The Rock makes superhero debut

with Black Adam

By Jayce Speer-McMullen, Reporter

DC’s “Black Adam” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is finally out, and it couldn’t be more controversial. The difference in opinions between audience and film critics’ evaluation of this movie is vast, but regardless of how you feel about the movie itself, it’s largely successful in the box office. Black Adam has made over $140 million globally, which makes it Dwayne Johnson’s biggest opening of any movie in his career. Black Adam has a 90 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, but the critics give it a 40 percent, making it certified rotten. So which is it? Is Black Adam the chaotic mess the critics claim, or is it the fun action movie that the audience seemingly argues?

Black Adam is an attempt to start a launching point for a revived DC Extended Universe, but, unfortunately, the movie itself is rushed and messy. The prologue informs us that 5,000 years ago in the fictional Middle Eastern or Northern African country of Kahndaq, the country was ruled and forced to mine by King Ahk Ton; he forced his people to mine for a rare mineral called Eternium so that he could create the crown of Sabbac and become unstoppable. However, the champion of Kahndaq was defeated by King Ahk Ton, in any case he nearly destroyed Kahndaq with his destructful rage. The pacing of this movie is, for lack of a better term, awful. The movie relies on viewers having preexisting knowledge of the comics in order to know anything about the characters other than Black Adam. Not only that, but viewers are also hit with an overwhelming amount of background information in 2 or 3 waves instead of it being drawn out through the whole movie.

Now, in modern day, The Justice Society of America—yes, the Justice Society is a cheap knockoff of the Justice League—is tasked with stopping Teth Adam before he causes mayhem in Kahndaq once again. There were two major issues with that plan. For one, Teth Adam is much stronger than the members of the Justice Society combined, which consists of Doctor Fate, Atom Smasher, Cyclone, and their leader Hawkman. Secondly, the people of Kahndaq were under the impression Teth Adam was the one and only original champion of Kahndaq. They had no idea he had created so much destruction 5,000 years ago. Adrianna Tomaz, a rebel who is trying to free Kahndaq from the current mercenaries controlling the country, becomes torn between Black Adam, who is mostly known as Teth Adam through the movie, and the Justice Society. On one hand, she believes the story Hawkman tells her about his destruction, but on the other she wants what’s best for her people, and the Justice Society has done nothing to help Kahndaq after being controlled by one group after another for decades.

Overall, if you’re a casual viewer, you may enjoy this movie despite the movie relying on the audience to have a knowledge of the comics beforehand. On the other hand, this movie is an all over the place, chaotic mess. Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson, throughout most of his career, has played the lovable oaf or the action star tasked with saving the world. The point is, you want to root for him, whereas they should’ve picked an actor where the audience could be more impartial. After all, Black Adam is an anti-hero whom viewers are meant to be conflicted about.