Heavy on myth and short on character development, DC tries its best to establish the personality of Black Adam as a superhero to hang a franchise on. The comic book character originated back in 1945 and was created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck as part of the Shazam Family.
There is no modern-day actor more suitable to pop on the spandex and get his superhero status up and running than Dwayne Johnson and his physical presence is utilised to the fullest. It’s a good thing that his physicality is so abundant as the script is not very multi-dimensional. He literally floats through most of his scenes.
There is so much computer-generated imagery the film is more animation than live-action and it often looks spectacular. The fight scenes crackle with energy. The character of Black Adam was originally written as a supervillain and the film spends most of its time working towards a mellowing of that stance.
As an origin story, there is so little information given that the filmmakers can go almost anywhere from this point forward. A crazy end-credit scene gives the strongest indication of what part of the DC universe Black Adam will reside in next. It’s an effective first step and one that is very open-ended. This generates interest in where they progress from here.
Rob Hudson
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