Shazam! Fury of the Gods is utterly delightful. Where Black Adam was dour, dry as dust, and downright dismal, this one is bursting with colour and heart. This is a movie with kindness at its core. It remembers that comic book heroes are supposed to joyous and inspirational. It knows how to evoke that sense of childhood nostalgia. Director David F. Sandberg doesn’t lose sight of the things that made the first movie so endearing and pushes it further by doubling down on family and friendship, with more than enough of kapows, whacks, and zzonks to keep things moving a quite the clip.
There’s also a dragon.
It’s All About… Family
A quick catch up for those of you who may have forgotten. (The last movie was, after all, four years and a whole entire pandemic ago.) Young Billy Batson, as played by Asher Angel, is the Philadelphia teenager living in a foster home, who has the ability to transform into a Superman-esque superhero whenever he says the word “Shazam!” He’s practically indestructible. He’s got super strength and super speed. He can fly. He can even shoot blue lightning out of his hands. The big difference, however, is that he is still a kid who just happens to be in the body of a grown up. Think Tom Hanks in Big.
Fast forward to now. An indeterminate amount of time has passed since the events of the first movie, and Billy Batson, along with his superhero brothers and sisters, have fully embraced the crime-fighting life. While each of his siblings seem to have settled rather comfortably into their own superhero skin, Shazam himself seems to be suffering from a bad case of imposter syndrome. He is plagued by anxiety and feels completely underserving of the powers that have been bestowed upon him. All of this is further compounded by the fact that Billy is about to turn 18 and be aged out of the foster care system. Past trauma has resulted in real fears of abandonment and Billy’s preoccupation with losing this family ends up taking a real toll on his superhero mojo. It’s a unique problem in the DC Universe, and one that Shazam’s counterparts, Superman (alien), Wonder Woman (demigod), Aquaman (royalty), and Batman (psychopath), just don’t have to deal with.
And if that wasn’t enough, the Shazamily also have to manage Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler, the Daughters of Atlas, who seem hell-bent on making humanity pay for the destruction of their celestial realm.
That may sound like lot but Sandberg manages all of it with a deft hand. Everyone in this ensemble is given something substantial to do. Zachary Levi remains as charming a screen presence as ever and continues to be perfect as a superpowered man-child. Rachel Zegler is absolutely divine. While Mirren, Liu, and Hounsou genuinely look like they’re having a great time. The MVP of the piece, however, is Jack Dylan Grazer, whose Freddy ends up being the everyman audience surrogate of the movie. It’s an interesting narrative decision that works to ground this story without forcing either Shazam or Billy Batson to backtrack from everything they’ve learned in the first movie.
An Abbreviated Universe
There are big changes afoot over at Warner Bros., and there is still quite the wait before James Gunn and Peter Safran roll out their DC cinematic reboot. Shazam! Fury of the Gods, along with The Flash, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, are all that remains from the previous regime. These movies are lame ducks in many ways, trotted out over the course of this year as a sort of death parade for Zack Snyder’s failed vision.
The unintended consequence of this, however, is a positive one. Because you can go into Shazam! Fury of the Gods and enjoy it simply for what it is. You don’t really have to worry about what came before. Or even what’s coming next. Removing the narrative burden of being a part of some extended cinematic universe has made this movie feel measurably lighter. It’s only focus being the story at hand. It’s only concern being with these characters and where they end up. Yes, there are two post credits scenes, but both are mostly played for laughs and not designed to keep us on the hook for the next movie, and the next one after that.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods doesn’t break any boundaries with regards to they way superhero stories are told. It doesn’t rewrite the script. It’s not a revolution in the genre. And it doesn’t have to do any of those things. That’s the point. This movie is as paint by numbers as they come. And yet, it still manages to feel lively and entertaining.
Maybe it’s not the superhero that’s causing all of this “fatigue.” Maybe it’s this misplaced need to keep a story going, forever and ever, ad infinitum. Maybe it’s because we have to do so much homework before watching any of these movies. Maybe all we need is a self contained story that exists on its own terms, with a distinct beginning, middle, and end, that is self aware in its silliness, understands its comic book roots, and doesn’t forget to have fun.
And dragons.
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