Story and tone

Black Adam is a DC movie about a superhero with the powers of the gods of ancient Egypt, imprisoned for five thousand years. But it’s impossible to hold on to that kind of power forever.

Freed from imprisonment, Black Adam prepares to fight threats and crime with his personal notions of justice, which may not please everyone and may not fit in with modern morality and ethics. Is there a path in the hero’s heart to the possibility of changing his views and accepting the new rules of the game? After all, evil does not slumber.

The filmmakers significantly altered the character’s comic-book story to make him more positive, which weakened his anti-hero appeal. But despite Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s poor acting, Black Adam’s image turned out, though not very deep, to be quite whole. However, we love The Rock not for his acting skills (or, rather, the lack thereof), but for his charisma, so Black Adam in his performance does not cause any special complaints.

Visual imagination

Viewers can predict every action, line of dialogue, and forced joke from the heroes and villains. Sometimes the filmmakers sacrifice entertainment and common sense. Of course, the screenwriters need to show the clash between Black Adam and the Justice Society under any pretext, so the heroes, who fly to Kandak with peaceful and diplomatic intentions, upon arrival immediately begin to insult the dangerous alien from the past. 

The fights in the film are not badly staged, though without much ingenuity. The computer graphics at times cause an unbearable desire to cringe. It looks especially bad in the final battle, but by then the movie drags so much that you barely notice.

Themes

In spite of all this, the film’s shortcomings pale in the face of the fact that it does give the long-suffering cinematic universe a second wind. And in the scene after the credits, Superman, played by Henry Cavill, appears, and it seems that most of the audience is more excited about this scene than the rest of the movie.

“Black Adam” deserved all the blame for being a stereotypical superhero action movie without any twist. But if you’re a DC fan, that won’t stop you from watching it, will it?

Pros

• Dwayne Johnson’s natural charisma carries the central character.
• Some action scenes are competently staged.
• The film helps revive interest in the DC cinematic universe.
• The post-credits appearance of Superman creates genuine excitement.

Cons

• A predictable plot with no real surprises.
• The anti-hero aspect of Black Adam is significantly weakened.
• Inconsistent and sometimes poor CGI.
• Dialogue and character motivations often lack logic.

Final verdict

Black Adam is a straightforward and formulaic superhero film that plays it safe at almost every turn. While it lacks originality and depth, it benefits from its charismatic lead and its importance to the future of the DC universe. Fans may forgive its flaws for the sake of continuity and spectacle, but for neutral viewers, it remains a passable action movie rather than a memorable one.