Gawdawful
Lightning most definitely does not strike twice, no matter what ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ wants you to think.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods
Director: David F Sandberg • Writers: Henry Gayden, Chris Morgan
Starring: Zachary Levi, Jack Dylan Grazer, Rachel Zegler, Helen Mirren, Ross Butler, Meagan Good, Grace Fulton, Lucy Liu, Djimon Hounsou
USA • 2hrs 11mins
Opens Hong Kong March 16 • IIA
Grade: C-
Wow, a lot’s happened since the first Shazam! came out in 2019 and turned into Warner/DC’s biggest “Holy shit, that was actually okay!” since… well probably since ever. Has Warner/DC had a surprise “Okay” film? Whatever the case, a lot’s happened: DC has been turned upside down, Marvel and superheroes are beginning to fatigue audiences, Black Adam tanked so hard the planned link between these two properties is unlikely (read: hell, no!) to happen, and star Zachary Levi has turned out to be one of those conspiracy types. Big Pharma is rotten for all kinds of reasons, just not the ones he’s accused of calling Pfizer out for. If Zach’s your bag, fine, but though most of us will never admit it, knowing your “hero” is an idiot (Letitia Wright in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Evangeline Lilly in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) can negatively colour perception of a film. Unfair? Probably. But a thing nonetheless. And it’s not a thing Shazam! Fury of the Gods can afford.
I say that because Levi is asked to carry the entirety of Shazam! Fury of the Gods on his shoulders, and his retrograde attitudes may have faded into the background had the sequel to a surprisingly charming superhero comedy demanded less from him. When exactly the film tipped over from energetic to obnoxious is unclear, but it has, and it would appear that returning director David F Sandberg (Lights Out, Annabelle: Creation) can only manage to wring one decent film from the silly Shazam world – despite reference to Black Adam and Superman and Aquaman and Wonder Woman (a mention of Pedro Pascal’s Maxwell Lord would have been wiser, because Pedro Pascal) and anyone else you care to drag into this mess. Do not start me on Djimon Hounsou’s pimp daddy look.
She looks as bored as we are
And the agony of Fury of the Gods indeed rests with Levi. The schtick of his intentionally juvenile performance the first time around was what buoyed the first film to amusement. His childlike and childish glee at the powers he was handed by The Wizard (Hounsou, whose real-life, eye-rolling incredulity somehow made it into the final cut) went a long way, but he doubles down this time around, and in doing so is catastrophically aggravating. There’s really only room for one Deadpool out there, and by snarking up the insecure Billy (Asher Angel), it strips the character’s transformation of the modicum of meaning it had and makes his current smothering fears of losing his family (targeted mostly at best bud Freddy Freeman, played by Jack Dylan Grazer and Adam Brody as a supe) when he ages out of care meaningless. Because there are laser beams to get to.
Co-writer Chris Morgan, now best known for his contributions to the Fast & Furious universe, leans hard into his brand and makes Fury of the Gods a family affair on both ends of the antagonistic spectrum. This time around the Big Bads are the daughters of Atlas, Anthea (Rachel Zegler, a long way from West Side Story), Kalypso (Lucy Liu) and Hespera (DAME Helen Mirren), who are pissed that humanity done fucked up their realm and with the staff of something-or-other broken at the end of Shazam!, their chance has come to get their revenge. They unleash their, uh, fury on an unsuspecting Philadelphia, which isn’t so enamoured of the family of heroes – a fury that includes Game of Thrones cast-offs, an army of mythological Greek creatures, and the seemingly single howling beast sound Hollywood has in its sound bank. Assuming you can hear it over the oppressive score.
There is nothing in Shazam! Fury of the Gods that hasn’t been done before; superhero fans will recognise every daddy issue and world-saving mission, and zero-stakes narrative turn and they’ll see them coming a mile away. For over two hours (again) Levi, Sandberg and the VFX crew turn the volume on everything up to 11 and lay waste to the first Shazam!’s modest wins – as is par for the course on supe sequels (looking at you, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2). The comedy doesn’t land and it all feels forced. Everyone’s trying too hard, especially Levi, who has very quickly aged out of the role. Everyone shit all over Ben Platt for being too old for Dear Evan Hansen. What about this guy? Liu at least is be having fun as the homicidal Kalypso, though she’s got little to work with beyond talking about how awful humanity is. You’ve got Lucy Liu in your movie. Do something with her. Mirren always classes up the joint (and seeing her kick the crap out of Levi is cathartic) but even she struggles to do anything with the stern mother figure dialogue she’s given. By the time the Skittles commercial (!) is fully realised you’ll find yourself counting down the days until James Gunn takes over DC and hopefully rights this sinking ship. If he can. If you still care.
At least it was better than Black Adam. I think. — DEK