Film Review - Black Adam

Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Publicity.

Black Adam is a film that's been in development seemingly forever - I remember reading about The Rock trying to get this project off the ground all the way back in high school (I'm now regrettably 27, for context). Something of a dream role of his, he's been championing for his superhero debut for 15 years now. And who are we, the audience, to deny the wishes of such a charismatic hunk of a star, with such incredible eyebrow posture? Grab your tickets folks, 'cos the Dwayne train is about to leave the station.

While I might be coming off as overly flippant, how else should one approach a late-stage superhero movie, especially one as pleasantly mediocre as this? I've touched on my soft spot & simultaneous disdain for the trend of anti-hero/villain films in prior reviews for Morbius and The Bad Guys, and I have come to report that Black Adam is neither as woefully boring as the former nor as endearingly creative as the latter. No, after a very rushed first 40 minutes (likely caused by the multiple cuts required to get it down to a PG-13 rating), the caped crusade finds itself settling into somewhat familiar, yet nonetheless pleasant territory, largely thanks to the B-movie sensibilities of its director, Jaume Collet-Serra (who, prior to sending The Rock to the jungle yet again for Jungle Cruise, and making not 2, not 3, but 4 movies whose posters feature Liam Neeson holding a gun, was responsible for schlock horror hits such as Orphan, The Shallows and the Paris Hilton-starring House of Wax).

While characterisations are not Black Adam's strong suit, thankfully the humour and action is sometimes decent, and unlike many of its contemporaries, the film does often show its titular hero dispatching low-tier baddies violently (mercing mercs mercilessly, if you will). If I'm being honest, Black Adam actually has more clearly visible brutal violence than the recently released Halloween Ends (and yes, I am kind of mad about it). The action is, however, just one part of a messy blockbuster, a film that also includes pseudo-commentary on the Iraq war, a slavery backstory that frequently looks like it's about to turn into an ad for 5 Gum (remember those?), introductions to 4 other new superheroes in the Justice Society of America, a kryptonite-like material with a name that sounds like it could be a cryptocurrency that gets dropped altogether by the halfway point, and a skateboarding teenager who mischievously distracts the bad guys while drum & bass plays (I thought we left those scenes in the 90s, but go off). Oh yeah, and if that wasn’t enough, finally, there’s a big red demon man with a pentagram on his chest who summons ghastly ghouls and spooky skeletons for our final act conflict. Is this the Dwayne Johnson Halloween Special?

While some of these notions could have been genuinely interesting if fleshed out, the film opts instead to rush through a notebook of scribbled ideas, resulting in Black Adam feeling like the cinematic equivalent of bubble gum - something that tastes pleasant enough while you're chewing it, but then you spit it out and forget all about the whole experience. Hey, you got some 5?

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Black Adam is screening in cinemas from Thursday 20th October. For tickets and more info, click here.