Black Adam

Let´s travel back in time to ancient times to the year of 2001. This was at a time when we still used pay phones, there was still VHS tapes released on the market, even though DVD was the cool thing at this time. It was also during this time i used to visit the local record store to check out metal albums. I especially remember listening to one album from the American Nu Metal band known as P.O.D, as they released their latest studio album Satellite. I still remember the opening track Set It Off, what a fantastic way to start an album. The song on this album called Youth Of A Nation is still today just as relevant as it was back in 2001. And there are several songs on this album that still sounds just as good, as they did 21 years ago. I have to mention that 2001 was the year when legedary director Ridley Scott released his very well made war film Black Hawk Down, a must watch. 2001 was also the year when i watched The Mummy Returns in theatre, the sequel to the entertaining action adventure film The Mummy, directed by Stephen Sommers. Actors such as Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah and Arnold Vosloo, all returned after the box office success of the 1999 film The Mummy. The sequel was actually really good and it was nice to see the cast return in another adventure. In this sequel we could also see very well known wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson playing the character Scorpion King. I think he did really good in his role, unfortunately the CGI effects of him towards the end look really horrible. Dwayne Johnson got his own film a year after in The Scorpion King, a film that basically focuses on Scorpion King. Entertaining if you enjoyed the previous Mummy films. Dwayne continued his acting career and have since the early 2000´s done a lot of different films. I am actually a fan of his 2005 film Doom ( based on the popular video game ), even though it flopped big at the box office but sold really well on DVD. I was not suprised when i heard that Dwayne would take on a comic book character called Black Adam, since a lot of Hollywood actors have been in Marvel films or DC films. I have not read any of the comic books with Black Adam, but i was curious to see what Dwayne would bring to this character. Is this one of the better comic book films of this year, or is Black Adam just as predictable as one of Donald Trump´s rally´s?

In 2600 BC, the tyrannical king Ahk-Ton of Kahndaq ( Marwan Kenzari ) creates the Crown of Sabbac to attain great power. After attempting to stage a revolt, a young boy is given the powers of Shazam by the Council of Wizards, transforming him into Khandaq´s heroic champion, who kills Ahk-Ton and ends his reign. In the present day, Khandaq is oppressed by the Intergang, a mercenary organization, as Adriana Tomaz ( Sarah Shahi ), and archaeologist and resistance-fighter, tries to locate the Crown of Sabbac with the help of her brother Karim ( Mohammad Amer ) and their collegues Samir ( James Cusati-Moyer ) and Ishmael ( Marwan Kenzari ). As Adriana obtains the crown, Intergang ambushes and kill Samir, forcing Adriana to read an incantation that awakens Teth-Adam ( Dwayne Johnson ).

When i watch an action film based on a comic book, i just want to be entertained. I do not need a complicated plot, i don´t need to know everything about each character. I just want to unplug my brain cells and just watch CGI action scenes, fighting, muscles, cool outfits and monsters included if possible. A lot of the stuff i just mentioned can actually be found in Black Adam, if you can accept that the plot is thin. So how is this film compared to a lot of other super hero movies? I would not call it nowhere near as good as The Avengers movies and not as good as the Captain America films either. But i do find Dwayne Johnson charming in the lead role as Black Adam, and even if he may come of a bit stiff in certain scenes, i actually enjoy seeing him doing something different to his real personality. Would i call it good acting? Not really, since Dwayne is perhaps known for not being the most powerful actor. But he knows how to entertain in action scenes, and this is where you see him at his best. The character of Black Adam is pretty cool actually, with his body armour and personality. Even if we don´t find out a lot about him, they give away some details that makes you understand where he comes from and how he became this super hero. What about the other characters? Pierce Brosnan ( legendary James Bond actor, who also have done several other great films such as The Ghost Writer and The World´s End ) is the character Doctor Fate, and he is actually one of the most entertaining characters. Pierce have such a natural way to portrait each of his character, and he proves that once more. Comedian Mohammed Amer deliver the funniest character in this film, playing the character of Karim. I hope to see him return in another DC film in the future, because i think there is more to be told about his character. The action scenes are big, and have a lot of power. Especially the battle scenes between different super heroes are enjoyable. So anything negative to say? Perhaps that some of the characters doesn´t feel interesting. You really don´t care about some of them, and just want to watch action scenes instead. Director Jaumet Collet-Serra ( director of the surprisingly good 2005 horror remake of House Of Wax ) may not hit all the right notes with Black Adam, but i still feel that he managed to make this an entertaining super hero movie. If you want action and super heroes, Black Adam have enough of both parts to entertain you for 2 hours. I might make my own super hero script someday, how about The Wedding Match Maker, flying all over the world to match couples? This might be the best super hero movie idea in many years, i might have to begin writing a script ( before anyone steal my idea ).

Rating: DDD