Dwayne Johnson is a guy with a ton of things on his custom brahma bull plate. On top of being one of the few action movie draws left in a franchise-driven era, he’s also bringing the XFL back for a third time, there’s the Young Rock show, he has WWE asking him to come back for a wrestling match, and he’s even teased political aspirations in the past. Success in the comic book world is his next priority, as he’s the executive producer and star of DC’s new Black Adam movie.
The title character’s debut falls for me somewhere in the middle tier of recent DC movies- nowhere as irritating as Batman & Superman or the Ayer Suicide Squad were, but it’s not as thrilling as Wonder Woman or the new Matt Reeves Batman, and lacks the humor and affability of Shazam. Not saying this movie doesn’t have some entertaining moments, it’s more that there seems to be a heavy focus on making Rock look as cool as possible while playing this character.
He shares similar abilities with Shazam, playing a former Khandaq slave imprisoned by a wicked king who gained powers from the same ancient wizard Billy Batson met. With a group of baddies called the Intergang running amok in modern-day Khandaq, he’s back out of his ancient prison to lay the smackdown on roody poos controlling his city.
Befriending the young professor Adrianna (Sarah Shahi) and her son Amon (Bohdi Sabongui), Adam finds himself in a battle with an Intergang leader (Marwan Kenzari) with blood ties to the former evil ruler over a mystical crown. Sadly, his methods gain the attention of the Justice Society, a band of heroes put together by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) trying to keep peace in as bloodless a manner as possible.
One interesting part of the buildup to this movie was how director Jaume Collett-Serra frequently compared Black Adam to Dirty Harry, repeatedly stating in interviews that Rock was going to play “the Dirty Harry of superheroes”. Here’s the thing about what makes that 1971 film so iconic: it’s secretly a horror movie.
Don Siegel directed it as a gritty crime story between two ruthless killers (even its trailer says so), a dark and malice-filled anti-hero in Clint Eastwood’s Harry Callahan battling the Scorpio Killer, someone who’s ten times as murderous and thirty times as heartless as he is. It’s not a film that’s meant to offer easy answers, rather it’s a story reflecting on the nature of law and order, with two madmen tearing up San Francisco. Not to mention Andrew Robinson’s legendary manic performance as Scorpio didn’t hurt. Throughout the movie I can tell where Dwayne is working to capture Eastwood’s mannerisms and aura.
The problem is that one, there’s no Scorpio to serve as the proper true contrast to the Harry-like figure in Adam. Sabaac is sadly kind of a generic video game villain, and Marwan Kenzari tries his best but the script doesn’t give him much to really dive into. And in fairness, one could argue Adam’s beef with the Justice Society on the merits of heroes killing is a bit like Harry’s struggles with bureaucracy getting in the way of his trying to save lives.
But then there’s the post-credit scene, and that really shows why Black Adam is working within an awkward dynamic. Scorpio is bigoted, he’s bloodthirsty, and he’s the absolute worst that humanity can offer, right? Okay, so why is Adam facing down a certain red-and-blue DC character who represents the *best* of humanity? Stuff like kindness, truth, and justice (hint hint)?
When I was finished watching it, I was actually wanting to see more stories involving the Justice Society. Aldis Hodge has a stern but likable aura as Hawkman, the anti-lethal force voice against Adam, while Pierce Brosnan as Dr. Fate is the ideal “older master” type. Quintessa Seinfeld is an appealing Cyclone and Noah Centineo has a fun attitude as Atom Smasher, adding some levity without coming off too desperate to be funny. Amon is pretty much your standard annoying kid sidekick, but I wouldn’t say he’s any more grating than most of the other ones I’ve seen.
And granted there are some parts where Adam just rag dolls villains around like a Looney Tunes shirt that were cool, and a few comedic beats showing Rock’s Adam with some Drax-style cluelessness as he’s ignorant of how the modern world functions. Nevertheless, Black Adam is primarily a serious affair with a very mid-2000s washed-out color pallet. In fact, this movie felt very “2000’s”, a pre-MCU period where darker comic films like Blade, Watchmen, the Punisher and Ghost Rider reigned in movie theaters. That makes it distinct somewhat among superhero movies currently going now, but maybe not diverse enough to make it a “must see”.
Ultimately, I can certainly recommend it for veteran fans of the Black Adam property and the DCEU faithful. Though as an individual comic feature I think it falls firmly in the “just alright” category at best. But what was your take on it? Let us know your thoughts as always at FAN’s social media homes on Twitter and Facebook!