Review ‘Black Adam’
Black Adam is refreshing, with great representation, action and definitely a right step for the DC Universe
The latest entry in the DC comic’s long promised Black Adam movie has finally made its way to the theatres. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson who produced and stars in Black Adam has prepared over a decade for this role as the anti-hero.
Black Adam centers around a merciless Egyptian warrior who is from the ancient times finds himself in the present day. In ancient Kahndaq, Black Adam who was formally known as Teth Adam was bestowed almighty powers from the wizard Shazam (some say even stronger than Superman). After using his almighty powers of the Egyptian gods for vengeance, he was imprisoned until 5000 years later, he was released by professor Adriana Tomaz(Sarah Shahi).
Black Adam, who is not quite seen as a hero or villain is challenged by the modern day heroes who form the Justice Society : Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan) who wants to teach him to not use violence, but Black Adam is resistant and clearly shows he does not follow orders.
The film takes a great step in representation of culture and referencing real life problems including the Palestine conflict (they don’t directly mention it, but it seemed pretty obvious), which I found it a bit confusing in the beginning to understand how the story even ties in. Once it got into the mid way point, everything started to come together. It was a very fun film to watch, and seeing The Rock play a more balanced role as a menacing badass hero and at parts it was quite humorous. The film dives more into the story of Black Adam, and we see his flaws and that he’s not the superhero that everyone thinks he is, which was refreshing to see as we don’t get to see many backstories of any other heroes. There could have been more character development within the Justice Society, as I would have liked to see it dig deeper into the new characters. We barely get a proper introduction, it felt quite rushed, until they come together and try to work with Black Adam instead of against him.
The best part about Black Adam was definitely the post – credit and I recommend staying for it, it’s a great watch and a right direction for the DC Universe films. I definitely see a positive reaction from the fans, as so far the reviews seem like a good score for The Rock. 4/5
Watch the trailer for Black Adam below
Warner Bros releases Black Adam in theatres Oct 21, 2022
Check out event recap of Black Adam Rocks Canada here
