Movie Review: Shazam! Fury of the Gods

March 17, 2023

by Greg Uke, Reporter

Let me begin this review by saying that I’m not a big fan of most live action movies DC has put out to date. There are many reasons for this. Skeptics will say it’s because we compare them unfairly to the MCUs big-budget films that can tell a grand story over multiple releases without packing too much into a single film. Or that most DC heroes are too corny and powerful to be both challenged AND humanized without gratuitous levels of devastation that take away from the plot. Whatever the reason, there is a balance of elements which must be created and then preserved to tell an excellent story. And in my opinion most DC movies have lacked this balance. Not all, but most.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is….bizarrely not one of them. I went into the movie expecting it to be terrible and campy and full of cringey moments, and while it did have a handful of those (it is Shazam after all) it was also full of solid character development, interesting action sequences, and legit humor. I found the villains to be a bit weak, but even they had a level of personality that humanized them far more than most DC villains ever receive. I found myself blinking in a sort of nerd-daze as I left the theater, trying to reconcile this surprisingly well made movie with the fact that it was Shazam 2. A woman with a clipboard stopped me and asked me for my opinion, and I told her in a monotone of disbelief that it was the best DC movie I’ve seen since the first Wonder Woman, and that the writers for DC films have come a surprisingly long way if this is the new norm.

The guiding idea behind Shazam is that he’s not really a handsome adult man (Zachary Levi), he’s a seventeen year old punk kid (Asher Angel) with the magical power to turn into a handsome adult man….and in this form he acts immature and awkward and uses his superman-like powers with impunity. This is the comedic undercurrent of the entire character, and by extension his four friends whom he also gave powers. Watching Zachary Levi, Meagan Good, Ross Butler, Adam Brody, and Grace Currey dressed up in spandex pretending to be goofy distractible kids pretending to be adults was terrific. Not just for the concept itself, but because several of them were also trying to act more mature than they were. It’s fun, and they did it quite well. I could tell they were having a good time.

The three villains are a spin-off version of the three Fates or Norns from Greek and Scandinavian mythology. With the eventual exception of Lucy Liu, who won my heart as O-Ren Ishi-I way back in Kill Bill and has kept it ever since, they are remarkably non-villainous. And that is so refreshing. I haven’t seen a relatable or reluctant bad guy in a DC live action movie in quite some time. Helen Mirren does this best in her role as “Hespera”, the eldest sister. Rachel Zegler plays the youngest sister “Anthea”, and I will admit I tend to grumble at characters who claim to be boundlessly ancient but lack the emotional maturity or wisdom to back it up…but that’s more of a writing problem. She does a good job doing what she was told to do. The combat scenes with Helen are particularly excellent, because seeing a mature woman beat up Zachary Levi is like watching Bob Barker beat up Happy Gilmore. It’s good clean wholesome fun.

It’s hard to rave about the best points of this movie without spoilers. It’s the sort of movie you can’t gush about without ruining its best moments, so I’ll move on to constructive criticism. I have two points to make on this front. Firstly, the teenagers in this movie are fantastically stupid and don’t treat important things like the death of bystanders with a believable level of gravitas. If you’re going to create a bunch of goofy inexperienced teenagers who lack conviction and maturity, then murder ought to be a serious enough matter that it affects them. They aren’t Deadpool. Secondly, DC needs to stop blowing up cities.

DC Writers: “Dude, you know what would make this story totally slap!?”

Assistant: “Uhm…destroying a ci-“

DC Writers: “Destroying a mutha frickin CITY! They’ll never see it coming!!”

Guys. No. We see it coming.

Superman, Black Adam, Shazam, Wonder Woman, Aquaman. The Justice League. Even The Batman’s villain flooded Gotham, and he’s a normal dude. It’s like we can’t have a hero without wrecking a city. It gets old after a while, and it loses its specialness.

Overall

While Shazam! Fury of the Gods did have some weak moments, these are overshadowed by enough fun jokes, exciting action, and character development that it deserves to be admired and enjoyed for what it is. If this is the direction DC movies are going, then they are certainly getting better.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Shazam! Fury of the Gods – 4/5 pleasant DC installments.