Skip to main content

Movie Review: Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) *Spoiler free*

Shazam! Fury of the Gods Poster.
Much like the first Shazam movie Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a solid family film with a little bit of edge to it (you may want to see it before you show it to your youngest kids for the scare factor).

Also, like the first movie, it's fairly well written, well acted, has really good special effects, and generally a fun time at the movies.

Shazam 2 picks up at least two years (maybe 3-4 years, since Billy is about to turn 18 in this movie but one character specifically says 2 years at one point). The Shazam family have gotten a bit of a reputation as some what incompetent super heroes despite trying their best to be a great hero team.

Unfortunately, Billy, breaking the wizard's staff at the end of the first movie, allowed two of the daughters of the Titan Atlas to cross into the human realm, and they want to reclaim what has been taken from them.

Shazam 2 totally works as a standalone movie or as part of a two movie arc. While it does reference other superhero characters you really don't need to see anything else to enjoy this film.

If you know Black Adam is actually a part of the Shazam comic book series, and you skipped seeing that film with Dwayne Johnson in the title role, it doesn't matter at all. The only reference to that movie is a name drop of The Justice Society. Beyond that you could act as if Black Adam never happened (and, as far as everyone in this movie goes, it didn't happen or they never heard anything about it).

To me, that's the biggest problem the film has. It doesn't pay off who that extra seat is for (from the previous film... presumably Black Adam?). Not only that. They never even mention it. Reportedly Dwayne Johnson turned down a chance to cameo in this film so I imagine there was little point in teasing the return of the character for the moment.

While the Daughters of Atlas, played by Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu, are actually quite engaging with both actors delivering suitably threatening performances, they do seem a little like the 'B team' in terms of being the movie's villains. Even though their back story is well within the context of Shazam lore and their presence ties back to the first film.

It makes me wonder how much better this film could have been if Dwayne Johnson hadn't been so ham fisted in pushing his character to the forefront of the entire DCEU. There was definitely room here for Black Adam to have initially teamed with the heroes but then turn on them at the end, setting up a third film hook that people might have been excited to see.

That aside, this is a much better film than Black Adam. It's better constructed in terms of story. It's humor is done better (and not grossly mistimed, or uncharacteristic, like that movie). Even though not all the characters are as utilized as they could be, all of them seem like unique individuals, and at least get to contribute to the story in a way that makes sense with who they are.

I genuinely like Zachary Levi in the role of Shazam. The only problem here is Billy Batson isn't really a kid anymore. While Zachary is great, it is starting to feel a little like he's still playing 14 year old Billy rather than 17 year old Billy. If they get a third film (not looking too promising at the time I'm writing this), Zachary may need to work on aging up his call backs to how Billy would think.

It is entirely possible for this Shazam heroes team to carry forward into the new James Gunn DCU since their hero forms are magically created. They could take the opportunity to recast the child actors, and cast older for young (like Hollywood used to do all the time) so they don't age out quite so fast, and they could recast Black Adam entirely.

That way Zachery could keep going with channeling a younger Billy, and it wouldn't seem quite so weird that an almost grown man, is turning into an even older grown man.

Overall, while I don't have a lot to say about Shazam 2 in terms of the movie itself. I can say I had fun watching it. It doesn't deserve to bomb at the box office because it is a well made, solid movie that, unfortunately got released during a transitionary period, after a related film failed to impress because it was actually not as good as it should have been.

As a hold over from the DCEU and the Snyderverse, Shazam is still the brightest light in terms of guaranteed entertainment... even if it isn't the most memorable. 

Comments

Buy Gifts and Apparel featuring art by TET.

Popular posts from this blog

Movie Review: Captain America: Brave New World (2025) *No Spoilers*

I  decided not see Captain America: Brave New World in a cinema because everything I heard about the film pointed to a disjointed mess, from testing poorly, to whole characters being added in during reshoots. The trailers looked okay but, since they featured Red Hulk, quite a bit, it felt like there wasn't much left as a drawcard for seeing the film in a cinema. Having now seen the film on Disney+ I feel it was a good decision. While the big budget effects no doubt would've looked better on a big screen, the story wasn't particularly complex or intriguing enough to make the film stand out. If anything, it's a straight forward action movie with a hero who is just kind of... there. The story revolves around a plot to kill the newly elected US President, former General Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford). Captain America (Anthony Mackie) must find who is the real mastermind in order to clear his friend and the original Super Solider, Isaiah Bradley's (Carl Lumbly), name. I...

I'm Confused About Why People Prefer to Say Discombobulated?

D iscombobulated. Is a word that I think someone rediscovered about three or four years ago (maybe more because the pandemic years have thrown out my sense of time) and now I hear it a lot. It's not a new word by any means, but when I started hearing multiple celebrities using it in everyday sentences, I actively had to look up what it meant. Define it with as many synonyms as you like but essentially it's just another word meaning 'confused'. Seinfeld Quotes: Quotes.net The words are pretty much interchangeable. He was discombobulated by too many choices. He was confused by too many choices.  My confusion is the length of the word. It's unnecessarily long with too many syllables. There are many other words that mean confused, and therefore also mean discombobulated. Most of them are shorter and easier to say. So why not just say 'confused'? Perhaps discombobulated sounds more intelligent, maybe?  Hawaii Five-0 Quotes: Quotes.net I've noticed it gets us...

Resident Dragon: Checking In with My Daily Gag Cartoon/Comic About a Fire Dragon Living in the Suburbs

A t the beginning of the year I introduced you to my latest cartoon/comic series, Resident Dragon (because a dragon's got to live somewhere).  A daily - well, week-day-ly - gag cartoon about Red the Fire Dragon, living in a shared house in the suburbs, with his human friend, TET and his two pets, Grrr Dog and Cool Froyd the cat. Back then I had about 100 cartoons sketched out, with eleven completely digitally inked and coloured.  As of writing this, I haven't yet skipped a day of my schedule, and am seven toons short of an even 200 sketched out, with 31 fully inked and coloured. Actually, it's 33 but I only publish one full colour toon each week, so I have two in the wings. I'm not planning on doing daily toons forever. My goal is to hit 366 so I have enough to fill a daily desk calendar, should I decide to sell one. Currently you can buy individual prints of my finished toons in my Resident Dragon Store . When I have enough finished toons I will be compiling them into...

Australian Federal Election 2025 - World's Most Boring Government Re-elected by Landside - We're Even More Fine!

Anthony Albanese Victory by ChatGPT and TET. W hen I started writing about the 2025 Federal election the polls were suggesting the world's most boring government was crusing to a defeat . As it turns out, boring is good, and Australia wants more of it, handing the current government a landslide win with a majority vote. Anthony Albanese became the first PM since John Howard to win a consecutive term, and the first Labor PM since Bob Hawke to do so. Some of that comes down to the leadership revolving door both major parties had through the mid 2000s. Although Anthony is my preferred PM over Dutton the irony is Dutton sounds more like a leader with a fairly commanding voice and an ability to speak well, without sounding like he's waffling and dodging questions, even if he is. Anthony, on the other hand, does have the ability (and speech writer) to say a lot of inspiring things but it gets lost in the delivery. He doesn't seem to know when to emphasise a point for effect. In h...

TV Series Review: Star Wars: Andor - Season 2 (2025, Disney+) *No Spoilers*

D isney+'s Star Wars: Andor  the first season is widely regarded as some of the best Star Wars since the original trilogy, and I don't disagree in my  Andor Season 1  review. Despite that, it does have its problems, mainly a lot of space between action pieces. That's not to say nothing is happening in those spaces, but I do remember being frustrated how long season one took to get to a promised heist scene, going from conversation to conversation over several episodes. However, when Andor does have action, it usually delivers, with action that serves the story rather than action because 'it's time for some action now'. Unfortunately that gave Andor the reputation for being Star Wars 'for grown ups'. People who understand how tension and intrigue can come just as much from character interaction, who is talking to who, and what they're saying. That lead to low viewership and the show's proposed number of seasons being reduced to just two (I believe...

TV Series Review: Humans (2015-2018, 3 Seasons) *No Spoilers*

Colin Morgan, Katherine Parkinson, Ivanno Jeremiah, Gemma Chan, and Emily Berrington in Humans (2015) W hile it may seem late to be reviewing Humans now, nearly seven years after the show wrapped, the only thing that's really aged about it is the opening titles... and even then, not that much. I think I caught the first season on Netflix back in 2015, and then kind of dropped off waiting for a new season to appear. As of writing this, all three seasons are on Amazon Prime. Humans is set in a parallel world that looks much like ours except humanoid robot helpers, that look just like real humans, called 'Synths', are now common place. Season one begins at the point where the first synths go from being subservient machines to gaining consciousness, and explores not only how humanity reacts to that but how the synths react to humanity's perceptions as well. Initially it follows a group of OG synths, already given consciousness by their creator, and just trying to survive i...

Second Sunday Skateboard Session Episode 6, 7, and 8 - Shuv-its On Lock (Pretty Much)

TET - Heel Flip attempt Episode 8. A s I near the end of filming my ten part series, Second Sundy Skateboard Sessions, I'm feeling pretty good about my skating generally. Filming the series has given me a focus, schedule, and a goal, so that when I do skate I'm not randomly riding around doing not much... and getting bored, or just half arsing attempting to learn my tricks. If you're a solo skater like me - especially if you're learning or relearning - I'd recommend this approach. Even filming your progress. Though you don't have to publicly bore the internet like me if you've got the same 'resting lack of enthusiasm' demeanor I have. Just having the video footage to compare, and to watch in slow mo to see what you're doing wrong or right is useful.  If you're not familiar with me or my ten part series of Second Sunday Skateboard sessions , I'm attempting to master all seven basic skateboarding tricks in Braille Skateboarding's Skateb...