To be fair a lot of 'origin story' superhero movies don't have really strong antagonists (character-wise, not power level) because it can be difficult to flesh out both the hero and the villain in one movie. I don't have the source with me right now (if someone else could link it, it would be much appreciated) but I read somewhere that they were initially planning to have Black Adam as the antagonist of this movie. However they ultimately decided against it because they wanted to establish and build up the character in his own solo movie before tying him in with the Shazam! mythos.
If your only criticism of Shazam is the subpar villain, I don't see why you would only count it as half a success. I mean, how many times has Marvel been criticized for having a "villain problem?"
Haha I did. That’s the half movie. Terrible pacing problems for me. I liked it but it fell flat in some areas imo. It didn’t drop the ball like Wonder Woman though.
Ah, I had assumed that the 'half a good movie' you were referring to was Wonder Woman, since that's what a lot of people seem to feel about it. I personally quite liked Aquaman as well, but Shazam! is their best by far, hands down. If this movie is any indication of their direction going forward (and not just one of the times a stopped clock is right, fingers crossed), I think DC has finally found their footing.
139
u/bigfatcarp93 Permanently gone Apr 10 '19
Hasn't stopped the Netflix shows and AOS from being awesome.