plugged in movie review black adam

Movie Review: Black Adam

Dwayne Johnson stars as an antihero with a pretty serious anger-management problem in the latest DC Comics movie to hit theaters. Though there are some heroic moments, vengeance and violence get top billing here, with Johnson’s character uncorking his murderous rage on any bad guy who’s dumb enough to get in his way.

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• Show Plugged In Entertainment Reviews
• Channel Focus on the Family
• Frequency Updated Daily
• Published October 21, 2022 at 10:00 AM UTC
• Length 2 min
• Rating Clean

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Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra , and featuring a remarkable lead performance by Dwayne Johnson , the spiky and majestic "Black Adam" is one of the best DC superhero films to date. This tale of a gloomy, seemingly malevolent god who reappears in a long-occupied Middle Eastern nation rejects most of the choices that bland-ify even the good entries in the genre. For its first third, it presents its title character—a champion who challenged a despotic king thousands of years earlier—as a frightening and unknowable force with a bottomless appetite for destruction. Known by his ancient moniker Teth-Adam, his reemergence from a desert tomb proves both a miracle and a curse for people who prayed for someone to defend them against corporate-mercenary thugs who have oppressed them for decades and strip-mined their land. 

Throughout the rest of its running time, “Black Adam” leans into the inevitability of Adam’s evolution toward good-guy status, condensing the transformation of the title character in the first two “Terminator” films (there are even comic bits where people try to teach Adam sarcasm and the Geneva Conventions). "Black Adam" then stirs in dollops of a macho sentimentality that used to be common in old Hollywood dramas about loners who needed to get involved in a cause to reset their moral compasses or recognize their worth. But the sharp edge that the film brings to the early parts of its story never dulls.

Adam initially seems as much of a literal as well as a figurative force of nature as Godzilla and other beasts in Japanese  kaiju  films. It’s initially hard for the people in Adam’s path to tell if he’s good, evil, or merely indifferent to human concerns. One thing’s for sure: everyone wants Adam to help them prevent a crown forged in hell and infused with the energy of six demons from being placed atop the head of someone in Intergang, a global corporate/mercenary consortium whose interests are represented by a two-faced charmer ( Marwan Kenzari ).

Decades ago, Humphrey Bogart played a lot of cynical men who insisted they weren’t interested in causes, then changed their minds and took up arms against corruption or tyranny. Viewers still love that story, and Johnson has updated it many times during his career, most recently in “ Jungle Cruise ,” in which he played a character modeled on Bogart's riverboat captain in "The African Queen." He channels vintage primordial acting by Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger but also poet-brute performances like Anthony Quinn's strongman in " La Strada ," and infuses the totality with his unique charisma. "Black Adam" confirms that he’s studied the classics and cherry-picked bits that seem to work for him. There are even tenderhearted moments of regret and recrimination that seem inspired by 1950s moral awakening pictures like “ On the Waterfront .” 

The latter are usually triggered by three “civilian” characters who appeal to Adam’s presumed innate (though submerged) goodness. One is Adrianna Tomaz ( Sarah Shahi ), a university professor, resistance fighter, and widow of a resistance hero who was killed by the colonizers. Another is Adrianna’s cheerful and indomitable son Amon ( Bodhi Sabongui ), who zips around the bombed-out city on a skateboard that seems to have as many secondary uses as a Swiss Army Knife. And then there’s Adrianna’s brother Amir (comedian Mohammed Amer), who livens up a standard-issue earthy everyman role.

Somehow, though, the script by Adam Sztykiel , Rory Haines , and Sohrab Noshirvani resists the temptation to wallow in unearned sentiment. Nor does the movie insist, despite the evidence, that Adam and the superheroes brought into to confront him ( Aldis Hodge ’s Hawkman, Noah Centineo ’s Atom Smasher, Quintessa Swindell ’s wind-manipulating Cyclone, and Pierce Brosnan ’s dimension-hopping and clairvoyant Dr. Fate) are wonderful people who have pure motives and always mean well. In conversations about motivations and tactics, nobody is entirely right or wrong. The movie's edge comes from its determination to live in moral gray areas as long as it can. 

It also comes from the violence, which is presented as the inevitable result of the characters’ personalities, ambitions, and duties, rather than being associated with any particular code or philosophy. That framing, plus the sprays of blood and images of people being impaled, shot, and crushed, pushes the movie's PG-13 rating to the breaking point like “ Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ” and “ Gremlins ” did with the PG rating nearly 40 years earlier. There were several walkouts at the “Black Adam” screening this writer attended, and in every case, it was somebody who brought a child under 10. 

In fairness, they may not have expected the movie to begin with a flashback that climaxes with a slave at a construction site getting gut-stabbed and thrown off a cliff, and a boy being threatened with beheading, or for the title character to obliterate an army with electrical bolts and his bare hands seconds after his first appearance. Nearly every other scene—including expository dialogue exchanges—is set against the backdrop of a chaotic city whose residents have been hardened not just by the occupation, but by the catastrophes that are unleashed whenever super-beings clash, which ties into recurring scenes and dialogue about what it means for a small country to be invaded and occupied by outsiders who set their own rules and are indifferent to daily life on the ground.

Film history buffs might note the studio that originated the project: the Warner Bros. subdivision New Line. It rose to prominence with horror films, grew by releasing auteur-driven, down-and-dirty genre pieces and dramas (including “ Menace II Society ” and “ Deep Cover ”), and got into blockbusters with the original “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. You can see that lineage reflected in many scenes and sequences of this film, which is PG-13 in fact but R in spirit. “Black Adam” immediately announces what sort of film it is by weaving in quotes from the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black” (the melody of which is referenced in Lorne Balfe ’s score) and musical as well as visual snippets from “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly”—key works from artists whose best work invites you to root for people who move through their worlds like threshers. 

The film’s director honed his mayhem chops in horror movies, then in R-rated thrillers in which Liam Neeson brutally dispatches adversaries. Collet-Serra makes a PG-13 film feel like an R by cutting away or jumping back from the nastiest violence, but letting us hear it (or imagine it when people watch from a great distance). He also does it by insisting, through actions as well as dialogue, that individuals, even superhuman ones, do things for multiple, often contradictory reasons. (A boy’s bedroom is filled with superhero posters and comics, and when a “good guy” and Adam fight in there, they burn and tear through DC’s most recognizable icons in a way that rhymes with scenes of the city's historic monuments being toppled or pulverized.)

Fidelity to basic film storytelling keeps "Black Adam" centered even when it's doing ten things at once. The film is packed with foreshadowings, setups, payoffs, twists, and surprises, and is filled with well-defined lead and supporting characters. One standout is Brosnan, who delivers a moving portrait of an immortal who is tired of seeing the future and thinking back on his past. Dr. Fate looks at those who can live in the present with a mixture of melancholy, wisdom, and envy. 

Another is Johnson, who has real acting chops but in recent years has often seemed to be constrained (maybe intimidated?) by his lucrative image as the people’s colossus. He’s as minimalist as one could be when playing a god. He takes a lot of his cues from the screen star that the film quotes most often, Clint Eastwood , but he also seems to have learned from action-hero performances by stars like Neeson, Toshiro Mifune , Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Charles Bronson , who understood that the camera can detect and amplify faint tremors of emotion as long as you act with the film—not just in it, and never against it. The peak is a fleeting moment when Johnson lets us know that something deep inside Adam has changed by glancing in a different direction and softening his features. It's maybe half a second. It’s not the kind of acting that wins prizes because if it’s done well—as it is here—you feel as if it happened in your mind rather than on the screen. 

The politics and spirituality of the movie are just as committed and consistent. Even when the story flirts with Orientalism or incorporates simplistic Western heaven-and-hell imagery, “Black Adam” never loses track of what Adam represents in our world: autonomy, liberation, the possibility of redemption and renewal, and a refusal to be defined by however things have always been done. 

The result sometimes plays like the DC answer to the pop culture quake that was “ Black Panther ,” serving up a Middle Eastern-inflected version of the Marvel film’s Afro-Futurist sensibility, and letting its setting stand in for any place that was colonized. But its politics are more clearly defined and less compromised. “Black Adam” is staunchly anti-imperialist to its marrow, even equating the Avengers-like crew sent to capture and imprison Black Adam to a United Nations “intervention” force that the people of the region don’t want because it only makes things worse. The movie is anti-royalist, too, which is even more of a surprise considering that the backstory hinges on kings and lineage. 

"Black Adam" is a superlative and clever example of this sort of movie, coloring within the lines while drawing fascinating doodles on the margins. In its brash, relentless, overscaled way, Collet-Serra's film respects its audience and wants to be respected by it. "Black Adam" gives the audience everything they wanted, along with things they never expected.

Only in theaters today.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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Film credits.

Black Adam (2022)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, intense action and some language.

125 minutes

Dwayne Johnson as Teth Adam / Black Adam

Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall / Hawkman

Pierce Brosnan as Kent Nelson / Doctor Fate

Noah Centineo as Al Rothstein / Atom Smasher

Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz / Isis

Marwan Kenzari as Ishmael Gregor / Sabbac

Quintessa Swindell as Maxine Hunkel / Cyclone

Bodhi Sabongui as Amon Tomaz

Viola Davis as Amanda Waller

Jennifer Holland as Emilia Harcourt

Mo Amer as Karim

• Jaume Collet-Serra

Writer (based on the characters created by)

• Bill Parker
• Adam Sztykiel
• Rory Haines
• Sohrab Noshirvani

Cinematographer

• Lawrence Sher
• Michael L. Sale
• Lorne Balfe

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Movie Review: Black Adam

Dwayne Johnson stars as an antihero with a pretty serious anger-management problem in the latest DC Comics movie to hit theaters. Though there are some heroic moments, vengeance and violence get top billing here, with Johnson’s character uncorking his murderous rage on any bad guy who’s dumb enough to get in his way.

Read the Plugged In review:

https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/black-adam-2022/

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Movie Review: IF

‘Black Adam’ Review: Dwayne Johnson Plays an All-Powerful DC Villain Who Can Be Talked Into Heroism

Set in the imaginary Middle East country of Kahndaq, this meaty, feature-length teaser reframes a fan-favorite 'Shazam!' baddie as an antihero, though his greatest battles are still to come.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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SPOILER ALERT: The following review contains mild spoilers for “ Black Adam .”

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After all, this summer’s “DC League of Super-Pets” wrapped with Krypto (Clark Kent’s companion, also voiced by Johnson) meeting Black Adam’s pet basenji, with whom he debates the meaning of “antihero”: “It’s basically exactly like a regular hero, except way cooler. You make up your own rules, and then you break them.” The prospect that the superegos attached to these two canines might one day collide transforms the spectacular (but otherwise pointless) one-off/origin story that is “Black Adam” into a feature-length tease. The payoff is still to come, but here, audiences are presented with the moral and emotional backstory for a future showdown.

“Black Adam” is built around the notion that Teth Adam, as he’s referred to for most of the movie, isn’t evil so much as really, really angry. The surprisingly serious-minded (but still plenty pulpy) project deprives Johnson of his greatest superpower — his sense of humor — while giving the now-straight-faced star a chance to play a character with some interesting contradictions. His instinct is to kill anyone who upsets him, and yet, he can still be reasoned with. This flexibility will prove crucial, since there’s a far more malevolent (if not especially memorable) character scheming to liberate Kahndaq, the fictional quasi-Egyptian country where the film takes place.

It’s an unusual move for DC to base an entire superhero feature in the Middle East — although it’s a homecoming of sorts for Johnson, whose film career kicked off playing the Scorpion King in “The Mummy Returns.” Doubly daring is the way “Black Adam” aligns our sympathies with the locals, who call upon an ancient hero to help overthrow the white mercenaries extracting precious Eternium from their land. In the film’s “300”-style prologue, the powerful mineral is responsible for transforming a lowly slave into a practically godlike figure — with the help of several wizards.

Flash forward to the present day. Tired of living in a state of oppression, a group of rebels led by tough gal Adrianna (Sarah Shahi) go looking for a legendary crown made of Eternium. Co-written by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani, “Black Adam” features a lot more action than most DC movies, cramming the exposition into a series of supercharged set-pieces — including an early “Tomb Raider”-like sequence wherein Adrianna and three accomplices explore a cave, recovering the crown and unleashing Teth Adam from his millennia-long imprisonment.

Looking thoroughly annoyed, his neck thick as a banyan tree trunk, Johnson levitates into the first of many confrontations, blasting blue lightning from his fists. Bullets bounce off his bald dome; bazookas barely slow him down. Collet-Serra has studied everything from “The Matrix” to “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” basing his visual style on favorite tricks from more original films. Half the reason it’s so hard to take comic book movies seriously stems from lazy devices like Eternium and wizards, which “Black Adam” accepts without the slightest hesitation.

The movie is essentially “Shane” on steroids, set in the Middle East instead of the Old West, but still seen through the eyes of a young boy — Adrianna’s comic book-obsessed son Amon (Bodhi Sabongui), in this case — who idolizes a figure of questionable morality. As with “Shane,” sticking a kid in the middle of the story brings the entire project down to a middle-school-level intellect. And yet, except for the recent Batman movies, that’s how most of the DC films feel.

The most out-of-place characters here are the quartet representing the JSA. Adrianna rightly questions why Hawkman and friends should show up now, after a villainous organization called Intergang has been exploiting them for years. Black Adam may be billed as an antihero, but by the logic of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” he’s more helpful to these Kahndaq freedom fighters than the JSA. Fight scenes involving Hawkman, Atom Smasher and Cyclone pose strange challenges, considering their powers, while Doctor Fate at least gives the visual effects team some fun tricks to animate.

No one’s allowed to upstage Johnson, however — not even a bulging demon named Sabbac who appears near the end. Clearly, the film’s whole purpose is to give Black Adam a suitably grand introduction on the assumption that he’ll be pitted against a more deserving adversary soon enough.

Reviewed at Dolby screening room, Burbank, Oct. 17, 2022. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 125 MIN.

• Production: A Warner Bros. release of a New Line Cinema presentation of a Seven Bucks, Flynn Picture Co. production. Producers: Beau Flynn, Hiram Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia. Executive producers: Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener, Dave Neustadter, Chris Pan, Walter Hamada, Adam Schlagman, Geoff Johns, Eric McLeod, Scott Sheldon
• Crew: Director: Jaume Collet-Serra. Screenplay: Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines & Sohrab Noshirvani, based on characters from DC created by Bill Parker, C.C. Beck. Camera: Lawrence Sher. Editors: Mike Sale, John Lee.
• With: Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, Mohammed Amer, Bodhi Sabongui, Pierce Brosnan.

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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... Read all 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. 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.

• Jaume Collet-Serra
• Adam Sztykiel
• Rory Haines
• Sohrab Noshirvani
• Dwayne Johnson
• Aldis Hodge
• Pierce Brosnan
• 1.8K User reviews
• 285 Critic reviews
• 41 Metascore
• 1 win & 13 nominations

Top cast 65

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• Atom Smasher …

• Adrianna Tomaz

• Skinny Teth Adam

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Did you know

• Trivia Jordan Peele was originally offered the chance to direct the film when it was first announced in 2017, but Peele declined, saying, "I'm not a fan of superhero movies and I'd hate to take that chance away from a director who is passionate about them."
• Goofs At one point, they state the crown weighs 23 pounds. However, in several places in the movie, people are carrying/lifting it like it weighs a few ounces.

Hawkman : In this world, there are heroes and there are villains. Heroes don't kill people!

Teth-Adam : Well, I do.

• Crazy credits The Warner Bros logo is made of Kahndaq's eternium metal, and through lightning strikes it changes to the New Line Cinema logo.
• Connections Featured in The Observant Lineman: DC Fandome LIVE (2020)
• Soundtracks Bullet with Butterfly Wings Written by Billy Corgan (as William Corgan) Performed by The Smashing Pumpkins Courtesy of Virgin Records Under license from Universal Music Enteprises

User reviews 1.8K

• Oct 18, 2022
• How long is Black Adam? Powered by Alexa
• October 21, 2022 (United States)
• United States
• New Zealand
• Black Adam France
• Official Facebook
• Atlanta, Georgia, USA
• Warner Bros.
• New Line Cinema
• DC Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $195,000,000 (estimated)
• $168,152,111
• $67,004,323
• Oct 23, 2022
• $393,452,111

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 5 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos
• IMAX 6-Track

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Common Sense Media Review

Lots of bashing and smashing in disappointing DC movie.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Black Adam is a DC Extended Universe superhero movie, and a spin-off from Shazam! . Dwayne Johnson stars as the title character, who was originally a supervillain in DC comics. The movie has a diverse cast and asks interesting questions about heroes and villains, but it…

Why Age 12+?

High body count, and lots of guns and shooting. Characters get shot, and there a

Sporadic use of "s--t," "ass," "bastard," "piss," "damn," "hell."

Several posters and toys for various DC characters are seen in a boy's bedroom.

Any Positive Content?

The setting of Kahndaq is a fictional place, but it's populated by a diverse gro

The superheroes are all brave and try to do what they think is right, even thoug

The movie poses (but doesn't follow up on) interesting questions about good and

Violence & Scariness

High body count, and lots of guns and shooting. Characters get shot, and there are bloody wounds. Frequent fighting, punching, kicking, bashing against surfaces, hitting with blunt objects. Character grabbed by throat, electrocuted, turned into skeleton. Character sliced by blade. Child shot with arrow. Severed hand. Character stabbed and thrown over cliff, with blood trailing after him. A character thrown from a mountaintop lands with an icky thud. Cars and other vehicles crash. Zombies. Some symbology/imagery traditionally associated with satanism.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Several posters and toys for various DC characters are seen in a boy's bedroom. FedEx sign shown.

Diverse Representations

The setting of Kahndaq is a fictional place, but it's populated by a diverse group of actors/characters, including star Dwayne Johnson, co-stars Aldis Hodge and Sarah Shahi, and many more. Women characters have power and agency, especially Adrianna, who is a strong, brave leader. The main group of superheroes does include two White men. But the movie's story puts decisions in the hands of local people, rather than White interlopers. A heavyset character is portrayed as lovably comic/ridiculous.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Positive Role Models

The superheroes are all brave and try to do what they think is right, even though they sometimes make mistakes. And they all seem open to learning, even if things are sometimes ambiguous. Adrianna is central to the plot, both as a voice for moral inquiry about military occupation and political resistance and for family unity.

Positive Messages

The movie poses (but doesn't follow up on) interesting questions about good and evil, such as who decides what's good and what's evil, and is itOK to cross the line between the two if good comes out of it? Also: What if there's no such thing as absolutes?

Parents need to know that Black Adam is a DC Extended Universe superhero movie, and a spin-off from Shazam! . Dwayne Johnson stars as the title character, who was originally a supervillain in DC comics. The movie has a diverse cast and asks interesting questions about heroes and villains, but it ultimately becomes a dull smash-and-bash-fest without much time for character development or anything else. Expect large-scale action violence, with explosions/destruction, guns and shooting, and lots of fighting. Many characters (including women and children) are killed, sometimes in gruesome -- though bloodless -- ways: electrocution, stabbing, etc. Language includes occasional use of "s--t," "ass," "bastard," "piss," "damn," and "hell." There's a bit of flirting, and several posters and toys depicting other DC characters are shown in a boy's room. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (28)
• Kids say (37)

Based on 28 parent reviews

Have no part with the deeds of darkness.

Very good movie, what's the story.

BLACK ADAM begins 5,000 years ago, with the city of Kahndaq ruled by a tyrant who works to build a magical crown that will give him great powers. A boy sparks rebellion, and, just as the tyrant is about to don the special crown, the boy is given the powers of Shazam! to save the day. In the present day, the crown re-surfaces, and Teth-Adam ( Dwayne Johnson ) is summoned once again. But, rather than a hero, he appears to be a killer, dispatching everyone who tries to get in his way. The crown temporarily ends up in the hands of powerful resistance fighter Adrianna ( Sarah Shahi ), whose rebellious son, Amon (Bodhi Sabongui), believes that Teth-Adam can be the city's hero. Meanwhile, the Justice Society -- comprised of Hawkman ( Aldis Hodge ), Dr. Fate ( Pierce Brosnan ), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), and Atom Smasher ( Noah Centineo ) -- has been called in to deal with what they see as a threat. But something even worse is on the horizon.

Is It Any Good?

Occasionally exploring themes of what it means to be heroic or villainous, with shades of gray in between, this superhero movie collapses into a boring bash-fest with barely any time to breathe. Like many other villain-as-protagonist movies, ranging from Venom and Morbius to Maleficent and Cruella , Black Adam takes the opportunity to explore such questions as "Who decides who the 'good guy' is?" And "Is it OK to hurt people if some good comes out of it?" Unfortunately, once the movie asks those questions, it forgets all about them as the characters whiz around the screen, hammering away at one another, as well as any solid object that happens to be in the way. In this movie, bodies and debris soar far more frequently than viewers' spirits.

It's safe to say that the majority of Black Adam 's running time consists of fights, chases or battles, and sections of blocky exposition. Much is made of what's supposed to be a tender friendship between Hawkman and Dr. Fate, but we never feel this; it's only told to us through dialogue and goopy music in rare moments between punches. The same goes for a sweet friendship/romance between Cyclone and Atom Smasher; it's just too scarce and fragmented to amount to much. Even the human characters are cookie cutters, from the generic movie "kid" to the lovably comic uncle, rotund and ridiculous (though the actors playing both parts give them their all!). As far as Black Adam goes, those who enjoy The Rock's comedic chops and charismatic smirk may be surprised to encounter an antihero who's stoic in the face of loss and trauma. Unfortunately, though, viewers never really learn who he is or what he wants to be, and that question is ultimately less intriguing than it is uninteresting.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Black Adam 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

What's interesting, useful, or entertaining about a movie centered on a character who's usually depicted as a villain?

In your opinion, what does define "good" and "evil"? Where does Black Adam fall into this scale? Do violent means justify peaceful ends?

How does the representation in the cast of this movie compare to other superhero films you've seen? Why is positive representation important in the media?

What's the appeal of superhero movies? Are superheroes automatically role models ? Why, or why not?

Movie Details

• In theaters : October 21, 2022
• On DVD or streaming : December 5, 2022
• Cast : Dwayne Johnson , Sarah Shahi , Aldis Hodge
• Director : Jaume Collet-Serra
• Inclusion Information : Black actors, Polynesian/Pacific Islander actors, Female actors, Middle Eastern/North African actors, Middle Eastern/North African writers
• Studio : New Line Cinema
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Topics : Superheroes
• Run time : 124 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : sequences of strong violence, intense action and some language
• Last updated : July 9, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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‘Black Adam’: Review

By Tim Grierson, Senior US Critic 2022-10-18T21:30:00+01:00

Dwayne Johnson is a conflicted superhero in the latest adventure from the DC Extended Universe

Source: Warner Bros

‘Black Adam’

Dir: Jaume Collet-Serra. US. 2022. 124mins

Dwayne Johnson’s larger-than-life physique makes him an ideal actor to play a superhero and  Black Adam caters to his strengths, resulting in a reasonably entertaining origin story of a Middle Eastern slave who is transformed into a god. The latest instalment in the DC Extended Universe too often succumbs to the conventions of its genre — it’s a film suffused with hokey punchlines and predictably gaudy action set pieces — but some compelling performances and director Jaume Collet-Serra’s ebullient B-movie flourishes prove to be sufficient compensation. 

 Johnson has mostly relied on his unassuming charm in recent films, but  Black Adam  finds him summoning a more brooding demeanour

Opening in the UK and US on October 21, Black Adam features a protagonist who insists he’s no good guy; an indication of this comic-book picture’s slightly darker tone — albeit not so dark as to keep general audiences away. But although Johnson is probably a bigger draw than the character he’s playing, audiences starved for superhero fare should line up in droves.

After a prologue set in 2600 BC, the film flash-forwards to modern-day Kahndaq; a fictional Egypt-like country ruled by an evil organisation known as Intergang. Hoping to find an ancient, magic crown that can help liberate her people, widowed professor Adrianna (Sarah Shahi) and her plucky son Amon (Bodhi Sabongui) end up freeing Teth-Adam (Johnson),  a lowly slave who fought for the Kahndaqi people against their oppressors centuries ago, from his tomb. Now reborn with Superman-like powers, Adam is viewed as a threat to Earth’s safety by the Justice Society, led by Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan). 

Collet-Serra ( Non-Stop ) previously worked with Johnson on Jungle Cruise  and, like that Disney film, Black Adam is essentially a bigger-budget version of the knowingly over-the-top thrillers he previously made. But his exuberance is warranted for a character so powerful that —in one of the picture’s more macabre running jokes — any mere mortal trying to stop him quickly discovers all they’ve done is ensure their own doom. Without a smirk or clever quip, the dour Adam sends humans hurtling through the air or zaps them with lightning; innocent bystanders’ deaths don’t bother this antihero, as he doesn’t believe he needs to adhere to any moral code.

Black Adam is hardly the first film about a superhero who resists his destiny. But this adaptation of the DC character, which is part of the same cinematic ecosystem as 2019’s far more self-deprecating Shazam! , does try to interrogate the trope, asking what constitutes heroism. For instance, if the Justice Society is so concerned about saving the day, why didn’t they intervene in imperilled Kahndaq long before Adam arrived? To be sure, these thematic concerns are dealt with superficially and yet they provide just enough resonance to amplify the film’s emotional and dramatic stakes. 

Disappointingly, the screenplay makes room for tiresome genre cliches. Beyond the obligatory end-credits teaser, Collet-Serra delivers strained comic relief — Noah Centineo plays the dorky Justice Society newcomer Atom Smasher — and the prerequisite CGI-laden fight scenes. Even the Justice Society members’ superpowers feel familiar, although Brosnan is quite lovely as the thoughtful sorcerer Doctor Fate, who is both blessed and cursed to be able to see the future. Brosnan isn’t the only actor who brings some grace to the proceedings. Shahi is stirring as an activist determined to make sure her son grows up in a better Kahndaq than the one she has known. And Hodge exudes grizzled nobility, playing a traditional comic-book hero whose self-righteousness will be challenged by his interactions with this mighty being. 

As for Adam, he only wants to help his fellow Kahndaqis, but he’ll be forced to team up with the distrustful Hawkman after one of Adrianna’s supposed friends turns out to be part of Intergang, seeking the all-powerful crown for himself. Johnson has mostly relied on his unassuming charm in recent films, counterbalancing his impressive build with a silly streak, but Black Adam finds him summoning a more brooding demeanour, easily conveying the awe-inspiring grandeur of a vengeful god. To that end, Collet-Serra incorporates several arresting shots of Adam simply hovering through the sky, the character beginning to grasp the frightening potential of his incredible powers. 

It’s hardly a spoiler to reveal that maybe, just maybe, this antihero will end up surprising everyone by becoming a good guy. But while that may be expected, Johnson’s gentle humanity makes the transformation appealing without sacrificing Adam’s bitter edge — a bitterness whose roots we’ll eventually learn more about. Black Adam hardly reinvents superhero cinema, but at least its star gives it a little muscle.

Production companies: Seven Bucks Productions, Flynn Picture Co.

Worldwide distribution: Warner Bros.

Producers: Beau Flynn, Hiram Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia       

Screenplay: Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani  

Cinematography: Lawrence Sher

Production design: Tom Meyer

Editing: Mike Sale, John Lee

Music: Lorne Balfe 

Main cast: Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, Bodhi Sabongui, Mohammed Amer, James Cusati-Moyer, Pierce Brosnan

• United States
• Warner Bros.

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Movie Review: Black Adam

Dwayne Johnson stars as an antihero with a pretty serious anger-management problem in the latest DC Comics movie to hit theaters. Though there are some heroic moments, vengeance and violence get top billing here, with Johnson’s character uncorking his murderous rage on any bad guy who’s dumb enough to get in his way.

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Review: ‘Black Adam,’ a superhero franchise born on a Rock

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Dwayne Johnson in a scene from “Black Adam.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Quintessa Swindell in a scene from “Black Adam.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Pierce Brosnan, left, and Dwayne Johnson in a scene from “Black Adam.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Sarah Shahi, left, and Pierce Brosnan in a scene from “Black Adam.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

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Not long into “Black Adam,” a preteen boy looks up at the muscled hulk of Dwayne Johnson and begs for his help: “We could use a superhero right now.” Speak for yourself, kid.

Do we need another superhero with another convoluted origin story that stretches back thousands of years and fulfills a whacko destiny? Do we really need another clutch of secondary level heroes to muddy focus? We’re almost 40 deep into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a dozen in the DC universe. You can almost smell the fumes now, can’t you?

“Black Adam” isn’t bad, it’s just predictable and color-by-numbers, stealing from other films like an intellectual property super-villain. But Johnson is a natural in the title role, mixing might with humor and able to deliver those necessary wooden lines. Why he hasn’t had a starring role in a DC or Marvel superhero flick until now is astonishing — c’mon, he’s built himself into a freaking superhero in street clothes already.

Like Marvel’s “Eternals,” “Black Adam” gets out of the blocks very sluggishly with the tangled tale of our setting — Kahndaq, a fictional Middle Eastern kingdom in 2,600 B.C. that has wizards, a blood-thirsty king, a magical crown and Eternium, a rare metallic ore with energy-manipulating properties (Hello, Vibranium from “Black Panther”).

Flash-forward to present day, where Kahndaq is under the cruel rule of the organized crime syndicate Intergang and its citizens are ripe to rebel. They think they may have a leader in Black Adam (here Teth Adam, when he is introduced), who is released from his 5,000-year-long tomb and is naturally cranky. Is he a force for good or bad? (Or for a new sub-franchise?) The answer is yes to all.

Yet the other superheroes in the DC pantheon aren’t sure about the new guy and send what can only be described as the Plan B of muscle from leftover members of a knock-off organization called the Justice Society of America.

There’s Doctor Fate (a dollar-store Doctor Strange played by Pierce Brosnan, who somehow keeps his dignity), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo, nicely playing a dweeby and always hungry giant), Aldis Hodge as a one-note Hawkman and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, who can control — checks notes — the wind. They apparently left at home the superhero with the ability to open jars.

Black Adam is more than a match for all of them combined. He can fly, move as fast as The Flash, catch rockets, deflect bullets and harness his own bluish electricity. Mostly he does this weirdly passive thing of just floating. “I kneel before no one” he intones, which might explain it.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra and the design team do a great job in every department but are let down by a derivative and baggy screenplay by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani that goes from one violent scene to another like a video game in order to paper over a plot both undercooked and overcooked. At one point, with the audience exhausted by all the carnage, they introduce skeletons who rise up as a legion from hell, just what we wanted.

They nicely include pockets of humor that DC has not always done well — a recurring bit with “Baby Come Back” and teaching Black Adam satire are fun; a Clint Eastwood gag fails — and there may have been three natural endings piling up before the final, manipulative one. (“This can only end one way,” says the script. Don’t believe it.)

Amidst the punching superheroes are two humans — a rebel leader and her skateboard-and-comics-loving pre-teen son, played superbly by Sarah Shahi and Bodhi Sabongui, respectively. Comedian Mohammed Amer is a much-needed bolt of bright humor.

Most intriguing — and the angle most fruitful to lean into — is the notion of hero itself. The Justice Society members are shocked to find that they aren’t seen as heroic to the residents of Kahndaq, living 27 years under oppression. Black Adam has come to help, even if he’s a little more violent. Residents wonder where were the guys with all the superpowers for almost three decades while they suffered — a nice dig at Western nations.

“There are only heroes and villains. Heroes don’t kill people,” a confused Hawkman states. Black Adam replies: “Well, I do.” It is Shahiby’s character who notes that it’s easy to call someone a hero when you’re the one drawing the line.

The number of — ahem — call-backs to other films is pretty sad — “Tomb Raider,” “Back to the Future” and plenty of “Star Wars” (even, unforgivably, the line “You’re our only hope”.) It’s a film that is sometimes self-aware, as when the kid urges Black Adam to come up with a catchphrase that will sell lunchboxes.

He does, but it makes little sense: “Tell them, ‘The man in black sent you.’” Wait, he was sent by someone else? Do they mean Johnny Cash? Actually that may be a clue. What the filmmakers probably had in mind was cash — selling those lunchboxes.

“Black Adam,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release that hits cinemas on Friday, is rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, intense action and some language. Running time: 124 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

MPAA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Online: https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/black-adam

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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Despite Dwayne Johnson donning the cape, Black Adam is a confused, conflicted and ultimately disappointing movie.

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Black Adam review: Dwayne Johnson joins the DCEU with a muffled bang

Black adam is an introduction that does a lot of things right but nothing extraordinary..

What to Watch Verdict

Black Adam brings the lightning but stifles its thunder, feeling formulaic as a superhero origin story, but still notches heavy-hitting action beats.

Finds an easy-watching vibe

Plays with multiple subgenres

Properly establishes Black Adam for future adventures

Johnson appears more comfortable in the role by the end

Feels formulaic

Never finds its second gear

Too bloated

Jaume Collet-Serra's Black Adam, Dwayne Johnson's introduction into the DCEU, should feel like a more momentous occasion. The superhero (and sometimes supervillain) born of Egyptian gods has been eyed as a dream role by Johnson for years, but Black Adam 's arrival feels underwhelming despite Johnson's star power.

Writers Sohrab Noshirvani, Rory Haines and Adam Sztykiel favor a standalone DCEU experience away from Superman and Batman, except the movie is also devoted to the Justice Society of America (JSA) — a newly canon super team. Johnson eventually eases into prominence as Black Adam, but only after a winded duration where Black Adam tries to find its lightning-powered groove without ever punching into overdrive.

We meet Teth-Adam (aka Black Adam) after a 5,000-year slumber, the consequence of saving his home of Kahndaq from a ruthless ruler. He's awoken by the rebellious Adrianna (Sarah Shahi) because Kahndaq once again needs its champion. Mercenaries violently rule over Kahndaq after seizing the land for its resources. Adrianna hopes Black Adam can liberate her people once again. But there's one small problem — Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) sends Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and the JSA to silence Black Adam because he may not be the hero Kahndaq worships as their savior.

Collet-Serra has cranked out dependable blockbusters like Jungle Cruise and The Shallows , so you'd presume Black Adam would be in the director's wheelhouse. The action flows fluidly as the all-powerful warrior uses his gifts to pulverize soldiers like he's flicking away tiny ants; on-the-nose services like "Paint It Black" playing while Black Adam lays waste to enemies may be low-hanging fruit, but it still tastes good. However, while movies like Jungle Cruise and Collet-Serra's Non-Stop zip along with surprising ease, Black Adam always seems to be trying to regain its balance. 

The narrative has a lot of ground to cover between the earliest introductions of Teth-Adam, the mythology behind the crown of Sabbac, the JSA's entire schtick and the stranglehold over Kahndaq. Collet-Serra strives to serve all elements to their fullest — humorous jests amongst the JSA, cultural oppression with severe tones — but appears caught between trying to tell a standalone origin and checking off DCEU world-building boxes.

At its worst, Black Adam is a formulaic city-smasher about an elder deity finding his way in modern society. The screenplay awkwardly focuses on "epic" storytelling milestones that steal all the emphasis, leaving fluffier material a bit deflated and undercooked. Black Adam 's fight sequences are an excuse to hurl military helicopters, while emotional beats that connect Black Adam to the hopefulness of Kahndaq aren't the rousing victory assumed (a rallying speech in the latter half hits like dead radio air). Hawkeye's rivalry with Black Adam isn't more than tension fodder Black Adam's reluctance to become the protector Kahndaq deserves is drawn out and Collet-Serra fails to fully develop Black Adam beyond another DCEU cog that drops audiences into the next dystopian city in need of saving. 

Where Shazam! or Birds of Prey asserted their individuality, Black Adam fits like just another brick in Warner Bros. Discovery's comic book adaptation wall.

At its best, though, Black Adam treats the JSA like they're DC's Guardians of the Galaxy — the more humorous yet family-tight super team you didn't know you loved — and doesn't rely solely on Johnson's imposition. When Black Adam feels stretched wafer thin, it's salvaged by Hawkman's dad-energy frustrations with Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) or Cyclone's (Quintessa Swindell) pops of color as she swirls green and pinkish blurs while manipulating the wind. The ensemble works to showcase what veterans like Pierce Brosnan can do as Doctor Fate, a Doctor Strange stand-in whose debonair gentlemanliness is just as significant an asset as his future telling. Black Adam strangely works better as a JSA origin than Black Adam's beginning.

Johnson's not as good at playing brute-force blunt as Dave Bautista is at playing Drax, which drags down moments when Black Adam's essentially laughing at puny humans and their bullets. It all comes together in the end when the JSA and Black Adam stop outright warring with each other and Johnson can become the hero his acting trademarks deserve.

So Black Adam goes on for a bloated two hours, but, to be fair, it still gets the job done. It spans multiple subgenres, from historical fantasy to outright demonic horror, which finds enjoyment through skeleton smashing and international focuses that escape Gotham's dreariness. We watch Black Adam shove grenades in enemy mouths or direct vehicles into collision positions in slow motion that we then see explode in real time. The film plays with superhero cheekiness in these moments, ensuring that you know Black Adam is damn-near invincible and only Superman poses a combative threat. That's the job of Collet-Serra's entire production, which can be both a hindrance and an asset. 

That wobbliness to Black Adam stinks of early DCEU complaints, while Johnson doesn't deliver on his unmistakable passion for the character until the mid-credits stinger, making it more exciting to think how Black Adam will interact with prospective DCEU properties than how thrilling Black Adam is on its own. But, Collet-Serra's so good at managing blockbuster expectations that his directorial instincts can counterbalance said wobble and keep Black Adam from completely rocketing off the rails; he's accomplished way more with way thinner IPs (ie Jungle Cruise ). 

Black Adam is always closer to finding its second gear than losing steam, which makes all the difference. Don't confuse a lack of enthusiasm for outright disregard — most movies are just fine, with Black Adam a prime example.

Black Adam releases worldwide on October 21 exclusively in movie theaters.

Matt Donato is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic who stays up too late typing words for What To Watch, IGN, Paste, Bloody Disgusting, Fangoria and countless other publications. He is a member of Critics Choice and co-hosts a weekly livestream with Perri Nemiroff called the Merri Hour. You probably shouldn't feed him after midnight, just to be safe.

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