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Shazam! Fury of the Gods (M, 130 mins) Directed by David F Sandberg *½
There’s a really eye-opening piece of journalism floating around the internet right now.
It’s a story from a British magazine, published in January of this year, about the working conditions inside the world’s digital visual effects industry. If you type “Pixel” and then one of those words you can’t put in the newspaper that starts with an F, you’ll find it soon enough.
The writer describes an industry in which the hours are impossible and the pressure to perform is unbearable. Without any guarantee of where the next contract is coming from and with the work always possibly heading to a country where wages are lower and the labour laws are even looser, the VFX providers are at the mercy of the studios and their workers are paying the price.
I was thinking about all this watching Shazam! Fury of the Gods – and thinking how last year, I might have made a comment about how lousy the digital effects are in the film. But now I won’t bother. The VFX in Fury of the Gods are not the problem. They are just a symptom of a pointless, directionless and purposeless mess of a movie.
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* Shazam!: A deeply, proudly and joyfully silly film
The first Shazam! – which we saw in those far off, halcyon days of 2019, was a treat. It was a funny, likeable and unexpected thrash at a superhero movie that seemed almost refreshing after the bombast and darkness that had come to define the genre. I laughed out loud a couple of times and left the theatre in a cheerful frame of mind.
But four years later, does anyone really remember or care about Shazam!? Or recall how he was created and why all of his foster siblings now have superpowers too? Nope. Me neither.
The VFX in Shazam! Fury of the Gods are not the problem. They are just a symptom of a pointless, directionless and purposeless mess of a movie.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods opens on this super family trying to rescue the victims of a bridge collapse. The scenario and most of the dialogue seemed straight out the Paw Patrol movie and I settled in for what promised to be a tough couple of hours. The completely unexpected appearance of Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu at least made me laugh, especially as they were dressed as Greek warriors and immediately started trashing a museum.
But that small pleasure faded as it became obvious that neither of the women were enjoying the film much either. Mirren is usually up for anything and Liu has been chewing the scenery to pieces for years, but both of them perform here with the conviction of kidnapping victims in a ransom video, telling us how well they are being treated, while their eyes plead with us to get them out.
Superpowers are lost and regained. A dragon turns up. Cast members are pushed in front of the camera to explain the plot or mouth some platitudes about “working as a team”. The story is cherry-picked bits and pieces from Ghostbusters, with a bit of Narnia and Harry Potter. And yet, none of it adds up to anything at all.
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Helen Mirren is usually up for anything and Lucy Liu has been chewing the scenery to pieces for years, but both of them perform here with the conviction of kidnapping victims in a ransom video.
As I walked out, after the credits, all I could think was how regressive and pointless everything had been. The jokes were almost all unfunny, the wardrobe choices seemed creepy and odd – the women are mostly poured into tight sweaters, and their superhero boots are all high-heeled – and no one on screen, not even Mirren or Djimon Hounsou, looked like they knew what they were doing there.
Even the obligatory late cameo from a genuine DC star was forced and unnecessary, leveraged into this film in the hope it might interest in seeing the next one.
Shazam! The Fury of the Gods is a rushed, ugly and pointless film. Two hours after I saw it, I have forgotten almost everything about it, except for the things that irritated me. I certainly can’t think of a single reason why anyone would want to sit through it.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now screening in cinemas nationwide.
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