Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Starring: Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, Rachel Zegler, Adam Brody, Djimon Hounsou, Faithe Herman, Meagan Good, Ross Rutler, D.J. Cotrona, Grace Caroline Currey, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Cooper Andrews, Marta Milans, Diedrich Bader, Gal Gadot (uncredited), Mark Strong (uncredited)
Directed by: David F. Sandberg
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
2023

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and his super-powered family face a grave threat when two gods (Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu) threaten to destroy everything to retrieve their powers.

Review:

Tim: It felt like Shazam! Fury of the Gods had a chance to provide a bright spark for the dying DCEU. The first film was a pleasant surprise, one of the most effective DCEU movies (truthfully, the bar was set pretty low). Could the continued adventures of Billy Batson and family result in another success? No. That did not happen. Despite returning director David F. Sandberg and the original cast, Fury of the Gods is an inferior sequel in every way. It's never a bad movie, but it's a deeply disappointing one, given the strengths of the original.

Where did this movie go wrong? It's a great question. Much of the individual elements from the first film were retained here- the problem is that the story is weak, unfocused, resulting in a movie that feels misguided from the very start. The energy and charisma of the cast only carries it so far- the underlying issues all came from the script. This sequel throws a lot more at us and the whole movie is weaker as a result.

Regardless of any source material, there's no reason for this film to establish the "Shazam Family" or whatever they are called. We got 1 movie with Billy Batson and in the sequel, we're supposed to identify with and connect with 5 (I think, I can't remember them all) other superheroes, all of whom have identical powers and very little in terms of personality. We know the comedic one, his character was well established in the first film. There's the smart girl who wants to go to college. There's the smart younger girl. There's the... other two guys? Honestly- this film expects us to care about 5-6 characters whom we see split between their younger selves and their superhero selves, so we get far less time with any of those actors. None of them get enough screen time to have distinct and interesting personalities. Their banter is okay, but oftentimes forced. This is such a massive issue with the film. Compare this superhero team to something like Guardians of the Galaxy- you have Star Lord, a tree, a raccoon, a buff weird guy, and a green lady. See the uniqueness of each character? Here, you have five of the same people. It's so inherently stupid and obvious. And, because the film needs time for each character to get some screen time, we spend far too little time with the actual main characters, including, you know, Shazam? (who, by the way, is part of a recurring "joke" where he doesn't know what his superhero name should be. I mean, this is beyond idiotic and not funny in the least). You can see a bit of the issue- Billy gets shortchanged because of all these other, forgettable characters. But then, the movie goes one step further and gives Freddy Freeman an equally big (and actually, more prominent) role in the film. So, you have a superhero we've spent 1 film with. We don't know him that well yet. This movie throws 5 unnecessary characters into the mix, and then also highlights a secondary character (who was a legitimate scene-stealer in the first film) to the point where even he overshadows the titular character, too. How did anyone think this would work?

You can see the problems, right? Well, the good news is there's only 1 villain, right? Nope, the script continues the unnecessary excess by having 3 different villains, 1 of whom is borderline bad, one who is extremely bad, and 1 whom isn't bad at all. Of course, they cast Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler in these roles, so we need to spend time with them, too. You start to see why this movie needed to be 2 hours and 10 minutes. I haven't even gotten to Wizard, who has a large role, too. It's madness and this excess sinks the entire film.

The story is fine, but it feels a bit too much. There's these three gods who want to retake the powers bestowed upon Shazam and the other Shazams. There's a dragon, a whole host of random monsters birthed from a giant tree, Unicorns who like Skittles (admittedly, one of the film's funniest bits). Billy has a crush on Wonder Woman. Man, it's just so much crammed into the film. The script lacks any sense of focus or vision. It felt like the strong elements of the first film were stretched impossibly thin. I like David F. Sandberg as a director, but he delivers a film that feels completely generic. There's nothing in this film that we haven't seen a dozen times before. The whole thing feels a bit too obvious. There's a lack of character development- Billy takes away some lessons about family, and Freddie is a bit more confident, but honestly, the characters move so little throughout the story. It makes the whole film feel a bit pointless.

Zachary Levi is good as Shazam- he brings such youthful energy to the role. He really embraces the silliness of this character and it's entertaining to see him playing the role. Now, he was publicized as criticizing "marketing" a reason for the film's incredible box office failure. This was a little unfair how the headlines slammed him, but it felt like Levi didn't have good awareness here- this movie isn't very good. I think audiences were clear on that and I believe that's the biggest reason for the low box office. Oftentimes, movies whose trailers don't look good, are you know, not good? Still, Levi is good here. I also have to give Jack Dylan Grazer a huge shout out for Freddie. Grazer was the continual scene-stealer in the first film and he delivers some of the film's best moments here. The one complaint I had is that it felt like the writers overcompensated for his character. He was great in the first movie, so he plays a role that arguably is bigger than Levi's. Thrusting him into the spotlight made his character feel a bit tiresome. He's better as a secondary, supporting character. The movie would have been better cutting the less funny lines Grazer delivers and spending that time on Billy Batson. He's a better supporting than lead character. I still think Grazer was great here, but he was given too much to do and his performance suffered as a result.

Man, I am not going to talk about every actor in this bloated film. Helen Mirren continues to take on surprising roles, but this is one you just felt bad about. She's good in the villainous role and I hope she had fun playing it- but the movie around her isn't good enough. It lets her down. Lucy Liu seemed really pleased with getting her villainous role and she embraces it. I felt like she really worked hard to make us dislike this character. The character may not be especially memorable, but Liu's performance elevates the character. Rachel Zegler was solid in her role as well. She seemed a bit ridiculous at times, delivering the lines given her. Still, it was a solid performance. Asher Angel really got the short end of the stick here. It feels like he has almost nothing to do, which was a shame. Grace Caroline Currey needed more to do- she was effective in the role and emerged as one of the slightly more memorable supporting characters. I wish they'd spent more time with her. I always love seeing Djimon Hounsou, but like Mirren, his performance is far better than this film deserves. I love the casting of Cooper Andrews here. He has little to do, but he is a guy who always makes me smile. He makes the movie better. Everyone else, honestly, is bland and most of the other cast members should have been excised from this film. As I've said, it's too much.

In conclusion, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a disappointment. Look, it's never a bad movie- Sandberg delivers a decently entertaining film. Honestly, it's on par with a lot of the other DCEU lackluster films. I think what feels most discouraging to me is that the first movie was so entertaining. It was funny, irreverent, and it felt like a much-needed spark of light and humor for the DCEU. I really enjoyed it. I was hoping that would carry forward to the sequel, but it simply does not. This film suffers from the typical sequel issue of bloat. Too much is poured into this movie and everything is less effective as a result. There have been so many issues with the DCEU and I think it's mostly good that it is ending. Look no further than to the ridiculous (SPOILER, if you care) Wonder Woman cameo at the end. It added nothing to this film, other than to reminder audience it's supposed to be part of a bigger narrative. Gal Gadot's role made me cringe- bad dialogue, distracting from Shazam's story- it was so forced and ineffective. This film had its moments, but it's a clear drop from the successes of the first movie. I think this character needs to sit on the shelf for a good while.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Shazam!, Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, Justice League