When the Black Adam trailer came out in June this year, DC fans had big expectations for this film. After eight years of production hell and multiple setbacks of the pandemic, they will finally get to see one of the most powerful DC comics supervillains in action.
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson was set to portray the character years ago, and, in his words, "The hierarchy of power in the DC Universe is about to change."
On October 21st, Black Adam was released worldwide. The film was a decent introduction to him, but it failed in terms of meeting the hype it created.
The film starts with the introduction of Black Adam, as the trailer intended. Teth-Adam, an enslaved person in the fictional Middle Eastern country of Kahndaq, was given superpowers by the Gods to liberate his people and become Kahndaq's protector.
But blinded by the power, Adam does justice in his twisted way and becomes the judge, the jury, and the executioner.
Fearing that he was out of control, the gods who gave him the power entombed him, only to be free after 5000 years.
The modern Kahndaq is not a good place either, drowned in anarchy and controlled by outsiders who want to drain the country's resources.
Adam is needed once again to save his countrymen. His reemergence didn't go unnoticed. The supervillain squad handler Amanda Waller from the Suicide Squad enlists the Justice Society of America to keep an eye on him. The JSA also aims to stop the outsiders, aka Intergang, who are seeking the crown of Sabbac, which grants the power of hell.
At this point, there are several questions; will Black Adam team up with JSA to stop Intergang? What does the crown of Sabbac mean to Adam? Can he become the protector instead of repeating the tyrant history of Kahndaq? All these things are up to Adam to decide.
The film tried its best to set up the groundwork for Black Adam to enter the DC Cinematic Universe. The audience sees some glimpses of Adam's backstory. But he is a supervillain with multiple dimensions in the comics, which went completely unexplored.
In this film, he is just an antihero who repeatedly states his ideology about justice whenever he faces other characters. Dwayne Johnson is the perfect actor to portray this character's looks, but the monolithic acting makes Adam somehow boring.
The other characters also deserve some criticism. The JSA heroes provided some hints about their backstories, but not enough for the audience to get to know them well. Atom Smasher provided some comedic relief, but the other heroes were just one-dimensional.
The interesting thing about Black Adam is that it explored some political commentary themes.
When terrorists occupied Kahndaq, America never came to their aid. But when a superpowered individual like Black Adam appears to save Kahndaq, he is threatened with being suppressed if he ever goes rogue.
However, the warning shows Black Adam facing Superman, implying that the antihero will face the Justice League in the future through this unimpressive standalone film.
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