Rarely does a superhero movie transcend the “we need to save the world” message, but at least some of them try.
This is the case of “Black Adam”, a film that, along with The Batman (2022) and Joker (2019) marks the beginning of yet another attempt to expand the DC Cinematic Universe.
Starring Dwayne Johnson, or The Rock, the film tells the story of a legendary figure, Teth-Adam, chosen by the gods to free the people of Kahndaq, a nation with more than 5,000 years of existence, from slavery. The “hero”, however, uses his powers to seek revenge against the tyrant who imprisons his people, resulting in the almost total destruction of the country.
With super strength, speed, teleportation and self-healing, Teth-Adam is imprisoned and remains that way for millennia.
Already in the contemporary era, Black Adam is freed and will need to continue his mission to save his people, but this time, better controlling his powers.
Despite a somewhat dense and explanatory beginning, the film’s greatest asset is that it works alone. It is not necessary to see dozens of other DC productions to understand what is going on. That said, the appearances of other characters in the Universe work well, among them there are: Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Atom Crusher (Noah Centineo) and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindel). Together they form the ‘Justice Society’, one of DC Comics’ first legions of heroes.
Such a group, however, is not welcome in Kahndaq. The region is under military occupation by a gang of international mercenaries called the “Intergang”. The heroes want to stop Black Adam, while his people want the anti-hero in charge.
Phrases directed at the Justice Society such as “this is not your country”, “where were you when our nation was occupied decades ago?” start an interesting discussion about historical and “heroic” imperialism that, unfortunately, is quickly overshadowed by several CGI-packed action sequences.
One of the greatest achievements of the visual effects team, by the way, is to reduce the size of ‘The Rock’, who trained hard for the role. Without the powers, activated by the word “SHAZAM!”, Teth-Adam is a man of normal physique, without the mountains of muscle that Dwayne Johnson accumulates. At first, a “weak” ‘The Rock’ causes strangeness, but such scenes pass quickly and give way to the actor who ate seven meals a day to maintain his physique for the new film.
And such size is not wasted. Black Adam is called an anti-hero for several reasons, one of them being his use of extreme violence; the character kills his enemies, which is not approved by the ‘Justice Society’ nor by any self-respecting superhero. Not even by the Motion Picture Association, which demanded some cuts in sequences of exacerbated violence, otherwise “Black Adam” would have an R rating, that is, it would only be allowed for people over 18 years old.
Such aggressiveness, therefore, does not go unnoticed by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), an American high command officer who coordinates several legions of heroes.
Finally, in the infamous post-credits scene (don’t worry, it appears quickly), a dialogue between Amanda and Black Adam provides one of the biggest fan services of the new phase of DC that, of course, drew applause and screams in the movie theater.
Watch the trailer:
Source: CNN Brasil

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