It’s about time Dwayne Johnson was in a superhero film. After all, it was only a matter of time that he would conquer the superhero genre. And The Rock playing Black Adam seems like a perfect fit. But does that mean the movie is actually good? It’s a DC movie so it’s always a 50/50 proposition that the movie is going to be good or complete shit. For the initiated, Black Adam is not really a superhero but has been considered one of the greatest supervillains in the DC universe. If we’re getting technical, he’s really just an antihero depending on what origin story you go with. The Black Adam movie is based on the rebooted origin story written by Geoff Johns and David S. Goyer when they were writers for DC comics almost 20 years ago. Black Adam is a former slave of a North African country of Khandaq set about 5,000 years ago who is inadvertently given the powers of Shazam. Before the original Captain Marvel, yes that’s what he was called in the DC universe, was given the powers of Shazam by the wizards.  They had another hero that didn’t quite turn out to be the hero they wanted. His anger and murderous revenge cause the wizards to rethink their choice and essentially, they imprison him by stripping away his powers. There’s more to the origin story, but that’s essentially what happens. The movie takes on this origin story and shows in the very beginning what happens which will lead to the other main character, Isis played by Sarah Shahi awakening him as she’s looking for an ancient artifact. She perceives him to be the champion that was promised and will deliver her home from the clutches of the soldiers and the warlords that have controlled her home for over 20 years.

Black Adam is not as well known in the DC universe as some of the other supervillains compared to the Joker or Lex Luther, but he is one of the most popular superheroes when it comes to the use of the powers of the gods or magical powers. He is considered just as powerful as Superman whereas Superman is the only one who can bring him down. Black Adam is an interesting character and it’s easy to see why he is being introduced because just like Batman, he’s really just an antihero that will be used for the greater good. This movie is his origin story. That is the entire premise and how he goes up against the Justice League society headed by Hawkman and Dr. Fate! Like most origin stories, you’re just going to get a film that introduces him as a character and by the end of the story reconciles who he is and his role to play among other heroes or villains. Let me be the first to say that this is not a bad movie, it’s not the best DC movie, but it’s a typical origin story that will introduce a character we’ll see down the road, so we get a little bit of his history and then mostly an action movie. I like the movie for what it is. DC and WarnerMedia are trying to write the ship of all the controversy surrounding their movies for the past 10 years while trying to do the same thing that Marvel did with having an origin story for each of their main characters and then bringing them all together for a bigger story. That’s why Black Adam is necessary.  But this movie, if I can make a comparison is for the most part like the Captain Marvel movie. It really isn’t unnecessary except for the simple fact that you have to introduce this character and tell his story so that the audience knows why he’s involved in the bigger story when you bring all your heroes and villains together. If you’ve watched the Justice League: Snyder Cut, you see in greater detail how Bruce Wayne is putting together the Justice League that will fight off greater villains who come to Earth and also a little bit of connection to the Justice League Society. That’s essentially DC’s version of the Infinity Wars from Marvel. My point is Black Adam is only necessary because of his connection to the bigger story so you have to give the character an origin story. That’s the only reason it’s necessary.

Here’s why the movie is worth seeing. It’s a decent superhero movie that introduces an interesting character. Antiheroes are always more interesting that’s why we tend to like Batman more than Superman. An antihero that’s on the same level as Superman always makes for good entertainment. This film has a great cast not only with Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam, but Aldis Hodge as Hawkman and Pierce Brosnan making his superhero debut as Dr.  Fate. That was my personal favorite among the casting. I almost feel like Pierce Brosnan, AKA James Bond is perfect to play Doctor Fate. You know just as perfect as Chris Pine playing Steve Trevor. And you get a nice introduction to the Justice League Society which is different from the Justice League but they’ll all come together down the road just like superheroes do as we have seen with all the CW shows. You can’t really complain about the cast because it does work for this movie. Honestly, I don’t know if there’s any better choice than Dwayne Johnson to play Black Adam or Sarah Shahi to play Isis. That’s the one thing this movie has going for it.

The catch-22 of whether this is a good movie or not is the fact that it’s mostly action. You don’t have a lot of time to catch your breath once Black Adam is awakened. From him killing bad guys to dueling it out with the Justice League society. As an origin story, you need to slow down a little bit and catch your breath and really get the backstory of a character. It isn’t until he explains who he really is that the movie slows down and has some great dramatic moments. But that means that for the first 90 minutes you’re getting pure action and silliness. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as you know what the movie is but I think for a great origin story there should be a balance between those two things. Man of steel is a great example. The action doesn’t really pick up until General Zod invades Earth. The first half of the movie is about Lois Lane discovering who Clark Kent really is and getting Clark’s backstory, especially through flashbacks. That movie had a perfect balance. I feel that one of the biggest downfalls of Black Adam is it’s too much action crammed into a 2-hour movie. That’s what you do with a sequel, not the origin story, but for fans of Black Adam, again he’s an antihero so you expect more destruction from a character like him. What it really comes down to is how do you edit an origin story to where you have the perfect balance of drama and action so the real flaws don’t come from the cast or even the story itself, it really comes down to how the movie was put together. We don’t need 90 minutes of action before we get to the more dramatic moments until the final battle. We need more backstory.  We need more time to understand Black Adam’s motivation and how he fits into the grand scheme of things.

While it is exciting to have Black Adam on the big screen, it’s a bit of an auspicious introduction. Dwayne Johnson is perfect as Black Adam, but I don’t need to see another action movie with him. We’ve seen plenty. I want to know more about Black Adam and how he really connects to everybody. The best moments of the film are when he explains who he really is and then of course the great cameo during the credit scene. It’s not really a spoiler because it was already announced, but yes Henry Cavill as Superman shows up to introduce himself. It’s a fun movie with a good introduction to one of the greatest anti-heroes in the DC universe, but what should be a good origin story and a perfect balance between drama and action gives way to more action and that’s the movie’s downfall. That’s what fans should expect when they go to the theater to see Black Adam. However, we do get a great introduction to the Justice League society and what role they will play later when hopefully we finally get a movie where they have to defeat Darkseid. There are some great moments of comedy when the young boy is trying to teach Black Adam the right catchphrases because he’s now a superhero so to speak but it really doesn’t make up for the fact that this is just one big action movie and that they could have done more with the character. I guess we’ll actually need a sequel to flesh out a more dramatic story, but for now, we do have a good introduction to Black Adam and that is a good thing. Hopefully, WarnerMedia with their merger going into 2023 won’t completely screw up the DC properties despite all of the cancellations of movies and TV shows. Hopefully, we’ll get to see more of Black Adam because if this is the only time we get to see of him on the big screen then it is kind of a waste. But despite what may happen nobody can deny that Dwayne Johnson is pretty damn near perfect to play Black Adam and he’s the real savior of this movie!