The new Dwayne Johnson superhero film, "Black Adam," isn't quite as dire as I was expecting, but it's probably best enjoyed by very young viewers and die-hard DC Comics fans. This marks Johnson's second collaboration with director Jaume Collet-Serra in a row, after "Jungle Cruise." "Black Adam" is the better movie, but not by much.
The fictional city of Kahndaq had a protector in ancient times known as Teth-Adam (Johnson), who was gifted powers by wizards to defeat an evil king. In the present day, Kahndaq is again oppressed, and a professor named Adrianna (Sarah Shahi), her brother Karim (Mohammed Amer), and young son Amon (Bodhi Sabongui) manage to resurrect Teth-Adam. However, he's not the hero they hoped for, being rage-prone and too willing to kill indiscriminately. His actions quickly attract attention from around the world, including a group of heroes from the Justice Society (similar to the Justice League, but not the same), who decide to intervene.
The willingness of DC to rebuild their film franchise around Dwayne Johnson is not a good sign, though Johnson as "Black Adam" has his charms. Seeing him wreak havoc on bad guys with total abandon, and throw misanthropic, edgelord quips back at anybody trying to reason with him is undeniably fun. The arc of him learning how to care about people and play nice with the other superheroes is tedious, and the normal human beings in the movie are dull as rocks. Skateboarding motormouth Amon is a kid sidekick trope I thought we'd left behind in the '90s. Fortunately a few classic DC heroes get their big screen debuts here, including Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and Dr. Fate (Pierce Brosnan). Their power sets come off as too reminiscent of the MCU's Falcon and Dr. Strange, but Hodge and Brosnan are the best parts of the film.
With action scenes as its main focus, "Black Adam" at least looks properly spectacular. The massive scale destruction is handled well, and the various superpowers are all executed beautifully. Alas, the final villain, Sabbac (Marwen Kenzari), is another of those unfortunate CGI creatures that came out looking half-finished. The writing also leaves much to be desired, with leaden dialogue, hastily cobbled together action beats, and a whole third act that feels remarkably unnecessary. Compared to some of the worse entries that the DCEU films have produced, however, I'm content to describe "Black Adam" as competent. I can deal with more films in this vein, especially if DC keeps adding less well-known heroes to the roster as supporting characters.
Onward to "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," which follows the MCU's Wakandan characters trying to soldier on after the loss of King T'Challa to sudden illness. Princess Shuri (Laetitia Wright) becomes our lead character, her mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) assumes the throne, and there's a new threat from Namor (Tenoch Herta), leader of a hidden civilization of underwater dwellers, the Talokan. This is a much gloomier film than the original "Black Panther," exploring grief, revenge, and the responsibilities that come with assuming power. However, when it decides to do comic book spectacle, it does perfectly good comic book spectacle, introducing new characters, new technological wonders, an undersea empire, and expensive action scenes galore. There shouldn't be as many complaints about the CGI in this installment.
I wish I could drum up more enthusiasm for the film, but "Wakanda Forever" is awfully weighed down by its subject matter, long running time, and sense of self-importance. Ryan Coogler had no easy task trying to figure out how to regroup after the loss of Chadwick Boseman. There's a lot of necessary readjustment. On the one hand, this means we get a lot more of Angela Bassett being a regal force, and on the other hand this means cool, funny Shuri has become angry, dark Shuri, and it can be tough to take. Laetitia Wright does the best that she can, but I'm looking forward to Shuri's next MCU appearance, when she's hopefully purged her demons for good. Then there's Namor, who is another complicated villain with ties to Mayan mythology and the victims of European colonialism. He's an arrogant and bullying, but redeemable absolutist used to getting what he wants, not unlike Black Adam. However, Tenoch Huerta is not nearly as charismatic as Dwayne Johnson, and I tired of him quickly.
Thank goodness for Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman, Lupita Nyong'o, and newcomer Dominique Thorne as American inventor Riri Williams. They provide the film with much-needed levity and energy. The best choice that Coogler made with "Wakanda Forever" was to let so many minor characters have their subplots, from M'baku becoming a new ally, to Okoye having to take on a different role to protect Wakanda, to Nakia and Agent Ross revealing surprising secrets. They help to keep the film watchable, and offer more characters to stay invested in.
And thank goodness for all the talented artists who put in significant effort to make "Wakanda Forever" look and sound thoroughly impressive from top to bottom. The one caveat I'll point out is that Talokan is a much more carefully rendered version of "Aquaman's" Atlantis, and still looks ridiculous. Plenty of silly concepts, like Namor's winged feet, come across fine in the film, but underwater civilizations are still seemingly impossible to make look good onscreen.
The future of Wakanda is in good hands, but I hope they stay on land from here on out.
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