A long-awaited DC Universe movie has just hit theaters. Black Adam, a DC anti-hero, just got his first stand-alone movie. This movie tells the story of his origin, then follows the events 5000 years later after he is freed from his imprisonment. 

With all the potential of making a great first movie for a character that is not as known by many in the DC universe, the movie leans more towards sub-par than great.

For starters, the movie lacks a good plot. The movie contains multiple instances where it has forgettable scenes that are simply uninteresting. It gives off the sense that the directors are trying to add random, non-important scenes that drag on just so they can have an intermission between fight scenes.

For example, the middle of the film has a scene where the character Amon is eating hamburgers that his uncle buys. This scene, however, is unappealing and doesn’t do anything to progress the story.

This hamburger scene and many others like it are the only way the director could add more time to the movie without increasing the lengths of battles throughout.

The lackluster plot of the movie also transitions to some of the characters as well, primarily Black Adam. 

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson who stars as Black Adam didn’t do the best job portraying his character. Johnson is known for roles in multiple movies such as the “Fast & Furious” series and the “Jumanji” series. In both movie series, he has received positive feedback about the characters he portrays.

However, in this movie, it seems as if Johnson is out of place. Johnson does have some good moments as Black Adam in the movie showing off his fighting strength and magic skills, but his personality is stale.

Early in the movie, Black Adam converses with Amon about himself. In the conversation, Black Adam explains his powers and how he got them. Later on during the final battle, the movie shows what actually happened the day Black Adam obtained his powers. 

This scene does a good job at expressing Black Adam’s sadness and anger the day he got his powers. However, the problem with this is how they put this scene at the very end of the movie during the final battle against Sabbac.

Exploring the backstory of characters this late into the movie causes viewers to forget about backstory due to it being washed away by the climax of the movie. 

To give Black Adam more emotion to his present character, it would be more beneficial to have Black Adam explain his backstory to Amon rather than having a small scene of what happened during the final battle. 

Although there were a lot of things this movie could have done better, credit does have to be given to the CGI of the movie. In all the fight scenes, there was always a big jolt of energy and excitement as they include a lot of cool, flashy lights and creative camera angles.

This is especially true in the final fight scene where Black Adam and the justice society face the main villain, Sabbac. These additions into the movie do a good job covering up some of the flaws the movie has. 

Overall, although having some good moments, the lack of plot and character development from Black Adam really makes this movie not as great as other DC movies that came before it. 

However, this is Black Adam’s first movie, and there is no doubt that more movies centered around him will be made. This will give the directors and cast more opportunities to make better sequels to the first installment.