Film review: ‘SHAZAM: FURY OF THE GODS’, by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
The first Shazam film, which provided the origin story for teen nerd Billy Batson’s magical transformation into the eponymous, red-suited superhero, surprised many viewers by turning one of the sillier DC stories into a mostly fun, amusing, energetic if juvenile action fantasy. Lead Zachari Levi, who looks oddly like Boz Scaggs, did about as good a job as we could have expected in the role of the extremely powerful yet remarkably immature and lunkheaded hero. So, how does the sequel Shazam: Fury of the Gods hold up. Despite a frenetic pace, enormous special effects action set pieces, commitment from the entire cast and the inclusion of revered performers like Helen Mirren, the Shazam gimmick is already wearing a little thin.
Here Shazam and his foster siblings, all of whom he has given superhero powers, are feeling pretty content with their world and despite having to save the odd crowd from a collapsing bridge, are looking to pursue other avenues in life. Their lack of enthusiasm for super heroics is unsettling Shazam and feeding his insecurities about being their leader. A serious test arrives for them, though, when three once imprisoned ancient gods, the daughters of Atlas, Hespera (Helen Mirren), Kalypso (Lucy Lui) and Anthea (Rachel Zegler) recover a magic staff and through its remarkable powers, take revenge on Shazam’s wizard mentor (Djimon Hansou) for supposedly killing their father and imprisoning them for centuries.
If audiences want eyeball and eardrum pulverising special effects peppered with adolescent gags, they will be in heaven with Shazam: Fury of the Gods. For those who want something a little more substantial and original, this film will prove something of a chore. Much of it involves over-the-top effects sequences with people being zapped by energy beams and thrown into buildings and cities being turned upside down. On a technical level it’s all pretty impressive but it becomes a little tiresome and its soon apparent that the noise and light show is there to cover for a very slender and predictable plot.
Levi does his best to deliver on both the action and comedy fronts but he’s lumbered with some silly catchphrase-heavy dialogue that soon becomes annoying. The supporting cast of heroes and their teen incarnations don’t fare much better, the key moment for one even has her spouting an advertising slogan. While there’s some cheeky amusement in seeing someone of Helen Mirren’s (and Lucy Liu for that matter) stature in a film like this, there’s a distinct sense they’re slumming it.
The Shazam concept almost certainly has enough thrills and amusement for hardcore superhero comic fans to return to cinemas for the seemingly inevitable parade of sequels and franchise offshoots but the non-comic fan audience who might have been pleasantly surprised by the first film will probably conclude that one helping of Shazam was more than enough.
Nick’s rating: **1/2
Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Superhero/ Comedy.
Classification: M..
Director(s): David F. Sandberg.
Release date: 16th Mar 2023..
Running time: 130 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.