PLEASE NOTE - THE FOLLOWING IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW OF THE MOVIE. I WILL NOT REVEAL ANY MAJOR PLOT POINTS FROM THE MOVIE.

From iconic wrestler to Hollywood heavyweight, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, the man with the biggest arms and smile in Hollywood is always a welcome sight in a movie. While the movies he appears in may never win any awards, they will be enjoyable enough and he can always be relied upon to give a charismatic and fun performance. He is finally stepping into the superhero genre with the long awaited Black Adam, a project he has been associated with and trying too bring to the big screen for at least 10-15 years. Will this new release improve the DCEU track record or will this new antihero force DC to re-exam their strategy for how they tell stories with their stable of iconic superheroes and villains.

THE STORY
In 2600 BCE in the city of Kahndaq, a slave is given the powers of Shazam and becomes the city’s champion. He is resurrected in present day where he crosses paths with the Justice Society, as well as Intergang who are now the controlling force in Kahndaq, searching for a powerful artefact.

OVERALL OPINION
Warner Bros attempts to rival the juggernaut that is the MCU has, so far not, been a huge success. While Kevin Feige and his team meticulously plan out their phases years in advance (granted with the occasional change in the schedule), despite several movies including Justice League, the DCEU is at best not unified and at worst a disorganised incoherent mess. The excellent book “Slugfest: Inside the epic 50-year battle between Marvel and DC” really highlights the different creative approach and philosophies between the two comic giants. While the book is focussed on the comic book rivalry between the two from the 1950s up to the 00s, when you look at the way both companies have approached making movies, it will come as no surprise why the MCU is as popular as it is, while the DCEU remains the unpopular unwanted stepchild. With Joker and The Batman standalone projects seemingly not related to Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, Aquaman or Justice League, this disjointedness looks to set to continue for a while yet.

Fortunately this doesn’t affect Black Adam too much, except that you still do not get a sense of this world being a cohesive whole. But, that does not mean that Black Adam is not enjoyable. It is great seeing The Rock playing this all-powerful, magically enhanced demigod antihero. This being a comic book movie rated 12a, the more brutal aspects of the character have been toned down a little. However, the character isn’t completely sanitised and has no qualms about killing his enemies.

Up against Black Adam we get the Justice Society. Pierce Brosnan is the standout here. Dr Fate is essentially DC’s version of Dr Strange. And as great as Benedict Cumberbatch has been in that role, I would love to see a solo Dr Fate movie. Brosnan perfectly captures the elder statesman with a hero within coupled with the physical/emotional/psychological toll the helmet of fate takes on him. Additionally, the creative use of his powers was a visual treat and, in my option, better than anything we have seen from Dr Strange up to this point.

Aldis Hodge continues to impress and is another great casting choice as the slightly gruff and quick to fight Hawkman. Sadly, with so much time sent on the lead, Dr Fate and Hackman, both Atom Smasher and Cyclone are not given a lot of screen time. But, when they are on screen they are both delightful and have great chemistry.

The story isn’t the most complex. There is a magical maguffin that the bad guys are trying to get and the good guys don't want them to get it. However, there is a great scene where the characters talk about the role of the Justice Society and why it is only now they have decided to come to Kahndaq. I may have found the events on screen more enjoyable if it wasn’t for the biggest negative in the movie in the form the “child sidekick/audience substitute” of Amon. I am unsure whether it’s because the actor is bad or because the character was poorly written, but every time he was on screen doing something and speaking, I had a negative visceral reaction to him. There really was no reason for him to be in the movie, other than to have another young person in love with superheroes in a DCEU movie, like we got in Shazam (it worked far better in that movie than here).

Action wise, some of the set pieces were quite good visually, but overall with the camera movement/CGI the battle lacked weight and substance. Think Morbius (although not quite that bad) rather than something like Man of Steel Zod vs Superman or even Aquaman vs Black Manta. Also, the humour was a little all over the place, with some moments landing well, while other missed the mark.

I know all of this sounds like the movie is a mess, but somehow it really isn’t. Despite his tendency to kill bad guys and proclamations that he’s not a hero, Black Adam is actually very likeable, a testament to The Rock. In fact he managed to do for Black Adam what Ryan Reynolds did with Deadpool; make us like guy who revels and has no compunction in killing people.

As far as DCEU movies go, this is not a bad movie. Nor is it a great entry into the pantheon of releases. It just is. It might be worth a rewatch one day, with some friends round as something on in the background rather than something we all sit and watch. However, I do want to see Black Adam in more movies going forward and really look forward to seeing him interact with the other established heroes.

THE PERFORMANCES
The Rock - Black Adam (Teth-Adam)
Similar to Ryan Reynold with Deadpool, The Rock has been wanting to bring this character to the big screen for years. And it is clear that he wanted to do the character justice. For an introduction to the character, this is good first effort. I want to see more with him, especially him interacting with characters like Aquaman and Wonder Woman.

Aldis Hodge - Hawkman  
Aldis Hodge is a very versatile actor and has slowly been impressing with every role he has been in. He does a great job here with the prickly and quick to temper Hawkman. And he looks killer in the mask and costume.

Pierce Brosnan - Dr Fate
The MVP of the movie. He is great both in and out of costume and is perfect a casting choice as Robert Downey Jr was for Tony Stark.

Noah Centineo - Atom Smasher
Not given a lot of screen time and most of the humour of the Justice Society comes from him. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But, I would have loved to have seen more from him.

Quintessa Swindell - Cyclone
As with Atom Smasher, she is not given a lot of a screen time. But when she was on screen she was delightful. Great chemistry with Atom Smasher and the visuals of her using her powers was great to watch.

Sarah Shahi - Adrianna Tomaz
Part Lara Croft, part Moira McTaggert from X-Men: First Class, the character was sufficient in connecting Black Adam to the modern world he wakes up to. Could have used more character development though, but she worked well against the heroes and within the story being told.

Bodhi Sabongui - Amon Tomaz
Hands down the worst part of the movie. The character was just cringey, annoying and not realistic for someone in the situations he was in. The movie really could have done without him in it.

OTHER STUFF
The CGI
Comic book movies these typically have great CGI and Black Adam has some great CGI on show. Atom Smasher biggifying himself ws great, as were the visuals on Cyclone and Dr Fate using their powers. The aerial set-pieces were great too, although the camera movements did make them a little disorienting at times, making it difficult to get a grasp and what was happening.

The Score
I’m not usually one to notice the score in films unless it is truly stand out and memorable. However, there were a couple of times when the score was being obviously used to invoke an emotion, rather than the letting visuals take the lead on that. Plus, once or twice the sound mix was off, meaning the score slightly drowned out the dialogue.

The Action
For the most part the fight scenes were good, although a little repetitive. But, they did a good job of capturing what a powerful force of nature Black Adam is.

The Pacing
The movie did drag a little in places, mainly around the sections involving the kid.

Other Stuff
There is a KILLER mid-credit scene.

FINAL VERDICT
We have waited so long for this movie to come out. And The Rock and the rest of the cast have done a fantastic job promoting it. As did the trailers. I was hugely excited for this movie going in and found it equal parts entertaining, frustrating and annoying. It is a flawed movie, but the positive entertaining parts lessen the impact of those flaws.

Run time - 2h 04m
Rotten Tomatoes critics score (at time of writing) - 42%
My Score: 6.5/10    

I am in complete agreement with Cyclops: your non-spoiler reviews are informative without ruining any of the movie.  I've also noticed that, more often than not, your opinions align fairly close to my own; as such, your reviews lend credence to my choice as to whether or not I'll see the movie in the theater or just wait for cable.

As much as I like the Rock, I have to admit to being fairly underwhelmed with even the idea of this movie.  I am a longtime DC fan (OK, comicbook fan in general) and actually knew who Black Adam was before the Rock was attached to it but he was never a favorite of mine.  I think I'll just wait for this one on TV.

Great review and point!

Welcome to the club, latecomer!  All are welcome, no matter when they first learned.  Although I first learned of Black Adam back in the ‘70s, when comics were still about a quarter, I’d be wiling to bet there are members of this forum who met him even earlier than I did.

Knowing him only from the comics, it will be interesting to see how they treat him in this movie. From your review, I’d have to say that it’ll be much closer to the New 52 version than the one I first met.  Regardless, it should be fun to watch the movie.