Black Adam

2022   K-12    2 Std. 4 Min – SPOILER-FREE

Even before the movie’s release, you could spot scathing reviews and attacks on lead actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – now after watching the movie, that’s total BS. In my opinion, DC has once again delivered a highly entertaining, not too over-the-top complex film, in traditional 2h popcorn cinema dimension. The portion of self-irony (e.g. the Western scenes, LOL!) and the humor – at times pretty black – are factors to ensure that the characters are not too one-dimensional and those – inevitable – CGI orgies don’t get too boring. I find that Dwayne brings across the character’s tragic dimension quite well, most of the costars get the best out of their – for me sometimes too limited – screen time. Quite expected from legends like Pierce Brosnan (Dr. Fate) anyway … One character I would enjoy to see in a sequel, for example, is Uncle Karim (Mohammed Amer).

About the story: It takes about 5,000 years for Black Adam to be freed from his earthly grave, after he magically received the omnipotent powers of the Egyptian gods. And he gets a lot to do right away ….

Since I don’t know the comics (and avoided all trailers, previews etc.), I can say: the story develops coherently at exactly the right pace – I couldn’t detect any lengths or hasty plot development. All characters get their short but quite sufficient introduction; some of the twists were predictable, others weren’t – thus it felt quite exciting; hardly any of this notorious US-movie-pathos – so I don’t quite understand why Black Adam is the target of such nasty criticism.

Conclusion: Better than expected, not a smash hit like Wonder Woman – but definitely a DC Comics screen adventure worth watching. And if I was sure about my above-average rating (thanks in part to the awesome soundtrack) before the credits rolled, I have to add a bit more just because of this mid-credit scene. Wouldn’t mind getting a Black Adam reunion – especially under THESE circumstances 🙂

Directed by
Jaume Collet-Serra

Writing Credits:
Adam Sztykiel
Rory Haines
Sohrab Noshirvani
based on the characters created by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck

Cast:
Dwayne Johnson … Black Adam / Teth Adam
Aldis Hodge … Hawkman / Carter Hall
Pierce Brosnan … Dr. Fate / Kent Nelson
Noah Centineo … Atom Smasher / Al Rothstein
Sarah Shahi … Adrianna Tomaz
Quintessa Swindell … Cyclone / Maxine Hunkel
Marwan Kenzari … Ishmael / Sabbac / King Ahk-Ton
Bodhi Sabongui … Amon Tomaz
Mohammed Amer … Karim