"Shazam: Fury of the Gods": Skittles for Unicorns
A surprisingly entertaining sequel curtailed by a larger problem with the cinematic universe it inhabits.
Trailers are stupid. Increasingly, they have become more of a detriment to the films they preview than they are an enticement mechanism to draw more people to the theater. Prime example is the latest DC film and sequel to the surprising 2019 success Shazam—Shazam: Fury of the Gods.
Much has been said about the idiosy of the film’s trailer, but not that much has been said about the film itself, which I found to be entertaining, funny and emotionally compelling.
For the unitiated, Shazam is the altar ego of orphaned Philadelphian Billy Batson. The parentless boy is taken into the foster care system, where he finds a family that loves him. Meanwhile, the milennial-long search for a “worthy” champion to wield the power of the gods—Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury (hence the name SHAZAM)—to fight evil.
The wizard explains that Billy was chosen not only because of his misfortune but because he was “pure of heart.” Ordered by the wizard to speak the name "Shazam," Billy is struck by a sudden bolt of lightning and transformed into a superpowered adult in a red costume with gold trim.
With that out of the way, we can now get to the latest entry in the franchise. For its second outing, that bubble that is the increasingly volatile and unpredictable DC universe becomes literal. And, while the future of this particular series hangs in the balance, Fury of the Gods shows that Shazam and his super-powered family deserve a place in whatever comes next.
The film opens with a grim introduction to two of our primary antagonists: sisters Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu), two of the daughters of Atlas, a pair of righteously pissed off goddesses who have arrived in our earthly realm to take back what is theirs, i.e. a giant magical stick last seen being broken in two by Shazam himself at the end of the first film. Both Mirren and Liu do not quite seem to totally grasp what is at stake here, but they are sure as hell having a great time doing it.
Once the pair have taken back said magical stick, they continue to air their rage at the poor tourists who just so happen to be dawdling around the museum it was housed in. Soon, they have turned the entire assemblage into statues — doesn’t feel great, huh? — a somewhat understandable dastardly deed that highlights most of the film’s problems. Namely, it is scary for a film ostensibly aimed at kids, but it is also a bit confusing, played out of sequence and it requires a whole mess of exposition.
But, wait, what is happening with, you know, our titular hero Shazam? When Sandberg is leaning into the lightness of this story — that it is about a regular old teenage boy, plus his charming foster family, getting turned into a very cool superhero — “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” sparks to life.
While the first film chronicled the dizzy joy and total wackiness of a kid getting superpowers, its sequel takes that to its next logical stop: a couple of years into this hero thing, and young Billy Batson (Asher Angel returns to play the teenage hero) is suffering from imposter syndrome. Score one for relatable problems!
Billy’s attempts to wrestle with his inner demons include everything from a visit to a very baffled pediatrician (perpetual scene-stealer P.J. Byrne) and subjecting his “fam jam” to videos breaking down what worked (and, more often, what didn’t work) during their missions. Billy’s entire ethos hinges on his family motto — “all or none!” — that requires all of his foster siblings (and fellow superheroes) to participate in said missions, which have gone so haywire that the troupe has earned the moniker “The Philly Fiascos.”
As for Billy’s best friend, Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer, somehow even more delightful than he was in the first film, plus Adam Brody as his superhero counterpart, also a total joy)? He’s never happier than when he’s off fighting crime, even when that means he’s doing it alone.
But these are all distinctly Earth-bound dilemmas, and when Hespera and Kalypso bring their rage (and their magical stick!) to Philadelphia, in order to — uh, checks notes, avenge their father? save their own realm, which was sealed off from magic by Billy’s own wizard pal (Djimon Hounsou, who apparently didn’t die in the first film)? get some magic apple? kill the kids? good gods almighty, what is happening here? — things suddenly get very real. And, as continues to be the case with any and all major superhero films, they get really big, with the fate of nothing less than the entire universe in the balance.
All that superhero stuff, all those played-out problems (the universe?? again??), all those tropes recede when Sandberg’s film (written by Henry Gayden and Chris Morgan) taps back into the special bubble that is Shazam. Superhero movies don’t have to be dark or dismal or just for adults, they can be colorful and silly and funny for the whole family! These are not at all original ideas, but when “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is doing them well, the film is a sterling reminder of how truly wide the genre can be, and how increasingly narrow it feels.
Eventually, Shazam and those naughty sisters (plus a third, who we won’t spoil here) have to reckon with each other, after the goddesses steal Freddy, seal off Philly, and snatch the powers of the rest of the family. Things get still more convoluted when that aforementioned apple (really, the seed of life) is planted in the inhospitable soil of (ew, gross!) Earth by a maniacal Kalypso. It doesn’t sprout delightful wonders, but a “blighted” tree that then hatches a series of classic mythological monsters, all manner of minotaurs and cyclopes suddenly jamming around an already-addled Philly.
Despite the universal stakes of what’s unfolding, the action feels relatively contained (the monsters look good, the lightning Shazam so often employs has never looked better, but it all feels as if was shot on a single backlot). And while the rest of the DC world does occasionally find its way into this particular bubble (Billy, for instance, has a major crush on Wonder Woman), there’s something to be said for a series like this that can truly stand alone. It’s charming — and it’s different, and it’s worth saving.