Bureau 42 Movie Review – Black Adam (2022)

Are you ready to Rock?

Black Adam casts Dwayne Johnson as an invulnerable alpha-male with a chip on his soldier.  Is The Rock lovable enough to counter this anti-hero’s toxic masculinity?

Cast and Crew

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
Written by Adam Sztykiel and Rory Haines & Sohrab Noshirvani

Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam / Teth Adam
Aldis Hodge as Hawkman / Carter Hall
Pierce Brosnan as Dr. Fate / Kent Nelson
Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher / Al Rothstein
Sarah Shahi as Adrianna Tomaz
Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone / Maxine Hunkel
Marwan Kenzari as Ishmael / Sabbac / King Ahk-Ton
Bodhi Sabongui as Amon Tomaz
Mohammed Amer as Karim
James Cusati-Moyer as Samir
Jalon Christian as Hurut
Benjamin Patterson as Skinny Teth Adam
Odelya Halevi as Shiruta
Uli Latukefu as The Champion
Jennifer Holland as Emilia Harcourt
Henry Winkler as Uncle Al
Chaim Jeraffi as Djau
Sharon Gee as Mrs. Farmer
Stephan Jones as Commander
A. Manuel ‘Manny’ Miranda as Ancient Mine Soldier (as A. Manuel Miranda)
Djimon Hounsou as Wizard

Premise

Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the Egyptian gods–and imprisoned just as quickly–Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world. (From IMDB)

High Point

Black Adam is an unbridled power fantasy.  From the moment he shows up, he is powerful enough to laugh off attacks and lay waste to anything he doesn’t like.  From a wish fulfillment perspective,. it is enjoyable to see.

Low Point

The movie is a by-the-numbers anit-hero action movie.  There isn’t anything you can’t predict as soon as you start watching the movie.

The Scores:

Originality: 3/6  The only new aspect to the story was that we did get to see the world of super-heroes from the perspective of the other countries.  What does an oppressed country without their own hero do?  Unfortunately the answer is just ‘get your own,’ so the originality ends there.

Effects: 4/6 The effects live up to their budget, but they were still clearly a lot of CGI.  It is entertaining when they need a lot of special effects to make the star looks like a regular human instead of a demigod.

Acting: 3/6 Nobody is going to win any awards for their acting here.

Emotional Response: 2/6 Since his name is on the marque, Black Adam would be the character to root for, but with the Justice Society being shown as the heroes and Black Adams lack of vulnerability, it doesn’t really leave any stakes.

Story: 3/6 The story teases out in such a way that the big reveals are telegraphed as soon as they are brought up (if not listed in the trailer.)  Even knowing he destination, the journey is worth taking.

Production: 4/6 The movie turned out well, though that shouldn’t take over a decade to produce.

Overall: 4/6  As far as DCEU movies go, this is one of the better ones.

In total, Black Adam (2022) receive 23/42