{"id":39233,"date":"2023-03-17T03:11:10","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T07:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=39233"},"modified":"2023-05-23T09:20:11","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T13:20:11","slug":"shazam-fury-of-the-gods-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/17\/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Hey, it\u2019s better than \u201cBlack Adam<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s about the biggest glowing opinion I can give \u201cFury of the Gods\u201d when all is said and done. The follow up to the 2019 crowd pleaser is a perfectly fine film. It\u2019s a solid adaptation of a unique comic book series, and it\u2019s a good chance this is the last time we\u2019ll see \u201cShazam!<\/a>\u201d with this cast. That being said, I liked \u201cFury of the Gods\u201d even if I wasn\u2019t a big fan of how much they toned down the content to make it so much more appealing to the younger audience. \u201cShazam!\u201d had demons, and \u201cFury of the Gods\u201d has unicorns.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Billy Batson and his super powered alter ego Shazam are back and things are getting complicated. Especially now that Billy is about to turn eighteen and is faced with aging out of the foster care program he\u2019s grown to love. He\u2019s joined by his heroic foster siblings as they work to protect the city of Philadelphia from threats, but teamwork is starting to fade as plans for their futures are made. Billy\u2019s anxiety is heightened by the arrival of Hespera and Kalypso, daughters of Atlas eager to retrieve the Staff of the Gods which will give them the power to control humanity.<\/p>\n

This follow up catches Billy and his foster family a few years after their big adventure, and they\u2019re now a big superhero team that love to save the world and help people (a huge refreshing juxtaposition from DCEU\u2019s sullen, mopey Superman). Things get difficult for Billy because his underlying fear of being given up overwhelms his siblings, all of whom face new promising prospects socially and career wise. \u201cFury of the Gods\u201d leans right in to the wish fulfillment prospect of the original film, and it does this by giving us much more of the Marvel family. Where as the Marvel family only functioned in the climax of the original \u201cShazam!\u201d here they\u2019re on screen for about three quarters of the film.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a ton of focus on how they\u2019re implementing their new powers and its fun watching them find new ways to benefit humanity. The entire cast all return (including the adult doubles) and there\u2019s a lot of plot. That\u2019s mainly a con as the narrative garners so many sub-plots and side plots. It\u2019s tough to keep up and just feels absolutely messy. Plus the super villains here are never quite as devious as the original film\u2019s villain; the writers can never decide if they\u2019re bad guys or just misunderstood. Even in the finale, there\u2019s not a clear indication on what the bad guys motivations really are and if Shazam! should be fighting them at all. For the most part Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu\u2019s characters are charming in their own way but they feel like after thoughts.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also not a ton of heart when it comes to the film\u2019s whole message. A lot Billy\u2019s own underlying fears of abandonment take a big back seat to a lot of slapstick comedy, and silliness. There was an undercurrent of sadness with Billy\u2019s story in the original film, and here there\u2019s not a ton of emphases on it. Jack Dylan Grazer gets a ton more screen time, and he\u2019s very good as brother Freddy, another character that just loves being a superhero. Rachel Zegler (who was enormous in \u201cWest Side Story<\/a>\u201d) is also very good as new character Ann who takes a shine to Freddy. \u00a0\u201cFury of the Gods\u201d is not the worst of the remaining DCEU movie stable, it\u2019s just not what I\u2019d put in the top five by any means.<\/p>\n

At the end it\u2019s a fairly underwhelming follow up, but it\u2019s worth the time if only for its spirit and energy. It\u2019s just too bad this is about all she wrote for this iteration of \u201cShazam!\u201d and his family.<\/p>\n