Shazam! The Mild Annoyance Of The Gods
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a mostly derivative movie that lifts from many better movies to make something that is dumb and overall mid-tier. It is less funny than the previous movie by far and nails home its core premise — giving the power of gods to children is a spectacularly terrible idea.
The spoiler-free review below the break will explain what works in this sequel to the 2019 movie Shazam! and what doesn’t. Also, I will be calling the movie Shazam 2 for ease of typing going forward.
The best part about Shazam 2 is the cast of the Marvel (or Shazam?) family, both the superhero versions and the foster family kids. Everyone returns, with the exception of Michelle Borth who was adult Mary Marvel in the first movie. Grace Caroline Curry is again the non-powered version of Mary, but also plays the powered version this time. Surprisingly, Asher Angel as Billy Batson has much less screen time than previously, but Jack Dylan Grazer steps up to the plate as Freddie and, as in the first movie, steals the show. Given Grazer’s talent, I think it was a smart call to have him be the main human protagonist.
And that mostly sums up what is good about Shazam 2. Some of the jokes by other characters land, but Grazer’s Freddie has the funniest bits — not because the writing is funny but because his delivery is always fun and engaging. I wish I could say that villains Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu as the daughters of Atlas are good, but they mostly seem to be phoning it in, until the big third act battle set piece.
Those rare points of quality can’t make up for the many much weaker elements of the movie. The CG effects are hit or miss. At times some of the creatures look impressive, and other times they look unfinished at best. And some of the compositing of the heroes against the backgrounds of Philadelphia look almost like a Doctor Who episode. Also, I don’t recall any other movie that actually uses product placement to drive the plot forward — at least not to the extent that Shazam 2 uses it, and so blatantly.
The weakest point of the movie is the writing. It’s just dumb. There’s no other way to describe it. The movie has plot points and vital story elements that drive the resolution which make no sense, and negates things that happened in the first movie or even near the beginning of this movie. Villains’ powers are defined then that definition is almost completely ignored in favor of the “it’s magic, don’t think too hard about it” attitude.
Shazam 2 is also, as I mentioned above, shamelessly derivative of better films. Movies it rips off: The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Fantastic Four (2005), The Avengers (2012) — even Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). And I don’t mean small influences, I mean extended major story beats and plot elements. All of those movies did much better portraying each of their own elements than Shazam 2 does. And every time one of those scenes came up, I recreated the Leonardo DiCaprio meme, pointing at the screen and thinking “Hey, I’ve seen this before!”
Returning as a writer from the first movie is Henry Gayden, who has very little else of note as a writing credit. But the Shazam! story writer, Darren Lemke, is replaced for the sequel by Chris Morgan, most known for writing that past handful of Fast & Furious movies. And boy does that show. Returning as director is Davd F. Sandberg, who did a fine job with the first movie. Which just proves that he is not the kind of director who can overcome a badly written script.
If you plan to go see Shazam 2, you will get a kick out of some of the battle scenes, and the performances by Grazer as Freddie and Curry as Mary. But do stay around for a mid-credits scene, which, sadly, is the funniest bit in the entire movie. I give Shazam! Fury of the Gods (New Line Cinema, Warner Bros.; PG-13; 2hrs 10mins) a 2.5 out of 5.
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