Shazam: Fury of the Gods – Review
I finally got around to watching Shazam: Fury of the Gods. I rather enjoyed the first Shazam movie and I am a fan of the superhero that I still call Captain Marvel.
I am also aware that this sequel flopped at the theatres, just like most of the recent DCU movies. The question is: Why did it flop and is this just a part of the DC curse?
I thought it was a decent movie. I’m not disappointed that I waited for it to stream but I also don’t feel like I wasted my time watching it. It was fun and enjoyable but in this season where theatre attendance in general is down, that is not enough.
There was a couple of problems with it. One was that I thought that the CGI was not the best. CGI has opened new possibilities for action scenes that would have been cost prohibitive just a couple of decades ago. But we have gotten spoiled with good CGI and when it is not good, it really sticks out.
Also, I have never been a huge fan of the Marvel Family (which they don’t use that term anymore, since they have moved away from Captain Marvel). Even when I have liked it, I prefer the smaller version of Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel, Jr., and Mary Marvel (to use their old names). This expanded family doesn’t work for me, at least on the level of a superhero team. The characters are interesting and fun, and I like the family element, just not with the powers.
There is also the issue of Billy Batson and Captain Marvel/Shazam. The trick with this character is how to portray the adult version of the superhero. In the original comics, he acted as an adult when in the adult body. Then back in the late 1980s, the comics portrayed him as an immature kid in an adult body, which is the take they use in the movies. My problem is that in the movies, Billy Batson comes across as more mature than when in superhero form. It’s almost as if when the powers arrive, they replace some of his maturity.
There were a few other things that bugged me. The movie claimed that the staff, before its was broken, prevented the gods from entering into our realm. And yet in the first Wonder Woman movie, Ares is clearly in our realm and causing all sorts of problems.
This all sounds like I hated the movie but I didn’t. I enjoyed it. But I can also see how it flopped. yes there were some great scenes in the movie. I liked the scenes with the unicorns and the final battle was done quite well. But in today’s market, “good enough” is not good enough.
I hope those in charge of the new DCU movies will learn the lessons that movie goers are much more discerning in which superhero movies they are going to see.
