Written by Adam Sztykiel And Rory Haines And Sohrab Noshirvani
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
Teth-Adam: "Some men are not meant to be heroes."
True, because some end up being villains and others operate on that middle ground of anti-hero. In terms of comics, Black Adam has been both a popular villain of Shazam (perhaps one of his most definitive) and as of late, more of anti-hero. Hell, even in the last year alone the character has been a member of the Justice League and you don't have to be a genius to see that's a future aspiration for Dwayne Johnson.
Kicking off this movie we got a flashback to 2600 BC in Kahndaq where a young boy named Hurut (Jalon Christian) finds himself becoming the people's champion (Uli Latukefu) against an oppressive ruler who wanted to use the Crown of Sabbac to have total dominion. Needless to say, the king is killed, the champion is killed, revenge was had and someone spent 5000 years in a magical prison as a result.
Present day, Kahndaq has been occupied by Intergang and archaeologist Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi) wants to get the Crown of Sabbac away from power hungry psychos, little knowing that her teammate Ishmael Gregor (Marwan Kenzari) had his own sinister designs for the crown. Anyways, she ended up nearly getting killed by Intergang and as a result Teth-Adam (Dwayne Johnson) awoke from his slumber and wasted very little time in adding a lot of dead bodies in his path.
Teth-Adam's arrival in the current state of Kahndaq certainly raised heavy debate. The citizens were quick to embrace him. Adrianna embraced him and her superhero obsessed teenage son, Amon (Bodhi Sabongui) shamelessly idolised Teth-Adam to the point of trying to get the anti-hero in the lore of using catchphrases as well as repeatedly putting himself in danger. Sometimes a little can go a long way and Amon could've done with a little less screen time than he got here.
On the other hand, not everyone was thrilled with Teth-Adam's return. Notably Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) who despite currently lacking a Task Force X decided to rope in the Justice Society in order to deal with Teth-Adam. A slightly scaled back version including seasoned pros such as Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan) along with the newbies, Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell).
The pros and cons of the Justice Society would be that all the characters make a solid impression, look absolutely fantastic, are willing to work with Teth-Adam, Adrianna and Amon when the chips are down and you want to see more of them in any kind of follow up. The con on the other hand would be that they're not hugely developed as characters, Hawkman repeatedly had his ass handed to him and a sacrifice that Doctor Fate made for the greater good doesn't have quite the emotional impact it was aiming for and felt easily avoidable.
Then there's the actual villain of the piece. Marwan Kenzari doesn't pull off villains very well and here, Ishmael who resorted to extreme tactics in order to become Sabbac simply doesn't cut it as a baddie. I mean he looked fantastic and there was some decent effects with his fire but he's introduced too late in the game and was taken out almost abruptly as well. Without a doubt, definitely one of the weakest villains we've had in the DCEU.
As for Teth-Adam, there are some unnecessary changes to the character's backstory I'm surprised even Dwayne Johnson went along with. Also for a guy who constantly went on about not being a hero, you never get the sense that he'd threaten an innocent person either. The status of him right now as Protector of Kahndaq is an interesting proposition but will it be enough to sate the character and Johnson's own long term goals for the DCEU?
- The mid credit sequence featured the long anticipated return of Henry Cavill's Superman, along with his classic suit and a hint of John Williams classic score.
- We saw Djimon Hounsou in flashbacks with the Council of Wizards as well as the return of Jennifer Holland's Emilia Harcourt.
- Henry Winkler made a brief cameo as the original Atom Smasher, Al Pratt. The current one is his nephew, Albert Rothstein.
- This movie had both nth metal and eternium as major properties that could be moaned for good and evil purposes. The latter used for Sabbac's crown,
- Standout music: Nice use of Paint It Black.
- Chronology: Safe to assume, it's set after the events of Peacemaker.
Black Adam might not be quite the disaster area that some critics have been a bit too quick to label it but at the same time, it's also not the game changer for the DCEU that Dwayne Johnson desperately wanted it to be either. If I'm being honest, it's easily one of the weaker entries in this franchise and a movie that felt like the sum of it's parts to boot. Keep your expectations moderate and you won't be too disappointed.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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