Written by Henry Gayden And Chris Morgan
Directed by David F. Sandberg
Shazam: "You think I know how to fix this dude, but I really don't."
The Wizard: "Billy, anyone can be worthy if given a chance. Now go fight for your family. Go fight for the world."
With 2023 marking the end of the DC Extended Universe, there's been an argument as to whether or not there's a point to watch the remaining movies but that's something of a sad mentality to have. Simply put if you enjoyed the 2019 movie, that alone should be enough of an incentive to watch this sequel. I'm certainly glad I did.
Years have passed since Billy Batson (Asher Angel/Zachary Levi) gave his family the power of the Wizard to become heroes in Philadelphia and things have definitely started to change for everyone. With Billy about to age out of the system as Mary (Grace Caroline Curry) did, he worries about losing the family he's made. The family in question are forging their own paths too.
With Mary heading to college, Eugene (Ian Chen/Ross Butler) and Darla (Faithe Herman/Meagan Good) finding their own amusements, Pedro (Jovan Armand/DJ Cotrona) embracing his true self, the focus of this movie also took something of a shift towards Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer/Adam Brody). Freddy wanted out from under Billy's shadow and even took to fighting crime solo. Oh and a romance too.
The romance in question being with new girl, Anne (Rachel Zegler), only for it to be quickly revealed that her real name was Anthea and instead of being a high school student, she's actually a 6000 year old goddess and one of three daughters of Atlas. The daughters of course include sisters, Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu) and they have a bone to pick with the Champions of Philadelphia.
Not being villains in the comics and likely more suited as antagonists for a certain Amazon (who Billy's crush on gets mentioned a lot in this movie), the Daughters are determined to get their father's power back and restore their own realm and have no problem in using both Freddy and a not so dead Wizard (Djimon Hounsou) in order to achieve that. Well, mostly Kalypso, who was the only one of the sisters to actually embrace the villain part of the whole movie.
With Anthea genuinely in love with Freddy and Hespera realising that Kalypso had gone too far, it was up to Billy to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save his city. Given that his family had their powers removed, Kalypso's planting of a golden apple resulted in a lot of Greek mythology monsters terrorising the city and of course, that impressive wooden dragon under Kalypso's command, Billy really did have to step up big time but not before his emotional heart to heart with foster parents Victor (Cooper Andrews) and Rosa (Marta Milans) played out.
Billy making the ultimate sacrifice certainly felt reminiscent of another DCEU movie but of course, the actual arrival of Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) meant that he lived to fight another day. I've seen some fans not pleased with Gadot's appearance here but unlike another big player's cameo in a previous film, at least Diana's brief scene actually served a purpose here. I was definitely happy to see her again.
- Mid credit scene had Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and Economos (Steve Agee) try to recruit Billy for the Justice Society. He wasn't impressed.
- Post credit scene had Mister Mind (David F. Sandberg) visit Dr Sivana (Mark Strong) in prison. His plan is nearly complete but will we get to see it come to fruition? I'm not so sure.
- Original Shazam actor Michael Gray made a brief appearance in the movie. We got to hear Billy referred to being Captain Marvel.
- I like Skittles much as the next person but it felt like Darla had taken a side gig being a sponsor for them. I did like how they were used to calm down unicorns though. Oh and I loved Steve the pen.
- Standout music: I Need A Hero and A Little Less Conversation.
- Chronology: At least three years since the events of the first movie. Billy's five months from turning 18 while Freddy is a month younger than Billy.
I thought at worst, Shazam! Fury Of The Gods wouldn't be as good as this first movie but I was wrong. This was every bit as good as the first movie and while it might have been wiser to have picked other antagonists, I thought the Daughters of Atlas were strong baddies. The family dynamics were fantastic, there were some genuinely funny scenes and lovely bits of horror and action to boot. Easily one of the best sequels we've had in the DCEU.
Rating: 9 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment