Review: Shazam! Fury of the Gods

A lot can change in four years. When director David F. Sandberg’s Shazam! first hit cinemas in 2019, the coming-of-age superhero film garnered unexpected acclaim and ended its theatrical run on a wave of goodwill. Nestled between billion-dollar DC juggernauts, Aquaman (2018) and Joker (2019), Sandberg’s Shazam! seemed like the kind of family-friendly sleeper hit that practically begged for a sequel. Four years and countless COVID-19-related delays later, however, an overdue follow-up, Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) has now emerged, Black Adam-like, to a world that seems to have forgotten it ever existed.

Zachary Levi provides a largely grating presence as the titular superhero

The sequel’s premise remains undeniably strong. Asher Angel stars as Billy Batson, an ordinary teenager with the extraordinary ability to transform into a full-grown superhero (Zachary Levi) whenever he says the magic word… ‘SHAZAM!’ With the help of his similarly superpowered foster family, Billy is forced to juggle the pressures of adolescence with the newfound challenges of surprise superheroism. Set two years after its predecessor, Fury of the Gods sees the self-proclaimed ‘Shazamily’ battle a trio of ancient Greek Goddesses (Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu and Rachel Zegler) all seemingly hell-bent on global destruction. Chaos follows.

However, what seems like a match made in high camp heaven is sadly brought crashing down by the film’s unlikable lead. Or rather, leads. Zachary Levi provides a largely grating presence as the titular superhero, with a performance that guns for childish juvenility more often than childlike optimism. On balance, Levi’s Shazam feels more like Chris Pratt (pejorative) than Christopher Reeve. His co-star Asher Angel provides little in the way of relief either, giving an underwhelming and po-faced turn as civilian alter ego Billy Batson.

In fact, Asher Angel (through no fault of his own) poses a major problem for Fury of the Gods. As an unlucky consequence of the Shazam! sequel’s four-year gestation period, Angel, once a youthful teen, is now twenty years old. Much of the original film’s Big (1988) meets Big Hero Six (2014) playfulness has therefore been lost: sequences from the first Shazam! which saw the then-teenage Billy using his grown-up form to humiliate bullies and sneak beer from liquor stores simply wouldn’t fly in the sequel, given Angel’s more mature appearance. Returning director Sandberg is clearly aware of this issue and reins in the childish antics accordingly. This decision, though pragmatic, leads to the original film’s unique body-swapping spin on the superhero formula getting largely abandoned in part two. After all, where’s the fun in watching a twenty-year-old transform into a forty-year-old?

As if to compensate, Jack Dylan Grazer (as Billy’s wisecracking brother, Freddy Freeman) proves the likeable standout among the cast. Grazer, who dazzled in Luca Guadagnino’s We Are Who We Are (2020) is slightly younger than co-star Angel and his immature behaviour, therefore, feels a tad more appropriate. It is no surprise then, that Freddy spends most of his screen time in human rather than superhero form (as played by Adam Brody) in a decision that seems calculated to display as much of Grazer’s natural comedic timing and winning charisma as possible.

The rest of the ensemble cast also gets somewhat lost in the mix

Julie Taymor fans will be delighted at the pairing of Dame Helen Mirren (as arch-villain Hespera) and Djimon Hounsou (as the Wizard). These two cinematic heavyweights, reunited for the first time since 2010’s The Tempest, are sadly burdened with much of the film’s most workmanlike dialogue, however. Christophe Beck’s musical score is similarly unremarkable and a bizarrely curtailed Talking Heads needle drop provides the only real musical diversion. The rest of the ensemble cast also gets somewhat lost in the mix. Lucy Liu delivers a suitably steely turn as villainess Kalypso while Rachel Zegler adds some much-needed humanity as the conflicted Anthea, easily the least furious of the eponymous Gods, but little else sticks.

So, is the superhero movie heading towards the way of the western? It’s not clear, but Sandberg (now planning a return to his beloved horror genre) won’t be sticking around long enough to find out. It’s hard to blame him really. While the occasional moment in Fury of the Gods allows the director to show off his natural flair for the offbeat and grotesque (a first-act dream sequence is a surreal highlight), Sandberg’s idiosyncrasies are ultimately overpowered by the usual DC formula. This interminable in-house visual style, an unfortunate hangover of the studio’s Zack Snyder years, makes Fury of the Gods an even less appealing prospect. As seasoned Shakespearean Helen Mirren might put it, Sandberg’s Shazam! sequel piles on the ‘sound and fury’ in spades, but ultimately ends up ‘signifying nothing’.

Verdict:

Unlike its high-flying predecessor, Shazam! Fury of the Gods largely struggles to justify its own existence. Kept somewhat aloft by a strong cast and engaging direction, but dragged down by just about everything else, this lumbering sequel’s particular brand of half-baked heroism wears decidedly thin by the second hour.