“Black Adam” (2022) is the eleventh film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), but closely tied to “Shazam!” (2019). It briefly starts 5,000 years ago to introduce the city of Kahndaq and the historical conflict that made the people of Kahndaq need the titular character. It jumps to the present day to show Teth Adam (Dwayne Johnson, formerly known as The Rock) dispatching Kahndaq’s bad guys without mercy, which alarms the Justice Society of America (JSA). The JSA jumps into action to stop him before he hurts the wrong person, but can they work together when a more dangerous foe rises to terrorize Kahndaq?

I probably would not have seen “Black Adam” in theaters if my editor did not assign it to me. The DCEU is spectacularly uneven, and unlike the MCU, does not feature excellent actors. I love Johnson, but he is not a great actor. He has a winning personality and looks like CGI come to life. Maybe the DCEU has finally found its footing considering I also enjoyed the prior film, “The Suicide Squad” (2021). I will start with the bad news first. The film starts slow with the formulaic backstory and introducing unknown normies to ground us before the powered people dominate the proceedings. The film is visually monotonous. Jaume Collet-Serra, who is best known for his collaborations with Liam Neeson in such films as “Unknown” (2011), “Non-Stop” (2014), “Run All Night” (2015) and “The Commuter” (2018), pays a lot of homage to Zack Snyder’s style, especially slow motion action, which has not felt fresh since “300” (2006) after The Wachowski Sisters innovated it in “The Matrix” (1999). 

The good news is that the formulaic backstory eventually pays off. Teth Adam’s origin story gets revisited at different points in “Black Adam” to reveal the real story behind the legend. I anticipated the reveal based on the way that the early scenes hid certain characters’ faces, but it still worked and kept me invested in the protagonist’s back story. Also I have always preferred the Marvel Cinematic Universe because the fantastic elements felt grounded in real life concerns. Prior to the release date, the Iranian people, mostly women, are protesting their government’s oppression and losing their lives. Making the leader of the resistance, Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi), a woman and casting an Iranian actor are serendipitous. 

While I am sick of characters being willing to exchange a calamitous object to save the life of a loved one thus putting everyone in danger, as the voice of the people, Adrianna made convincing arguments why a person would reject the charming JSA and embrace brutal Teth Adam. The JSA does not care about the people on a day-to-day basis, just principles, and only appear when Teth Adam starts killing their enemies, which gives the wrong impression. Teth Adam may be dangerous, but his intention is decisive defeat of the enemy, and he is trying to protect his people. It is a fair argument that maybe killing bad guys who kill defenseless people is not bad, and one that most comic book movies refuse to even entertain. Silence and inaction are ways of siding with the oppressors. DCEU is getting very critical of international politics and is tired of ethical generalizations such as killing is always wrong.

While Kahndaq is possibly a fictional substitute for Egypt, current events in Iran create a backdrop that enhance the movie’s conflict in a way that feels more urgent than “Captain America: Civil War” (2016). The fictional Wachovia never moved me as a living, breathing country whereas Kahndaq is presented as oppressed for multiple millennia-democracy versus despot. Both sides are local, and their relationship with foreign powers is uneasy and purely utilitarian yet they resent each other for seeming to ally with occupiers. While the filmmakers may not have explicitly intended to show how both sides felt historically empowered to take a stand regardless of its popularity with the people or outsiders, it succeeds in alluding to the complexity of Middle Eastern politics. I am not saying that the villain is well-developed. Ishmael (Marwan Kenzari) is a power hungry, two-dimensional bore that you can see coming a mile away. Kenzari makes some throwaway lines count, and the way that he physically relates to his gun speaks to how unhinged he is in his pursuit of righting what he sees as historical wrongs.

While all this oppression may sound depressing, “Black Adam” is a funny film—funnier than some movies that bill themselves as comedies. There are plenty of joke grenades that pay off later in the film, and Johnson’s role is a grim straight man, but he finds a way to infuse humor with a slight adjustment to his face. He plays the classic fish out of water as he adjusts from the ancient to the modern world and exchanges terse quips with his more verbose, heroic counterparts. Johnson is a likeable man so despite playing a theoretically terrifying callous man with godlike powers who could be an anti-Superman, despite his vast powers, indestructibility, and rage, he is human and does have a moral code. He is incorruptible, vengeful wish fulfillment. Also all the characters get some great quips so it breaks up the slaughter. 

One of my main complaints with the MCU is that the films take a long-time creating teams, but rarely show those teams working together and having good relationships. The films prioritize focusing on internal team conflict. “Black Adam” shows the JSA as a new team, but we jump in the middle of a warm, ongoing professional relationship/friendship between Carter Hall/ Hawkman (Aldis Hodge who has escaped being cast as yet another falsely accused imprisoned black man) and Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan, who has been fine since I was a child) while a new professional/relationship, thankfully not a romance, develops between Maxine Hunkel/Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell, who took dance classes to embody the mesmerizing role, and her hard work pays off) and comic relief Al Rothstein/Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo, who?). The JSA had good chemistry, and because they are lesser-known heroes compared to Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, they felt fresh and have room to grow. They are not locked into certain dynamics and well-worm storylines. Also unlike most of their CW DC Universe counterparts, most of their television counterparts are not better incarnations of the characters like The Flash’s Grant Gustin versus Ezra Miller that viewers can accept them without reservation. They looked impressive. Their costumes were not goofy. They were colorful counterparts to Teth Adam. I am not a comic book reader so I have no idea who came first, but it did feel as if Doctor Fate felt similar to Doctor Strange though far more elegant, and Atom Smasher felt like an imitation of Ant-Man. While I loved looking at Hodge, Brosnan stole the show. Despite not being a comic reader, I am vaguely familiar with the mythology. The flaw with setting the conflict in a fictional conflict was the missed opportunity to connect Teth Adam with Hawkman through their Egyptian roots.  “Black Adam” has a post credits scene, which will have viewers begging for a sequel.

I enjoyed “Black Adam” and left moved. In a choice between democracy and despots, even a callous colossus lands on the right side. 

Side note: My mom wanted to see it because she thought that it was Adam from Genesis, and filmmakers were finally admitting that he was a man of color.