Black Adam

Our story begins in the Middle-East in the mythical land of Kandaq 2600 BC. A power hungry King Ahk-Ton forces his slaves to gather the rare gemstone eternium so he may fashion a crown that will summon six demon lords to Earth. The council of wizards, introduced in 2019’s “Shazam!,” bestow upon a young slave boy the powers of Shazam in order to end the mad king’s rule. Legend has it that when Kandaq is in dire need of a hero he shall return.

Modern day Kandaq is ruled by a gang of mercenaries who oppress the people much like the slave drivers of old. Adrianna (Sarah Shahi) and her ancestors have been tasked with making sure no one ever finds the eternium crown and so she and her brother travel to a hidden desert cave to retrieve it. She barely succeeds, only to be immediately surrounded by the mercenaries. About to be executed, she looks down and reads the ancient inscription carved in the floor and Tet-Adam/Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson) is released from his long sleep.

Black Adam is as unmerciful as he is unstoppable, as he makes short and grisly work of the mercenaries, electrocuting one in his grasp, and frying many others to charred husks. They are no match for him, since he is incapable of being harmed. Fortunately, he recognizes the woman who freed him and reluctantly becomes protector to both her and her son. He is astounded at how things have changed in 5,000 years, but his reverie is soon cut short by the arrival of The Justice Society.

Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan) and two young super heroes fly to Kandaq to restrain and capture Black Adam. A ‘battle-royale’ ensues and by the time this ultimately pointless and overdrawn fight between ‘the good guys’ is concluded you may have surmised that this is what it must be like to read a current day comic book, and you would be pretty close to the mark.

Sandwiched between the battles already mentioned is an enemy that seeks the crown in order to bring Kandaq back to world prominence and establish a literal ‘hell-on-Earth.’ Can Black Adam and The Justice Society cease fighting long enough to stop the real threat or will Adam be conquered and removed from the stage just in time for the real threat to appear?

“Black Adam” is an almost literal lifting of images, not to mention story-telling, from the comic book page to the screen. The film plays as much and draws from the appeal of both its lead actor, ‘the Rock’ (Johnson), and movie-goers decades long fascination with superheroes. Featuring a script focused overwhelmingly on fight scenes, it contains much material to be concerned about.

Objectionable Content

LANGUAGE: Heavy. God’s holy name is repeated about twice in a very off-handed way (‘god-like power’, ‘demi-god’) and once blasphemously, “I was reborn a god”. Black Adam is also sacrilegiously likened as a potential ‘savior’ of the world, but more on that later. While the F-word was not said, other cursing abounded including: sh** (6), a** (5), h*ll (6), da*n (1), and bast**ds (1) and uses of the word God. Not a kid friendly movie in this respect, the violence exceeds the level of the language.

“…and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.” —Ephesians 5:4

VIOLENCE: Heavy. Beginning with his head, a villain is graphically ripped in half. A guard kills a slave by stabbing him, then throwing the old man down a short cliff and blood is shown. A palace explodes, probably killing everyone inside. A rocket annihilates a man, leaving only his lower legs. An injured man is executed by gunshot. A person is shot in the abdomen and guns are held to people’s heads. A wife is murdered with a blade. A son is skewered with an arrow. Characters are impaled. Mercenaries stab and likewise shoot and kill many, but the highest body count belongs to the anti-hero, Black Adam. The ‘hero’ electrocutes, chars, reduces to ashes, bludgeons, buries and blows up his enemies—one by putting the mercenary’s grenade back in his own mouth with the resulting explosion implied but not seen. A character is shown dissolving away into nothingness and another is impaled with his own weapon. “Call of Duty” level video game violence that should be rated ‘R’ in an otherwise PG-13 movies reminds us not to trust the current motion picture industry’s grading system. Do not bring kids to this film.

“The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion.” —Psalms 11:5

OCCULT: Heavy. Occultic imagery abounds, beginning with the physical scarring of a pentagram on the chests of the ancient king as well as his modern day counterpart in order to honor their “demon lords.” There is a visit to hell where we see the demons that await their entry into our world. They are shown "bringing back from the dead" their servant who assumes demonic form when he re-appears on earth to fight our heroes.

SEX/NUDITY: Minor. No sex or nudity is shown in the movie, but during the prologue all the male slaves are shown shirtless. The heroine’s (aka Cyclone) costume is tight-fitting but not risqué.

WOKE ELEMENTS: Cyclone commands the wind as well as a genius level intellect, whereas the young white-male character (Atom-Smasher) is all brawn and rather simplistic, bordering on dumb. Intelligence, not counting the villains, should only be paired with non-white characters according to ‘woke-Hollywood.’

The Justice Society’s mission to ‘protect international stability,’ is probably a nod to The UN, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and other political organizations that ‘know what is best’ for the general population, regardless of what the people think.

Lastly, Dr. Fate’s helmet is said to be millions of years old, in direct contradiction to what science continues to reveal even today about our young Earth and universe.

Lessons

Aside from the extensive battle scenes, the film has an almost singular focus on death. There are several good examples of this that should be explored including the fear of death, the finality of death and victory over death.

FEAR OF DEATH. Doctor Fate warns his ally about a possible future in which he dies and Hawkman rightly responds that he does not fear death. None of us who are regenerate followers of Christ should fear death, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Jesus Christ Himself extols us where to properly place our fear and it is not with our brief lives but in the eternity that awaits us all.

“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” —Matthew 10:28

FINALITY OF PHYSICAL DEATH. Ishmael believes that if he were to die with the crown he could return with the power of the demon lords and therefore conquer death. Likewise, Black Adam appears to have died only to return when needed. Not to put too fine a point on it, but death will touch each of us, however—for those that belong to our Lord—it has been ultimately defeated. And that is the greatest comfort of all, is it not?

“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…” —Hebrews 9:27

“He will swallow up death forever. The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.” —Isaiah 25:8

VICTORY OVER DEATH. In trying to coax Black Adam into a more traditionally heroic path, he is told, “You have the power to be the destroyer of this world, but you can be its savior.” Perhaps a super-hero movie feels it can use these words flippantly, but we as Christians should not accept this. True victory belongs to our Lord and our Lord alone.

“… but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” —2 Timothy 1:10

And at the end of human history there is only one outcome for us who put our faith and our trust in Jesus Christ.

“… and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” —Revelation 21:4

Final Thoughts

“Black Adam” is perhaps the most comic-book like movie you are ever likely to see. Adams’ back story is more poignant than the first half of the movie would lead you to believe, but this doesn’t excuse the choice of an action heavy narrative over solid story telling. The movie is a barrage of battle sequences strewn together, connected by minimal exposition with some humor in the vein of the older Marvel movies (Phases 1 through 3).

Teens and those who appreciate style over substance will not be disappointed, however, taken as a whole, the film has flaws. This, in addition to the language and the violence make this unsuitable as a family movie and likewise inappropriate for Christians.

• Violence: Heavy to Extreme
• Vulgar/Crude language: Heavy
• Occult: Heavy
• Profane language: Moderate
• Wokeism: Moderate
• Nudity: Minor
• Sex: None
• Drugs/Alcohol: None

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