'Black Adam': A Hit or Miss?
Black Adam title cover
Photo by Matthew Pastier '26
“Black Adam” is Warner Bros Discovery’s newest movie as it attempts to get the DC Cinematic Universe back on track after being relatively dormant. “Black Adam” stars Dwayne “The Rock'' Johnson as its lead. The movie starts with a story of the Khandaq, a fictional country within the DC universe leading to Black Adam being awoken.
Black Adam is a rollercoaster, to say the least. For better or worse, it definitely will keep you entertained. The Rock is great as Black Adam, but more is expected from a movie that’s been consistently developing for almost fifteen years.
The movie attempts to take on a theme of foreign invaders taking over and ruling land that doesn’t belong to them. This should have been a center of focus in the movie as it was an excellent theme to explore, but later on feels like they didn’t take time to develop it. The action set pieces were the more significant focus of everything as the writing is very ‘okay’ and nothing too remarkable happens within the story. The action is non-stop, yet you are almost left bored at specific points as you wait for the following action sequence. It is a very generic story and feels like an early 2000s superhero movie.
The two characters that downright steal the spotlight are Hawkman, played by Aldis Hodge, and Dr. Fate, played by Pierce Bronson. These two have a lot of chemistry and seeing their relationship grow in the movie was a nice surprise.
The heart is found within the more-so side character in the Justice Society (JSA). Cyclone and Atom Smasher, also members of the JSA, tend to be there to lighten the mood of an already lighthearted movie. Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone deserved more screen time, as they were great in the role. Noah Centineo also does good work in his role as Atom Smasher, but it seems there wasn’t much for him and when he was given jokes to perform, they tended to miss.
Viola Davis continues with her DC appearances as she stars as Amanda Waller again. Adrianna Tomaz, played by Sarah Shahi, and Amon Tomaz, played by Bodhi Sabongui, are a mother-and-son duo. Adrianna was a great addition, but the boy makes the movie drag on as the kid’s acting falls flat at certain points. The villain of Sabbac is unique looking, yet very forgettable.
Although the film totally flopped at specific points and felt dragged on at times, it’s worth watching as there are moments to enjoy. The action was excellent and fun songs were often placed over them, which kept these scenes very engaging and entertaining. My final rating for “Black Adam” is a moderate two and a half out of five stars.