2019’s Shazam! marked a potential shift for the DCEU. The preceding six movies opened to, let’s say mixed reviews, with the exception of Wonder Woman. On the heels of Aquaman becoming the first billion dollar grosser, there was optimism to be had that the expected comparatively lighter Shazam! could finally give DC back-to-back successes, critically, with fans, and financially. And while Shazam! wasn’t the financial success the studio was hoping for, it was well-received by both critics and fans. Maybe they had finally found something. Or, they at least found another character that could appeal to all audiences.
However, with director David F. Sandberg and screenwriter Henry Gayden both returning for the sequel, Fury of the Gods, it appears as if the studio and creative team took the wrong lessons from the first movie. They took what was good and fun (and some of what wasn’t), and just gave us more. You liked the awkward teenage interactions? Here’s a lot more! Did you have fun seeing Zachary Levi cosplaying as a teenager in an adult superhero’s body? Here’s that dialed up to 11? How about an undercooked villain? Here, have a team of undercooked villains!
Some of the charm and fun is still there, and works in parts, but overall it’s a bit of a jumbled mess that doesn’t know what it wants to do with itself.
Fury of the Gods opens two years after the events of the first film. Billy Batson (Asher Angel, with Zachary Levi as his Shazam alter ego) and his foster siblings are still adjusting to their new lives as superheroes. They do their best to protect Philadelphia, but can’t seem to get anything done without causing additional damage and destruction, leading to the media dubbing them the “Philadelphia Fiascos.”
This was a fun story, that could have been a lot more fun. Of course a group of kids whose superpower changes them to full-grown adults are going to handle these circumstances in less-than-ideal ways. The mishaps make sense and provide a great avenue for laughs. Teenagers (and in the case of Darla, the youngest, a pre-teen) having to grapple with their newfound powers and responsibilities could make for a compelling plot on its own. But all this gets mostly pushed to the side for the main plot.
The Daughters of Atlas – Hespera (Helen Mirren), Kalypso (Lucy Liu), and Anthea (Rachel Zegler) – have arrived on Earth with revenge on the mind. They blame the Wizard (Djimon Hounsou) for the death of their father and for having their magic stolen from them ages ago. The magical staff Billy, as Shazam, broke at the end of the first movie holds the key to them taking the powers from the Shazamily and restoring the magic to where they believe it rightly belongs.
That story wouldn’t break any ground in the superhero genre, but it could have been decent enough to allow for some fun had Fury of the Gods had better focus. But instead the focus is constantly changing, with tonal whiplash galore and too many competing characters and subplots. With a six-person superhero team (only two of whom got any real introduction and development the first time around) plus the three villains, it’s a lot of characters to juggle. With the Shazamily, the four characters outside of Billy and Freddy (Jack Dylan Frazer, with Adam Brody as the superhero version) get juuuust enough so we know what their perceived roles on the team are, but barely more than that. But they’re all in so much of the movie that it feels weird knowing so little about them.
That leaves precious little time to devote to the Daughters of Atlas. Hespera and Kalypso both get the short end of the stick here. Anthea spends a short period pretending to be Anne, a new student at Billy and Freddy’s school, who strikes up a friendship with Freddy. That at least gives her character an attempt at some depth and development. But it leaves Hespera and Kalypso out in the cold. Everything about them is stereotypical villain.
But Billy and Freddy are the worst-served of all. As the main characters, there would be a reasonable expectation to see some changes and character growth from both of them. And sure, Fury of the Gods hints at it from time to time. It even tries to set up a major emotional arc for Billy, as he’s only a few months away from turning 18 and aging out of the foster care system. That should have allowed for some real emotional stakes, that could be both separate from the superhero shenanigans while also being intertwined with them. But no. The movie gives us a couple lines and a couple scenes.
But the worst part of Billy’s story is how little we actually see Billy. He’s Shazam for the vast majority of the movie. Yeah, it can be fun watching Zachary Levi pretend to be a 17 year old, but that shtick gets real old real fast. The first movie had a much better balance, so it didn’t have the chance to wear on you. But even more than that, for the internal struggles, Billy’s going through, it would have been much more impactful to actually see Billy work through those issues, rather than Shazam. It makes those few moments that should be the climax for big emotional arcs feel very undeserved.
And with Freddy, he’s the least into the whole team atmosphere of anyone. He’s part of it, but has more of a tendency to go off on his own for solo missions. This also gets a single line explaining why he does it, and why he likes his super-powered alter ego so much. Again, spend a little more of the story here, and you get some real emotional attachment. Like with Billy, these moments end up feeling empty and unearned.
Okay, that was a lot of negativity, but it’s not all bad. While there’s too much of it and it doesn’t always work, Levi’s charisma does shine through the clutter from time to time. It’s inconsistent, but he does provide some fun and genuine laughs. Meagan Good is absolutely eating as the adult version of Darla, having to play the youngest member of the family. You can totally buy Good as a young child, from mannerisms to higher pitched voice to the way she reacts to everything that’s happening. I’d say Adam Brody is the best part of Fury of the Gods. He’s in it way too little, but his wit and charm make for some of the best parts of the movie.
The Daughters of Atlas are lot more spread across the board. Lucy Liu is – shockingly – actively bad here. The script and story don’t give her anything to work with, but she’s doing nothing to elevate it. Helen Mirren is better, doing the best she can with her character. It’s Rachel Zegler, though, that comes off best. Anthea is the most well-rounded – and only multi-dimensional – of the sisters, but she still has to put in the work. And she’s mostly pretty great. She struggles to overcome some of the cheesier “superheroy” parts of the role, but by and large, I have only praise for her work here.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a disappointing follow-up to its predecessor. Some (at times) fun characters can only do so much. The poor character arcs and convoluted story with too many underdeveloped subplots tank the movie’s chances to be a proper (potential?) sendoff for Shazam and the Shazamily. I will say, with all the uncertainty still lingering around DC right now, I would have no issue with some of these characters sticking around, chiefly Asher Angel & Zachary Levi and Jack Dylan Grazer & Adam Brody.
The first Shazam! showed that there is great fun to be had when their characters are properly balanced. Or if not more balanced, make them part of a larger ensemble cast, where it’s not two hours solely of the Zachary Levi Show. But if this is the final farewell for the Shazamily, then, well, that’s a shame.
Score: 53/100
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