Who is Black Adam and why should you care? A spoiler-free guide to the Black Adam franchise and the new Black Adam movie “The Children of Men”.
In my life as a movie reviewer, I tend to go where the action is. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy watching movies that are not as well written or acted as the ones I tend to watch. I do and that is why I enjoy the following recent blockbusters for their unique plot lines, unique characters or just the overall plot. But, when it comes to Black Adam, the movie just didn’t make sense.
Black Adam (Michael Keaton) is a masked vigilante who takes on the crime problem of London, England. When his masked identity is revealed, he goes on a killing spree with the help of two former soldiers, played by Michael Caine and Jeremy Irons. The story starts at the end of the 1960s in London, where Black Adam is the sole survivor of a plane crash. He kills the pilot, Michael (Michael Keaton) and his copilot, Bill Tanner (Christopher Lambert) when they bring him through their crash site. The crash site has a red button with the words “You are Black Adam” etched on it.
To prevent the police from figuring out his identity, Black Adam takes the bodies to a farm where he hides them and prepares to kill the remaining police officers to keep the crime under control. But, Black Adam never expected to meet a young, innocent boy called Marcus (Ben Barnes). He is a good man who just happens to be the son of the late mayor of London, the same man with the red button on the crash site. As Black Adam struggles with his new identity, he meets Marcus and learns that he is a good man himself.
The rest of the movie takes place on the farm as Black Adam and his team struggle to find a way to take down a corrupt politician who is making inroads into the government and a corrupt religious organization, headed by a man called Father Gabriel (Michael Wincott). Black Adam also finds an old girlfriend who is now a member of the religious group.
The movie tries to tell a complicated story, but it fails time after time. There are some very interesting themes in the film but the story doesn’t make sense for an origin story of a vigilante who kills criminals in all sorts of ways.
That said