoots itself in the foot, with each action sequence consisting of falling rocks, rubble and dirt.
While the physique of Johnson undoubtedly makes him the perfect match to portray this fighting machine, the screenplay provides the actor with little room to shine. As a result, Johnson’s wooden performance as Black Adam falls flat at times. His stoic demeanor remains unfazed for the majority of the film, and the delivery of his lines are consistently monotonous.
This seems to be an intentional writing choice for his character, in hopes to brand Black Adam as a menacing villain with more room to grow in future DC Extended Universe projects. Yet, for a film centered around his origin story, Johnson’s performance as Black Adam ultimately fizzles more than it electrifies.
Raymond Dinh is an Arts & Entertainment intern for the fall 2022 quarter. He can be reached at raymontd@uci.edu.