Shazam! Fury of the Gods

The first Shazam film was a welcome break from the general hard-nosed humourless, charmless DC superhero movies that Warner Bros had been working on. Here was a hero with Superman like powers with the mind and attitude of a teen. With powers bestowed on Billy Batson (Asher Angel) who when shouting Shazam turned into a man though with the mind of that teen. It also gave Zachary Levi as Shazam almost unlimited freedom to mess about ‘Big’ style.

For the sequel most of that is intact along with the extended Shazam family all living contentedly at their foster home with their foster parents having no idea who their alter egos are. The rest of Philadelphia do however nickname them the ‘Philly Fiascos’ after a series of botched missions. Something the team deal with during their mission washup meetings.

At the same time a couple of Greek gods have broken into a museum looking for an item that will help them avenge their father. As gods Hespera and Kalypso, Helen Mirren and Luy Liu respectively make pretty good villains, though there is something of the inevitable once they are joined by their sister which doesn’t take too long to work out. And so, the film takes a familiar course of huge SFX set pieces human and superhero interest and cameos.

With David F. Sandberg directing again, Shazam! Fury of the Gods doesn’t tamper too much with the successful formula of humour and action. The family have a good line in banter between them aware of their responsibilities as heroes while also wanting to lead normal teenage lives of school, study, fun and romance.

That is the strongest aspect of the film which is liberally littered with in-jokes and sly references to the other lot with a mention of ‘Captain Marvel’ (Look it up its too complicated to go into here.). But for all that this is starting to look formulaic.

Granted that as an adaptation of a comic with intergalactic and interdimensional beings there has to be a high level of effects work. The problem here is that they aren’t that good and there’s weariness watching them as they do go on a bit. And the ancient Greece mythical creatures that are unleashed towards the end may leave viewers of a certain age pining for Ray Harryhausen. Fundamentally the film lacks the charm of its predecessor.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now available to buy or rent at home with these 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