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Rating: 2.5 out of 5
I first heard about Black Adam when I played Injustice: Gods Among Us on my phone. I remember Black Adam being one character that was such a pain in the ass because he had these light orbs that flew around him. Besides that, I really had no idea who the character was. I actually really didn’t care who he was. I only cared a little bit about DC characters. I was all about Batman because, let’s be real, he is by far the coolest character.
It wasn’t until I watched Shazam that I became interested in Black Adam. The Shazam film was hilarious, and I wanted to see who the character’s main antagonist was. Once again, that damn Black Adam showed up again. I wondered how he was Shazam’s enemy. Thanks to a quick read on Wikipedia, you can get a quick synopsis. Black Adam, whose real name is Teth-Adam, was a character born 5000 years before in Ancient Egypt. I want to avoid going into full detail of his origins because like some characters, it has changed and been redefined many times. In the comics, he has bounced from a villain to an antihero. While Shazam calls on the powers of the Greek Gods, Black Adam calls upon the Egyptian Gods for his powers.
After the success of Shazam, it was announced that a stand-alone Black Adam film would be made. It piqued my interest as it starred Dwayne Johnson as the title character. You couldn’t turn your head without seeing a Black Adam ad. I didn’t go see it in the theaters, and it resulted in being a box office bomb. Recently, it dropped on Hulu and then on Tubi. I was intrigued to watch the film because critics rated it at 38% on Rotten Tomatoes. I thought it could have been that bad. Right?
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra from a script by Adam Sztykiel, the film stars Dwayne Johnson as the title character. I was feeling Johnson as Black Adam, but even he couldn’t save this film from the disaster of other elements. Among the other DCEU films, this one was better than the others. If this film had taken more of the Rated R, Deadpool, or Logan route, it would’ve been great, along with taking out the kid, and I’ll explain that one a little bit more.
The film’s first part begins 5000 years ago in the city of Kahndaq. Kahndaq was under the tyrannical rule of King Anh-Kot, who enslaved his people with the intention of creating the Crown of Sabbac. The crown would give the wearer immense powers. His slaves were meant to dig in mines to find one thing and one thing only, Eternium, a magical crystal to create the crown. During a day of slavery, a young boy finds the stone and, besides giving it to the king, leads the slaves to revolt against him. The boy is met by the wizards and is given the powers of Shazam (Stamina of Shu, Speed of Horus, Strength of Amon, Wisdom of Zehuti, Power of Aten, and the Courage of Mehen). The boy is transformed into Kahndaq’s champion, Teth-Adam (Johnson), and he kills Anh-Kot and ends his reign.
The film then jumps to the present, where Kahndaq is once again oppressed by a criminal organization called Intergang. Adrianna Tomaz (Shahi), an archaeologist, tries to locate the Crown of Sabbac. Adrianna finds the crown inside the tomb, but Inergang troops show up. As she is about to be killed, she reads an incantation that awakens the superhuman warrior Teth-Adam from slumber. When Teth-Adamn awakens, dude goes ham and destroys everything. Unlike most characters, Adam has ZERO problems with killing people. This is where the Justice Society comes into play when Amanda Waller, played by that queen named Viola Davis, deems Black Adam as a threat. Who does she send out? She sends out the Justice Society. Yea, the Justice Society. Who the hell is the Justice Society?? The Justice Society is the B-Squad or JV team. They are not Superman, Wonder Woman, or Batman but characters like the Justice League. Let me explain really quick.
The Justice Society consists of Carter Hall, aka Hawkman (Hodge), the leader, who wields technology and weapons made of Nth metal. Think of him as the Batman of the group. Rich but uses weapons to try and get the job done. Next up is Albert “Al” Rothstein, aka Atom Smasher (Centineo), a new team member and a metahuman who can control his molecular structure, manipulating his size and strength. More like Ant-Man but without controlling the ants. Next is Maxine Hunkel, aka Cyclone (Swindell), who can control and manipulate the wind after being experimented on and injected with nanobot technology. She is like the D-version of Storm. Finally, there is Kent Nelson, aka Doctor Fate (Brosnan), who is the oldest member and wields the Helmet of Fate, which gives him various sorcery abilities. Think of him as Doctor Stange and one that could probably end this whole film in 15 minutes.
The film’s first half is about the Justice Society fighting against Black Adam, and everyone is convinced that he is the champion from the past. I want to say the beef between Hawkman and Black Adam was meh. Black Adam was whipping that ass a few times, but the CGI and slow-motion shit of this film was AWFUL. It was strange, didn’t make sense, and it seemed to slow the movie down. In the words of Godzilla, “Let the fight.” The Justice Society is fighting Black Adam because Dr. Fate envisioned the world being destroyed and everyone dying. During this awful fighting time, we find out Ishmael is the leader of Intergang’s Kahndaq division. One scene stood out to me. This group is killing and oppressing the citizens. Black Adam comes, and he has no problem killing anyone, and the people love him for it. The Justice Society is like, you can’t do that, and he is like, why? The citizens start yelling at the Justice Society because they never did shit for them. I feel like it is completely justified because you can’t roll up somewhere and then think people will be on your side without you ever being there for them.
After Adrianna’s punk-ass annoying son, Amon, gets kidnapped, Adam gives chase and accidentally hurts him and almost blows up everyone. Well, Ishmael “dies.” We learn who Black Adam really is. We learn that he isn’t Kahndaq’s champion and that his son, Hurut, is the original Black Adam. Hurut was killed by Ahk-Ton’s assassins after they set a trap and killed his mother. With Hurut’s last dying breath, he gives his pops his powers, and Adam goes berserk and destroys Ahk-Ton and his kingdom. Well, this pissed off the Council of Wizards, and they tried to kill Black Adam. Big mistake! Adam kills all the wizards, but Shazam is like, you’re dangerous, and I’m going to imprison you and the crown.
Adam has regrets, and the second half shows him surrendering to the Justice Society, who take him to a very secret underwater prison in freaking Antarctica. Cool, the world should be safe, right? Nope, as you can predict, Dr. Fate has another vision. They realize that Ishmael wanted to be killed so he could be reborn as Sabba, the champion of six demons. Why is it that the person you think is the villain really isn’t? Same story, different film. Sabbac summons the Legions of Hell, and you guessed it: the Justice Society is absolutely trash when trying to save anyone. Then you have someone sacrificing themselves. When Adams returns, he destroys Sabbac and becomes the champion the people need.
That is the film. I said this before but if not, the story could’ve been ten times better than what we got. It felt like DC tried throwing in all these other heroes simultaneously. Were they needed? Maybe, it is hard to say because it felt like two stories trying to fit together. If it had been just them vs. Black Adam, that would probably be better, but we went through this champion, and sorry for thinking you’re the enemy. It was a mess of the story. I also hated the kid. I feel like whenever a film has a kid, they never listen and cause more harm than good. Leave the freakin kid out of films.
The mid-credits scenes were where it was at. If they ever made a sequel, and they won’t, I think a movie with Black Adam, Superman, and Shazam would be great. Maybe not Shazam because he is an annoying kid in a man’s body, but I can see Black Adam vs. Superman. Hell, that could be like an Avengers movie or, should I say, a Justice League film.
Honestly, Black Adam is not a bad film. Shitty story? Yes. Bad CGI/special effects? Yes. Yet, Johnson tried to hold this film up. I think what failed is that we often see Johnson in a role where he is smiling and uses his charm. This film showed him as a “bad guy, ” which probably turned people off. I liked the villain or antihero who kills people and has no remorse. That is why Wolverine and Deadpool work so well. We know they will kill people and have no problem doing it. We, as the audience, expect it. More superhero films need to go that route. Hell, Venom bites people’s heads off. Out of all the DCEU films, Black Adam is one of the best. I would watch it again and give it another chance with Johnson. Take time to make a great story, and let the dice roll again.
