Black Adam

UK Release Date. 21 October 2022
Certification. 12A
Running Time. 2 hours 5 mins
Director. Jaume Collet-Serra
Cast. Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centineo, Viola Davis, Aldis Hodge, Dwayne Johnson, Marwan Kenzari, Bodhi Sabongul, Sarah Shahi, Quintessa Swindell.
Rating. 8%

Review.

2022 was most certainly a year of chaos for the DC Extended Universe. The President of DC-based film production at Warner Bros, Walter Hamada resigned. The Synderverse was apparently dead. Numerous other pre-production titles were mothballed. The DC Extended Universe seemed to be falling apart before our very eyes. 

Therefore, the decision to release Black Adam was perplexing and certainly one that was never going to revive an already ailing franchise.

In an extended opening prologue the audience is introduced to the Arabian country of Kahndaq. The present day exposition is accompanied by the guttural grunge of The Smashing Pumpkins (Bullet with Butterfly Wings). This was the sole highlight of the film for me.

After he is unwittingly unleashed into the present day, Teth-Adam [his historical name] (Dwayne Johnson) becomes an immediate person of interest to Task Force X leader, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). It transpires that Waller is also in charge of The Justice Society of America - a group of B-list Justice League benchwarmers.

The introduction of Teth-Adam was set to complicate the morality of the DC Extended Universe. As Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi) reveals, "It's his darkness that lets him do what heroes like you cannot." But wait a minute, wasn't that the whole idea of Task Force X? A group of meta-human anti-heroes willing to tackle the morally dubious assignments for the US government. Don't tell me I sat through Suicide Squad, and the rebooted The Suicide Squad for nothing! 

Black Adam is monumentally appalling. The film comprises of a series of weak narrative touch points, amidst a spectacle of CGI-heavy action scenes, one after the other. There is little time, and presumably interest, in character development and as a result no engagement with the characters, particularly Teth-Adam. Dwayne Johnson delivers every line in an exhausting, emotionless monotone. 

Black Adam did not revive the DC Extended Universe. Instead, the film only illustrates how directionless the franchise was at that time. I am not expecting much from DC Studios in 2023 - The Flash, Blue Beetle and Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom. The fate of the DC Extended Universe would very much appear to rest in the hands of DC Studios executives, James Gunn and Peter Safran.