Black Adam (2022)

This month’s review is about a DC movie starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Black Adam. The movie is about a slave named Teth-Adam, who was bestowed the powers of the ancient Egyptian gods and after avenging the deaths of his wife and son, and by that I mean murdering the ones responsible, he was imprisoned in a tomb. However, he was freed five thousand years later in order to liberate his home of Kahndaq from oppression yet again, allying himself with a group of costumed heroes. This character is a pretty good example of someone who, after losing everything they had ever cared about, is willing to cross the line between good and evil in order to achieve what he deems justice, but ultimately, every action he takes is to ensure the collective greater good.

This particular superhero genre, featuring an anti-hero, presents the protagonist as a deeply troubled character, someone who is so emotionally shattered that he sees himself as neither a good samaritan or a bringer of wretched destruction. He is just a tormented soul who wants his so-called mission to be over with, so that he can return to whatever life — or living hell — he had left, but in the end, he realizes that the world, or at least a part of it, is a much better place with him in it. From now on, he will answer the call whenever his time comes, retaining his “punch first, ask questions later” attitude. The previous line is the reason why, in the post-credit scenes, the protector of Kahndaq encounters a certain someone in blue tights and a red cape, so that maybe next time we will see the Man in Black versus the Man of Steel.

F. Garioni