Black Adam Film Review

This film is so much better than anyone is giving it credit for. Dwayne Johnson brings the god-power awesomeness in this highlight of the year.

Black Adam stars Dwayne Johnson as the titular antihero. Joining him are Aldis Hodges as Hawkman, Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Gate, Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, and Sarah Shahi and Bodhi Sabongui as Adrianna and Amon Tomaz. Up against Black Adam is Marwan Kenzari as Ishmael Gregor/Sabbac.

Now, even though I really did enjoy this movie, I do acknowledge that the film isn’t perfect. Does it hit a lot of the same beats as other superhero origin movies? Yes. Is the dialog flawed? Yes. Is the kid character annoying? At times, for sure.

Now, after mentioning all that, it might seem like this movie is kinda bad. What kept me invested in the movie? Well, because Black Adam is so interesting and fun. He’s the troubled antihero your heart desires. Except this time, instead of blasting away gangsters in New York alleyways, this antihero levels gangs as big as armies in seconds.

Black Adam really is cool. Dwayne Johnson was perfect to play the stoic protector and man of few words. He had the presence, demeanor, and range needed to play this guy. It’s what was meant to be.

Joining and also standing against Black Adam were the Justice Society, a restarted group of heroes led by Hawkman. I really love the variety of the heroes of the team. It doesn’t feel like everybody’s super power is punching and kicking. 

While Black Adam is busy murdering the shit out of bad guys, Hawkman is trying to be the traditional good guy. He’s the Daredevil to Black Adam’s Punisher. He was a fun foil and pretty badass in his own right.

Rejoining him is Doctor Fate, the century old sorcerer who can see all there is to come. He’s no slouch though, as he’s able to hold his own against both Black Adam and Sabbac. He’s Hawkman’s most trusted ally and the two of them show a strong bond.

The JSA has some newbies on the team. Cyclone settles into the hero role pretty easily. She’s brave and ready to save the day right out of the gate. Atom Smasher on the other hand is pretty green. He’s still getting used to his powers and he’s clumsy, but his heart’s in the right place. Atom Smasher is also another instance of the biggest and strongest dude on the team being technically the least powerful and skilled compared to everyone else. Think Luther from Umbrella Academy.

I know I’m playing devil’s advocate, but I think the story is more than fine. It’s a movie based off of a comic book, so there’s bound to be some overlap with other themes and plot points from other comic book movies. If it feels like a mishmash of plot points that have been done before I understand why people feel that way. Then again, comic book movies are like pizzas. You can top it with whatever you want, as long as the pizza itself is good. And I thought Black Adam was a fine pizza pie.

I couldn’t help but smile multiple times as I watched the movie. The action was just an over-the-top blast. It’s like in Man of Steel when the Kryptonians fought US soldiers, except instead it’s Black Adam fighting Intergang. People got seriously messed up in this movie. I could tell Johnson wanted to push the movie to the very edge of PG-13. There were definitely more than a few brutal kills.

Intergang and Sabbac were the best villains for this movie. There were plenty of people to obliterate, and you had an even bigger bad for Black Adam to have a big CGI fight with. Sabbac looked really cool, like the demon of all demons. When he showed up, you knew things were as bad as they could get. I’m gonna have to add his McFarlane Toys figure to my cart.

Black Adam was a treat, a solid superhero good time. I’d even consider it a top five DCEU film. It’s not the best DC movie of the year or all time, but it’s quite a bit better than many of DC’s recent movies. Is it for everyone? No, but no movie truly is. It’s all subjective and every comic book movie is essentially the same. That being said, I thought it was pretty good. It’s as good as Shazam and I think it’s better than Man Of Steel. Speaking of him… nah. You’d think I’d spoil that? If you really wanna know, then it sounds like you’d better go see Black Adam.

SCORE: 8/10