Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ Lighthearted Fun Makes for an Enjoyable Time
It took a while, but Shazam is finally back in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. This is the much-awaited sequel to the surprisingly fun 2019 installment and is the last movie before the vision of now-DC Studios CEO James Gunn starts to materialize.
Family isn’t usually a word I’d use to describe something that’s not related to The Fast and the Furious, but it perfectly encapsulates what the film is all about. It’s fun but also emotional, and a number of heartfelt moments really make the film shine, warts and all.
To the uninitiated, Shazam (Zachary Levi) is about a boy named Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and his foster siblings who transform into superheroes when they shout the name “Shazam!” – an acronym for six heroes each giving them a certain power: Wisdom of Solomon, Strength of Hercules, Stamina of Atlas, Power of Zeus, Courage of Achilles, and Speed of Mercury, the latter of which may very well be my favorite among them.
Without getting into spoiler territory, Shazam! Fury of the Gods picks up right after the events of the first movie, where our heroes seem to still are getting used to their double lives as secret superheroes and kids going about with their daily lives. It’s quite relatable and fun to see everyone juggle around things all while keeping their identities in check.
The film’s antagonists, the Daughters of Atlas (Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler), are after the Shazam Family because the power of the gods was stolen from them. These are the very powers that are bestowed by The Wizard (Djimon Hounsou) to Billy Batson after choosing him as his champion. Quite the ironic predicament!
So we have here two families, each with their own issues. The Shazam family, where Billy seems to be overwhelmed with the task of being the “leader” of the superhero group while facing the issues of growing up and growing out of his foster home, and then we have the Atlas family, also with their conflict on how to rightfully go about with their goal with the usual family ranking syndromes affecting their decisions.
It’s not really as deep and profound as you would think, and their interactions with each other are more relatable and light-hearted, which makes for easy and enjoyable viewing throughout.
Of course, it’s not a superhero movie if it doesn’t have great fight scenes. This move has them in spades, especially in the closing parts of the story. If anything, this part kind of overstayed its welcome, and it feels longer than I would have wanted that I wished the excess run time could have been allocated to develop the other parts of the plot.
During my screening of Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the crowd was pretty pleasant and voiced out their excitement during certain scenes, which really helped set the fun atmosphere of the movie. In particular, there’s a certain cameo you’ll want to keep an eye out for, but it was a heartfelt scene that really garnered a huge reaction from the crowd.
Overall, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is something that you watch to have fun. There are a few darker-themed and mature elements in the story, but it is something that the whole family can enjoy. The movie is packed with frenetic fight scenes, battles against otherworldly monsters, and even a healthy dose of values that even Vin Diesel would be proud of.
If anything, the film takes a hit with its CG sequences, something I wasn’t too fond of. It felt like a budget issue and is most noticeable during scenes where the characters in the film take flight. You probably won’t notice it at first, but after it is pointed out to you, could be something that you can’t unsee anymore.
As is tradition, stick around for one mid-credits scene and one post-credits scene that seems to give a hint about where we might see Shazam next!
