This was always going to be hard to write. I should say up front that DCs work over the last decade has peaked my interest and I should be easy to win over here but this is hard because a) I don’t want to give you spoilers and b) this film was “fine.” Not exceptional, not boundary breaking, not bad.
Black Adam was a good film and you should see it, but you won’t need to see it twice.
DC have set themselves a challenge here, Black Adam isn’t famous like Wonderwoman, Superman or Batman, and there’s a fine balance that needs treading when it comes to introducing us to the character, giving their back story and then throwing in all the special effects, explosions and fights you expect from a superhero movie. Unfortunately, DC have leaned in hard on the fighting and whilst it is visually impressive it leaves very little space in the film for anything else.
A film like this needs to be ridden like a rollercoaster. It needs lulls to be able to truly feel pace and adrenaline in the highs. This film was so high intensity that we never really got a chance to feel anything different.
And we know DC can do it, they did it with the Joker, they did it with Suicide Squad.
The problem with releasing a film with quite so much hype behind it is that when it does miss the mark, this is so glaringly obvious to the viewer.
Dwayne Johnson tries to create a character that’s been asleep for 5000 years but the character has no depth, it feels held back, he feels dry.
Johnson is, however, supported and carried by a stellar cast including Sarah Shahi, Noah Centineo (who provides some much needed comedic texture) and Pierce Brosnan who semi successfully attempts to add an emotional connection to the story.
Perhaps by the time the sequel comes around, this film will have laid enough of a foundation that we can see some more depth to the story, the characters and the situation and you will need to have seen this film to pick up any future endeavours or outings of Teth Adam.