Black Adam is a superhero movie about a beleaguered city(country?) that gets the hero it doesn't want(but needs?). The movie opens thousands of years in the past when a usurping king enslaves a people in search of their regions singular resource(sound familiar?). A hero rises, ordained by the council of wizards(?), he takes back the city but destroys(part of) it in the process. Thousands of years later(the present) a resistance fighter inadvertently awakens him, he is Teth-Adam(The Rock)!
The Rock brings his undeniable presence to the movie but is hamstrung by the characters limited humor and bleak outlook, he spends much of the movie floating around looking dour, not a good use of The Rock. The supporting cast are all serviceable but most are constrained by the convoluted plot, made too dense by layers of unnecessary exposition and multiple McGuffins that it renders the stakes virtually nil. The one bright spot is Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate who's able to push forward a fully formed personality as well as seems to be having a ball.
Visually the movie is pretty spectacular, particularly the fight scenes. All brightly lite, impactful, dynamic, with an element of visceral carnage and real danger that many superhero movies lack in their CGI sameness and PG-13 adherence. Here Black Adam feels genuinely dangerous and unpredictable which feels different and cool. The costumes are great, the score is catchy, it simply fails from the stand point of the script which attempts to pack two or three movies worth of plot into one. It's too complicated and as a result the pacing after the first act is sluggish. The attempts at allegory come across as clumsy rather than inspiring.
Lower tier superhero fair despite considerable potential.
Currently in theaters coming soon to HBO Max.
Stream It.
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