Shazam! Fury Of The Gods review: Superhero sequel rarely takes flight
Zachary Levi is still having a blast, but a convoluted story keeps this film from measuring up to the original
Film Reviews Fury Of The Gods
If you’re a superhero fan, there’s a good chance that director David F. Sandberg’s Shazam! turned out to be one of 2019’s most pleasant surprises for you at the movies. Though it was rooted firmly in certain superhero origin story archetypes and familiar scaffolding, there was an undeniable comic warmth and intimate sense of adventure thrown into this DC Comics adaptation that made it endearing as well as entertaining. It didn’t reinvent anything, it wasn’t a watershed cultural moment, but it was a film you rooted for.
Four years later, Shazam! Fury Of The Gods is here to try to foster even more cinematic goodwill with a sequel that hopes to recapture some of the original’s lightning while adding more action, bigger set pieces, and even more darkness (both literal and figurative). From the beginning, there’s a certain admirable sense of reach involved in what the new sequel is trying to do, and the ensemble cast certainly still crackles with exuberance. Sadly, though, lightning did not strike twice with Fury Of The Gods, a film that reaches for so many things at once that it can barely hold onto any of them, leaving a mess of a movie that serves as an underwhelming reminder of how much fun it was to watch its predecessor.
It’s been a couple of years since Billy Batson (Asher Angel) was granted superpowers from a mysterious wizard (Djimon Hounsou) that allowed him to transform into a wise-cracking, muscular hero (Zachary Levi), and he’s starting to feel like the other shoe will drop soon; His decision to imbue his foster siblings with the same powers at the end of the last film made him part of a cemented, unified family. But lately the other members of the Shazam! club are starting to drift apart. Mary (Grace Caroline Currey), the oldest, is preparing for a career and an academic future, while Billy’s best friend and foster brother Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer in kid form, Adam Brody in superhero gear) is starting to get interested in a solo hero career of his own. He’s also interested in Anne (Rachel Zegler), the new girl in school who takes a liking to Freddy’s bravery and sense of humor. As his family pulls in different directions, Billy starts to feel like his motto of “all or none” might be in jeopardy.
But family strife isn’t the only thing to worry about. It turns out that Anne isn’t just a teenage girl with a crush on Freddy. She’s one-third of the Daughters of Atlas, a supervillain team descended from the Greek titan himself, who’ve set out on a quest for vengeance thousands of years after the Wizard and his friends stole the power of the gods and doled them out to their chosen champions. For sisters Hespera (Helen Mirren), Kalypso (Lucy Liu), and Anthea (Zegler), payback is long overdue.
This all seems like the groundwork for a pretty straightforward conflict, at least by superhero movie standards. Billy is worried about keeping his family together, and now the latest villain threat is a group of women who literally want to take away everything the family has built with one swing of a magic staff. It’s enough to fuel Billy’s mounting anxiety that he’s not worthy of the powers he was given, and the threat to the whole family provides plenty of fodder for an arc that will allow him to reclaim his courage and sense of duty and sacrifice.
Or at least, that’s the theory. It might have looked good on paper, but, in execution, the plot of Fury Of The Gods is a mess of half-formed ideas and smaller character conflicts that don’t contribute much to the whole of the story. Billy’s rising impostor syndrome and his fear of losing his family are really only present when the plot demands it, as is the ruthless efficiency of the Daughters of Atlas, who are savage dispatchers of pain one minute and pictures of restraint the next. We’re used to these movies being designed to launch us into one big final fight, and that’s fine, but the craftsmanship this time is shoddy, packed with dead ends, and struggling to maintain its grasp on an emotional throughline.
The good news, though, is that the cast and crew haven’t lost their sense of fun. The Shazam! films are, after all, stories about literal children being gifted the power of gods, and the various missteps and tonal contrasts that can pop up thanks to that premise. It’s there that the film shines brightest, and when the movie takes a few minutes to breathe and let the heroic family just be together, it’s a lot of fun. Levi’s comic timing is still on point, as is Grazer’s, and the film’s attempts to build out the larger superhero cast a bit more are welcome distractions from the overstuffed plot. There’s still warmth here, and joy, but they’re crowded out by a film that just can’t hold itself together.
Sadly, it’s the same across the board in Fury Of The Gods. There’s a feeling that the film is there narratively but not visually, as the setpieces often drift into sludgy CGI messes that lack the visual wit of the first film. It’s even there in the new cast members, as Liu and Mirren give it their best shot but stick out amidst the more vibrant original cast. There’s so much effort here, so many things being tried, that some of it was bound to work. It’s just not enough.
That leaves Fury Of The Gods feeling like a frustrating case of sequel overreach after its more focused, emotionally satisfying, crowd-pleasing predecessor. It’s not outright terrible, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that we all could have had so much more fun.
(Shazam! Fury Of The Gods opens in theaters Friday)
46 Comments
The image show in this article makes the movie seem like a Power Rangers knock-off.
Given that the Marvel family predates Power Rangers by a few decades, I think it’s more the other way around.
On the other hand, Shazam didn’t do this sort of colour-coded look until quite recently. Freddy wore blue and Black Adam wore black in his single 40s appearance, but every other Marvel Family character wore red.
To each their own, but I watched the movie yesterday (Brazil) and it was a solid B, even a B+ at some points. I truly enjoyed the movie, as much as the first one. It’s fun, it’s entertaining, it’s thrilling… The Daughters of Atlas work perfectly as foils. Levi and the rest of the Shazamily are sharp. The visuals are satisfying. Even the cameos work great into the story (and while at that I’m truly surprised about how few articles pointed out a great cameo that I won’t spoil here – no, it’s not the one Warner itself revealed in the final trailer, or the ones in the post credits scene, it’s the one amidst the people in the street, talking to Shazam in the middle of the big final battle. Fans knowledgeable of Shazam lore will recognize it immediately, by the clothing).In conclusion, it was totally worthy, and it will be a shame if Gunn and Safran kill this one good remnant of the previous DCEU, because in my book they managed to make the lightning strikes twice!
Thanks for that callout! The cameo you are talking about was all the more excellent because he actually snuck in calling him “Captain Marvel”! I was psyched by that. I don’t get the negative reviews, their complaints are vague and not well-formed – like what they’re saying about the movie. I saw it Thursday night with my teen and twentysomething kids and we loved it! Theater was kind of empty but I thought the movie was better than the first, and even though Zachary Levi’s ‘Shazam’ acts like a big kid he ends up solving the problem and saving the day on his own. He wasn’t upstaged in his own movie (like Dr Strange). I prefer the traditional Billy-Mary-Freddy team and never liked the extended family Geoff Johns came up with but since I was already used to them from the first movie, I enjoyed them in the second. The parts with Freddy and the wizard were fun and funny, the goddesses were good – I liked all three, the Rock of Eternity lair was cool, the parents were good. I liked it more than I expected to, probably enhanced by having a good time with my family. So I’m out-of-sync with these reviews.
while adding more action, bigger set pieces, and even more darkness (both literal and figurative).
Original Shazam! movie could be pretty dark – there’s a scene with Billy late in it that’s one of the darkest scenes I’ve seen in a superhero film. I wonder if this actually tops that.
The boardroom scene too – MUCH darker than most of the rest of the movie.
We took our seven-year-old to Shazam and had to leave after the boardroom scene. Scared him beyond rational thought. And this is a kid who LOVES scary stuff (FNaF, Bendy, etc.).
I was amazed by the first movie’s side plot about Billy’s birth mother. Both that it was a dark but realistic place, and that they handled it so sensitively. It was an odd fit with the tone of the movie but paid off for me.
That last scene with her genuinely is a dark, excellently done scene that really shows Billy’s character growth and some subtle acting by his actor.
I think it’s to question the idea that birth family is somehow inherently superior to found family. Thaddeus Sivvana is kind of a dark mirror to Billy – he actually keeps his birth family, but they’re a blight on his life that helps steer him towards evil.
I was amazed by that scene – both by how dark it was, and by how necessary that darkness was for the Marvel Family payoff. And what a payoff! I cried.
I enjoy how casually cruel Sivanna is. Like when he comes to the foster family’s house and says, “Nice place. Oh wait, it’s actually a shit-hole.”
Shazam – Furry of the Gods!In the world of superheroes, there are many powerful beings who defend the earth against threats from beyond. But there is only one hero who has the power of six gods at his fingertips – Shazam!Shazam was once just an ordinary boy named Billy Batson, until he was chosen by an ancient wizard to wield the power of the gods. With a single word, Billy can transform into the mighty Shazam, a superhero with the strength of Hercules, the speed of Mercury, and the wisdom of Solomon.But now, a new threat has emerged that even Shazam may not be able to handle alone. A race of furry creatures from another dimension have come to earth, seeking a powerful artifact that could spell doom for the entire planet.Shazam knows that he will need all the help he can get to stop these creatures and protect the people of earth. So, he seeks out other heroes who have powers that can match the might of the furry invaders.He finds Black Adam, an ancient warrior who wields the power of the Egyptian gods. He also discovers Wonder Woman, a princess of the Amazons who possesses incredible strength and speed. Together, they form an unlikely alliance to stop the furry invaders and save the earth.As the battle rages on, Shazam taps into the full power of the gods, unleashing a furry of lightning bolts, thunder, and wind that sends the invaders running for cover. Black Adam and Wonder Woman fight with the fury of lions, using their godly powers to strike down the furry creatures and keep them at bay.In the end, Shazam and his fellow heroes are able to defeat the furry invaders and save the earth from destruction. With the furry creatures banished back to their own dimension, Shazam returns to his normal life as Billy Batson, knowing that he will always be ready to protect the world when it needs him most: when some dude in a furry suit with his dong protruding tries to peg you.
There was a furry member of the Captain Marvel family back in the 40s – his name was Hoppy the Marvel Bunny. The more you know…
As fun as the first movie was, they really could’ve saved the whole extended Marvel Family thing for the second movie. Just way too much now it seems.
Nah it DC. They have no control when it comes to this sorta thing. Don’t forget Batman v Superman featuring Wonder Woman, cameo by the rest of the Justice League and Darkside Easter eggs
In fairness, the Wonder Woman bit was the best part of the movie.
I assume you mean the end fight stuff with her and not the scene where she googled the Justice League on Alex Luther’s computer
So how does this Shazam thing work? Isn’t the kid going going to age out? Or does he just turn into a slightly older version of himself? Or maybe the old dude in the cave has to find another young tween to groom for the job?
He’ll always be Shazam (I hate that name). If they were following the rules like they did with Mary, he’ll just look like himself once he’s an adult. But i don’t see them doing a film without Levi. I would expect them to make have the third film take place as he turns 18, even though it probably won’t be out for at least 2 years if at all.
I can see the concern about overcrowding, but I really liked the ‘yeah, we’re going for this’ feeling from putting that in there.
I was a fan of the first movie and I’m always excited to see Philadelphia on screen but the trailer was so bad it killed any interest I had in seeing this one.
When I think Greek god, I think O-Ren Ishii
It’s not real, you silly billy. It’s all make-’em-ups.
Thats a bummer. Hopefully I come out of it feeling differently, I really enjoyed the first one.
Between the crappy reviews and Levi outing himself as a shithead, I don’t have high hopes for the box office.
I’ve rarely seen someone’s personal politics or even reviews affect the box office. Bad movies with shitty people sometimes make a lot of money. Great movies with awesome people flop.
I like how you judge someone as a “shitty person” because they said they didn’t like a pharmaceutical company. What a strange thought process.
Not at all what I said. I said bad movies with shitty people as a counter to what rmlohner said. Never said Levi was a bad person. I like him, and personally think what he was said was taken slightly out of context. Please don’t put words in my mouth.
Lol what an odd person you are thinking someone is a “shithead” because they said they didn’t like a pharmaceutical company.
I fully agree with this review. When the movie is focused on Billy and his Shazamily, it’s very entertaining. It’s something that’s actually unique to the Shazam movies, and all the actors, both the kids and the adult superhero versions, are entertaining and fun together. But then the film just really goes all over the place with all manner of plot. There are at least two McGuffins, so the motivations and goals of the villains are never particularly clear, especially when they seem to be making up the mythology and back story out of whole clothe. Each member of the Shazamily is given their own little character storyline, some bigger than others, but none of them actually play all the way through. I didn’t think we got enough time with Billy Batson as a normal kid for his emotional arc to really resonate when the movie clearly wanted it to. You can’t just have a single line or two at the start of the film and expect that to hold up all the way through to the emotional climax. It’s like Warner Bros. greenlit Shazam 2 and they started pre-production, but then found out they couldn’t use the Rock as Black Adam as the villain, but they were too far along to stop, so they scrambled to figure out another plot for the movie and just cobbled something together.
I think that the ensemble just works so well that it very effectively papers over the weak parts of the rest of the film. I think the first one is pretty much the same, with a perhaps more focused and understandable villain who is still just as inane as the Daughters of Atlas are. People often talk about how superhero movies are only as good as their villains, and maybe that’s true in some cases, but not for these movies, which really just need some catalyst for all the kids to play off each other.
In any case, I think the goals of the Daughters are quite clear: revenge on the people who stole their powers and trapped them, and reviving their realm. The weird part is that they’re nominally on the same page, but one of them doesn’t even show up at first because it would ruin the “surprise”, and then another changes her mind halfway through for what appears to be no reason. This would be less egregious if it were something like The Sanderson Sisters who spend most of their time dormant, but presumably these three goddesses have been obsessing over their revenge for several thousand years, and yet aren’t really in agreement over the plan, and can’t even spot a sudden inevitable betrayal.
But I definitely did think about three quarters through the movie that we’d barely even seen Billy the whole time, although we did get a decent amount of the other kids. I’m not so sure it undercuts the emotional payoff at the end too much, but it still seems like they ought to have had a little more of him spread throughout the runtime. I think he might have gotten less than five minutes total. Nice work if you can get it, I guess. Hopefully Asher is at least getting that Groot money for the effort.
It is so fucking bizarre that the Shazam sequel has zero relation to the Black Adam movie which was in theaters only 5 months ago. God DCEU sucks.
Captain Marvel was actually a really cool pulp superhero who at one time was a bigger success than Superman, before he got turned into an a ironic pop-art clown.
To my knowledge he’s the only superhero mentioned in a Beatles song.
I saw it. It was fun. A B, maybe? Maybe B+? I respect that it knows what it is and knows that the whole thing is ridiculous but still has heart. And Helen Mirren is great, of course, so I have no idea why this review is so meh about her performance. All in all it was a fine way to spend a Thursday evening.
Y’all ain’t tired of these superhero movies yet?
i hope the film does very well. There should also be a scene where someone is trying to drive a Winnebago. Old school heads will know what I’m referring to.
Yes, but who plays Mentor now that Les Tremayne is no longer with us?
Is there a logical reason that while all the guys share the same outfit, the two women and different outfits?
Megan didn’t want to wear a skirt.
I would give it a D. Some of the storylines just drop off, the villains vacillated between being villains and being good, and the substitute for ambrosia infuriated me.
Also, Fast and Furious is now officially a part of the DCU.
I saw it yesterday (New Zealand) and laughed quite a bit – thought it was a fun and, at times, very sweet story. The Skittles product placement was a bit much, though. Otherwise, a solid B+ (and heaps better than the recent Antman sequel!)
The movie is blast regardless of how it
fits into continuity. Even if we never get a third movie showcasing Mr.
Mind, I appreciate the two movies exceeding my expectations.
https://mattthecatania.wordpress.com/2023/03/19/shazam-2-lightning-boogaloo/ I still can’t forgive David Sandberg for lying about Rachel Zegler playing Tawky Tawny though.
I just don’t want a family of six Captain Marvels. It should be the Big Red Cheese, Mary Marvel, and CM3. For a special silly issue, bring in some weirdos like Uncle Marvel. I don’t want this whole crew.