Black Adam Review

Dwayne The Rock Johnson has been tapped to play Black Adam since 2007. Now the world can finally see what he has been working on. Black Adam is supposed to be the next big thing for the DCEU and bridge the gap that the universe has been lacking up until this point.

Starting off, Black Adam does not feel like a project that should have taken 15 years to come out. It is not a bad film by any means but it definitely doesn't shine brighter than everything else. For a film that has been in development hell for almost two decades there should have been more to it. There are reasons why it was not and it is a shame it truly wasn't.

Before taking a deep dive into what the film missed I do want to talk about what I liked. The JSA were phenomenal and given plenty of room to shine which was a massive fear going in. It would have been nice to see more classic members of the team but they were a visual treat. Most impressive was Dr. Fate. We truly got to see what his powers could do and how much they affected him over the years. Very impressive. Brosnan was the stand out of the film and completely stole the show. Aldis Hodge was a close second and at times both actors had more memorable scenes than Johnson himself.

Which leads into the next point. Johnson didn't stand out in his own movie. The JSA did. Black Adam was largely forgettable and that is because they toned down the rating. It has been said Johnson presented four cuts of this movie. All of which were rated R until the final version of the film was toned down enough to earn PG-13. I think it would have been a wiser choice to go R rated and build up a more intense cohesive universe moving forward. It was nice to finally see it all connected via Waller and various other appearances. However you could feel the moments when an R Rating almost broke through.

It is a very enjoyable movie thanks to the action sequences. Most notably Dr. Fate's powers in use as well as the JSA team up scenes. Black Adam has a power set we have seen before so it didn't really come off as something unique. Once again though the human characters prove to be the films weakest link. They say very bad jokes and offer predictable reactions that really take you out of the fantasy element of it all.

Not much truly changes within the balance of the DC Universe other than we got what fans have been clamoring for. If you have read this far in, yes I am talking about a post credits scene. Spoiler alert one last time. Henry Cavill does appear and it was the best scene in the movie. Not because of the potential for a fight between the two but it is very nice to know Cavill is still the Superman of the DCEU moving forward.

Overall Black Adam is as advertised. A movie worth the spectacle of the big screen but not a groundbreaking achievement by any stretch of the imagination. It does finally link the larger picture together in some ways and Johnson will definitely return in some capacity. I don't think overall I am any more convinced the future is brighter for DC but I did enjoy this experience at the movies. Right now that may be the win DC and The Rock need to continue this partnership and finally deliver us a unique DC experience.