At this point going in with zero expectations for a DC movie is just about the best thing you can do. “Black Adam” is the latest DC character getting the silver screen treatment, and on paper at least, it seems like it could have been a step up for the franchise’s quality-shaky flicks. The DC Extended Universe continues to struggle to find balance between the darker action movie genre and keeping true to its films’ comic book roots. And while there are attempts to bridge this gap, “Black Adam” is average at best, another rehash of the same old formulaic storytelling, beats, performances, CG inundation and character arcs, which sink it to bare mediocrity. The film stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, whose typical charisma can carry subpar scripts to a halfway-fun and tolerable conclusion. But here, The Rock has chosen to shake off that persona in favor of the sullen and stoic champion Black Adam (or Teth-Adam as he is called in the film) of the fictional city of Kahndaq, wielder of Wizard Shazam’s mighty power. While the actor required no extra muscle padding in his super suit, his acting doesn’t have strength enough to capture that kind of personality while also making it interesting to watch. Thus, the hero, or rather the anti-hero, of this story, feels absent from the overall film, despite having a good chunk of screen time. More present is the supporting cast, all of whom we’ve yet to meet in the DCEU. We are thrust into their story, and while we’re given their backgrounds in a way you’d expect from the paint-by-numbers, plot-hole heavy script from Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani, we don’t get any solid or interesting information from it: It’s incredibly strange for a script to be filled with so much exposition, yet not explain anything.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for plopping us into a story with little to no background on the characters in it, but it doesn’t work here. Because of that strong stoicism of Johnson’s portrayal and the surface-level writing at play, it’s the supporting cast that moves the story forward, not Teth-Adam. Thankfully, director Jaume Collet-Serra never lets the pacing drag. He peppers the film well with action sequence after action sequence, and a fight is never far off. It helps, too, that there are two opposing sides to Teth-Adam’s storyline. On one side, we have Intergang, stereotypical baddies looking to find an ancient crown that will grant the wearer the power of the underworld in order to rule our world. Teth-Adam was granted his powers 5,000 years ago in order to stop the crown from being used. On the other, we have the “heroes” of the Justice Society: Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Atom Smasher and Cyclone (Aldis Hodge, Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centineo and Quintessa Swindell, respectively). They’re trying to subdue and arrest Teth-Adam because he prefers violence and killing over simple apprehending, which is more their style.

In the middle is the imposing, aloof and jacked Teth-Adam, who helps whom he chooses and takes no prisoners. On his side is the stubbornly idealistic and rebellious historian, widow and single mom Adrianna (Sarah Shahi), her superhero-obsessed teenage son, Amon (Bodhi Sabongui) and her fun-loving electrician brother, Karim (Mohammed Amer). All of them simply want their city to be free again, and hope that Teth-Adam will be their champion once again. Partly because there are just so many characters and overlapping needs, we don’t get a whole lot of depth out of any of them. We don’t know their history, their origins or even their connections beyond the “we’ve been friends for a long time” kind of lines between Fate and Hawkman. When the obligatory heroic moves and sacrifices are made, they feel less emotionally impactful and more like a checked box in the list of what will inevitably happen here. In that regard, “Black Adam” suffers greatly from predictability and is perhaps the most passive viewing experience I have had at the theater in a while, especially in IMAX. Nothing was really noteworthily awful or wonderful. The special effects are on par with the machines that churn out these CGI-filled films. And with the exception of the sound mix being incredibly subpar and there being way too many instances of that Snyder slo-mo effect in use, nothing stands on one side of quality or the other. Kudos to Johnson for breaking out of that box he’s been put in (or has put himself in), and trying to go dark and solemn for this role. Unfortunately, nothing around him supports that, and he’s not strong enough to support a film like this on his own, regardless of how much he looks the part. If only “Black Adam” were the ushering of a new era of diversely cast, action-packed storytelling. But alas, we’re still waiting on our own champion for that. On screens this week: The heartwrenching story of Mamie Till-Mobley’s fight for justice after the brutal murder of her son is brought to screen in “Till.” Horror fans can “Prey for the Devil,” Cate Blanchett picks up a baton in the mysterious “Tár” and — in time for election season — “Call Jane” rings in the drama surrounding the early days in the fight for abortion rights in the U.S. On Netflix, Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key lend their voices to the stop-motion “Wendell & Wild,” and the adaptation of war novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” also drops on the streaming site. On Apple TV+ Ron Howard and Brian Glazer bring the documentary “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues” to jazz fans everywhere.

At this point going in with zero expectations for a DC movie is just about the best thing you can do.

“Black Adam” is the latest DC character getting the silver screen treatment, and on paper at least, it seems like it could have been a step up for the franchise’s quality-shaky flicks. The DC Extended Universe continues to struggle to find balance between the darker action movie genre and keeping true to its films’ comic book roots.

And while there are attempts to bridge this gap, “Black Adam” is average at best, another rehash of the same old formulaic storytelling, beats, performances, CG inundation and character arcs, which sink it to bare mediocrity.

The film stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, whose typical charisma can carry subpar scripts to a halfway-fun and tolerable conclusion. But here, The Rock has chosen to shake off that persona in favor of the sullen and stoic champion Black Adam (or Teth-Adam as he is called in the film) of the fictional city of Kahndaq, wielder of Wizard Shazam’s mighty power. While the actor required no extra muscle padding in his super suit, his acting doesn’t have strength enough to capture that kind of personality while also making it interesting to watch. Thus, the hero, or rather the anti-hero, of this story, feels absent from the overall film, despite having a good chunk of screen time.

More present is the supporting cast, all of whom we’ve yet to meet in the DCEU. We are thrust into their story, and while we’re given their backgrounds in a way you’d expect from the paint-by-numbers, plot-hole heavy script from Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani, we don’t get any solid or interesting information from it: It’s incredibly strange for a script to be filled with so much exposition, yet not explain anything.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for plopping us into a story with little to no background on the characters in it, but it doesn’t work here.

Because of that strong stoicism of Johnson’s portrayal and the surface-level writing at play, it’s the supporting cast that moves the story forward, not Teth-Adam.

Thankfully, director Jaume Collet-Serra never lets the pacing drag. He peppers the film well with action sequence after action sequence, and a fight is never far off. It helps, too, that there are two opposing sides to Teth-Adam’s storyline.

On one side, we have Intergang, stereotypical baddies looking to find an ancient crown that will grant the wearer the power of the underworld in order to rule our world. Teth-Adam was granted his powers 5,000 years ago in order to stop the crown from being used.

On the other, we have the “heroes” of the Justice Society: Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Atom Smasher and Cyclone (Aldis Hodge, Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centineo and Quintessa Swindell, respectively). They’re trying to subdue and arrest Teth-Adam because he prefers violence and killing over simple apprehending, which is more their style.

In the middle is the imposing, aloof and jacked Teth-Adam, who helps whom he chooses and takes no prisoners. On his side is the stubbornly idealistic and rebellious historian, widow and single mom Adrianna (Sarah Shahi), her superhero-obsessed teenage son, Amon (Bodhi Sabongui) and her fun-loving electrician brother, Karim (Mohammed Amer). All of them simply want their city to be free again, and hope that Teth-Adam will be their champion once again.

Partly because there are just so many characters and overlapping needs, we don’t get a whole lot of depth out of any of them. We don’t know their history, their origins or even their connections beyond the “we’ve been friends for a long time” kind of lines between Fate and Hawkman. When the obligatory heroic moves and sacrifices are made, they feel less emotionally impactful and more like a checked box in the list of what will inevitably happen here.

In that regard, “Black Adam” suffers greatly from predictability and is perhaps the most passive viewing experience I have had at the theater in a while, especially in IMAX. Nothing was really noteworthily awful or wonderful. The special effects are on par with the machines that churn out these CGI-filled films. And with the exception of the sound mix being incredibly subpar and there being way too many instances of that Snyder slo-mo effect in use, nothing stands on one side of quality or the other.

Kudos to Johnson for breaking out of that box he’s been put in (or has put himself in), and trying to go dark and solemn for this role. Unfortunately, nothing around him supports that, and he’s not strong enough to support a film like this on his own, regardless of how much he looks the part.

If only “Black Adam” were the ushering of a new era of diversely cast, action-packed storytelling. But alas, we’re still waiting on our own champion for that.

On screens this week: The heartwrenching story of Mamie Till-Mobley’s fight for justice after the brutal murder of her son is brought to screen in “Till.” Horror fans can “Prey for the Devil,” Cate Blanchett picks up a baton in the mysterious “Tár” and — in time for election season — “Call Jane” rings in the drama surrounding the early days in the fight for abortion rights in the U.S. On Netflix, Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key lend their voices to the stop-motion “Wendell & Wild,” and the adaptation of war novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” also drops on the streaming site. On Apple TV+ Ron Howard and Brian Glazer bring the documentary “Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues” to jazz fans everywhere.

“Black Adam”

124 minutes

Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, intense action and some language.

2 stars