I usually give a bad movie 20 or 30 minutes before giving up. But after 15 minutes with Shazam: Fury of the Gods I felt my will to live draining away.
Every line is a cliche. Every character is cardboard. The stupidity, the pure commercial banality, spills off the screen like a hideous multicolored tsunami. Make it stop!
Just for reference: I didn't hate the first Shazam! Movie. It was lightweight, but not horrible. I liked Black Adam even more. It's a truly weird movie, and I never did figure out why the title character had the Shazam lightning bolt on his chest - but it kept me interested all the way.
Unfortunately, Fury of the Gods really did feel like the gods were punishing me for not doing something more intelligent with my time. Truly, a new low for comic-book adaptations.
(On an entirely separate note: I still do hope that someone, someday will do a proper movie starring the REAL "Captain Marvel" - nowadays known for idiotic copyright reasons as Shazam. The old 1940s comics, beautifully drawn by CC Beck, are well worth a look. They were more overtly humorous than their obvious competition, but never tongue-in-cheek. And they had a certain fairy-tale quality that could work really well on the big screen.)
Every line is a cliche. Every character is cardboard. The stupidity, the pure commercial banality, spills off the screen like a hideous multicolored tsunami. Make it stop!
Just for reference: I didn't hate the first Shazam! Movie. It was lightweight, but not horrible. I liked Black Adam even more. It's a truly weird movie, and I never did figure out why the title character had the Shazam lightning bolt on his chest - but it kept me interested all the way.
Unfortunately, Fury of the Gods really did feel like the gods were punishing me for not doing something more intelligent with my time. Truly, a new low for comic-book adaptations.
(On an entirely separate note: I still do hope that someone, someday will do a proper movie starring the REAL "Captain Marvel" - nowadays known for idiotic copyright reasons as Shazam. The old 1940s comics, beautifully drawn by CC Beck, are well worth a look. They were more overtly humorous than their obvious competition, but never tongue-in-cheek. And they had a certain fairy-tale quality that could work really well on the big screen.)