Shazam: Fury of the Gods

 

I actually enjoyed this movie so much more than I thought I would. I saw it in IMAX and that turned out to be a great decision since it made the whole film feel much more cinematic. I didn’t expect much going into the film, which I think is why I was so happy with it. It was genuinely so funny and I had a really good time seeing this one. 



Going into this movie I forgot that the whole family was given superpowers in the previous film, and I still think this is weird. Especially when there is so little development of the side characters outside of Billy and Freddy. I don’t feel really connected to the others at all, and I find them to be pretty flat characters. I think that if they were better developed in the first movie, maybe I would like them more. 



I love that they utilized Jack Dylan Grazer’s character Freddy so much more in this film compared to the first one. He is so funny and I really liked his dynamic with Rachel Ziegler and Asher Angel. Freddy easily steals any scene he is in with his comedic relief and range compared to the other characters. I don’t know how they got Rachel Ziegler, Helen Miren, and Lucy Liu to do this film, but I am glad that they did. It seems like a waste of their talents, but they are all amazing in this film. 



The story was pretty good, it wasn’t unique by any means but it was what I expected of a Shazam sequel. I liked the part where they get their powers taken away and get them back, I thought that was an interesting aspect of the plot since suddenly they are powerless. I found that one of the characters' deaths at the end was weird and unnecessary because you know he's coming back since they're a main character. They also come back immediately, so there was really no emotional climax to the whole story.



Wonder Woman makes an appearance in this film for no reason. It is so abrupt, gimmicky and just not enjoyable at all. But I guess the expectation is that people will hear she is in the movie and want to see it. She just feels completely out of place.



The mythical Greek gods stuff was actually really interesting and I think it gave a lot more background to their powers like why they have them, what powers they have, and why they are all so different even though they supposedly came from the same place. I also liked how they absolutely destroyed the Philadelphia Philly's stadium. That scene was really cool and as a baseball fan, I always love a good ballpark in a movie.




Even though this film has its flaws and is your typical superhero movie that follows the same formula and tropes, it was actually really fun. It is easily the most predictable movie I have seen this year, and definitely no technical masterpiece, but it's just a fun movie, I enjoyed it and had a good time. I was originally opposed to seeing the original Shazam movie because I thought it looked corny, but it's really become what I love about the Shazam movies. They don't take themselves too seriously and it is allowed to be just a fun superhero movie.