The Rock's 'Black Adam' is a bland and predictable superhero movie, critics say

Not adjacent Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson could salvage Warner Bros.' latest entrant into the DC Extended Universe.

"Black Adam," which premieres Friday, did not impressment critics, generating a meager 53% connected Rotten Tomatoes from 102 reviews arsenic of Thursday afternoon. While expectations are that the movie tin propulsion betwixt $55 cardinal and $75 cardinal during its opening weekend, mediocre connection of rima could dash the reportedly $200 cardinal film's hopes earlier it has a accidental to instrumentality off.

The movie centers connected Black Adam, a antheral who was bestowed the almighty powerfulness of the gods, but uses those gifts for vengeance. He is imprisoned for astir 5,000 years and emerges successful modern times to dole retired his ain unsocial signifier of justice.

Unlike his accepted superhero counterparts — successful this movie it's the Justice Society, not the Justice League — Black Adam is not averse to the usage of deadly force.

Here's what critics had to accidental astir "Black Adam" up of its theatrical debut:

"Watching an enactment movie shouldn't consciousness similar a chore, but 'Black Adam' does," wrote Kristy Puchko successful her reappraisal of the movie for Mashable. "Amid a slew of publically damned decisions, Warner Bros. has released a DC Extended Universe movie that is much exhausting than exciting, spooling retired tedious exposition alongside disfigured enactment for a muddled messiness of a movie that squanders its large fund and the promising prima powerfulness of Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, and Noah Centineo."

Puchko noted that "Black Adam" rushes done the introductions of Cyclone, Atom Smasher, Hawkman and Doctor Fate "so rapidly that it's really comical."

"In their unreserved to 'meet the team,' the screenwriters ramble out more hasty exposition that's hard to grasp amid the cross-cutting of truthful galore introductions and quirky cameos (which I'll admit are a thrill)," she said. "'Black Adam' is successful specified a hurry to transportation this batch of C-list heroes into their conflict with the protagonist, that your caput mightiness beryllium spinning."

Read the afloat reappraisal from Mashable.

"'Black Adam' isn't bad," said Mark Kennedy successful his reappraisal of the movie for the Associated Press. "It's conscionable predictable and color-by-numbers, stealing from different films similar an intelligence spot super-villain."

Kennedy noted that Johnson is simply a earthy prime to play Black Adam, capable to premix "might with humor," but yet his show and the wide movie were "let down by a derivative and baggy screenplay."

"[The film] goes from 1 convulsive country to different similar a video crippled successful bid to insubstantial implicit a crippled some undercooked and overcooked," helium said. "At 1 point, with the assemblage exhausted by each the carnage, they present skeletons who emergence up arsenic a legion from hell, conscionable what we wanted."

Read the afloat reappraisal from the Associated Press.

For Alonso Duralde of The Wrap "Black Adam" felt similar "both excessively overmuch and not enough," a movie wherever the "narrative gambits are helped by a sludgy ocular benignant that's either distractingly artificial oregon dispiritingly gloomy, but erstwhile it manages to beryllium both."

"The ensemble does what it tin with the material, but nary one's going to beryllium including this successful their eventual life-achievement reels," helium said. "There's a jarring consciousness of four-quadrant casting astatine enactment present — Brosnan for the parents! Centineo for the teens! Skateboard kid for the tweens! — that reads excessively evidently arsenic a selling strategy and not arsenic a formed of characters who would really beryllium interacting successful these circumstances."

Like galore different critics, Duralde said the movie tries to marque a correlation betwixt the Justice Society's abrupt quality successful Kahndaq, a fictional state successful the Middle East, and past U.S. imperialism, it stops abbreviated of making immoderate meaningful statement.

Read the afloat reappraisal from The Wrap.

Critics besides narrowed successful connected the communicative choices of "Black Adam." The superhero movie tries to marque its titular quality arsenic a vengeful, acheronian anti-hero, but does thing story-wise to elevate oregon redefine the genre.

"'Black Adam' truthful desperately wants to beryllium a darker and gristlier mentation of the aforesaid hamburger that audiences person been served implicit and implicit again for the past 15 years, but Johnson — who's besides a shaper connected the film, and a part-time designer of this cinematic beingness successful summation to our ain — can't abide the thought of doing thing that mightiness permission adjacent 1 assemblage subordinate behind," said David Ehrlich successful his reappraisal of the film.

He called "Black Adam" "exhaustingly derivative," noting that the movie felt similar it had been "audience-tested wrong an inch of its life."

Not adjacent the main antagonist of the movie could animate critics.

"They squad up to combat what mightiness beryllium the azygous astir forgettable villain successful comic publication movie history, which is simply a chaotic happening to accidental astir a elephantine hellhole demon with a pentagram scar crossed its full chest," Ehrlich wrote.

Read the afloat reappraisal from IndieWire.

Johnson has been connected to the Black Adam quality astatine slightest 15 years, explained Matt Singer successful his reappraisal of the movie for ScreenCrush. The task has won and mislaid directors and writers for years, but the erstwhile WWE wrestler has ever been attached.

"Alas, 15 years of enactment produced a beauteous middling movie, 1 that does not look to bespeak what indispensable person been hundreds of hours of penning and countless screenplay drafts," helium said.

"Instead, Black Adam plays similar a committee-made merchandise designed to zhoosh up the stagnant DC Extended Universe with a monolithic prima and a batch of caller heroes to rotation disconnected into aboriginal movies," Singer said. "After 2 hours of dour array setting, you're near with a wide absorption for DC's cinematic aboriginal — and a batch little involvement successful really watching it."

Read the afloat reappraisal from ScreenCrush.

Disclosure: Comcast is the genitor institution of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Rotten Tomatoes.