23 Mar Shazam: Fury of the Gods Review by Jim Washburn

SHAZAM: FURY OF THE GODS

dir. David F. Sandberg, starring Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Hounsou, Helen Mirren, et al

BLUF: The second Shazam is a better-than-expected family superhero movie if you can strip away the IRL meta circumstances around it.

There are two radically different lenses through which this movie can be watched, and I feel like depending on how hardened you are in your expectations, how much each viewer enjoys it may be too predictable and hard to sway.

The first perspective takes into account all of the real-world meta context that surround the film. There is a lot to unpack in this area, but the core challenges revolved around a few of circumstances. Since James Gunn and Peter Safron have taken over DC Studios, they have pre-emptively and inadvertently announced the death of the DCEU and the coming reboot of the entire DC universe. With four remaining DCEU films in the pipeline, this announcement largely undermined the motivation to bother with them. Also, Black Adam was a mediocre-to-lame entry, in which Dwayne Johnson applied a ton of pressure to get DC to comply to his wishes, which resulted in a movie with a strong main character and absolutely nothing else on interest or originality (aside from a too-brief Cavill Superman cameo)—all of which meant Shazam! 2 was left table scraps at best after DJ soaked up and spit out any and all audience good-will. Zachery Levi has made some comments in public that some people really dislike, and that little bit of negative press was probably not the kind that brings in more people. And lastly, the marketing for the movie was not inspiring, and ultimately missed out on conveying what makes the movie enjoyable. The sum effect of these disparate and technically unconnected circumstances risked death by a thousand cuts to Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and there is a strong argument that this is exactly what happened, with opening weekend box office looking pretty grim for this DC movie.

Going into the theater, I think I was a little in this camp, letting some of the meta context cloud my perspective. I’m not a professional movie critic, but I am an enthusiastic movie-goer, and even I was hesitant to go to the theater. But now that I have seen it, I can say with great confidence that if you can strip away all the ridiculous meta garbage, and watch the movie on its own terms, it is surprisingly enjoyable! (If also flawed in its own right.)

Like the first Shazam!, the second is a superhero movie with a strong theme centered on the importance of family. This is a strong and relatable theme, if perhaps underdeveloped—I actually wanted more of this, especially Billy’s concerns about aging out of the foster care system. The central conflict with the villains is pretty simple, with few surprises, but that leaves the emphasis on the dynamics of Billy’s foster family: both the human and superhero families. The stakes are high but manageable in the movie, which is important for a movie that is even more family friendly than the first entry, which leaned a little too horror-ish than it was necessary; this movie strikes a better, more accessible balance for a younger audience. The supporting characters are all well-played and, for the most part, represent good evolutions from the first movie. Ultimately, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a great mid-budget superhero movie that left me more satisfied than I expected. There were also some very enjoyable cameos, which I won’t spoil here.

That said, even within the context of just the movie, there were some flaws. It was interesting that Billy Batson in human form was significantly more mature than his older Shazam character. This was odd, since in the first movie they were much closer in terms of intelligence, maturity, etc. The contrast of the older version being dumber and less mature than the human version was disappointing, in part because Billy Batson was also barely in the movie vice Shazam. It’s almost impressive that I wanted more of the human character than the superhero, but also distinctly disappointing.
One of the recurring, running jokes was really terrible: a ridiculous through-line of trying to decide what Shazam’s name is…which is an idiotic joke since the audience has, since the first movie, been under the distinct assumption that his name was Shazam. The final reveal is underwhelming and renders all the involved characters as idiots. There were also some under-developed plot threads, including Billy’s concerns about being thrown out of the foster home when he turns 18 in a few weeks.

But these shortcomings are not enough to justify the excessively (and often unfounded) criticism that almost convinced me to not bother. The meta context should not deter the viewer from making up their own mind while watching the movie. It’s not top tier AAA-superhero entertainment, but DC has done a great job of varying the tone and content of their movies, vice Marvel’s growing tendency to make all of their movies a little too tonally cloned. Shazam is DC’s fun, lower-stakes family corner of their universe, and I’m more than happy to give a (probably unlikely) third Shazam! a chance. No regrets, and a recommend for anyone that wants to watch the movie on its own terms.

Pros:
Fun, family-centric superhero movie
Solid supporting characters, with a strong performance by Jack Dylan Grazer’s Freddy Freeman
Better visual effects than the last few Marvel flicks
Some genuinely emotional beats, albeit buried between action scenes and jokes
Rachel Zegler was an enjoyable addition to the movie, if not cloaked in as much mystery as they seemed to think she was…

Cons:
Probable narrative dead end with the DCEU in its Gunn/Safron-induced death throes
Not enough Billy Batson, who is more mature and emotionally engaged than his Shazam iteration
Djimon Hounsou is grotesquely under-utilized…as usual…
Hampered by IRL meta context, if you let it affect your opinion
Talking about the Justice Society and coming on the heels of Black Adam without featuring any characters from Black Adam reeked of Dwayne Johnson’s negative influence on the entire DCEU

Rating: 3.5/5
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a rock-solid 3, with an extra .5 point because I was excited by the Snyderverse cameo from one of the best-cast classic superheroes.

Review by Jim Washburn