‘Black Adam’ review: Dwayne Johnson’s DC superhero movie rides the lightning, fizzles out
“The Rock” is starring in his own superhero movie: Dwayne Johnson carries “Black Adam” atop his mighty shoulders, but it proves too weighty a task.
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (“Jungle Cruise”), the newest DC film is full of swagger and intensity, yet it sadly lacks character – which is a problem considering “Black Adam” (★★ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters Friday) rolls out all sorts of new personalities. This is Johnson’s baby, a film spotlighting a complicated antihero he has championed for years. It wins some battles and packs plenty of punch, yet it just can’t get past familiar tropes and flaws.
Teth Adam (Johnson) is a former enslaved man with godlike abilities from ancient times who has been imprisoned for 5,000 years. After being released, he discovers that his home country of Kahndaq, a fictional country in the Middle East where he was once a champion, is now ruled by the mercenary organization Intergang and in desperate need of a revolutionary type of dude. None of it exactly pleases this dark figure with a hooded cape and a mean streak, so Adam starts taking out bad guys in violent fashion.
Enter the Justice Society of America, a group of heroes led by Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) – a mix of Bruce Wayne and Professor X running a superteam out of his extremely high-tech mansion – tasked with confronting this new global metahuman threat. The squad includes helmeted sorcerer Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), human tornado Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) and fresh-faced, size-changing youngster Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo). But even together they have trouble tussling with a wrecking machine who harnesses lightning and doesn’t dig people getting in his way.
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Yes, it’s a lesson right out of Comic Book Movie 101. “Black Adam” also takes a step back from DC movies like “Shazam!” and “The Suicide Squad,” efforts that hinted at the larger DC world but had their own interesting vibe and were mostly self-contained narratives. The new movie stylistically harks back to earlier Zack Snyder superhero works, and in many ways is a two-hour buildup to a major scene at the end that foreshadows what’s to come. (It is pretty nifty.)
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To his credit, Johnson eagerly takes on a role that’s much different from his popular work (for example, “Central Intelligence” and the “Fast and Furious” and “Jumanji” movies) and uses his physical presence and his natural magnetism. Black Adam is not a likable guy at the start, and Johnson works overtime to mold him into a cool, stoic and havoc-wreaking customer, first on a quest for vengeance and then an enlightening journey (although Adam reminding various folks every five minutes that “I’m not a hero” doesn’t help).