Shazam! Fury of the Gods Review

 

WARNING! I WILL BE GIVING SPOILERS TO THE MID AND POST-CREDIT SCENES. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE, LEAVE AS SOON AS YOU'RE DONE READING THE REVIEW!

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a comic book movie, the sequel to 2019's Shazam!, and the 12th installment of the DC Extended Universe. It's produced by DC Studios, New Line Cinema, The Safran Company, and Seven Bucks Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Shazam! Fury of the Gods is written by Chris Morgan and Henry Gayden and directed by David F. Sandberg.

The story is it's been two years since the events of the first movie. Billy and his siblings think everything's pretty normal despite being superheroes. Things change when they have to spring back into action when the daughters of Atlas, want to use a weapon that could destroy the world.

Initial Reaction

The reason why I wanted to see was because I really enjoyed the first movie. So it was only natural that I'd want to see the sequel.

Cons

The only aspect of Fury of the Gods that I didn't like, was the jokes. They started out fine enough, but as the movie kept going, I found myself laughing less and less, to the point whenever a joke popped up, I was dead silent.

Middle Ground

One mix bag with the movie came from while there's still some heart to the movie, it's not as strong as it was in the first. What I mean is, we still get see how Billy cares for his family, and him this time around wanting to keep everyone together. However, it felt like that emotional aspect of the movie wasn't being focused on enough, when you compare it to the action and humor. Then we have the CGI. Now, some parts actually look pretty good, other times it was just...no. Which now brings me to the mid and post-credit scene. I'm not gonna go into full details just yet. But the reason why it's a mix bag is because, while it does expand a few things, it makes me wonder if they should even be there, considering James Gunn and co., are rebooting, soft-rebooting, or whatever they're doing, with the DC movie series.

Pros

If there was one good thing about the movie, it was acting. Despite the overall quality of the story being just okay, the actors and actress still try to bring something to their roles, whether it's having to be serious, or at least looking like they're having fun.

While I by no means hate Shazam! Fury of the Gods, I will admit that when it comes to the Shazam! movies, I definitely lean more towards the first flick.

My final rating is, Okay.

OKAY! HERE'S YOUR SECOND WARNING! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE CREDIT SCENES ARE, BACK OUT. RIGHT NOW!

Okay, so, in the mid-credit scene, Harcourt and John Economos (from Peacemaker), show up and try to recruit Billy to the Justice Society. While in the post-credit scene, we once again, see Dr. Sivana in prison, and him and Mister Mind continue to talk about their big plan.

So, with these credit scenes in mind, what does this mean for the future of the Shazam! movies? Well, according to David F. Sandberg, it all depends on how well the reception is towards the movie.

Now that doesn't sound too bad right? We'll it kinda does. Because if you've been paying close attention to the news regarding the upcoming DC Universe (very generic name for a film franchise compared to the previous name of DC Extended Universe by the way), James Gunn has pretty much been picking and choosing what he deems, not what the fans or general audience deems, but what he deems is acceptable to the DCU.

Let me explain further, when watching Our Movie News' video titled "The Problem with James Gunn's DCU", James and co. are basically keeping the characters and stories that they like, but rebooting everything else. So what does this have to do with Shazam? Well, since James created the characters of Harcourt and Economos this could possibly mean that we might see this version of Shazam again.

But now let's do a what if scenario. What if Fury of the Gods fail? Will James Gunn still consider this movie canon to his cinematic universe or, because of its failure will he disown it, despite his characters appearing. If he goes with the former, well then his universe is still gonna be confusing because we've seen the Shazam movies follow the DCEU continuity. If its the latter, then what was the point of these credit scenes, if they're not gonna continue the story? Should any DC movie after this even have a credit scene or scenes? We don't know, because other than The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker (both James Gunn products, so I'll assume he finds those part of his universe), we have no idea what else Gunn thinks is or isn't canon.

Ugh, I gotta say folks, this is probably the most confusing and exhausting time to be a DC movie fan.

Anyhow, that's all for now. Come back on Monday, Mar 20th, for my review of the new Hulu movie, Boston Strangler. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.