‘Black Adam’ Early Reviews Say The Rock Makes a Great Superhero

Dwayne Johnson always had the physique of a superhero, but finally, after years and years of development, he is officially playing one onscreen. In Black Adam, The Rock portrays a man of antiquity given enormous magical powers by the gods. Awakening in the present day, he confronts the modern world with anger and violence. (Can you blame him? I mean, look at the modern world.) It’s then up to the heroes of DC Comics’ Justice Society, including Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan) to stop him.

Black Adam has been in the works for the better part of the decade. For a long time, the character was supposed to appear as the villain in Shazam! but he eventually got spun off into this movie where Johnson could take center stage. And after all that time, the movie is finally debuting in theaters. Fresh off the film’s premiere, the first critics’ reviews have appeared online, and thus far, the critical consensus is that Black Adam is a really good showcase for Johnson as a badass superhero. They’re a little more mixed on the rest of the film, although most have good things to say about the appearances from the Justice Society, and were very high on the movie’s big action sequences. A few of the reviews were outright negative, though, saying it has “no emotional depth” with humor that’s “cringe.”

Here’s a sampling of the Black Adam reviews so far:

Black Adam opens in theaters on October 21. We’ll have lots more coverage of the latest DC Comics blockbuster in the days ahead.