In a current era where the DC cinematic universe is such a mess with no idea what direction it is going; it is hard to care about Shazam Fury of the Gods. Is it even part of the new DCU? It didn’t help that there was a severe lack of marketing for this film and all the Black Adam controversy. However, I enjoyed the first Shazam and was willing to look past the fact that most likely nothing in this movie is going to lead to anything. So is this a strong sequel or another stinker from DC?
For the most part, I think the actors do a great job in their roles. Zachary Levi is still charming and charismatic as Shazam. One issue in the first film is that adult Billy (Zachary Levi) and young Billy (Asher Angel) didn’t feel like the same person as their performance felt inconsistent. Asher, despite having a smaller role this time, does a better job of feeling like the same character by performing closer to Zachary’s performance. Helen Mirren plays one of the villains Hespera. I love her serious, no-nonsense and menacing performance which contrasts Shazam. Djimon Hounsou returns as the wizard and he is great as well. I also think the kid actors who returned are still fine as their characters as well. The design of the monsters and the dragon were good and the special effects of them were not terrible which is a plus in a world where bad CG is so common.
Unfortunately,
that is all the praise I can give this movie as apart from that, this
movie is an absolute letdown. The story lacks any of the heart and
emotion from the first film. Instead, we just get a generic story with
bland villains who wants to do evil things because they are evil. The
villains are meant to be gods but they are underwhelming in everything
including powers which are vague and not impressive. They don’t feel
much of a threat and the evil plan, in the end, doesn’t even feel that
consequential. It doesn’t help that the movie seems to constantly try
and make jokes every minute. I thought I was watching a generic Marvel
movie. There is also a boring and half-baked romance story with Freddy,
Billy’s foster brother, that is the main focus of this film. Freddy is
somehow more annoying than ever in this film, not the actor’s fault, and
his romance with Rachel Zegler’s character Anne is not believable.
On that note, Billy Batson who is meant to be the main character is not a major focus in this film. I was worried after the first movie where they had the whole family receive the Shazam powers. I believe it would make Billy less interesting and less special which is sadly the case. It doesn’t help that everyone else with the power is made to seem more competent than Billy with the characters constantly mocking Billy as an idiot. It further doesn’t help that they write Billy as a complete idiot which isn’t fitting of his character. I also hate the stupid trope where a person wants to be normal and not be a superhero. The second act in this film is incredibly boring with its constant back and forth between the heroes and villains. It doesn’t help that there is a lack of action scenes and when there are, they ain’t that great. The ending is probably the most insulting part of the film. They pull off the biggest and most random deus ex machina ever.
Overall, what a disappointing sequel. The first movie had a post-credit that could’ve led to something interesting. Instead, we get random, generic villains with a generic plot and generic characters. We are already in a market oversaturated by superhero movies and another generic movie is not what we need. It also astounds me that we have a Black Adam movie and a Shazam movie within a year that has no connection whatsoever. This film was a creation from the old DC studios and it is further proof that the DC studios need to change. Technically, Shazam can still be brought into the new DCU but I wouldn’t be angry if completely rebooted the character as well. Hopefully, the direction that James Gunn takes the DCU is better than whatever this was.
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