Black Adam
- -Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the Egyptian gods—and imprisoned just as quickly—Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.
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Dwayne Johnson demonstrates why being a good superhero doesn’t require being physically fit!
It was impossible for Dwayne Johnson to maintain the combination of humor, confusion, and brooding at the same moment.
What’s Good: The two-hour duration is still the only advantage.
What’s Bad: DC’s futile attempt to emulate Marvel is evident once more.
The story, which is set in the ruins of Kahndaq, opens with a flashback from 2600 BCE, showing how the city’s struggles give rise to a hero who sticks by the people to fight for their rights. In the present day, Kahndaq’s people are once again held as slaves by the evildoers, euphemistically called Intergang, until Adrianna (Sarah Shahi), the rebel, awakens the “champion,” and we learn about his origins as Teth Adam (Dwayne Johnson).
Teth is aware of his duty to rescue his people from the villains, but he must overcome the opposition of the “Justice Society” members due to his perceived anti-hero status. Yes, the crown in question is an item that, as in all previous superhero films, bestows enormous power on its possessor. By the conclusion, Teth Adam transforms into Black Adam. I wish the movie had developed further, but it didn’t.
Plot:
The fabled metal Eternium is mined by the oppressive ruler Ahk-Ton of Kahndaq around 2600 BC, who uses the proceeds to create the Crown of Sabbac, giving him power and invincibility. A young slave boy becomes an adult superhero after being selected as the Council of Wizards’ champion after attempting to mount an uprising against Ahk-Ton. He ends Ahk-Ton’s rule by killing him.
The criminal group Intergang is currently oppressing Kahndaq, while Adrianna Tomaz, an archaeologist, works with her brother Karim and associates Samir and Ishmael to find the Crown of Sabbac. Adrianna finds the crown within the tomb, but Samir is killed by the Intergang soldiers. Finally, she utters an incantation that causes the legendary warrior Teth-Adam to come to life. After Adam massacres the Intergang soldiers, Amanda Waller, a US government officer, believes Adam poses a threat and calls the Justice Society to arrange for his arrest. Members of the Justice Society—Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Cyclone, and Atom Smasher—put an end to Adam’s murderous rampage and inform Adrianna that Adam was an imprisoned murderer rather than a rescuer.
Ishmael kidnaps Adrianna’s son Amon, who has been hiding the crown, and reveals himself as the head of Intergang’s Kahndaq division. It is revealed that Ishmael is Ahk-Ton’s last living descendant. In order to save Amon, the group locates the crown and returns it. When Ishmael tries to shoot Amon, Adam loses control, shoots Ishmael, and wounds Amon.
Feeling guilty, Adam runs away and tells Hawkman that his son Hurut, who was slain by Ahk-Ton’s assassins, who had also murdered his mother, was really Kahndaq’s champion. Adam was so overcome with sadness and hatred that he killed Hurut and demolished his palace after being granted Hurut’s abilities to save his life. Adam killed all of the wizards whom the Council of Wizards deemed worthless in revenge, with the exception of Shazam, who put him in prison and took the throne.
Adam gives up, believing that he will never be a real hero. The Justice Society then takes him to an undercover Task Force X black facility in Antarctica, where Emilia Harcourt puts him in stasis. Once more, Hawkman’s demise is predicted by fate. The Justice Society learns that Ishmael killed Adam with the intention of resurrecting Sabbac, the leader of the six named demons.
The Justice Society tries in vain to halt Sabbac when he calls upon the Legions of Hell to terrify Kahndaq. Fate battles Sabbac by herself because she thinks that Hawkman’s sacrifice would prevent his demise. Astral projection is used by Fate to free Adam prior to Sabbac killing him. Karim, Adrianna, and Amon organize the populace to battle the Legions of Hell in the meantime. Hawkman is defeated by Sabbac, but Adam gets there just in time to slay Sabbac, which makes the Legions of Hell vanish. Adam and the Justice Society split ways amicably, with Adam demolishing the ancient throne because he thinks Kahndaq needs a protector, not a king. He takes on the moniker Black Adam.
Examining the Screenplay:
Like Dwayne Johnson’s career, the tale of bringing back a superhero from your culture’s history book to protect your city’s present state starts off intriguingly but quickly becomes boring and uninteresting. The story by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani is everything a superhero movie should have, and it’s not even enhanced with mind-numbing visual effects to make you pay attention to anything at all.
When Pierce Brosnan’s fate weaves the web of his mental powers, the effects seem cool, but they’re not employed well enough to build any compelling tension. Although Lawrence Sher’s camerawork occasionally saves the sinking ship, it cannot guarantee that it will remain afloat until the very end. All of it drowns together.
Star Performance:
Dwayne Johnson is living proof that being a good superhero doesn’t require physical strength. He was simply unable to maintain the balance between being hilarious, perplexed, and brooding at the same time. He combines all of his feelings into one massive ball of “why, dafuq, am I still here?”
As Fate, Pierce Brosnan attempts to be as subdued as possible in order to balance out the disorganized mayhem that is occurring. The issue is that neither he nor the supporting cast really have anything noteworthy to say about their performances. Atom Smasher by Noah Centineo accomplishes everything that Hulk has already learned over the years, and DC isn’t trying to introduce anything new to him.
Due to his weak character development, Aldis Hodge’s portrayal of Hawkman fails miserably to lead the Justice Society of America for the majority of the movie. You don’t even try to understand Sarah Shahi’s perspective, which is that she rebelled against the Intergang because she was hurting. Her act is half-baked, and everything around her is just touch-and-go. In the absence of the jungle movies, Quintessa Swindell’s role as Cyclone is as inconspicuous as Dwayne’s.