Black Adam

Among the superpowers possessed by the title character in Black Adam are super strength, supersonic flight, levitation, indestructibility, and impeccable comic timing.

It seems the only thing that can defeat him is the incoherent screenplay for this superhero origin story, which tries to conquer humankind with stilted dialogue and a lack of meaningful thematic subtext or moral complexity.

Even by the standards of big-budget comic-book adaptations, this sprawling special-effects bonanza emphasizes spectacle over substance, and formula over freshness.

The story is set in Kahndaq, a near-future metropolis under military rule, where an archaeologist (Sarah Shahi) discovers a crown artifact in an ancient tomb where she also inadvertently awakens the warrior Teth Adam (Dwayne Johnson), who fought for freedom on the same land almost 5,000 years ago.

A giant statue of Adam still stands as a testament to his legendary heroics, and his reincarnation is hailed as the second coming of a crusader for the oppressed. But his arrival yields a warning from a ragtag American superhero quartet calling themselves the Justice Society — Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell).

They insist Adam is a violent loose cannon who’s hiding secrets, is a threat to peace, and should be imprisoned. When a demonic adversary from the past is resurrected, Adam must decide who he can trust during an elaborate final showdown with the fate of the world at stake.

It seems Johnson is tailor-made to play a superhero, and Black Adam supposedly is a longtime passion project. He brings his usual charismatic screen presence to a role that doesn’t require much else.

Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra (Jungle Cruise) keeps the action moving at a hyperactive pace, which at least helps disguise the logical gaps and thinly sketched characters. Every scene, from outer space to the bottom of the ocean over the span of five millennia, is dominated by over-the-top visual flourishes.

Of course, most superhero films these days don’t have much of a narrative payoff, existing mostly as a link to sequels and spinoffs in an extended universe. This installment is no exception, at times resembling a feature-length trailer for a future teaming with some Justice League heavy-hitters.

In the process, it squanders a potentially intriguing back story rooted in tragedy, redemption, and introspective self-discovery, relegating its antihero to a video-game vigilante who fits in rather than stands out.

Rated PG-13, 124 minutes.