Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Today, I watched “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” which came out in theaters in March and on Max (formerly HBO Max) five days ago, and I will let you know what I thought of it.

Everyone who enjoyed the low stakes, self-contained storytelling and silly juvenile antics on screen in “Shazam!” will likely be just as satisfied with the sequel, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.” Even with a little bigger budget and better villains, director David F. Sandberg’s sequel is happily more of the same, and that’s just fine.

Teenager Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is still dealing with all the insane events that magically turned him into a superhero (Zachary Levi) and led to his giving out a variety of similar abilities to his foster siblings Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer), Mary (Grace Caroline Currey), Pedro (Jovan Armand), Darla (Faithe Herman), and Eugene (Ian Chen). However, he never could have thought that dangerous consequences he unleashed when, two years before, during their fight with Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), he snapped the staff of the ancient Wizard (Djimon Hounsou) that give him and his family their powers.

The daughters of Atlas – Hespera (Helen Mirren), Kalypso (Lucy Liu), and Anthea (Rachel Zegler) – have been freed from their prison, and all they need is the staff to put their plan in action that could either restore their mythical land to its enchanted beauty or instead send the human world into a place of chaos and misery. Billy and his family are thrown into the fight of their lives, each wondering if they’re too young and too underqualified to have the fate of humanity in their hands.

Sara Michelle Fetters said in her review, “Once again, Sanberg tries to blend a playful, Amblin-esque tone with some decidedly nastier ideas. An opening sequence at a museum, where Hespera and Kalypso retrieve the Wizard’s broken staff, is aggressively violent. It culminates in a petrifying crescendo that would make Medusa cringe, and parents with youngsters in tow should keep this in mind before buying tickets. There’s an even worse, if brief, bit later on in which the director seemingly pays homage to the terrifying opening from M. Night Shyamalan’s otherwise laughable The Happening, and it’s suitably bone-chilling in its destructive splatter.”

The rest of the film is a blend of every teen-friendly 80s flick you can think of, which is a pro and a con, frequently at the same time. This can make things feel uneven, like the sincerely understated likability of Freddy carelessly flirting with an incognito (and unexpectedly taken) Anthea immediately juxtaposed with the immature vanity of the former’s superhero alter ego, reprised by Adam Brody) acting like a falsely scripted version of a high school nerd.

However, the emotions centering around chosen family, acceptance, diversity, understanding, and empathy remain real. The foster household that selfless parents Rosa (Marta Milans) and Victor Vasquez (Cooper Andrews) have created for their children remains superb. Fetters said, “I liked how returnee Henry Gayden (There’s Something Inside Your House) and series newcomer Chris Morgan (a veteran of the Fast and Furious franchise — and it shows) have determinedly structured their screenplay to revolve around the core group, putting front and center the dynamics that make each who they are, and the difficulties they are having communicating with one another now that they’re all superheroes.”

Fetters continued, “Levi dives even more into his Chuck-era bag of tricks than he did in the prior installment, and this can get obnoxious. Thankfully he tones down his schtick considerably in the final act, when he grounds his performance in something honest and pure. This helps make Billy’s decisions during the climax mean something, and even though I saw this ending coming from a mile away, my heartstrings were still tugged to the point that I didn’t really care how obvious this turn of events was.”

There are hints and references that this series may continue, and if the sequel proves to be a hit, even with all the confusion in the DC Extended Universe, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is so self-contained that inserting this hero back into the larger principal story won’t be especially difficult. Fetters said, “But if this is the final incarnation of the Shazam family’s adventures, they’ve gone out with electrifying flair and shockingly pleasant enthusiasm.” Bigger isn’t always better, and sometimes “more of the same” is exactly what’s needed to keep an audience entertained.

Spoiler alert: in the mid-credits scene, Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee) try to get Billy to join the Justice Society on behalf of Amanda Waller. In the post-credits scene, Sivana in prison meets Mister Mind, voiced by David F. Sandberg, once again, furious that he has not begun hashing out their plan. Also returning are D.J. Cotrona, Ross Butler, and Meagan Good with Gal Gadot making a cameo.

I don’t see why critics were so hard on this film. In my opinion, I still found this to be thoroughly entertaining, and I really liked how the stakes were raised while still revolving all around family. Ok, maybe there may have been a couple of times where I was thinking things should hurry up, like when they start talking when they have the other person in their grasp, but that was about it. I think this is another one of my favorite comic book adaptations. Still, if you have Max, you should see this if you didn’t see this in theaters. I think everyone will still like it and not think of it as a waste of their time. Check it out and have a good laugh.

Thank you for joining in on this review tonight. Stay tuned next month to see what I have in store next.