Black Adam
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra; screenplay: Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani, Adam Sztykiel; photography: Lawrence Sher; editing: John Lee, Michael L. Sale; scenography: Tom Meyer; music: Lorne Balfe; costumes: Kurt and Bart; special effects: JD Schwalm; performers: Thet-Adam / Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson), Carter Hall / Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Al Rothstein / Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), Adrianna Tomaz / Isis (Sarah Shahi), Maxine Hunkell / Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell), Kent Nelson / Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Ishmael Gregor / Sabbac (Marwan Kenzari); production: Beau Flynn, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, Walter Hamada, Dwayne Johnson, Eric McLeod, Scott Sheldon; Production Company: DC Entertainment, Flynn Picture Company, New Line Cinema, Seven Bucks Productions, Warner Bros .; country of production: USA -2022; duration: 124 ‘
In ancient Kahndaq, the slave Teth Adam was gifted with the powers of the Gods; but he used them for revenge and was imprisoned. 5,000 years later, he has now been set free and once again he exercises his dark sense of justice over the world. Refusing to surrender, Black Adam is challenged by a team of modern heroes, the Justice Society, consisting of Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Atom Smasher, and Cyclone, who seek to return him to eternal captivity.
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Dwayne Johnson fulfills his dream and becomes Black Adam
Black Adam arrived in Italian cinemas on October 20, 2022 distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and produced
by New Line Cinema in collaboration with Seven Bucks Productions, the studio founded by Dwayne Johnson: The world icon put his all into making the film hit theaters, fulfilling his dream of playing the fan-favorite anti-hero of the DC universe. On his official Facebook profile The Rock shared how his desire has overcome time and every obstacle; when executives asked him if he wanted to play another hero instead of Black Adam, but he claimed:
“Black Adam came on my radar when I was very young. I loved comics and have always been a DC guy. I approached Black Adam because he was one of the very few superheroes, supervillains, anti-heroes, whatever you want to classify him, to have dark skin and to look like me. Besides, he’s always been tough. Black Adam is something that has been part of my DNA and my soul for many years ”.
After numerous cinematic adventures, Johnson becomes a DC Comics character, but his costume wears no paddingas often happens with comic book heroes in the cinema: the actor asked to remove them to have the best physical shape of his career. On the other hand, his huge muscular physique is perfect for bringing Black Adam to the screen, the ferocity in the expressions and the anger in the fighting complete the characterization of a very powerful anti-hero, never seen on the big screen; there is no shortage of ironic moments, especially in the relationship with Adrianna (Sarah Shahi) and her son Amon (Bodhi Sabongui), who reminded me of the role of Freddy’s shoulder for Shazam.
The Rock’s joy is overwhelming and he’s visiting several cinemas to present his cinecomic and surprise fans. Black Adam is pleasing the public, with good box office takings and an excellent debut from 7.6 million dollars in the US; despite Rotten Tomatoes critics aren’t liking itnot everyone judges it negatively, considering it 7.2 on IMDB. Let’s go back to seeing a good cinecomic on the big screen, after some missteps like Morbius e Thor: Love and Thunderwhile the positive cinematic trend of DC Comics is consolidatedstarted with The Suicide Squad and continued with the excellent The Batman.
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Jungle Cruise), Black Adam is full of action, fighting, is steeped in DC cosmology and is seasoned with a pinch of irony at the right point. The major flaws lie in some elements of the scriptwritten by Adam Sztykiel and Rory Haines & Sohrab Noshirvani and based on the DC characters created by Bill Parker and CC Beck: the story and the origins of the protagonist are treated in a simple but effective way, but the “classic for cinecomics” ending (I was expecting something more anti-hero), the little in-depth study of some characters and the obvious villain of Marwan Kenzari (former antagonist of Aladdin) bring down the rating of the film.
Among the positive elements I remember the nice tributes to Sergio Leone’s westerns, Ang Lee’s Hulk or the Incredibles. This incarnation of DC anti-hero mythology is not a direct adaptation of any previous material, but is lightly inspired by the world of The New 52 The Dark Age and the latest Hawkman comics, as well as the numerous crossover comics between Black Adam and the Justice Society .
Coordinated by the cynical Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), increasingly Nick Fury of the DCEU, the version of this group in the film consists of two young recruits, Atom Smasher e Cyclone, interpreted by Noah Centineo (The Fosters) e Quintessa Swindell (Trinkets), led by veterans Hawkman and Doctor Fate: Aldis Hodge (The right to count) has the role of the slightly obnoxious superhero who has to put the antihero in line and Pierce Brosnan’s Sorcerer does not disappoint high expectationson the contrary, he proves to be the best character in the film, hoping that it will be deepened later, perhaps in a cinecomic dedicated to the JSA.
In the cinecnomic we know a new imaginary nation, the Kahndaq, located in the Middle East in the DC Universe; while in the real world it would be on the African continent, between Egypt and Israel, precisely located on the upper part of the Sinai peninsula, according to JSA number 56. “Black Adam is a legend to the people of Kahndaq,” says The Rock, noting that despite his absence for thousands of years and the fact that he doesn’t want to be a hero to these people, “They still call him their champion”.
I really enjoyed the setting of Kahndaq, the main location of Black Adam, as well as the aerial combat between the heroes and the flying bikes of the Intergang. The credit goes to the director’s behind-the-scenes creative team which includes Oscar-nominated cinematographer Lawrence Sher (Joker), production designer Tom Meyer (Real Steel), editors Mike Sale (Red Notice) and John Lee (Anyone Home?), costume designers Kurt and Bart (Deadpool 2), visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer (Wonder Woman) and composer Lorne Balfe (Black Widow).
The preview experience and the post credit scene
Thanks to Warner Bros. I had the chance to preview Black Adam in Rome on October 18th. The hype for the film had grown in recent weeks out of curiosity about the film’s consequences on the future of the unstable DCEU. Among the many actors who leave or on which little reassuring news hangs, among the films that are canceled or that are postponed, the cinecomic with The Rock not only represented a certainty, but rumors came that the post credit scene would be stunning. The thrill of seeing this particular post credit scene, which I don’t reveal, is worth the ticket price along with the best action scenes from the film: the DC cinematic universe comes to life!
The importance of this scene will have pushed the organization to even more restrictive measures in the room for the preview: before viewing the security has bagged the cell phone of each spectator, probably for fear of spreading some important scene, including the post credit. At the event I was given the official Black Adam jersey.
