Black Adam

By Nkatha Wainaina

(nkathawainaina@gmail.com)

Before I begin, I have in the past, made clear where my loyalties lie. This has in no way affected my objectivity in giving an unbiased and honest opinion on DC productions. With that out of the way, I present Black Adam.

Black Adam is an action, adventure movie, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who is known for directing a couple of horror films.

The movie is set in the country of Kahndaq, which has been taken over by ‘bad people’. In ancient Kahndaq, Teth Adam was bestowed the almighty powers of the gods. After using these powers for vengeance, he was imprisoned, becoming Black Adam. Nearly 5,000 years have passed, when Black Adam was awakened by the words Shazam! He helps fight the ‘bad people’ by killing them . This attracts the attention of the Justice Society: Hawkman, a slightly annoying man in a hawk costume, Dr. Fate whose importance I may have missed, Atom smasher, he grows big and is always snacking and Cyclone, she…twirls with colours?

The Justice Society is determined to subdue Black Adam when it is evident they cannot. They are forced to work together, alongside a woman and her son, who in retrospect, caused all the chaos, to fight a man wearing a demon infested crown.

For a production that has been in the works since 2008, I expected a lot more. From the one dimensional actors who form no connection with the audience, to the anti-climatic final fight scene. Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t think Dwayne Johnson was the best fit for this role. Do not get me wrong, he’s a good actor. He wouldn’t be the highest paid actor in the world if he wasn’t. This role however, wasted him. They emphasized so much on how Black Adam isn’t a hero, yet never put him in a situation that showed how truly brutal he could be. The tension between him and Hawkman could be described as the feeling you get when a fly won’t stop hovering around you.

I did not enjoy this movie. I kept waiting for a pivotal moment that would change the course of this movie. It was lazily written as they kept looking for an easy way out. They were afraid of exploring potential storylines that would have made this movie so much easier to sit through. They movie might be paving way for an exciting future for DC but for a stand alone film, it’s not quite there. On the bright side, you don’t have to watch anything before it to understand what is going on.

But hey, that’s just my opinion.