Shazam!

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by dahj, Jul 21, 2018.

  1. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Well, yeah, but that was something like sixty years ago. Water under the bridge . ....
     
  2. Kai "the spy"

    Kai "the spy" Admiral Admiral

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    Btw, in the current Shazam comic series, Billy hasn't chosen a superhero name, yet, and he definitely doesn't want his name to be "Shazam", since, yes, it's because he couldn't say his own name. He already floated the idea of "Captain Marvel" in the first issue, though I think that was more of a joke on Geoff Johns' part. But I'd be happy if Billy actually settled on Captain Thunder and that was his monicker from now on.
     
  3. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    You say that as if "sixty years ago" was an insurmountable problem. #Delorean #WeDontNeedRoads
     
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  4. urbandefault

    urbandefault Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Do you drink a lot of caffeinated beverages or is this your calm voice? :techman:
     
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  5. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Or, you have people who despise a franchise's history so much (Rian Johnson, et al.), that their "contribution" to it pushes just about everyone away.
     
  6. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    In the lap of squalor I assure you.
    Geoff is powerful, but if he wasn't, they would force his comic to bend to will of the Movie canon for a year or two.
     
  7. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    We'll have to agree to disagree on that. I don't think Johnson despises the franchise history at all. I also think he made a fantastic Star Wars film, that challenged certain expectations, and some fans don't like that. YMMV.
     
  8. dahj

    dahj Vice Admiral Admiral

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  9. dahj

    dahj Vice Admiral Admiral

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  10. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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  11. dahj

    dahj Vice Admiral Admiral

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  12. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    Love it. Can’t wait. Might be the first DC movie I take my kid to. Might be the first DC movie I could take my kid to.
     
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  13. Ovation

    Ovation Admiral Admiral

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    Love it.
     
  14. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Looks like fun to me, but I hate seeing movies by myself and the only person I have to see them with is my mom, and she has no interest in this, so I might have to wait for the digital release.
     
  15. kirk55555

    kirk55555 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    You know a character is a hero when they commit at least one misdemeanor (trying to buy alcohol) and probably one felony (robbing an ATM) in less then 3 minutes of trailer time. Regardless of what the weirdly obsessive fans of this movie might say, a court of law isn't going to consider stealing from an ATM to be "youthful hi-jinks" or just "kids being kids". It might not be a felony depending on how much money he takes, but its at least misdemeanor robbery and probably destruction of property (and very much intentional destruction, in the process of committing a crime no less, which is different then the damage caused during superhero fights). Also, making Sivana into a fairly tall, magical powerhouse is so missing the point it hurts almost as much as how badly they've fucked up Billy. Geoff Johns is a worse influence on DC movies then Zach Snyder was.

    To be completely fair, I did chuckle when he threw the talking Batman toy, and when he tried to leap over the building and crashed into it about 3/4ths of the way up. Two slight chuckles don't really change anything, though. This is still on track to be my most hated superhero film of all time.
     
  16. Professor Zoom

    Professor Zoom Admiral Admiral

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    I don't know... Billy is an orphan. He's got the powers of Shazam. He gets the costume. He fights Sivana and has a relationship with Freddie. Since the actor's race is generally irrelevant he's Shazam for me. I'm not against characters being tweaked, in this case, movie Shazam being much more "fun" and personable than comic Shazam. He's still recognizable as the character.
     
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  17. Qonundrum

    Qonundrum Vice Admiral Admiral

    No worries, what's predictable has already been happening, slowly but surely and it's not going to stop. In all sorts of ways. Which looks no less foolish...

    Here's a better idea and I'll avoid the other, some potentially low hanging responses: People who understand the franchise and what makes it unique - regardless if they're a hardcore fan or aren't - then add to it instead of changing it to something that removes the uniqueness. There's plenty of room for all sorts of new creations or proper innovations.

    Conversely, too many liberties might also be deemed only one-sided. The people who enjoy such big core franchise changes may not like it if their beloved franchise gets changed excessively as well. Depends on the context - an issue not being discussed as much, but there's apparently been backlash to the backlash for other reboots...

    ...almost to the point that nobody will want any new networks when people can just watch all the rumors and news being bandied back and forth on youtube becoming more entertaining than the shows they're discussing with whatever biases they perceive and you'll find quite a few.

    And, of course, why hide behind an established name rather than daring to be bold with a new creation that may or may not have been influenced by other franchise like what had been going on for decades or centuries based on medium before it was decided to do so-called "reboots", which often cling to an established name but do nothing more except leech off of it? Or so that claim goes. Again, there's plenty opinions and I'm not going to cover them all... and there's plenty of room for all sorts of new creations or proper innovations, spinoffs, sequels, sibling shows, you name it. And to the point that nobody is going to bother with reboots in the future as how many have been made (dozens) and of those, how few became even remotely successful? (two, maybe three.)

    Why not reboot Star Wars and make Luke into Lucy? Let me know so I can buy butter and popcorn stock.
     
  18. theenglish

    theenglish Vice Admiral Admiral

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    You didn't like his arc from troubled youth to super-hero in the New 52 origin either, so I'm not surprised.
     
  19. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Most superheroes commit a crime just by showing up. :p
     
  20. Morpheus 02

    Morpheus 02 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I am not sure if that was actually intentional. He is clearly surprised by this electrical effect. It could be he might be tempted, but was planning to NOT do it...and then the lightning strikes.

    And the alcohol... sounds like a typical teenager testing his boundaries
    I am blaming it mor eon the executives of the DC Film Universe (the ones who called Geoff Johns Chief Creative Officer but underminded him with their own decisions).

    It looks like that this portion of the movie was really intended for the ROck as Black Adam... but then they suddenly decided to give him his own movie and instead of rewriting the whole part to have an actual Dr. Sivana, they made some excuse for him to gain Shazam powers. I wonder if The Rock will appear at the end with wizard-like powers that he bestowed on SIvana?


    It feels like Man of Steel (brand new hero battling someone with powers just like him) but toned done a bit.
    "Completely fair" ;) Well... it's something :)
    I generally agree.... pat of what make reboots work is if they show some kind of respect to what came before, before adding their own twist.


    I think most fans are NOT expecting an EXACT copy.... but just that it "feels" like what they ENJOYED before. I think the Flash TV show does a good job of that (probably why it's one of the leading CW shows)....and personally I did NOT think they needed to have a Flash form Earth -90... because they ALREADY showed respect the 90's show and its cast.


    Stuff that seems like a cash grab (Amazing Spiderman) or just miss out on a couple essential elements ultimately fail.
     
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