Black Adam

Dwayne Johnson as a superhero? It feels right, so why does 'Black Adam' fall flat?

Unlike the maudlin, turgid comic book movies from Zack Snyder, whose Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is a master class in how to make something ostensibly for kids as boring as humanly possible, Black Adam just zips along, trusting that the audience will catch up. Soon Adrianna summons the trapped hero, Teth-Adam, who is the gargantuan Johnson wearing a superhero suit and a scowl. Black Adam is a character from deep within DC Comics lore, but don’t feel like you need to have any background knowledge going into Black Adam. Much like a McDonald’s hamburger is technically food, Black Adam is technically a movie, and both can be intermittently enjoyable before you come around to ask “why am I consuming this?” Dwayne Johnson is one of the most charismatic personalities in mainstream entertainment, and by all accounts seems like a fine fella. It does have moments of value here and there, and out of respect to Mr.

There's a void at the center of 'Black Adam' — a charisma-free Dwayne Johnson — but director Jaume Collet-Serra manages to give the film a sense of style.

If there’s any superhero to write about with “Black Adam,” it’s the director, and it’s a good thing to see he still has some lightning coming out of his fingers. While the film feels cobbled together out of spare parts of other superhero movies, and it’s almost instantly forgettable, Collet-Serra manages to hold it all together out of sheer force of will and an inherent sense of style. They eventually decide to team up to take on Intergang, who have occupied the country for 27 years, mining eternium and searching for the cursed crown so that their leader, Ishmael (Marwan Kenzari), can ascend the throne as some kind of hell demon king. [“Shazam”](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-shazam-review-20190404-story.html)). There’s also a refreshingly anticolonialist bent lurking in the story of Kahndaq overthrowing their occupiers, embodied by the rebellious Amon. Collet-Serra surrounds Johnson with a charm offensive of supporting actors, including Hodge and Brosnan, who are great, as well as Shahi, Sabongui and comedian Mohammed Amer as Adrianna’s brother Karim. It helps that “Black Adam” has a distinct and dynamic visual style and tone that distinguishes itself against the Marvel “house style” we’ve become accustomed to over many, many phases of superhero flicks, which have devolved into a depressing digital sludge offset by an onslaught of cutesy, quippy dialogue. Adrianna ( [Sarah Shahi](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-reverie-review-20180529-story.html)), who has been searching for a cursed crown made of “eternium,” awakens Teth-Adam (Johnson) from a 5,000-year slumber while escaping an Intergang faction. But in this universe, there need to be checks and balances on all-powerful beings, so the Justice Society is called up to rein in Teth-Adam (and also to introduce new characters for spin-off movies). But, it seems Collet-Serra has got his groove back for “Black Adam,” or perhaps he was saving it for this film, which is far more entertaining than it has any right to be. The trailers looked ponderous and gray, and though the film is directed by [COVID-19 pandemic](https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fcalifornia%2Fcoronavirus-everything-to-know-right-now&data=04%7C01%7Ckevin.crust%40latimes.com%7C52633c0a516544dd252a08d9e81168f0%7Ca42080b34dd948b4bf44d70d3bbaf5d2%7C0%7C0%7C637795983749169191%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=EARyZgH1vGMtlQdur%2F61n5fLiwKXExOWtv3guJOFSn8%3D&reserved=0).

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

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. Black Adam is hardly the first film about a superhero who resists his destiny. 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. It’s hardly a spoiler to reveal that maybe, just maybe, this antihero will end up surprising everyone by becoming a good guy. 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. 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.

The most interesting thing about the latest DC Comics movie is its moral ambiguity.

In English and the ancient language of the Kahndaq people, with some subtitles. Soon enough, Adam quickly learns the ropes of being a superhero, thanks to Adrianna’s comics-obsessed teenage son (Bodhi Sabongui), who even gives Adam a catchphrase he’s instructed to utter just before he kills his victims: “Tell them the man in black sent you.” (Yes, it needs work.) Make no mistake: “Black Adam” proceeds with predictable action sequences, tiresome fight scenes and the now-requisite sacrifice of a major character. An underground group of Kahndaqi partisans, led by a former academic named Adrianna (Sarah Shahi), is seeking a long-buried relic, but so is the Intergang. Opening in the fictional land of Kahndaq, somewhere in the Middle East, judging by terrain and other cultural clues, in the year 2600 B.C., the film introduces us to a man, then known as Teth-Adam, who has been given superpowers — strength, speed, flight, the ability to channel lightning-like electricity and withstand projectiles — by a bunch of wizards harnessing the energy of a local mineral called Eternium. This being an origin story of the title character (Dwayne Johnson), a nearly 5,000-year-old former enslaved person with powers beyond those of any mortal, the film sets the stage with a complicated and turgid prologue (one that is entirely necessary for all except the most invested fans of the DC Comics franchise from which Black Adam has sprung).

The new DC superhero film Black Adam is a daring new step for the DC Universe in that it takes an ambiguous, almost villain-like character, and ask that we ...

Black Adam opens in cinemas today and watching it on an IMAX screen is recommended. Together, they form the human, emotional core of the film, and give it a unique dimension. If anything, it recalls The Dark Knight Batman as a flawed superhero, and I’m predicting this one will take audiences by surprise, and they’ll love it.

Dwayne Johnson's overdue superhero epic, while bolstered by smart turns from Pierce Brosnan and Aldis Hodge, could have been called One Long Fight: The ...

Black Adam is a movie that would have you believe that the aforementioned country’s population would chant “champion” at the guy who helped demolish most of their homes and buildings. It is a movie where such in-world story logic concerns like that take up more of your investment than most of the characters and spectacle do. (The JSA are sadly dealt a crappy hand when, after spending most of the movie speechifying about the negative toll destruction can have on a potential savior’s soul, they essentially “peace out” of the movie after kick-punching holes through an entire country. While this relationship provides the movie with some of its few genuine heartfelt moments, it gets somewhat shortchanged by all the sulking and repetitive “murder is bad” arguments Adam finds himself in. With the crown in the wind, Black Adam struggles to adjust to a non-kill ethos when confronted by the Justice Society of America, who have been dispatched by Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller to contain him (and provide some clunky interconnectivity across DC’s disjointed live-action films). A movie full of under-cranked, slow-mo action (it’s really okay to let this aesthetic go, Warner Bros.) and over-plotted world-building that delivers more information than emotion because the movie struggles to ground this world on the backs of characters worth emotionally investing in.

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.

Two and a half stars out of four. 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. 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 Justice Society members are shocked to find that they aren’t seen as heroic to the residents of Kahndaq, living 27 years under oppression. Most intriguing — and the angle most fruitful to lean into — is the notion of hero itself. Comedian Mohammed Amer is a much-needed bolt of bright humor. 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. 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”). They apparently left at home the superhero with the ability to open jars. Is he a force for good or bad? Do we need another superhero with another convoluted origin story that stretches back thousands of years and fulfills a whacko destiny? 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.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stars in the antihero DC Comics film "Black Adam," and he is calling it his passion project.

The character Black Adam first appeared in a 1945 Fawcett comic book. It's all led to this and this character." “This is the one for me,” Johnson told Reuters.

Before the Rock's first true superhero movie hits theaters on Friday, get a crash course on the history of one of DC's oldest heroes.

Discovery at large have been](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/13/business/media/warner-bros-discovery-layoffs.html), including the recent [cancellations of DC projects](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a40794876/batgirl-hbo-movie-cancelled/), no one knows what that future will look like. Goyer—along with artist Marcos Martin—during their iconic run on JSA (the Justice Society of America) in the early 2000s, Black Adam became something of a reformed villain, joining forces with the Justice Society (for a little while, at least) as he evolved into the antihero archetype that he remains today. But as volatile as the situations [at DC](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/dc-movies-james-gunn-pithces-dwayne-johnson-1235243030/) and at [Warner Bros. (Though in light of the failure that was Justice League and the volatile state of the DCEU at large, I’m not so sure the JSA will be any less confusing to newcomers now—but I digress.) Before the Justice League of America, there was the Justice Society of America. But the resulting powers become too overwhelming for Adam, corrupting him and inspiring the ancient wizard to rename him “Black Adam” as a result. Beck, Black Adam might not be one of the better-known DC figures today, but he has a long history; just take a look at the art style and some of the dialogue from his first appearance: Originally imagined as an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, Teth-Adam (Black Adam’s original alter ego) was the first mortal being to be granted the powers of Shazam, long before the teenaged Billy Batson was chosen as the ancient wizard’s champion. Not only will Black Adam end that drought, but it will also be one of the first opportunities to peek into a supposed new era of the DCEU as Warner Bros. Although Black Adam will mark the first time that the title character has appeared on the big screen, he made his debut in the comics in 1945, within the pages of The Marvel Family, a Fawcett Comics publication that was later licensed and acquired by DC. It’s fitting, then, that Black Adam got his start in the comics as a full-fledged villain. [DC League of Super-Pets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jkw2JPCl18&ab_channel=WarnerBros.Pictures), or his [pseudo-superhero movies in cars](https://www.theringer.com/2017/4/10/16045412/fast-furious-rankings-d20e77387cce) …

Dwayne Johnson says his favourite part of making the new DC blockbuster film Black Adam was putting on his superhero costume every day and feeling "like a ...

The actor, now 50, was 35 when he was first approached to play a DC Extended Universe hero. Read more at straitstimes.com.

He fought to hive off Black Adam from the Shazam project. Fury Of The Gods, coming in 2023. Since he had been a fan of the antihero Black Adam from an early age, he was eager to portray the character as the opponent of Shazam, in a planned movie about the red-suited superhero.

Johnson sat down with Efe for an interview in Los Angeles ahead of a promotional tour for the latest superhero saga directed by Spanish filmmaker Jaume Collet- ...

Warner Bros Pictures, owner of the DC Comics rights, has anticipated that Black Adam is a turning point for the film label responsible for the immortalization of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Joker. “Black Adam represents a new era in the DC universe, a new world, a new universe, new locations, new characters,” he said. “But also characters that are cool, that are complex, that are badass, that are diverse in terms of color, and representation with diversity so there is a lot happening with Black Adam,” he added.

While "Black Adam," which opens in theaters on Friday, may not be a perfect film, it may actually be the perfect anecdote for some of the issues that have ...

We trace the decade-long history of Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam, from a Shazam/Black Adam combo movie to DC regime changes and beyond.

It’s hard not to recognize that there’s a new player on the board, and you feel that a bit in our movie that his arrival really awakens a lot of people.” “We wouldn’t be doing our job if we weren’t prepared for it, but we’re just waiting for that greenlight from the fans and audience reception to be able to jump in.” But while introducing a new iteration of the DC Universe that also has ties to the exiting universe, what kind of pressures were put on “Black Adam” to be more or less connected to what had been established? Casting up the Justice Society of America around Johnson was key to building “a new era of the DC Universe,” Garcia said. was seemingly pulling back from some of the creative decisions Zack Snyder had made in “Man of Steel,” “Batman v. “The entire movie now was coming with the approach of an edge and a darkness and a little bit more grit that we weren’t able to exercise before when we had both characters merged together. Rumors swirled that Johnson’s Black Adam might be introduced in the first “Suicide Squad” movie, but Garcia said that notion never got past the discussion phase. And then we really picked up traction on Black Adam, in terms of being able to make the version of the story we wanted. Garcia and Johnson are lifelong friends, and Garcia in particular has always been a comic book fan, so getting Johnson onscreen as Black Adam became a passion project for the two of them as the former wrestling star made his way to the big screen. “It fed off a little bit more of some of the comic book lore in terms of how these guys connected, but ultimately the tones clashed. and DC to bring a gritty, nearly R-rated iteration of the character to the DC universe. Garcia said that as Johnson’s star was rising in Hollywood, there was even a moment where the idea was floated for the actor play both characters.

The Rock's passion project has long been in development and is the first new superhero movie in theaters since July.

[69% on Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ticket_to_paradise_2022), and it’s the type of movie that could be greatly helped by strong reviews. [This past weekend](https://www.goldderby.com/article/2022/box-office-halloween-ends/), “Halloween Ends” had a decent but somewhat lower-than-expected opening of $41.3 million, which means we’re back to relying on the superhero movies to salvage a [box office](https://www.goldderby.com/t/box-office/) in which horror has thrived but generally has been down. That might not have much of an effect on opening weekend, but if audiences agree with the critics, expect a big drop in its second weekend, even with little direct competition. 2021’s “Jungle Cruise” braved the first summer after theaters reopened, and that managed to make $117 million in North America despite the box office not quite being back up to speed. “Black Adam” also reteams Johnson with his “Jungle Cruise” director, Jaume Collet-Sera. Dwayne Johnson’s track record includes four “Fast and Furious” movies that have amassed $4 billion worldwide between them, as well as the “Hobbs and Shaw” spin-off and two blockbuster “Jumanji” movies, which add another $2.5 million to Johnson’s worldwide take.

While early “social media impressions” of Black Adam were largely positive in the wake of its premiere, now that scored critical reviews have come rolling ...

But if Black Adam underperforms or even bombs, this grand vision of making the character a key part of the universe going forward with sequels and face-offs against Superman does not seem likely to materialize. The Rock has hyped up Black Adam beyond belief, and the movie is scoring 35% below Shazam, the film he extracted himself from and the character he seems content to ignore in favor of moving on to bigger rivalries like Superman. So here, Black Adam is only above the absolute worst of the DCEU, the original Justice League, Batman V. While many are content to wait for audience scores, which many believe are the superior metric (that’s a debate for another day), we can see how Black Adam stacks currently up against the rest of the DCEU. - Shazam – 90% At the time of this writing, 64 reviews are in for Black Adam, which has scored a 55% on

We've arrived at a new low for superhero movies.

Why this is the group dispatched to deal with Black Adam is never really explained, because the real answer has to do with Hollywood’s shameless mining of intellectual property. Amon is generally supportive of Black Adam, encouraging him to rid Kahndaq of the mercenaries occupying the city but also prodding him to add fun catchphrases into his superhero routine. The pitch for Black Adam, of course, is that its star is no ordinary hero. But this movie mostly downplays that connection, except that it has Johnson occasionally say the word shazam with the kind of breathy, self-important reverence [that the movie Shazam!](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/04/shazam-movie-review/586390/) sought to avoid. Black Adam is perhaps the most charmless of them all. Early in his career, as he made the leap from professional wrestling to movie stardom, he could be a playful and bombastic screen presence; now he seems to insist on playing an endless stream of charisma-free, square-jawed Terminator knockoffs.

Speaking at the London premiere for his DC Comics superhero movie, which he executive produced and stars in, the Hollywood powerhouse said he's "been trying ...

And yeah, it was quite a workout. "It was a constant," he said. "I look at the other guys out there on the big screen and wonder where I fit in. So here I am, Kent Nelson, Dr Fate, Dwayne Johnson, The Rock, Aldis Hodge Hawkman." And there was a lot of questioning the idea of Black Adam. And they think, they, they have a real, they love it, by the way.

"Black Adam," a comic book adventure starring Dwayne Johnson, will loom large over the weekend box office.

Those initial ticket sales would fall in between “The Lost City” ($30 million debut) and “Bros” ($4.8 million debut), the most recent rom-coms to play in theaters. The movie cost $60 million to produce, which is fairly expensive for modern romantic comedies. “Black Adam” has generated mixed reviews. But the anti-hero adventure is expected to earn far less than the studio’s most recent live-action comic book adaptation, “The Batman,” which impressed with $134 million in March. But the movie does look to inject a little sizzle in the otherwise sluggish October at the box office. That’ll easily be enough to dethrone “Halloween Ends,” which took the No.

The implication being whatever we currently associate with the DCEU is over, and the birth of a new era full of superheroes holding less cultural baggage. It ...

[Pierce Brosnan](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/fashion/article/pierce-brosnan-pink-suit-2022)), Atom Smasher ( [Noah Centineo](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/grooming/gallery/winter-haircut)) and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), a rag-tag bunch of superheroes brought together for the first time to force Black Adam back into hibernation, presumably because he’s simply too powerful. To set the scene, [Johnson](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/watches/article/dwayne-johnson-tag-heuer-watches-of-the-week-07-10-22)’s Black Adam is introduced as a superpowered protector who disappeared 5000 years ago via a long-winded and complicated opening monologue about the fictional nation of Kahndaq and its long history with colonialism. The implication being whatever we currently associate with the [DCEU](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/best-dc-movies-2022) is over, and the birth of a new era full of superheroes holding less cultural baggage. Black Adam had a lot of promise, not least because [Johnson](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/fashion/article/dwayne-johnson-vest-summer-2022) seems so passionate about doing justice to the character. [Black Adam](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/henry-cavill-superman-return-black-adam)’s origins, as well as the wider Justice Society who are introduced in this film alongside him. [Dwayne Johnson](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/fashion/article/dwayne-johnson-fuchsia-suit-2022) has said on multiple occasions that “the hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is about to change”.

Critics say the film suffers from a villain problem and a lackluster script, but a scene-stealing Pierce Brosnan, lots of action, and the hint of something ...

– It’s an interesting setup: American “heroes” coming to a foreign country to stop the local hero from protecting the citizens. When we say that, we mean it is pretty much non-stop action for the entire movie. Brosnan is a natural in the role of Fate and it’s a wonder how no one tapped on his talents sooner for a superhero role. — the problem is that he doesn’t want to. The problem isn’t that Johnson can’t act — he definitely can! No matter what one might think about this Black Adam movie as a whole, The Rock grabs your attention and keeps it no matter what he’s doing. This is perfect casting from more than a physical standpoint. Johnson is grandiose as Black Adam, leaving his charismatic movie star stamp in every scene. He put his heart and soul into this role. The Rock delivers one of his best performances. His love for the DC Universe shines through the film and his passion pays off well throughout.

Dwayne Johnson has long been claiming that the hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is set to change, and this weekend's release of his tentpole superhero ...

That said, Black Adam looks set to fall conspicuously short of the $134 million that The Batman brought in when it opened in March. That figure would be more than good enough to dethrone Halloween Ends from the top spot, after the latest Michael Myers horror flick bagged a $41 million opening against a budget of $30 million last weekend. Dwayne Johnson has long been claiming that the hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is set to change, and this weekend's release of his tentpole superhero feature, Black Adam, may go a long way to confirming whether that might be true or not.

Wondering how to watch Black Adam? We have all of the details on the next DC superhero movie, from showtimes to streaming info.

movie, Black Adam should eventually come to HBO Max. It features “classic” Assassin’s Creed gameplay and takes place in an open world, but is a mobile game rather than a console release.](/videos/assassins-creed-codename-jade-reveal-trailer-ubisoft-forward-2022) [Starfield: Performance PreviewBethesda is one of the biggest studios within the Xbox portfolio, with its latest and arguably most anticipated title in Starfield releasing on Xbox Series X, Series S, Xbox One, and PC in 2023. In ancient Kahndaq, Teth Adam was bestowed the almighty powers of the gods. Black Adam is not currently available to stream online and there's been no official announcement regarding its streaming status. It was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and stars the following actors: Black Adam will be available with early showtimes starting tomorrow and a wider release date of October 21.