"Well, I do."
After an extensive prologue that takes us from ancient Khandaq to the present day (via a link to Shazam!) and sets up the backstory very clearly, followed by a lively introduction to the newly-unleashed Black Adam, the Justice Society is called upon to take him down in typical superhero style and stop a standard villain. Dwayne Johnson in his passion-project role is a suitable physical presence as Black Adam, but at times his lack of facial expression makes the character hard to read, although his single-minded anti-superhero attitude works well in the story. It also does not help that the character is torn between being as dark-natured as suggested but has to be portrayed within the confines of a kid-friendly superhero popcorn movie. The other superheroes suffer by being pale rehashes of other on-screen characters already seen (Falcon, Storm, AntMan, etc.). Effects are impressive, if at times frustrated by unnecessary slo-mo moments and a flat painterly Snyder-style. What the film does bring is an interesting point that 'regular' superheroes tend to see things in a clear cut good vs. bad way, which is brought into question when faced with the Black Adam character. What we see in Black Adam the character is rather like the film itself: serviceable and watchable but simply slightly dull and a bit too straight-laced to land the occasional successful comedic quip and is clearly straining to be let off the leash more.
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