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When the first Shazam! came out in 2018, it was a surprise hit for DC, partially because most audiences did not think the movie would be that good. It had great comedic moments, impressive and heartfelt emotional beats, and fun action sequences that made it stand out among the rest of DC’s offerings. That said, Shazam! Fury of the Gods feels more like Aquaman than the first Shazam! because it feels like they were not sure if they would get a full three movies to complete the narrative arcs so everything is crammed into one movie.
Picking up where its predecessor left off, Shazam! Fury of the Gods follows Billy Batson/Shazam (Asher Angel as Billy, Zachary Levi as Shazam) as they desperately try to maintain a new sense of normalcy with his found family (Grace Caroline Curry as both forms of Mary, Jack Dylan Grazer and Adam Brody as Freddie, Ross Butler and Ian Chen as Eugene, Meagan Goode and Faithe Herman as Darla, and D.J. Cotrona and Jovan Armand as Pedro) and their relevant powers. As they try to balance their personal lives and their lives as superheroes, the three Daughters of Atlas (Rachel Zegler, Helen Mirren, and Lucy Liu) come back to try and reclaim their home from the humans. Djimon Hounsou and Diedrich Bader also star.
One of the bigger complaints a lot of viewers had with the first movie was that Billy and Shazam feel like two different characters and not the same character at different stages of life. Billy was portrayed as more broody and introverted while Shazam was way more extroverted and happy. This movie alleviates this problem (arguably in the wrong way) by eliminating Billy almost entirely from the equation and having Shazam be the main character of the movie. This would be fine for what the movie is if not for the fact that Billy’s imposter syndrome and his abandonment issues are the core of the story, and both of these require looking Billy in the face to have full emotional resonance. On top of that, because both of these arcs have to share screentime with the rest of the narrative and the other characters, neither is properly fulfilled leaving Billy’s resolution at the end feel like he reached the end of his arc because the movie ended, not because he learned something or had to reckon with his emotions.
Along the same lines, the Anne/Anthea plotline does not exactly work because it is all shoehorned into one movie where her plotline is also tied to the other two Daughters of Atlas. Within a half hour, Anne is revealed to exist, meets Freddie, and establishes a relationship with Freddie to the point that she’s willing to help him later when a slower burn across the first movie to this movie (or preferably between a second movie between the first Shazam! and this one) would have made it feel more organic. Much like Billy’s arc, her arc is very obvious from the time she steps on screen to the end that it does not feel earned.
At the end of the day, the narrative is nonsensical, what the Daughters of Atlas want is never made explicitly clear and the effects are not great for a good amount of the movie. That said, there are enough comedic moments throughout the film to make it amusing enough to watch at least once, even if one just waits for it to hit streaming on HBOMax to watch it. It may or may not continue into the new DC Studios slate, however, there is still some fun to be had in this film.
Final Rating: 6.5/10
