Review of “Shazam! Fury of the Gods”: An Even Greater Package of Joy

Shazam!, David F. Sandberg’s eagerly anticipated sequel Finally released, Fury of the Gods is every bit as charming and funny as its predecessor. With this touching new Shazam tale chapter, the Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation director maintains his stellar superhero record. Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a comic book adventure with plenty of surprises and twists that will keep DC fans talking long after the movie is over. It is thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end.

Shazam! Two years have passed since the sneaky Sivana played by Mark Strong was vanquished in Fury of the Gods. With their newly acquired abilities, Billy (Asher Angel) and his foster family hope to operate as a fully-fledged superhero team, but the media mocks them since they frequently fall short of saving the day. The issue is not that they cannot cooperate; rather, it may be that they are all exerting too much effort in their activities. When three ancient goddesses invade a Greek museum and take Shazam’s magic staff, everything is turned upside down. As the goddesses hunt out the “Shazamily” to deprive them of their abilities, chaos breaks out in Philadelphia.

As the aforementioned goddesses, also known as the daughters of Atlas, Helen Mirren, who possesses unlimited power, Lucy Liu, who is crafty, and Rachel Zegler, who is both sweet and powerful, join the Shazamily cast. They increase the size of an already substantial ensemble, which is a difficult juggling act that David F. Sandberg masterfully manages. Yet, it might be said that Lucy Liu’s Kalypso is the poorest of the three due to the third act’s focus on dragons and monsters rather than her true character growth. The focus is primarily on Shazam as he confronts his inner demons and makes the ultimate sacrifice to protect his family from the end-of-the-world dangers posed by the Greek goddesses. Even though Kalypso is little more than a cunning chaos agent, Liu still gives it her all.

Since they are written and acted with such love, the Shazam family is where David F. Sandberg’s two films set themselves apart from the DC Universe. There is a sincere lightness to the emotions on screen, even in the sequel’s darker moments. Yet during the happy moments, it’s impossible not to laugh along with the family’s animated comedy. Meagan Good and Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley, D. J. Cotrona and Jovan Armand as Pedro Pea, Ross Butler, and Ian Chen as Eugene Cho, and Grace Fulton as Mary Bromfield are all delightful to see in their different adult and teen combinations. The Shazam family is given more exposure to DC’s magical universe in this second volume, which makes the comedy even funnier. In addition, Djimon Hounsou’s witty Wizard is back, however, this time he realizes what a terrible error it was to give a group of children access to the gods’ power.

The stakes are higher because of Shazam! Fury of the Gods had a greater $125 million budget, and its sequel is trying to outdo its predecessor in classic Hollywood style. This hurts the movie in some respects because it relies more heavily on elaborate CGI action scenes. Shazam!, which was released in 2019, had a particular attraction due to its small scale; in contrast to the greater cosmos that Warner Bros. and DC were then creating, it felt rather grounded and unconnected. Naturally, there were a few extremely intense action sequences as Shazam battled Sivana, but they were simply not as loud and overt as what can be seen in Shazam! The Gods’ fury.

Although David F. Sandberg’s sequel’s third act is highly captivating, it’s difficult to ignore some of the subpar VFX work on display. When you step back and consider how bad the visual effects in recent comic-book films have been, there is simply too much of it right in front of you to ignore, and it does this movie no favors. Shazamaction! The battle scenes in Fury of the Gods are extremely similar to those in the first film, with plenty of punching and flying with the addition of magical takedowns. Sticking to action scenes that are more straightforward frequently makes for a wonderful picture of who Shazam truly is because, unlike Black Adam, he is a novice fighter and a youngster who can hardly keep his family together.

The now-17-year-old Billy Batson’s inner childishness is still warmly embraced by Zachary Levi in his endearing ways. The MVP is Freddy Freeman, often known as “Captain Every Power.” As the wisecracking superhero, Jack Dylan Grazer and Adam Brody deliver a delightfully funny joint performance. Some of the movie’s funniest and most moving moments result from David F. Sandberg creating a special bond between Freddy and a few unexpected characters. Helen Mirren stands out among the new goddesses as Hesperia, demonstrating that she is much more than merely a godlike antagonist as an unprecedented connection is made between her and the audience. She and Rachel Ziegler’s Anthea both have a tinge of humanity in them, which sets them apart from their spiteful and power-hungry sister Kalypso.

When it comes to Shazam’s graphics, nothing particularly noteworthy can be said. Wrath of the Gods, yet Gyula Pados, a Hungarian director of photography, occasionally displays jolting creative intensity. The movie certainly has its fair share of spectacular images by the conclusion. As this is happening, Christophe Beck, the film’s heroic score composer, is working nonstop. Yet, a significant portion of this stems from the first movie’s score, which was created by composer Benjamin Wallfisch. One of the best original DCU scores was arguably produced by Beck, who elevates the material to new levels. Given his track record in Hollywood, which includes the Ant-Man and Frozen movie franchises, this isn’t too shocking.

Plenty of twists and turns, Shazam! A worthy sequel that creatively develops DC mythos is Fury of the Gods. With the rare opportunity to portray young children as allegedly fully-functional adult superheroes, director David F. Sandberg and writers Henry Gayden and Chris Morgan continue to find gold. Its sequel more than makes up for its small imperfections with pure excitement, and given time, it will undoubtedly be adored by many. DC fans will be left wondering what happens to Shazam and his supporting cast after the DCU is run by James Gunn and Peter Safran. Wrath of the Gods makes it very evident that it would be a great loss to discard such a distinctive and interesting cast of people.