“Black Adam” finally hit the big screen, over 15 years after Dwayne Johnson was cast as the title character. Does this long delayed comic book movie really change the hierarchy of the DC power, or is it another dud for DC?

Black Adam is a 2022 DC Extended Universe comic book film, based on the antihero of the same name. Dwayne Johnson stars as Black Adam, alongside Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate, Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone. The film is directed by Jaume Collet Serra and tells the story of Teth Adam, nearly 5,000 years after he gains powers from the ancient gods of Kahndaq. Adam is freed from his tomb to unleash his version of justice on the modern world. After he is awoken, Amanda Waller orders the Justice Society to capture him and keep the world in check.

Since this movie was in development for over 15 years, I wasn’t sure what to anticipate. Long delayed movies don’t have the best record of being great, so I just walked into this movie hoping to see some awesome action and have a good time at the movies.

The best thing I can say about ¨Black Adam¨ is that it’s an action packed, fast paced roller coaster ride of a film that rarely has any slow moments. It has all the humor that you’d expect from a comic book movie like this, except this time with a great cast of actors playing brand new characters for the DCEU. Speaking of the cast, I thought that everyone in this movie was a standout that I wouldn’t mind seeing again in the future. It felt like Dwayne Johnson was born to play Black Adam, embodying the physical side of Black Adam and emotional elements of his character arc. The other big standouts in this movie to me were Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate and Aldis Hodge as Hawkman. I found Doctor Fate to be an incredibly interesting character with his powers to see the future and manipulate reality. The casting of Pierce Brosnan added a lot of cool and intriguing characteristics to the character. When it came to Hawkman, I thought that he had such a great dynamic with Black Adam that was funny and fit his stern personality. Finally, the mid-credit scene of the movie was absolutely insane and something that is definitely worth staying for. As a fan of DC, I’m really excited to see what the future of this franchise and studio have to offer.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the film, I do agree with some of the criticisms that the movie felt like a generic action movie set in the DCEU. Dwayne Johnson typically likes to work with the same directors and use the same bag of tricks in all of the movies he stars in. I suspect that people who don’t like Dwayne Johnson´s movies are mostly the people who are criticizing the film. However, while I thought it was a lot of fun to watch, the straightforward plot didn’t make it the most memorable movie.

Overall, I think this movie is a step in the right direction for the future of DC. DC has been killing it over the past two years with all of their shows and movies, and I would say Black Adam is definitely a good one. It’s not the next greatest comic book movie of all time, but it was still an enjoyable movie to watch.