A bloated yet perfectly average superhero movie which arrives late at the party and really feels incohesive as we wonder what is its place in the yet unknown state of the movie universe it belongs to. It feels it is handling too much and yet not sticking the landing in many good ideas that were explored here.
--- WARNING: MILD SPOILERS AHEAD, but nothing super spoilery ---
The biggest detriment for me was the lack of emotional connection to the characters in this movie with exception of perhaps the main character, Black Adam. For the main characters per se, that is, the civilians and Adam himself, they had character arcs that were perfectly okay for the plot and their motivations were, although a bit unsubdued at all, felt right and fit Adam's overall motivation and arc. The Justice Society however, what a missed opportunity. The best adjectives I can describe their entire existence in this movie is: unearned and lacking.
Like in Batman v Superman, too many solo-movie-deserving characters are introduced here in a voice over exposition scene, which is the worst way to do so; and because they have to share the screen with the main character, villains, and many other elements and themes; they are underdeveloped to a point of unearning the emotional moments they have during and especially at the climax of the movie. And unfortunately, due to the lateness of their arrival to the overall superhero sphere, their chosen visual representation of the powers and the characters themselves, it wouldn't surprise me to hear they remind of similar visual cues to the likes of Dr Strange, Antman, Xmen and even Black Panther. And so, everything is rushed so that DC can catch up to 15 years of Marvel's development without putting in the work and time to earn it.
Nowadays, it is hard to present the same elements you encounter in every comic book in a fresh and unique way without having to redefine them so they don't seem like copies of others. And it certainly didn't help some filmmaking choices the movie unfortunately does which have become a staple of modern superhero movies but, because this movie arrived so late and these are so frequent, they come across as just cliche and cheesy this time around: some choices of music will date the movie soon and felt on the nose, similar to the comedy; the slow motion scenes, while some cool looking, were used in excess and unnecessarily, making even more noticeably apparent the CGI (which in essence the whole point of CGI is to try to make it seem as realistic as possible, so if too noticeable it results in a subpar representation) and finally the pacing.
The pacing in this movie was all over the place, unable to present the story until halfway in, presenting plot twists after plot twists without any apparent reason but to doubt the motivation of characters and things. It felt like the entire movie was taking us for a ride, making us believe one thing and then changing it when it was needed. And it certainly didn't help the handling of the lore, with an introduction flashback scene that was unnecessarily long and drawn out, heavy dumps of exposition sprinkled throughout every conversation and encounter and finally the rewrite of Black Adam. When I saw the trailer I was willing to accept they would turn him into a sort of superhero, similar to what Disney was doing with their villains where they weren't entirely evil but something makes them more human and they have a motivation. The problem is that Black Adam already has a motivation in the comics, and it is a pretty good one. In fact, he has a very similar motivation in this movie with the only difference that in the comics he leans more towards Dr Doom or General Zod when it comes to the way he treats others that aren't his kind or his people. He is supposed to be evil or more dark in his view of morality so that he is the counterpart of Shazam, who is meant to be the hero. They would really need a good motivation behind their rivalry (better than Batman v Superman's one) to justify their eventual rivalry. I understand and support humanizing our villains, but there's a difference between layering their personality and making them antiheros with a willingness to kill yet good in nature.
Now don't get me wrong. The movie accomplishes a lot of good, most of the action scenes are great, the visual style is vibrant and engaging, the characters have motivations and there's a story to tell here. It's just that the story it is telling is not entirely new or refreshing, and neither are the themes. Most of them have been seen before, more than once and we are reaching a point in the "Superhero fever" era where it is really hard to stand out or do something different. I personally liked Shazam more because I felt it had a new story to tell with themes we haven't seen before in Marvel or DC, and that's why it was such a hit. However, the biggest good this movie does is that it is a great story for those whose turn was it to feel represented. I feel this movie would be most enjoyed by those middle-eastern kids who now are starting to get some heroes to protect their cities (for a change). I wait patiently for the moment my own country has a superhero representation in Marvel or DC. I think this movie is perfectly enjoyable for kids and families, it has good messages, an engaging plot and action scenes, and interesting characters. I just personally feel a bit of superhero fatigue. I had a hard time engaging with it because it wasn't telling me something I didn't know so all I was left with was the flaws that it had. I sincerely hope people had a better time with it than I did and at best I see it as yet another addition to the superhero movie genre but at worst I simply didn't see it break ground in any capacity. And the biggest problem I have is lack of context, where is the DC universe headed? Is there one? If this movie belongs to it, when does it take place?
--- WARNING: MILD SPOILERS AHEAD, but nothing super spoilery ---
The biggest detriment for me was the lack of emotional connection to the characters in this movie with exception of perhaps the main character, Black Adam. For the main characters per se, that is, the civilians and Adam himself, they had character arcs that were perfectly okay for the plot and their motivations were, although a bit unsubdued at all, felt right and fit Adam's overall motivation and arc. The Justice Society however, what a missed opportunity. The best adjectives I can describe their entire existence in this movie is: unearned and lacking.
Like in Batman v Superman, too many solo-movie-deserving characters are introduced here in a voice over exposition scene, which is the worst way to do so; and because they have to share the screen with the main character, villains, and many other elements and themes; they are underdeveloped to a point of unearning the emotional moments they have during and especially at the climax of the movie. And unfortunately, due to the lateness of their arrival to the overall superhero sphere, their chosen visual representation of the powers and the characters themselves, it wouldn't surprise me to hear they remind of similar visual cues to the likes of Dr Strange, Antman, Xmen and even Black Panther. And so, everything is rushed so that DC can catch up to 15 years of Marvel's development without putting in the work and time to earn it.
Nowadays, it is hard to present the same elements you encounter in every comic book in a fresh and unique way without having to redefine them so they don't seem like copies of others. And it certainly didn't help some filmmaking choices the movie unfortunately does which have become a staple of modern superhero movies but, because this movie arrived so late and these are so frequent, they come across as just cliche and cheesy this time around: some choices of music will date the movie soon and felt on the nose, similar to the comedy; the slow motion scenes, while some cool looking, were used in excess and unnecessarily, making even more noticeably apparent the CGI (which in essence the whole point of CGI is to try to make it seem as realistic as possible, so if too noticeable it results in a subpar representation) and finally the pacing.
The pacing in this movie was all over the place, unable to present the story until halfway in, presenting plot twists after plot twists without any apparent reason but to doubt the motivation of characters and things. It felt like the entire movie was taking us for a ride, making us believe one thing and then changing it when it was needed. And it certainly didn't help the handling of the lore, with an introduction flashback scene that was unnecessarily long and drawn out, heavy dumps of exposition sprinkled throughout every conversation and encounter and finally the rewrite of Black Adam. When I saw the trailer I was willing to accept they would turn him into a sort of superhero, similar to what Disney was doing with their villains where they weren't entirely evil but something makes them more human and they have a motivation. The problem is that Black Adam already has a motivation in the comics, and it is a pretty good one. In fact, he has a very similar motivation in this movie with the only difference that in the comics he leans more towards Dr Doom or General Zod when it comes to the way he treats others that aren't his kind or his people. He is supposed to be evil or more dark in his view of morality so that he is the counterpart of Shazam, who is meant to be the hero. They would really need a good motivation behind their rivalry (better than Batman v Superman's one) to justify their eventual rivalry. I understand and support humanizing our villains, but there's a difference between layering their personality and making them antiheros with a willingness to kill yet good in nature.
Now don't get me wrong. The movie accomplishes a lot of good, most of the action scenes are great, the visual style is vibrant and engaging, the characters have motivations and there's a story to tell here. It's just that the story it is telling is not entirely new or refreshing, and neither are the themes. Most of them have been seen before, more than once and we are reaching a point in the "Superhero fever" era where it is really hard to stand out or do something different. I personally liked Shazam more because I felt it had a new story to tell with themes we haven't seen before in Marvel or DC, and that's why it was such a hit. However, the biggest good this movie does is that it is a great story for those whose turn was it to feel represented. I feel this movie would be most enjoyed by those middle-eastern kids who now are starting to get some heroes to protect their cities (for a change). I wait patiently for the moment my own country has a superhero representation in Marvel or DC. I think this movie is perfectly enjoyable for kids and families, it has good messages, an engaging plot and action scenes, and interesting characters. I just personally feel a bit of superhero fatigue. I had a hard time engaging with it because it wasn't telling me something I didn't know so all I was left with was the flaws that it had. I sincerely hope people had a better time with it than I did and at best I see it as yet another addition to the superhero movie genre but at worst I simply didn't see it break ground in any capacity. And the biggest problem I have is lack of context, where is the DC universe headed? Is there one? If this movie belongs to it, when does it take place?