Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Black Adam review says the film misses just about every mark it intends to hit, ending up as an origin story better left untold.

Oy vey, I was SO unprepared for the mind boggling mess that is Black Adam.

With a seemingly unlimited CGI budget, one of the most charismatic and one of the most high paid actors of our time, plus Viola Davis and Pierce Brosnan, I expected to much more.

I mean, I love Dwayne Johnson just as much as the next girl, maybe even more, but from start to finish his signature panache is cloaked in a black shroud as he looms and hovers and glares. One or two quips must get us through the entire two-plus hour explode-a-thon.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra, who did a decent job on Jungle Cruise, has come up with a film that is ridiculous, overcooked and disjointed from the start. That’s when Black Adam, an original, super-juiced, man-god who has been out of commission for 5,000 years, is released and set free to ravage at whim or not (he can’t decide).

He has to contend with an unfamiliar world, a pack of B-list superheroes sent to reign him in, and a corrupt regime that is oppressing the citizens of the fictional Middle Eastern country of Kahndaq, where Black Adam was born all those millennia ago.

Throughout the film characters and audiences are relentlessly pummeled by lightning bolts, fiery jolts and villainous dolts with such intense abandon that thumbs start subconsciously twitching for a fast forward button.

And yet, it goes on and on, with one ludicrous plot “twist” after another. Just when you think you’re about to be released from Black Adam’s immortal coil, the damn film starts all over again, and there’s an army of the dead to contend with. Please! Make it stop!

Still, it pays to endure to the end. That post-credit scene that must be included in all super hero movies is one of the best parts of the film.

Well intentioned to be sure, it’s hard to find much to like about this unfortunate misfire. So many resources and opportunities regrettably wasted. How is the Rock ever going to be elected president when he’s involved in such an epic fail? 

Rated PG-13

Two Hours 5 Minutes

If, after reading this Black Adam review, you still feel the need to see it, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Black Adam review says the film misses just about every mark it intends to hit, ending up as an origin story better left untold.