“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” (now on Max) is among the latest live-action cartoons in the DC Extended Universe – colorful, expensive, and earnest in its message and the way Zachary Levi strains to transfer his fun to the audience.
With most of the creative team returning from 2019’s overlong but humorous “Shazam!,” director David F. Sandberg’s sequel feels tighter (even though it’s only 2 minutes shorter). But it’s also less able to stick with its strengths. Most of the humor is worth a smile, but sometimes the film delivers groaners, like when Shazam references the “Fast and Furious” films when calling for his family.
The cast is similarly hit-and-miss. Most of the seven Shazam siblings have non-superhero (awkward teen) and superhero (adult) versions, toggling by yelling “shazam!” It would almost have been worth another $50 million to de-age Adam Brody to 17 to play Freddy Freeman (no, not that one).
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” (2023)
Director: David F. Sandberg
Writers: Henry Gayden, Chris Morgan
Stars: Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer
Sibling rivalry
Instead, young Freddy is played by Jack Dylan Grazer, a Nickelodeon-level over-actor who doesn’t have chemistry with “West Side Story’s” Rachel Zegler. They attempt to play out DC’s answer to “Spider-Man’s” Tom Holland and Zendaya. Add it to the scroll-length list of times when DC tries to be Marvel and fails.
Writers Henry Gayden (returning from part one) and Chris Morgan forget about the narrative need to get revenge on the first-act bullies. The students brutalize Freddy, who uses a walking brace. Nonetheless, “Shazam 2” sticks with young Freddy even more so than young Billy/Shazam (Asher Angel) or scene-stealing literalist Darla (Faithe Herman and Meagan Good).
It’s weird that Grace Caroline Currey plays both young Mary and her superhero counterpart (she was only the young version in the original). I can see why the filmmakers wanted more of Currey on screen, even if it doesn’t make logical sense. But, after establishing Mary’s conflict between college and superhero-ing, the script unfortunately buries her amid the other six siblings – or rather the four siblings who aren’t Freddy and Billy.
The villains are good for a modern superhero movie: a trio of goddess sisters who seek power, but for different reasons. The eldest, Hespera, is played by Helen Mirren, apparently because she needed another house. Lucy Lui plays the middle one, Kalypso, and Zegler is Anthea, a.k.a. Anne.
After the sisters’ menacing museum theft of a magic staff, we learn that Kalypso craves power, but Hespera simply wants what was taken from them; we can see her mellowing with age in just 2 hours (I won’t count the 10 minutes of closing credits). Anthea is the wise youngster who might appeal to Gen-Z viewers’ disgust with older generations, although she’s technically 6,000 years old – the set-up for a joke about age-inappropriateness between Anne and Freddy.
Magical mythology
I was afraid from the opening theft that “Shazam 2” would use magic as a lazy catch-all, but it uses it for magical world-building with shades of “Harry Potter.” It’s no accident that Freddy references the wizard’s (Djimon Hounsou) “beard like Hagrid’s.”
The Shazam siblings have an awesome cave hangout, and it’s connected to a cavern full of doors that serve as magic portals. One of the funniest “characters” is a magic quill named Steve, who is almost as literal as Darla.
Later, unicorns (tamed by Skittles, as per the colorful humor of this saga) and more menacing creatures enter via effective CGI. Then the film embarks on one of those awkward action sequences where bystanders in the (surprisingly clean) Philadelphia streets are certainly slaughtered. We revel in cool destruction of buildings and pavement. But we don’t dwell on the brutal deaths, which conveniently happen just outside the frame.
The sky darkens and we’re treated to a dragon (it’s not clear if it’s the last one). As with most modern superhero films, there’s no arguing with the CGI, yet at the same time my mind is in danger of drifting during mega-action sequences.
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” always comes back to humor, warm family interactions and well-placed cameos from the wider DCEU in the nick of time to keep the energy up. If it gave closer to equal time to all the siblings, it could’ve been an effective film about the strength of family. Instead, it’s just another superhero product, but at least the cynicism is skillfully buried.