"Shazam! Fury of the Gods" Feature Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

Oh. My. Gods!

Shazam! Fury of the Gods
Studio: New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: March 17, 2023
Digital Media Release Date: April 7, 2023
Physical Media Release Date: May 23, 2023

Description: From New Line Cinema comes Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which continues the story of teenage Billy Batson who, upon reciting the magic word “Shazam!,” is transformed into his adult Super Hero alter ego, Shazam.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods stars returning cast members Zachary Levi as Shazam; Asher Angel as Billy Batson; Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman; Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy; Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene; Meagan Good as Super Hero Darla; D.J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro; Grace Caroline Currey as Mary Bromfield / Super Hero Mary; Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley; Ian Chen as Eugene Choi; Jovan Armand as Pedro Pena; Marta Milans as Rosa Vasquez; Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez; with Djimon Hounsou as Wizard. Joining the cast are Rachel Zegler, with Lucy Liu and Helen Mirren.

The film is directed by David F. Sandberg and produced by Peter Safran, both returning from the 2019 Shazam! film. Shazam! Fury of the Gods is written by Henry Gayden and Chris Morgan, based on characters from DC; Shazam! was created by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck. Executive producers are Walter Hamada, Adam Schlagman, Richard Brener, Dave Neustadter, Victoria Palmeri, Marcus Viscidi and Geoff Johns.

Discuss Shazam! Fury of the Gods right here at Anime Superhero! So, what did you think?

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Posted in Aug. 2023 due to 2023 forum outage

 

[Yojimbo]

3/19: Was going to have cameos from Justice Society members but it didn't work out.

Sandberg comments on the Wonder Woman cameo and filming it.

Sandberg reveals they used Taylor Sandhill as a WW double when they were figuring out coverage.

3/20: Amazon Prime shows a digital date of April 18.

3/21: The Justice Society end tag was originally done for Black Adam but Dwayne Johnson vetoed it. It was repurposed for the Shazam! sequel with Harcourt and Economos instead.

3/22: Sinbad was going to cameo as the person calling Shazam "Low Voltage" but had to back out because of a health issue. Shaq was then cast but he pulled out days before filming.

4/6: Digital release is tomorrow and 4K/Blu-ray is May 23.

4/7: First 10 minutes posted.


4/12: Will stream on Max on May 23.

4/14: It was a flat, low stakes incoherent sequel that really squandered what the first movie built. Not that I cared for Levi's depiction of Shazam anyway. The villains were not memorable and one note like the first movie but was much more of a damn shame here since two of them were Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu. Kalypso was willing to forego the plan of reviving the God Realm just for petty revenge so far as to strip one sister of powers and to try to kill/fatally wound the other? And the reveal about how the Council of Wizards attained magic from the gods makes them look like monsters – stealing the power of the gods then sealing them up like goldfish in a bowl to die? What?!

The movie spent too much time trying to recapture the charm of the first. We didn't need a "heroes saving people on a bridge" scene but boy what a poorly made bridge. Cringe to see two stereotypical bullies beating up a handicapped boy in 2023. We didn't really need another "superhero who doubts his worthiness" existential crisis either. Even that got lost in the 2 hour story because really it's too much Shazam and too little of Billy. Billy being terrified he'll be abandoned all over again once he turns 18 and ages out of the foster system. But foster mom says he has a home with them and they have an unearned poignant moment (I mean, this is like the first time Billy and Rose even talk to each other really). So instead he sacrifices himself to overload the staff and kill the dragon, Kalypso, and the Tree of Life. Lucky thing Wonder Woman was around to reignite the staff and/or got the bird letter...

The big cast made it hard for a balance of characters and for the parallel theme of siblings to have any resonance. Most of the Shazam Family were just there with little pay off and brief peaks of why they're too busy for Billy: Mary was there to say she didn't go to college and probably had some crappy 9-5 minimum wage story. Eugene was playing video games and studying the doors. Pedro has the typical surprised everyone knew he was gay bit. Freddy is trying to run off and do a solo hero thing I think, idk. Somehow the parents were able to buy the house despite them getting one less check. Didn't really get why the Wizard was back which they thought they could skirt by being meta about it – I guess it was another side effect of Billy snapping the staff. Shrug. Then it just became a CGI fest for the final part of the movie. But Darla charming the unicorns with Skittles was adorable. Or Steve writing everything down was pretty hilarious. There were funny bits but too far and few between.

And only Shazam gets recruited into the Justice Society, not the rest of the family. The undercurrent feels like Waller just needed another check against Black Adam. Who should have been in this movie but we all know why he wasn't. Then the last tag. Pretty much trolling us and making fun of end tags in general. Another damn shame we likely won't see what Mister Mind's plan was.

5/10: Billy's Dream Date scene released.

 

[Fone Bone]

Shazam!: Fury Of The Gods

I liked the first Shazam movie, but honestly I felt like it tried to do too much for the first outing. I felt the same way about Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice, but at least the first Shazam film was fun. This film's tone however feels much more solid and comfortable with itself. People will complain that the Sivana and Mr. Mind stuff has been put off for a third movie that will probably never happen, but the second tag was actually my least favorite thing about the movie.

I resented the hell out of Billy's fake-out death at the end, but I'll give the filmmaker's this: Bringing in Gal Gadot to cheaply retcon it makes me forgive it entirely. Funny how that works. Gal Gadot simply makes everything better. People wonder why I actually loved the critically reviled Wonder Woman 1984. That! That!

"Hi, Kaleesi!" You know what? Billy really shouldn't be watching Game Of Thrones. Am I crazy for thinking that?

Also how can Billy claim to have seen every Fast & Furious movie yet cannot recognize Queenie is standing right in front of him?

Captain Marvel was mentioned as a goof. But I did notice it.

Loved Billy's therapy session with the pediatrician at the beginning.

Captain Marvel purists will definitely object to the moral that anyone can be deserving of the power, but whether that flies against the comic's canon or not, it's the correct empowering moral. I would argue the comic suggesting only Billy's singular virtue and morality being worthy of that power was actually telling the story wrong for decades.

I yawned at the second tag but I laughed at the first tag with Billy being recruited for the Justice Society and him poking holes at how dumb it is that two organizations designed for the same purpose have the words "Justice" in the title. Billy's suggestion of "Avengers Society" is so good it's the comic book I want to see that can never exist for legal reasons. Darn.

The Skittles product placement was annoyingly blatant, but the thing I liked about that plotline is that Darla isn't afraid of the unicorn even for a second (even though she probably should be). I like that about Darla and it shows the selling point of doing the premise of kids as superheroes.

"Who wants their superpowers back?" Love the implications at the end that Billy shared the Shazam powers with the foster parents and Ann. Kind of would have wanted to see their superpowered forms, but in the unlikely event of a sequel I guess that's what that's for.

I had totally forgotten how great an actor the kid who plays Freddie is. I disapprove of child acting on general principle, but there is no question this specific kid has major talent.

The Wizard was a great deal of fun and Djimon Hounsou clearly had a blast playing him this time out.

Helen Mirren reading Steve's goofy letter was probably the funniest thing in the movie. I'm glad I didn't see this in the theater. I never would have heard the second half of it. The audience would be laughing too hard over it. It IS hilarious.

As a rule I don't like the Extended Universe. But this movie is a rare bright spot in the continuity. ****1/2.