Turns out Black Adam’s super-vulnerability is The Rock’s vanity
When Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took on the mantle of Teth-Adam, he saw to it that expectations soared to Olympian heights. Yet, Black Adam assumed a place among the cinematic superhero pantheon not as a thunderclap game-changer of prodigious proportions but rather as a cautionary tale of unchecked ego and vanity; less the bold new chapter for the DCEU we were promised and more an exercise in cinematic self-delusion, as Johnson’s overpowering and overpowered presence turns a superhero potboiler into a tedious, self-indulgent spectacle.
Teth-Adam (Dwayne Johnson), an ancient slave of Kahndaq, emerges from a three-thousand-year slumber, endowed with the mighty powers of Shazam, when a crown belonging to the ancient sorcerer Sabbac. Thrust into the modern world, Adam seeks to liberate his homeland from modern-day oppressors; however, his brand of justice is more brutal than heroic, placing him at odds with the Justice Society who seek to intervene at the behest of Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) and send Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan) to restore peace.
Johnson’s portrayal of Black Adam is as bluff as his sculpted physique. There’s such an air of entitlement to his performance that he gives the impression that actually acting might be beneath him. Surely his personal magnetism is so great that a mere glare or – if we’ve been good – an arch of the eyebrow is more than the movie deserves. The playing of an anti-hero is a subtle and complex task, requiring depth and nuance, but Johnson plants his flag on grumpy stoicism and dies on that hill. The Teth-Adam we get is a one-dimensional figure, his deportment wooden and his forays into humour feeling painfully forced. It’s almost baffling to witness the normally twinkly and charismatic Johnson misfire like this, although it has to be said he’s not helped by the script, a jumbled mess of clichés and poorly written dialogue, predictable narrative beats and uninspired character arcs.
The film’s relentless focus on Johnson transforms what could have been a rich ensemble piece into a monotonous showcase of his physical prowess. Action scenes, initially thrilling, quickly devolve into repetitive, numbing sequences. Watching Teth-Adam dispatch faceless enemies with digitally rendered ease becomes a tiresome spectacle, devoid of any real stakes or tension. The Justice Society, a team brimming with potential for dynamic interplay and conflict, are reduced to mere props, their individual arcs scarcely explored or developed. Both Hawkman and Doctor Fate are more interesting – and more deserving – of headlining a movie than Black Adam, a C-list DC villain whose only claim to fame in the DCEU might be that he doesn’t need the egregious padding in his suit that Shazam does. Make no mistake, Johnson is huge in this movie, bulkier than I’ve seen him, but his swole muscles can’t make up for the hole at the heart of this hollow spectacle. Even the inclusion of lesser-known heroes like Cyclone and Atom Smasher—characters hardly likely to register a flicker of recognition with general audiences—adds to the idea that nothing and nobody should be allowed to even come close to eclipsing Johnson’s ego trip.
Lengthy, tedious monologues and backstory dumps drag down the pacing of Black Adam, too, leaving the viewer jaded before the superheroics even gain momentum. By the time the narrative does pick up, interest has waned, and the impact is lost. The film’s tone, an uneasy blend of dark brooding, naïve manifest destiny geopolitics, and attempted humour, oscillates erratically, failing to find a cohesive identity. Johnson’s attempts at deadpan delivery fall flat, and the dramatic moments lack the gravitas needed to resonate deeply.
Visually, Black Adam is a mixed bag. While the special effects are polished and the initial action set pieces impressive, the overuse of CGI and the repetitive use of quick cuts during the battles soon become tiresome. Director Jaume Collet-Serra’s efforts to inject a semblance of style fails, resulting in scenes that feel more like video game cutscenes than a cohesive cinematic experience. Not enough effort is put into giving characters like Doctor Fate unique visual identities, nor is any precious screen time wasted in giving audiences who might be unfamiliar with these new heroes more than a cursory explanation of who they are and what they can do and Doctor Fate especially feels too late the big screen, a rip-off of Marvel’s Doctor Strange as far as the non-comic-book-reading wider audience is concerned. Both Hawkman and Doctor Fate are, in fact, characters with rich and detailed lore but here they’re treated as set dressing at Johnson’s parade.
Perhaps the crowning glory of this most vain of vanity projects is the ill-fated Superman cameo in the mid-credits teaser. Teased as a monumental face-off, it leads precisely nowhere due to behind-the-scenes developments, serving only as a testament to Johnson’s insistence that he was too big a deal to merely face off against Shazam, preferring to challenge the Man of Steel instead.
In the end, Black Adam is a stark reminder of what happens when a film is built more around a star’s ego than a solid story. Dwayne Johnson’s overpowering influence turns what could have been, if not a game-changer, at least something which could build on the success of The Suicide Squad but instead Black Adam put the franchise into a tailspin it would never recover from.
