2022's Black Adam is what many call Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's failed attempt to take control of the DC Cinematic Universe. After Scott Snyder's Justice League failed to garner the interest of a cohesive universe of life action films, many saw The Rock's picture as make or break for the Snyder-verse.
Having a superstar like Johnson was a smart choice for Warner Bros. The former wrestler is charming. He's got a legit, strong fan base. He's proven that he can bring in the fans. And most of all, compared to Ezra Miller, Snyder usurper Joss Whedon, and Suicide Squad visionary James Gunn, Dwayne Johnson is clean-cut and family friendly. But to make your first entry into DC films a big budget potential blockbuster about a character that is the complete opposite of Johnson was just a mistake.
That's not to say that Black Adam didn't have its merits. The first act of the film was great. It told the origin story of the character. Having Djimon Hounsou return as the wizard Shazam was a smart choice that I appreciated. We learn of the rise of fictional Middle Eastern nation Kahndaq through the ages to becoming a land full of oppressed people ruled by that ruthless organized crime syndicate, Intergang.
We then meet young Amon Tomaz and his family. Amon's mother Adrianna is a freedom fighter who longs for a day when Kahndaq is free. Her pursuit of the legend of the ancient champion of Kahndaq awakens Black Adam, who while disoriented by how modern everything has become, the legendary figure also hates to see his ancestors oppressed and begins to clear house of Intergang.
Enter the Justice Society of America. Summoned by Amanda Waller, the team lead by Hawkman are to bring Black Adam down. When the JSA arrives to stop Adam's violence, Adrianna makes an interesting point. Why is it that America can have superheroes to save Americans but when another country does the same thing, the USA intervenes?
The argument made sense to me. Sure, it brings up some problematic thoughts of colonialism, and American foreign diplomacy. But why is it in all the DC books when other countries get powers, the JLA, JSA or Suicide Squad have to put those countries in their place?
At this point, the movie got predictable. JSA fights Adam. Amon gets kidnapped. Black Adam feels bad for the kid's capture and surrenders to Hawkman. The surprise villain of the movie gets mega-evil powers. The JSA realizes that they need Black Adam to defeat this powerful new foe. Big battle. Victory. End of story. I've seen the 2nd and 3rd act a million times and I just got bored. And I really shouldn't have.
This movie gave viewers the first ever live appearances of 3 super heroes. Atom Smasher II, Cyclone, and Doctor Fate. Fate was one of my favorite figures in the Super Powers action figure line-up from the 80s and Pierce Brosnan was excellent as an aged, wise Kent Nelson. As for Hawkman, this was the 4th incarnation of the character on screen. But Aldis Hodge's Carter Hall was by far the best of the quartet. Having these guys should have really helped make this a great film. But in reality, they mostly all just brought the story down.
Why couldn't we have gotten Zachary Levi as Shazam and Mark Strong returning as Sivana, playing angel and devil to try to convince Black Adam which path to choose? That would have been a much better movie. Though, you would have to keep Pierce Brosnan's character. His Doctor Fate did add that extra layer of cool.
The film made just under $400 million dollars globally. Some analysts say that Black Adam broke even. But it was far from a hit. I think the biggest problem was that Johnson and director Jaume Collet-Serra managed to piss off Warner Bros. and DC. During the big Black Adam/JSA battle, Adam and Hawkman wind up in Amon's bedroom which is decked out in Justice League stuff. Black Adam manages to punch holes through pictures of Aquaman, The Flash and a Superman S-Shield, symbolically telling viewers that Black Adam is the new main man of DC films. But when Black Adam knocks over a statue of Batman from a high display shelf and it crashes to the floor, I think execs cried foul. Because nobody can topple Batman as the biggest box office draw of them all!
Just before this film debuted, DC and Warner announced that James Gunn would be heading all future projects both live action and animated. I think producers and high ups saw that scene in post-production, told the director and star to remove it. They declined and as a result, the studio pulled their backing.
Think about it. Where were the toys? The t-shirts? Happy Meal toys? There were literally zero tie-ins to this movie other than some variant comic covers and a Black Adam miniseries. I really think this film was intended to be a bold new direction for DC films after the debacle with Justice League and it slapped a lot of people right in the face. Instead of bringing DC movies ahead of Marvel, Black Adam managed to push all DC projects back at least 3-5 years.
A film that had so much potential. But egos got in the way. Cliches seen in countless superhero films and TV shows just oozed throughout every scene. Plus, some great superheroes were misused or just ignored completely to prevent this from being a classic in the superhero movie genre.
Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.
