What’s It About
Teenager Billy Batson and his foster siblings, who transform into adult superheroes by saying “Shazam” fight the villainous Hespera and Kalypso, the daughters of Atlas.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
When a sequel was announced, I couldn’t wait. That first film best represented what you should always expect from Shazam. Not to mention, DC was starting to find its way. There was Wonder Woman, then Aquaman, then Shazam. They finally found a winning formula. But for some reason, making a sequel was their Kryptonite. The second Wonder Woman was far below the first one, and a second Aquaman has been in the works for a while now. So here we are reviewing Shazam 2. The trailers were ok, as they seemed to be really cryptic regarding the plot. Then they screwed up. They decided to feature Wonder Woman in one of the trailers. They just gave away the big reveal. At that point, it was over. All faith in this movie’s ability to make money disappears. Why did they do it? Shazam! Fury of the Gods is missing EVERYTHING. The Shazam family are kids, and we know that, but once they become super-powered adults, their behavior is more that of an adult without the years of the adult experience. This ultimately creates a special-needs type of person based on how immature the entire cast is acting now. Sadly, Zachary Levi decided to dumb down the main character. He is so unsure of himself that he is better as a kid than a superhero. The rest of his “family” are just as bad. But the villains are the best part. They should have been in a different film. The blend of Shazam, his family, the wizard, and the evil sisters all seem like separate stories pieced together at the last minute. All this, without any true direction, left me confused. What was the point of making so many changes from the first movie? What happened to Mr. Mind? And the obvious question, why was Black Adam, not an option? So much opportunity, and yet no one wanted to take advantage of what was already established from the first movie. Instead, we got a film with partials of nearly every category. It’s a family comedy, and action movie, with some drama and borderline horror. The only thing missing was a musical scene. With all fairness, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is not the worst movie out there. At times it seemed like the director really had good intentions. Unfortunately, most of us know where the road to good intentions lead to.
OUR RATING – AN INTENTIONAL 5
MEDIA
- Genre – Comic Book
- Street date
- Digital – April 7th, 2023.
- DVD/Blu-Ray/4K – May 23rd, 2023
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2.39:1
- Sound – English Dolby Atmos
- Subtitles – English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras
- SHAZAM! Let’s Make a Sequel – featurette
- The Rock of Eternity: Decked Out – featurette
- The Shazamily Reunion – featurette
- The Zac Effect – featurette
- The Sisterhood of the Daughters of Atlas – featurette
- Pay By Play: Scene Breakdown – featurettes
- Ben Franklin bridge collapse
- Rooftop battle of the gods
- Unicorn ride in Philadelphia
- Epic showdown at the baseball stadium
- The Mythology of Shazam! – featurette
- Director’s Audio Commentary with David F. Sandberg
- Deleted Scenes, Alternate & Extended Scenes