Before I begin my review of Shazam!: Fury of the Gods, I want you to indulge me for a moment…
What the hell is wrong with the nerd community? The last fifteen to twenty years have been the best time to be a nerd; WE RULE THE FUCKING WORLD!! Well, at least pop culture for the most part.
Sure, I can understand fatigue with superhero movies and fatigue of other sorts, but, come on, this is what so many of us had been desperately desiring for years–and it’s something we’ve been finally living through for a while, now!
So why is it that there is all of this hypocrisy and, even more importantly, cannibalizing within the nerd community in recent years? By cannibalizing, I mean just throwing shit, anymore, at particular properties (think of the DC vs. Marvel debate BS) or extreme nitpicking at something (like a movie) to where people, in this hyperbolic Internet world we live in, now, where we believe all of us have something profound to say (of course I do! :P) that we have to damn something? I mean, where did all of this start? Where did it come from? More significantly: Why? I’m not a huge fan of the MCU, but, damn, I don’t condemn the franchise, because that would be stupid. It would bring about general audiences into believing that what the nerd community has to offer is shit–which it isn’t.
I bring all of this up, because I am seeing this abhorrent behavior surround Shazam!: Fury of the Gods (which I will refer to as Shazam 2 moving forward until I reach the conclusion of this review). Is the movie perfect? No. Is it the best superhero movie ever made? No. Are there some legitimate criticisms that could be had with the movie? Yes, but nothing that could, nor should, damn the movie. I mean, my god, looking at a number of reviews for this you’d think the movie actually assaulted people. It’s an innocent, fun movie. Even more specific, IT’S JUST A FUCKING MOVIE!!! I am so fucking sick and tired of the hyperbolic, outrageous bullshit people pull with pop culture entertainment anymore! If you don’t like something, fine. Say so, but without being so melodramatic. Such behavior is nothing but a cry for attention. JUST STOP IT!
With that said, let’s get on with the review of Shazam 2.
To be honest, there isn’t a whole lot I have to say here. My diatribe, above, will probably end up being longer than my review.
Let me start off with the negative; and, yes, there’s only one real criticism I have about the movie that put me a little off. That criticism is that the personalities of Shazam and Billy don’t match. Unlike other people, I don’t think this is an error that condemns the movie. Sure, it is an error, but only one that makes one cock their head to one side and say, “Huh. That’s interesting.”
Otherwise, I have only good things left to say about Shazam 2.
I think the cast did a terrific job in their roles. Zach Levy does another outstanding performance as Shazam. Quite honestly, I think he is a little bit better here than in his first outing as the character.
Asher Angel also steps up his game here. I do think this young man will be in Hollywood for as long as he desires, because he definitely has talent.
Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu steal the show as two-thirds of The Three Sisters faction that is bent on destroying our Shazam family. I also think their villains are more entertaining and better defined than Mark Strong’s Dr. Sivana from the first movie.
The special effects work is really good and one of the things I enjoyed the most was the dragon in the final fifty minutes of the movie. As a kaiju fan, I dig the design and destructiveness of this dragon. I don’t remember if there was ever a toyline for this movie, but I would LOVE to have a dragon figure from this movie.
The story is straightforward and simple. Nothing here is complicated nor bloated; and there’s nothing wrong with that. Knowing what kind of movie you’re making and sticking to how you’re going to write that story is essential. Like the first movie, Director David F. Sandberg does a stellar job of making sure that story is on the straight and narrow without wasting the viewer’s time of unnecessary sequences.
To conclude this short review, Shazam!: Fury of the Gods is a HIGHLY entertaining and innocent movie. While the personality split between Billy and Shazam is a bit distracting, it doesn’t take away from the overall enjoyment of the movie nor the incredible artistry that is within the film. The cast does an amazing job and the effects are, dare I say, some of the best I’ve seen in a superhero movie in the last decade. Shazam!: Fury of the Gods is also one of the more entertaining entries, not just in the DCEU, but in the comic book genre in quite some time. While I haven’t caught up on all of Marvel’s latest outings as of the writing of this review, I can safely say that most comic book movies of recent memory, at best, have been entertaining enough to pass the time. An exception to that, for me, would be Wonder Woman 1984 in which I still am absolutely head-over-heels in love with. Shazam!: Fury of the Gods is the kind of comedic superhero movie that the MCU should use as an example of how to make a fun superhero movie; that is, only through comedy in when particular characters call for it and not simply throw it in with every single movie and character. Sandberg, and his crews, have done it the right way with the Shazam! duology. It’s too bad that, due to poor box office performance, and the fact that a new regime, at Warner Bros., is wanting to restart the DCEU as a result of the haphazard Snyder universe, we very likely won’t get to see anymore Shazam movies. Fury of the Gods, I am willing to bet, is the last. With that sad note, I have to say that I had a blast with Shazam!: Fury of the Gods and I think you will too.
Entertain My Imagination 