At the time when “The Suicide SquadReleased in theaters in 2021 in an attempt to reinvigorate the colossal failure of the 2016 film, the cinematic allusions it alluded to in making a statement about American foreign policy stuck with me. Much like the western genre at the time, it seemed like the superhero genre was at an exciting point in its evolutionary process. In 2022, we finally get a movie that’s been in talks for 15 years – ever since rumors of one of the greatest actors of our time playing the central anti-hero started to gain momentum. . And yes, we also get a classic homage to one of the great Western movies this time around. Unfortunately, this is one of the few takeaways from “Black Adam”.
Almost ten years after the release of “Steel man“, we get the origin story of an anti-hero who debuted in DC Comics in 1945. Known as the “Dirty Harry” of superheroes, this iteration stars Dwayne “The Rock Johnson. He plays Teth-Adam, a metahuman born in the Middle Eastern country of Kahndaq. We then learn that an ancient order of wizards – the same ones who gave Shazam his powers – decide to grant a champion powerful abilities to help free and save his people. But after a battle with the evil king, the champion disappeared and the king’s magic crown was lost forever. Five thousand years later, as we are brought to the present day, we learn how over the years the dynamics of the country have changed. Now it has become a poor but futuristic country besieged by various mercenary groups.
The idea of an Egyptian anti-hero reflecting on the legacy of Western imperialism creates fascinating conflicts and dilemmas, even on paper. It seemed like an unusual move for a studio to base an entire superhero feature film in the Middle East, let alone rely on those same storylines. “Black Adam” opens with a 300-style prologue, ensuring DCEU fans aren’t alienated by this shift in scale as the camera mirrors the mechanics of a Snyder movie.
From this point on, as the film progresses, skipping character introductions, it becomes clear through the overuse of slow motion. He intercuts that the film – much like Snyder’s Extended Cut of the Justice League – was going to lean more toward accelerated carnage than the colorful gymnastics of an MCU-like film. The film’s central conflict comes into play with the introduction of the Justice Society of America, led by Carter Hall, aka Hawkman, a swaggering Aldis Hodge. He is tasked with assembling a team to take down Adam, which he does from his massive Charles Xavier-style mansion.
Also, Read – The Batman (2022) Spoiler Analysis: What’s next for the Caped Crusader?
The wisest guy on the team is Dr. Fate, played by an effortlessly charismatic Pierce Brosnan who has fun with his screen time. If you’re unfamiliar with its characters or the other characters that make up the Justice Society, don’t worry. These are just games for other superhero characters we’ve seen explored on screen for the past decade. Other than that, the film tries to ground itself in reality by flippantly throwing in terms and phrases involving the “superhero industrial complex” – a play for the military-industrial complex that has been around for years. 1960s became a staple excuse for populist American leaders to invade countries. There’s also a character that playfully marks Adam’s character as a weapon of mass destruction.
Director Jaume Collet-Serraancient’s past history with helming horror projects mirrors how “Black Adam” sets up his establishment plan, even if he has few of them. There is a palpable sense of scale that manufacturers manage to achieve; even during the big battles, you never get bored watching the dusty landscape crumble on the characters, if not have a very fine character development. However, there is a consistent failure to delve into the complexity of Kahndaq’s post-colonial politics. This problem is further magnified in the film’s hectic transition from the second to the third act.
As audiences, we shouldn’t care if Doctor Fate was made long before Doctor Strange (even when the studio’s Twitter account tries to tell us). Benedict Cumberbatch has already cornered the market for dry-witted psychic wizards, as have movies featuring him visualizing his physique on screen in a certain way. “Black Adam” already comes at a time of peak superhero fatigue, and on top of that features several characters whose performances look like nothing more than high-priced pretentious cosplay. I don’t mind that features of similar characters from different universes (or comics) reappear on screen. Still, it needs to have at least some quirky visual flair to intrigue audiences enough.
“Black Adam” contains some of the best aspects of the DCEU’s most successful entries so far, but unfortunately it also addresses the pitfalls of the franchise’s initial phase. The character of Adrianna, played by Sarah Shahi, plays the role of the audience – a sort of mediator between Adam and the Justice Society. But there are also many parts of the exposition and character setups that are handled in a way that doesn’t seem far removed from the old ways of using an unopened email on a desk to showcase future hero. In a pseudo-attempt to reflect on the legacy of Western imperialism, the film forgets how clearly it comes across as a filler outing made on the assumption of pitting its protagonist against a more deserving adversary through future movies. Because, after all, the superhero industrial complex is worth a lot of money.
