DC Studios has gone through a lot of changes throughout the past few years, such as Robert Pattinson’s Batman spinoff gaining the hearts of critics, James Gunn and Peter Safran becoming the heads of DC, and the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp controversy. The crazy thing is this has all happened within the past year.

With all of this chaos throughout DC, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has become a prominent figure at DC Studios with the lead role in the new action movie, “Black Adam.” Johnson has been criticized by fans, claiming he does not understand the character he is supposed to play in this universe, with Johnson pushing for Black Adam to be a potential cornerstone in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) franchise. This movie has a lot of importance, with people intrigued to see if Johnson’s contributions to the new and revamped DCEU will pay off, but the answer is more complicated.

Black Adam is about Teth Adam, who was chosen by the gods of Ancient Kahndaq to have his powers (which consist of lightning and super strength). After using his powers for violence and causing the deaths of thousands, he is placed in a tomb by the ancient gods. 5,000 years later, Kahndaq is taken over and oppressed by an evil organization called “Intergang,” who tries to locate the crown of Sabbac, an ancient relic that grants the user access to dark superhuman powers. Freedom fighters Adrianna, her brother Karim, and her teenage son Amon, try to get to the crown before Intergang, but when Intergang has them cornered, they awake Teth Adam from his tomb, who makes quick work of Intergangs goons. This catches the attention of U.S. government official, Amanda Walker, who sends in the Justice Society, a team of superhumans, to stop Teth Adam before he becomes too great of a threat. The Justice Society consists of Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Cyclone, and Atom Smasher.

Authors Note:

This movie brings the fun back to DC, and continues to show that they can do more fun and comedic films like Shazam and Aquaman, while still having room for more cinematic and serious films like The Batman, Joker, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. I had fun the entire film, and part of me didn’t want the wild ride to end. While this film was an extremely fun time, there are some problems I have with it. I feel like the pacing was a little too all over the place. I thought the movie was ending, but there were still 30 minutes left.

I felt like some of the actors did great, while the younger actors struggled to hold their own and really failed to match the other actors’ energy and performances. Another issue I had with the film is that even though it’s fun, it feels like things just happen and there is no logic. Hawkman and Black Adam have four different fights, and even though it’s really fun, it gets to the point where it starts to feel ridiculous and tiring. Overall, I think this was a nice fun reboot for the DCEU, but it still shows key storytelling issues within the company and cinematic universe.

Final Rating: 6/10