Black Adam review: Dwayne Johnson's DC debut is an entertaining throwback

It's out in cinemas this Friday.

By Ian Sandwell

21 Oct 2022

Before Black Adam's release, there's been some gentle ribbing at Dwayne Johnson's repeated assertion that the hierarchy of power is about to change – but maybe he actually had a point.

Warner Bros has undergone some major changes over the past few months, leading to the cancellation of Batgirl and the reported departure of DC Films president Walter Hamada. Black Adam might not change things single-handedly, but it certainly feels like the start of a new era of DC movies.

If that's the case, Dwayne Johnson's DC debut gets the new era off to a solidly entertaining start with an action-packed origin story. At the same time though, there are hints that the new era is looking to the past with some major familiar issues cropping up.

The hierarchy of power might have changed in the DC universe, but Black Adam doesn't confirm either way whether it's definitely for the better.

Warner Bros.

If you're not up on your Black Adam lore, the main thing to know is that in the comics, he's closely linked to Shazam. Like Shazam, Teth-Adam (Johnson) is bestowed the almighty powers of the gods, but unlike Shazam, he doesn't use them initially for good.

After using his powers for vengeance, Black Adam is imprisoned for 5,000 years, becoming a legend in Kahndaq in the process. He's awoken by freedom fighter Adrianna (Sarah Shahi) to help her fight back against Kahndaq's occupiers, the Intergang, with his old-school form of justice.

And as much as the movie is an origin story for Black Adam, it's also an origin story in the Worlds of DC for the Justice Society. Following his re-emergence, the Justice Society – Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Dr Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) – head to Kahndaq to stop Black Adam before it's too late.

It's an interesting setup: American 'heroes' coming to a foreign country to stop the local hero from protecting the citizens. But if you're hoping Black Adam will get into the complexities of that, this is not that movie. There's too much action and exposition to be getting on with to deal with such weighty themes.

pierce brosnan and dwayne johnson in black adam

Frank Masi/Warner Bros.Warner Bros.

These themes aren't completely ignored, but like a lot of the plot, it ends up being on a surface level only. With so many characters to introduce, there's little time to truly get to know any of the Justice Society members. It's a rare comic book movie where you wish it was longer to allow more connection with the characters.

Instead, across the two-hour runtime, the priority is the action set pieces over character development. It's fortunate that, for the most part, they're impactful and stylish with boundary-pushing violence – a severed arm here, a body being electrified down to its skeleton there.

Black Adam's re-emergence in the opening act sets the stall with a high body count, darkly comic beats and copious slow-motion shots. It's a formula that the majority of the set pieces follow to diminishing effect. While it's fun to watch first time around, it becomes samey by the third time as superpowered beings knock seven bells out of each other.

Courtesy of Warner Bros. PicturesWarner Bros.

While there is impressive stunt and wire work (a Black Adam vs Hawkman battle is the standout), there's also an overabundance of CGI that makes things feel weightless. This is especially felt in the final battle, which also suffers from a lacklustre villain who has unfortunate echoes of Steppenwolf.

This isn't the only element of Black Adam that feels like a bit of a throwback. Where DC had been going standalone with its recent movies, there are surprise crossover cameos for fans – assuming you've avoided the online chatter – and it's definitely setting up a more combined future universe.

You'd hope that if this is the direction, DC would have learnt from its Justice League mistakes. That era of movies suffered from too much focus on future crossovers and rushed to a team-up, rather than delivering effective movies in their own right and establishing the characters first.

Frank Masi/Warner Bros.Warner Bros.

There are hints of that in Black Adam, but the engaging performances from the Justice Society cast overcome the thin characterisation. Likewise, Dwayne Johnson grows into the Black Adam role as he starts off monotone and flat, before letting his charisma and deadpan comic timing come through.

Black Adam might not totally change the hierarchy of power in the DC universe, but it could prove to be an entertaining platform to build on – assuming that past mistakes aren't repeated.

Black Adam is out now in cinemas.