Regardless of one’s opinions on his acting, there are many reasons to respect Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s acting career. One imagines it isn’t easy to break out from the entertainment wrestling scene to become a legitimate Hollywood star!
In addition to his real rags-to-riches story – check out the television series “Young Rock” for a semi-fictionalised glimpse – he seems to be truly passionate about the roles he embraces.
This is certainly the case with his latest effort “Black Adam”, a project he, as one of the producers, worked hard on to get off the ground.
Set in the DC Extended Universe, “Black Adam” centres around the titular character who takes a darker, grittier approach to obstacles in his way. This description might bring back bad memories of “Batman vs Superman”, but you can breathe a sigh of relief: Zack Snyder is nowhere near this project.
The film starts with a narration telling of how the ancient fictional city of Kahndaq was ruled by a tyrant who enslaved the people to mine a precious ore.
Tired of this oppression, one boy started a movement to stir up opposition against the king.
Just as he was about to be executed, the boy was whisked away by a bunch of wizards who granted him magical powers. Incidentally, if the concept of wizards granting powers sounds familiar, you would do well to rewatch 2019’s “Shazam”, as this film ties into that one.
Anyhow, the legend goes that the now-empowered hero, known as Teth Adam (Johnson), went on to defeat the king before vanishing from history.
Fast forward to the present day and Kahndaq is now confronted with the same issue faced by so many places in the Middle East: foreign occupation by mercenaries.
High on their target list is university professor Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi), who, while trying to survive, ends up awakening Teth Adam from his millennia-long slumber.
Displeased to see Kahndaq in peril once more, he decides to deal with the situation – in a spectacularly bloody fashion. The film emphasises, repeatedly, how Black Adam is not your traditional superhero: he flies, and also fries!
Yup, unlike goody-two-shoes Superman, he has no qualms about killing enemies with powerful bolts of lightning. People die, and they die graphically.
The rising body count ends up drawing in superheroes from America who come flying in to police the situation (ahem, real-world parallels much?). These interlopers are the Justice Society of America (JSA), presumably the Justice League’s substitutes whenever the big guys are away.
Led by winged warrior Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), the team consists of mystical master Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), size-increasing Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), and wind-controlling Cyclone (Quintessa Swindel).
Given that the JSA only debuts midway through the film, clunky exposition is used to explain what each member does. Still, to the actors’ credit, the team has chemistry, with each member having his or her own respective charm and personality.
As the brooding and ruthless titular antihero, Johnson is curiously restrained, which is a shame given that much of his talent comes from his natural charisma.
While there’s fun to be had in watching him sizzle entire legions of baddies, more could have been done with his character.
For instance, Black Adam hardly seems fazed by the fact that he awakens in a world far different from the one he is familiar with. It could have been interesting to see this ancient being trying to understand the complexities of the modern world.
And then there are questions the film doesn’t make much effort to address. At one point, as Khandaq cheers on Black Adam for killing several mercenaries, the JSA is confronted by citizens over why they want to apprehend the antihero.
As Tomaz points out, the JSA were nowhere to be found when Kahndaq came under foreign occupation to begin with, only showing up when Black Adam did. Where were they the whole time? Couldn’t they have stopped the oppression earlier?
Were they unable to – or just unwilling?
All in all, as a superhero flick, “Black Adam” has a rather thin plot, but there are many popcorn-worthy moments presented by its talented cast.
And while hardly revolutionary, this effort could, perhaps, be a sign of better things to come from the floundering DC Expanded Universe.
‘Black Adam’ is screening in cinemas nationwide.