Shazam! Fury of the Gods Review

Billy Batson and his family return for a second Shazam! cinematic adventure, four years after the first. This time they must face up against powerful Greek Gods.

Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and his foster siblings have been superheroes for four years. They suffer from poor public relations, being dubbed the ‘Philly Fiasco.’ Even worse for them, a pair of powerful sisters from ancient times, Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu) have been returned to the world of the mortals and plan to take away their powers.

Shazam! was one of my favourite films from the DCEU. It was one of the lighter films in the franchise, surprisingly it had a smaller scale and a strong theme of what makes a family. In my original review I compared it to the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film, and I stand by that view. Shazam! only had a modest box-office return, but its reputation has grown over time. The sequel had a lot to live up to.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods did have a dark start with the re-emergence of the Gods. David F. Sandberg showed off his horror origins as a zombie outbreak erupts in a museum and the fear that the citizens experienced. It was an effective opening to show how powerful these beings were. Despite the dark opening, Shazam! Fury of the Gods was mostly a light-hearted film and had a broad family appeal. The main characters were young, the tone was mostly humorous, and it was a bright and colourful experience. The Shazam Family working together during the bridge rescue was an entertaining and wholesome sequence as Bonnie Tyler’s “I Need a Hero” blares out.

From action and special effects Shazam! Fury of the Gods was better than some of the MCU’s recent output. There were a lot of bright colours, the costumes were more detailed, and the CGI was generally convincing. It helped that the majority took place in a recognisable American city and there was some location shooting. The light tone extended to scenes in the Shazam family’s lair because it was like another Warner Brothers’ property: The Wizarding World. The Lair was ancient, filled with salutes, and had a library with flying books. Eugene’s (Ian Chen/Ross Butler) personal mission to explore the doors to other worlds felt like something from Harry Potter.

The final way Shazam! Fury of the Gods was like a family film with the use of Skittles product placement. It was pleasant enough and showed Darla’s (Faithe Herman/Meagan Good) childish innocence.

Where Shazam! Fury of the Gods faltered was with its family theme. Billy’s personal journey was one of the strongest aspects of the first Shazam! film. He was searching for his birth mother thinking he needed his birth family when his foster family could be his real family. Shazam: Fury of the Gods wanted to recapture this magic and, in the sequel, showed Billy swinging the other way. He was desperate to keep his new family together despite them wanting to do their own things. Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) wanted to act as a solo hero, whilst Mary (Grace Caroline Currey) was working and saving up for college. Billy became a lot clingier instead of being a lone wolf. It didn’t have the heart of the previous Shazam! film.

Whilst Billy was close to his foster siblings, there was still some distance from his foster parents. He still called them by their first names instead of ‘mum’ and ‘dad.’ However, this idea was fleeting, and it could have been expanded on.

The family theme also extended to the Goddesses. They were a dysfunctional family of siblings. Mirren’s Hespera was the dominating older sister and self-appointed leader. Kalypso was the more bloodthirsty member of the trio and wanted to destroy humanity. Anthea (Rachel Zegler) stood in contrast to her sisters because she was compassionate and wanted to take a more peaceful path. Mirren’s performance outshone her villainous co-stars because she has so much gravitas. Zegler was fine when she played her All-American alter ego, but she did struggle with the more grandiose dialogue with Mirren and Liu. Liu’s performance was simply poor as she tried to play a Shakespearian villain. It won’t be remembered as one of her best performances.

The other area where Shazam! Fury of the Gods paled to its predecessor was the humour. The punchlines were predictable and obvious. Shazam! had some great moments of comedy because it did some unexpected things. The sequel lacked that. Some of the humour did rely on Billy losing a lot of IQ points. In the first film he was shown to be a bright and resourceful kid, but in the sequel, he was a lot dumber. The characters even made a joke about his lacked wisdom.

On a final note, a plot point in Shazam! Fury of the Gods was Philadelphia being sealed in a magic dome. The idea was to replicate things like the Bottle City of Kandor or Stephen King’s Under the Dome, but I couldn’t help but think of The Simpsons Movie.

As a popcorn experience Shazam! Fury of the Gods was enjoyable because of its visuals and action. Audiences can do a lot worse with the modern superhero genre. It was a shame it couldn’t match the quality of Shazam!