Into the DC Murderverse: Black Adam

 "Black Adam" (2022)

It's been a while since we took a trip through the DC Murderverse. I think the last time we did was when I covered the first season of "Peacemaker." Since then, the Murderverse has officially been abandoned. Filming is well under way for "Superman Legacy" the first film in the new continuity from James Gunn. We just recently saw the first official photo of David Corenswet in his Superman costume. I'm not going to say I'm excited, but maybe cautiously optimistic. We've got five movies to go to finish off this era of DC and two of them I haven't seen. So that will be fun for everyone.

Principal photography on "Black Adam" began in April 2021 and concluded in August 2021. The film stars Dwayne Johnson as Teth Adam/Black Adam, Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall/Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Albert "Al" Rothstein/Atom Smasher, Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomasz, Marwan Kenzari as Ishmael Gregor/Sabbac, Quintessa Swindell as Maxine Hunkel/Cyclone, Bodhi Sabongui as Amon Tomasz, Mohammed Amer as Karim and Pierce Brosnan as Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate. The film was written by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines an Sohrab Noshirvani. It was directed by Jaume Collett-Serra. "Black Adam" premiered on October 21, 2022.

The Rock (of Eternity)

While I was re-watching this movie for the first time since I saw it in the theater, I couldn't help but think that they really thought that Dwayne Johnson was going to save the DCEU. The idea of that is just wild. Like, execs watched this movie and thought that it was going to be the thing that would save this sinking ship. They really thought that people would be so invested in this character that it would invigorate the franchise. And if they didn't, that Henry Cavill Superman cameo would do it, right. Well, shocking no one, the film didn't do that. It was a flop and didn't even make it's budget back and I really think that instead of being the savior of the DCEU, it was what finally convinced DC to just scrap it all and start again.

I'm really struggling to find good things to say about this movie. The thing about it is, it's not as aggressively terrible as like "The Flash" (spoiler alert for that recap), but it's also not good. It's aggressively mediocre which makes it kind of difficult to critique. Everything about it is kind of middle of the road, whether it's the story or the performances. I feel like I'm kind of just vamping for time here while I'm trying to figure out what to say about all this.

There are a couple of performances that stand out in good ways for me. I enjoyed Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomasz. I remember her from the lesbian soap opera, "The L Word" and I've always enjoyed her. I think she's one of the strongest performances here. She's committed. It's almost like she's in a different movie. I think her speech to Hawkman when he talks to her about how they are here to take Black Adam in and she kind of lets him have it, it's kind of powerful. Maybe I'm just being too nice. But I feel like if what she's talking about was more of a focus of the movie it would have been a lot better.

Aldis Hodge brings a confidence and charisma to Carter Hall that is definitely not so much in the script. He makes the cheesy lines that he is forced to say, like when he continuously says "You and me" to Atom Smasher, not like less cheesy but tolerable. I could see him really excelling with this character in a better movie. I'm a big Pierce Brosnan fan so I couldn't not enjoy him as Kent Nelson. Doctor Fate is an interesting, cool character in the comics and here they just turn him into a rip off Doctor Strange. I mean, seriously, they didn't even try to make his powers look that much different. The like shattered glass effects? They are straight from the "Doctor Strange" films. But Brosnan brings a quiet charm and confidence to the role. A dignity. I'd be bummed they killed him, but there is never going to be a sequel to this so who cares?

Hawk and Fate

I guess we should talk about the lead performance here which was Dwayne Johnson's Teth nee Black Adam. Johnson is not a great actor. He's like Jason Momoa. He can basically only play himself. It works fine in the "Fast & Furious" movies, but here it falls really flat. He has one facial expression. There are moments in the movie that are supposed to be emotional particularly when Teth Adam is with his family and they fall really flat because he is dead in the face. And why doesn't he have an accent? He's been imprisoned for 5000 years and not only does he speak perfect English, it's completely unaccented. Like, he could they not afford a dialect coach to help Johnson perfect a credible Egyptian accent? It's so stupid. And his monotone voice. Seriously Rock, give us nothing.

I will say that one of the best bits of the movie is something that Black Adam does. I really enjoy that for the entirety of the movie, Black Adam walks through walls instead of going through doors that are like right there. It never fails to make me laugh. The capper is when Karim asks if they didn't have doors in Black Adam's time and he really calmly says they did. It's perfect and its maybe the one time that Johnson's monotonous, dead voice works.

We could talk about the villains here, but they are so nondescript and forgettable. The villain is Ishmael who eventually transforms into Sabbac. Ishmael is like nothing here. He's so obviously the bad guy from the moment that we meet him. Even in the van, I knew he was going to betray Adrianna et. al. I hate when it is that obvious and it only got more glaringly obviously when they were in Teth-Adam's tomb/prison. Like, it just makes the other characters look stupid. How can I root for them when they miss something like this? It is so annoying.

What a buffoon.

There is an interesting story to be told that features Black Adam as the main character. I wish that they had leaned more into the "52" storyline that featured Black Adam. I thought they were going to when I initially heard that the movie was going to feature Adriana and Amon. In "52," a weekly series from DC, Intergang was basically working for Black Adam who was ruling Kahndaq. She's presented to him as a gift but Adam frees her and she eventually changes her perspective. Like Adrianna in the film, she's extremely vocal about her love for Khandaq and her resolve to see it freed. Adam eventually falls in love with her and they marry. She gets an amulet that imbues her with the power of the goddess, Isis. Amon is her brother and he ends up with the power of Osiris. The become the Black Marvel family. It's like maybe the definitive Black Adam story.

It would have been so cool to see a more straightforward adaptation of that story, instead of the chopped up version we get here with the Justice Society shoehorned in because DC couldn't tell an actual story about an anti-hero or villain depending on your perspective. That's my issue with all these villain origin story films. They won't let them be evil. They won't let them be a villain. Sure, "Black Adam" as a film really earns it's place in the Murderverse because a lot of folks get killed by Black Adam, but they are all terrorists so why should we feel bad for them? And most of the murder is played for laughs. So, who cares? It really makes the Justice Society's moral arguments fall flat. 

What if there was a little more nuance here? What if Amon died? What if that was the real emotional crux of the film? Amon dies and Black Adam magicks him back to life somehow? Maybe by granting him some of his powers? The whole family arc and how Teth's son died for him just is so cliche at this point. There were three writers on this film and this was the best they could come up. You have material right there just waiting for you to use, but instead you give us this drivel. It's so wild to me. It's like the DCEU just active repels quality.

Bye Henry.

The visual effects in this movie are so extremely lackluster. Like, there were so many moments when I was watching this movie that I felt like I was watching a CW show. And that is fine when you are watching a CW show, but when you are supposed to be watching a big budget movie it falls extremely flat. Look at Sabbac. I don't even have the words to describe how horrible it is for a movie that was released in 2022. It looks like a video game villain from the early 2000's. I feel like I shouldn't be able to tell that the creature isn't there. I really think that there needs to be a move towards more practical effects. Sabbac would have been much more effective than this poorly animated monstrosity.

There is also so much slow motion stuff in this movie. It feels like every major action sequence features a preponderance of slow motion. I think back when "X-Men Days of Future Past" came out the scene with Quicksilver was really cool. But, that was almost ten years ago at this point. So watching Black Adam do that especially when it's not adding anything or doing anything we haven't seen before is just a huge shrug. I know we talk a lot in my MCU re-watches about the inevitable third act, special effects laden final battle, well, just imagine that every battle in the movie is like that. That is what the action scenes in "Black Adam" are like.

There are a few cameos in the movie. We get Viola Davis's Amanda Waller. And listen, it's Viola Davis. She's an icon. She's perfect as Waller so I'm never going to complain about her showing up. We get a pop in from Jennifer Holland's Emilia Harcourt. The big cameo though is the re-appearance of Henry Cavill's Superman. This was supposed to be his grand re-introduction to the DCEU. Instead it's kind of his whimpering farewell, which makes me really sad. It wasn't a great time for Cavill, because I'm pretty sure right after this it was announced he was not going to be "The Witcher" anymore.

This movie is not good. If you want a Black Adam fix, then read "52" if you've never done it. Or check out the recent 12 issue "Black Adam" maxi-series.

Next up, we check in with Billy Batson and the family in "SHAZAM: Fury of the Gods."

What do you all think? Does anyone like this movie? Do you think there's an alternate reality where it would have been successful? Do you feel bad for Henry Cavill? Let me know in the comments.