363. Black Adam; movie review

 

BLACK ADAM

Cert 12A

125 mins

BBFC advice: Contains moderate violence, threat, horror, injury detail

I am reliably informed by folk younger than me that there is a bottomless pit of heroes and villains from the vaults of Marvel and DC.

So, no surprise that one should be assigned to Hollywood's most recognisable star - Dwayne Johnson.

Johnson emerges as Teth Adam - a character from ancient history who was believed to have been sent to his grave while sacrificing himself in the killing of a megalomaniac.

He is brought back to life as the future of his home city falls again into nefarious hands.

Make no mistake, Oscar-standard acting is not the hallmark of Black Adam. Its script is unambitious and its storyline is a tad confusing to those who are unfamiliar with the DC universe.

It turns out that Teth Adam is an anti-hero with powers so great that his re-emergence alerts the Justice Society.

Yes, that's correct - Justice Society, not The Justice League - I'm afraid that befuddled me too.

I was even more bamboozled when Kent was one of its key characters - but this was Dr Fate (Pierce Brosnan) not Clark Kent.

He, along with Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) try to bring Black Adam under control, unaware that he is the potential saviour of the world.

Oh, yes, he is the only one who can stop power-lustful Ishmael Gregor (Marwan Kenzari) if he grabs the crown of his ancestors.

If the plot seems complicated it is because this is one of those movies rushing to introduce a raft of new characters to the superhero-watching public.

It has become obvious that such films are merely the foundation of a  future franchise.

Thus, Jaume Collet-Serra's has only made a $150m profit which is small beans for the genre.

Actually, it isn't that bad - once I had got my head around its storyline and the inevitable widescale destruction wreaked by people who are meant to be attempting to save mankind, I was happy to go with the flow.

This was largely down to Johnson and his undeniable screen presence.

My only problem is that I am unlikely to remember it well enough for the inevitable sequels to make any sense.

Reasons to watch: Very fast-moving

Reasons to avoid: A bit too corny

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None 

Overall rating: 7/10

Did you know? Long before his acquisition by DC, Black Adam was created by Fawcett Comics writers Otto Binder and C.C. Beck. He first appeared as the Ancient Egyptian “Teth-Adam” in the 1945 issue of The Marvel Family #1, a good-hearted man handpicked by the wizard Shazam to become an all-powerful hero.

The final word. Dwayne Johnson: "It took convincing to get the studio to look past the Justice League into the DC universe and there are some really cool characters there. You’ve just got to give it a shot and trust the investment. Black Adam has been sitting around for almost 80 years." NY Times

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