Review: Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)

Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the affable sequel to the surprisingly good original film, plays a bit too much like an after school special, an afterthought in the larger DC Extended Universe. There is one big cameo very late in the film, but aside from that, Shazam and his cosmology of Greek gods and spells seems to exist bracketed off from the other, more important DC superhero films. The budget doesn’t allow the special effects to truly come alive. While I appreciate the generally good-natured vibe, it stands in sharp contrast to other films in the cinematic universe. And although the performances are good, there’s not that much here that makes it stand out in terms of narrative, emotions, or simple spectacle.

The plot involves some Greek goddesses, played by Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu, who take revenge on Billy Batson, played by the goofy Zachary Levi as an adult and Asher Angel as a teen. Remember that Billy and his foster family of step-siblings can turn into magical superheroes when they say the word “Shazam!” Too much of the action here hinges on wonky CGI of dragons and unicorns and too much of the plot is reliant on magical world building that makes you wistful for the self-serious competence of Kenneth Branagh’s Thor. At least the humour still lands. This movie is funnier than your typical superhero film, with an earnest affection for its characters and their powers. But as a hero narrative, it’s all a bit forgettable.

One part that is memorable: the corny romance between Billy’s best friend and brother, Freddy Freeman (played by Jack Dylan Grazer as a teen and Adam Brody as an adult), and the new girl at school Anne (played by Rachel Zegler of West Side Story fame). The awe-shucks flirtations, the narrative twists, the idea that chemistry between two actors should be able to fuel some storytelling—this is all the sort of stuff you get on Degrassi and other teenage melodramas. But when the material is played against the backdrop of superhero spectacle, there’s something clever to the approach. It clarifies a genuine, if a tad cliched, wonder at both the possibilities of human relationships and magic powers.

Alas, it’s not the main focus of the film. Most of Shazam! Fury of the Gods is devoted to quests for magic objects, escapes from magic prisons, and magic battles set in baseball stadiums and animated with the sort of hazy CGI that has come to define the Warner Bros. house style.

Perhaps most baffling about Shazam! Fury of the Gods is that, like Black Adam, the narrative arc seems to be structured around a meaningless decision that the character has to make: what will their superhero name be? We already know the answer, which is the title of the movie! It’s truly puzzling, the kind of directive clearly forced onto both these two movies by an idiotic executive who thinks that the only emotional stakes needed for a good superhero movie are for the character to confirm that the name of the movie is also the name of the hero.

Is this the stuff that mainstream audiences want to have their blockbuster movies structured around? Probably not. Names have power, but coherent, well-constructed storytelling usually does the trick. Shazam! Fury of the Gods is not a bizarre mess (see: Flash, The), but it does confirm that the DCEU has well and truly run its course.

5 out of 10

Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023, USA)

Directed by David F. Sandberg; written by Henry Gayden and Chris Morgan, based on characters created by DC; starring Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody, Ross Butler, D. J. Cotrona, Grace Caroline Currey, Meagan Good, Lucy Liu, Djimon Hounsou, Helen Mirren.

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