by May Honey, Contributing Writer
Whether or not you will enjoy the newest outing from the ever-turbulent and inconsistent DCEU, Black Adam, comes down to one question: what do you as an audience member want to get out of it? Do you want a bold reinvention of the DCEU as we know it into new territory and startling creative directions? If you do, it won’t quite give you that. Are you a huge comic book fan who wants to see these characters painstakingly brought onto the screen in the most glorious and comic accurate way possible? If so, it won’t quite give you that either. Are you just simply walking into the theater looking for a fun time? Nothing to blow your socks off, nothing that reinvents the wheel, but just a positive experience. If that’s you, you’ll be quite pleased, because that aspect of it files nicely into nearly every part of this film you can look at.
Black Adam follows the origin story of the title character, played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who is an ancient and powerful warrior magically resurrected in modern day to enact his own form of justice and anti-heroism.
You might notice the plot description to be vague and paint-by-numbers, and you’d be exactly right! Story-wise, this is nothing you haven’t seen before. This alludes to my previous statement where I said that this doesn’t quite break any new ground, but it’s still a fun ride. This is directed by Spanish film director Jaume Collet-Serra, who has most notably made films like Non-Stop, The Commuter, Run All Night, Orphan, Jungle Cruise (also starring Johnson), and The Shallows. I’ve enjoyed pretty much all these films (some more than others), but are all notable for doing that exact thing. While none are critically panned, they are also not praised for being the cream of the crop either. At the end of the day, it all boils down to how much of a fan you are of the respective genres in which he operates. I’ve always considered myself a fan of both horror and comic book films, so my personal favorites have been comprised of the delightfully twisted Orphan, the tight and tense The Shallows, and now the chaotic and action-packed Black Adam.
Right out of the gate, Black Adam starts introducing its clunky structure and rushed setup; it’s almost entirely done through narration but ends quickly. The film really starts once Adam is resurrected and proceeds to massacre every soldier and nameless bad guy in sight in spectacular fashion. Notably, though, he saves a set of important side characters out of instinct, setting up the moral ambiguity of his character throughout. This isn’t ever entirely developed or changed throughout the film, but it does provide an interesting character basis for the story and action to take place. Like I said, it’s nothing super dynamic or game changing, but it is fun and often quite novel in execution.
An example of the novelty I enjoyed was a comedic scene where after seeing the ending from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly on a tv screen earlier in the film, a recreation of sorts happens between Adam and a group of 10 or so soldiers. The buildup and payoff are exactly what you might expect in the moment, but (hate to be a broken record here) it is both novel… and just maybe pretty fun.
The Justice Society are also introduced to provide foils for Adam’s own ideas of heroism and just to be an excuse for more superpowered punch-ups. They aren’t the most major of players, but I think they add a lot of color to the overall experience. I was totally fine with this, though, because I consider myself to have failed as a superhero fan if I stop enjoying seeing a resurrected ancient warrior wizard man fight a growing man, a wind woman, another totally different type of wizard man, and a man who can fly and has an awesome mace. Consider me a defunct critic if you’d like, but I won’t let anybody try to convince me that that isn’t awesome.
Most importantly, though, I saw this film tonight with a fellow comic-book fan. We both had a very long last few days at the theater we work at dealing with the business from this very film, and we were desperate to get around to seeing it ourselves. We were both excited and hopeful, but most of all, not entirely presumptuous of everything that it might be. We sat down in the theater, the lights dimmed, I had a nice little tray of food, and as the movie played, I was engaged constantly, laughed frequently, and was always having fun. Now when evenI can admit a movie isn’t perfect, what more could I really have asked for? We exited the theater, talked about it for a while after, and we’ll probably talk about it even more on our next shift together. That memory, the fun, and that escape will always be what I associate with this film, and that makes up why superhero movies are special to me. It’s always reliably pulled me into its brand of escapism so seamlessly that the flaws mean less and less to me.
Score: 8/10
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