The world of comic book films is going through quite the tumultuous time; Marvel Studios is currently contending with quite a bit of drama following the departure of Victoria Alonso, who previously served as the studio’s President of Physical, Post Production, VFX and Animation, but it still can’t quite match the laundry list of conflicts in DC’s cinematic endeavors.
Whether it’s Henry Cavill’s exit, the SnyderVerse fans scoffing at anything and everything outside of it, or the simple fact that not many good movies have come out of the DC Extended Universe, there’s been no shortage of struggle for the company’s efforts; a struggle that will hopefully be no more once James Gunn’s DCU kicks into high gear.
For now, it looks like the DCEU has to keep taking the world’s wrath on the chin, and the current recipient is Shazam! Fury of the Gods. With an abysmal performance at the box office thus far and similar critic ratings to boot, it’s not looking too good for the title hero’s final DCEU hurrah.
A lot of the woes can be chalked up to the fact that it’s just not very good; in fact, it’s perhaps the single best example of why superhero fatigue is even a thing.
However, one of the film’s stars has other suspicions; in an interview with The Direct, Marta Milans, who portrays the Shazamily’s foster mother Rosa, blamed Fury of the Gods‘ problems on politics and internet trolls, of which she suggests many of the critics are steeped in.
“I know that there is a lot of politics involved and a lot of hardcore fans of one side, on the other side, a lot of haters on the internet. A lot of critics feel like they have a political agenda rather than actually sitting and watching the film and enjoying it. We’re not trying to push any agenda. We’re not trying to prove any point. And I don’t know what it is about, I don’t know if it’s our society nowadays that celebrating fun isn’t good enough. A movie that is, you just go and you feel good about it, and you have a good laugh, and you see the Shazamily, that seems to be good enough for some people.”
Now, we’re not entirely sure what particular politics and agendas she’s referring to (the DC drama stretches from Dwayne Johnson to Black Adam to the incoming Gunnverse and everything in between), but it’s quite a hefty accusation to make either way.
It’s one thing if box office problems were pinned on the film’s continuity being ultimately fruitless due to the incoming reboot; in a perfect world, the fact of a good movie should always take precedence over an obsession with connection. But, to suggest that a blockbuster should be beyond a certain point of critique solely because it wanted to do something fun (without necessarily succeeding, may we add) is downright outrageous. We’ll concede that DC politics and trolls are exhausting, but they’re no excuse for a movie that just simply wasn’t all that great.