Black Adam, in theaters Friday, Oct. 21, may not be everyone’s cup of tea so far, but to dismiss the superhero film altogether so quickly is doing a disservice to those the movie was intended for.
Fans of superhero flicks are more often than not eager to share their thoughts, criticisms, comparisons, and reviews as soon as they watch the movie, which can lead to missing the bigger picture. I tend to lean more toward Martin Scorsese’s point of view when it comes to these types of movies (he once famously said he doesn’t think they’re “cinema.”) For me, most of them lack emotional depth, the characters lack complexity and diversity, and the stories are usually bereft of substance—but I didn’t feel that way about Black Adam.
During the premiere in New York City last week, no one could stop talking about how long it took for Black Adam to come to life. When presenting the movie at the screening, Dwayne Johnson, who stars in the film as the titular antihero, said news that he would be playing the comic book character was first announced 15 years ago. Johnson has since built a solid resumé as a movie star and entertainment mogul, but the way he speaks about this film shows that this is the role of a lifetime for him.
It’s clear that his determination to stay committed to the project for over a decade is bigger than him. When you’ve been doing this long enough, it’s easy to differentiate between actors who accept a role for a paycheck and those who take on a project with a greater purpose in mind. For Johnson, it seems like this role represents a way for him to influence younger viewers the way the comic book character influenced him as a child.
When chatting with the actor on the red carpet at the premiere, he spoke about how timely the movie’s release has been with the recent massive push for diversity in Hollywood. “It means everything to me. That’s something that has always been a lead foot for us at Seven Bucks, especially with Black Adam,” Johnson tells Complex. “I love Superman, I grew up a Superman [fan], and DC! But when I saw my first Black Adam comic, he was badass, he was cool. He had brown skin, so I identified with him. And I thought, ‘I want to be that guy!’ So that’s why I’ve been pushing for this movie for so long, for so many years.”