Rachel Zegler has called out “senselessly mean” critics of Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

The West Side Story actress, who plays one of the daughters of Atlas in the new superhero film starring Zachary Levi as Billy Batson / Shazam, took to Twitter on Sunday to defend the project following mixed reviews.

“hey our film is actually really good! but mostly i just absolutely loved making it and the people i met whilst doing so 🙂 go see it! give it a chance. we have an 85% audience score for a reason,” the 21-year-old wrote. “some people out there and just being… senselessly mean. and it’s unnecessary. and i know, i know, “if you can’t handle the heat…” and all that nonsense, and you’re right. but our film is actually very good. it’s just cool to hate on fun nowadays. that’s okay. we’re good (sic).”

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the sequel to 2019’s popular Shazam! currently has an audience score of 88 per cent, with 52 per cent of 182 critics rating the film positively.

On Monday, director David F. Sandberg also noted that he was “a little surprised” by the reaction.

“On Rotten Tomatoes I just got my lowest critic score and my highest audience score on the same film I wasn’t expecting a repeat of the first movie critically but I was still a little surprised because I think it’s a good film. Oh well,” he tweeted.

David went on to note that he is “done” with making superhero movies for now and is “eager” to return to the horror genre, having helmed 2017’s Annabelle: Creation.

Yet, he insisted that he has no regrets about making the Shazam! Movies.

“I’ve learned so much and gotten to work with some truly amazing people. Will forever be grateful that I got to direct two of these! They’ve been very challenging but valuable experiences,” the filmmaker added.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods, also featuring Asher Angel, Adam Brody, Lucy Liu, and Helen Mirren, opened in cinemas on 17 March.

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