Shazam! Fury of the Gods
Year: 2023
Director: David F. Sandberg
Starring: Asher Angel, Adam Brody, Jack Dylan Grazer, Zachary Levi, Lucy Liu, Helen Mirren & Rachel Zegler
Runtime: 130 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 09/01/24
Director: David F. Sandberg
Starring: Asher Angel, Adam Brody, Jack Dylan Grazer, Zachary Levi, Lucy Liu, Helen Mirren & Rachel Zegler
Runtime: 130 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 09/01/24
Last year I totally fell off the DCEU due to a sheer lack of interest in the failing franchise. I did watch The Flash because I wanted to see if it was the hot garbage the film was made out to be (it wasn’t), but I missed Shazam: Fury of the Gods, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. But seeing as I’m so close to the finish line I said to myself I’d catch them on streaming. Shazam recently dropped on Sky Cinema, so I kept my promise when I had a spare two hours to kill. What can I say? Good riddance I suppose?
For two years Billy Batson (Asher Angel) has been able to transform into Shazam (Zachary Levi), a powerful champion chosen by a Wizard (Djimon Hounsou) to protect Earth.
After granting his foster siblings the same powers, they have garnered a negative reputation for attempting to fight crime in Philadelphia.
But when Atlas’ daughters, Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu) steal the Wizard’s staff m, they must defeat the ‘Shazamily’ if they want to succeed in their plan of transforming Earth into their new home world.
When the first Shazam released a lot of critics and fans seemed to give it a pity pass. Because it was better than the recent string of DC films that had released it was praised, but the reality was that it was extremely sub-par.
I had low expectations for Fury of the Gods as a result but somehow it managed to be worse. I actually left the film kind of disappointed which considering I wasn’t exactly looking forward to watching it did surprise me.
For two years Billy Batson (Asher Angel) has been able to transform into Shazam (Zachary Levi), a powerful champion chosen by a Wizard (Djimon Hounsou) to protect Earth.
After granting his foster siblings the same powers, they have garnered a negative reputation for attempting to fight crime in Philadelphia.
But when Atlas’ daughters, Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu) steal the Wizard’s staff m, they must defeat the ‘Shazamily’ if they want to succeed in their plan of transforming Earth into their new home world.
When the first Shazam released a lot of critics and fans seemed to give it a pity pass. Because it was better than the recent string of DC films that had released it was praised, but the reality was that it was extremely sub-par.
I had low expectations for Fury of the Gods as a result but somehow it managed to be worse. I actually left the film kind of disappointed which considering I wasn’t exactly looking forward to watching it did surprise me.
The story kind of sucked. The whole thing was just a MacGuffin chase for the staff and then the golden apple later on, and because this whole thing was driven by the villains, they needed to be good. Unfortunately, neither Hespera or Kalypso were any good, with both Mirren and Liu phoning in the performance and clearly struggling with the extensive green screening and CG work.
They are aided by their third sister, Athena (Rachel Zegler), who is certainly more enjoyable to watch with her better performance, but considering she’s not as involved in the driving of the plot as the other two, so it ultimately doesn’t matter.
I also found the differing portrayals of Billy from Angel & Levi extremely jarring. I don’t feel this was quite as evident in the first film because Billy was younger. But he’s significantly more mature here and Angel does a decent job of balancing the humour with the drama. But Levi feels like he’s in a Looney Tunes sketch. He’s a totally different character who’s more concerned about quippy one liners and how he looks, it’s just so jarring, were these two ever on set together?
I did like the pairing of Jack Dylan Grazer and Adam Brody as Billy’s foster brother Freddy though. These two matched energies so well, and unlike Levi’s constant over-acting to everything they were both pretty funny. I’d happily watch a film with these two in the lead role over another film with Levi at the wheel.
The ‘Shazamily’ (I hate that so much) as a whole was pretty fun too. The idea of these kids having superpowers that transform them into superpowered adults is definitely entertaining, and seeing the dynamic they share is interesting whilst adding a whole new dimension to the superhero team-up movie trend. Unfortunately, it’s not used enough in the film, instead rolling back into Levi’s focus as often as possible which I found to be one of the films weakest aspects.
The pacing was weird. I thought the film was wrapping up at one point, but when I checked how long I had left I was only just getting to halfway through. But getting me to actually remember what happened in that second half other than a big CGI punch up is going to be impossible. I only watched it yesterday (as of writing) and I can’t remember a thing about the second half of the film.
Speaking of CGI, it’s all the same kind of rubbery nonsense that has plagued DC for years. I was surprised to see that The Flash got so much hate for it when Fury of the Gods really isn’t any better. Like it’s no dealbreaker for me but honestly with this much money there should be more spent on the visual effects…those poor overworked souls.
I didn’t care about Shazam: Fury of the Gods before I watched the film, and I care even less about it now after having seen it (is that possible?). Whilst the original film certainly had its quirky and fun moments, overall, it was just overhyped mediocrity. Fury of the Gods opts to be bad instead. The story is threadbare and driven by two awful villains. Levi’s performance is so cartoonish that it ruins the tonal balance of the film. Plus, the special effects kind of suck for a film that’s so reliant on them. There are good elements, the pairing of Brody & Grazer being one of them, but it’s not enough to stop the film being a total bore and immediately forgettable.
They are aided by their third sister, Athena (Rachel Zegler), who is certainly more enjoyable to watch with her better performance, but considering she’s not as involved in the driving of the plot as the other two, so it ultimately doesn’t matter.
I also found the differing portrayals of Billy from Angel & Levi extremely jarring. I don’t feel this was quite as evident in the first film because Billy was younger. But he’s significantly more mature here and Angel does a decent job of balancing the humour with the drama. But Levi feels like he’s in a Looney Tunes sketch. He’s a totally different character who’s more concerned about quippy one liners and how he looks, it’s just so jarring, were these two ever on set together?
I did like the pairing of Jack Dylan Grazer and Adam Brody as Billy’s foster brother Freddy though. These two matched energies so well, and unlike Levi’s constant over-acting to everything they were both pretty funny. I’d happily watch a film with these two in the lead role over another film with Levi at the wheel.
The ‘Shazamily’ (I hate that so much) as a whole was pretty fun too. The idea of these kids having superpowers that transform them into superpowered adults is definitely entertaining, and seeing the dynamic they share is interesting whilst adding a whole new dimension to the superhero team-up movie trend. Unfortunately, it’s not used enough in the film, instead rolling back into Levi’s focus as often as possible which I found to be one of the films weakest aspects.
The pacing was weird. I thought the film was wrapping up at one point, but when I checked how long I had left I was only just getting to halfway through. But getting me to actually remember what happened in that second half other than a big CGI punch up is going to be impossible. I only watched it yesterday (as of writing) and I can’t remember a thing about the second half of the film.
Speaking of CGI, it’s all the same kind of rubbery nonsense that has plagued DC for years. I was surprised to see that The Flash got so much hate for it when Fury of the Gods really isn’t any better. Like it’s no dealbreaker for me but honestly with this much money there should be more spent on the visual effects…those poor overworked souls.
I didn’t care about Shazam: Fury of the Gods before I watched the film, and I care even less about it now after having seen it (is that possible?). Whilst the original film certainly had its quirky and fun moments, overall, it was just overhyped mediocrity. Fury of the Gods opts to be bad instead. The story is threadbare and driven by two awful villains. Levi’s performance is so cartoonish that it ruins the tonal balance of the film. Plus, the special effects kind of suck for a film that’s so reliant on them. There are good elements, the pairing of Brody & Grazer being one of them, but it’s not enough to stop the film being a total bore and immediately forgettable.