Shazam! Fury of the Gods: OH! MY! GODS!

Shazam! Fury of the Gods has the Shazam family contending with the unexpected fallout from what seemed like an innocuous action that took place at the end of the first movie. Shazam breaks the wizard’s staff and tosses it aside so that Dr. Sivana would never be able to use it as part of his evil plan.  This staff plays an important role in the follow-up sequel to 2019s Shazam!  Billy Batson / Shazam (Asher Angel / Zachary Levi) is concerned that he is going to lose the only family he has ever known when he turns 18 and the foster system will no longer pay for his care forcing his financially struggling foster parents to ask him to leave (Which they would never do, of course).  Because of this, he is holding on a bit too tight to his foster siblings, who feel a bit confined by his need to have them close.  The afore mentioned staff has recently been found and made its way to a museum in Athens.  When it broke it removed the boundary keeping the dying realm of the Gods separate from the human realm.  The daughters of Atlas (the only remaining Gods) are looking to restore their realm and take revenge for their father and the rest of the Gods who died at the hands of the Council of Wizards. The sisters steal the staff and set their plan in motion to get everything they need to achieve their goals.  But when one of the sisters becomes hell bent on destroying Earth instead of restoring their own realm it becomes up to the Shazam Family to save the day.

There was a lot to like in this movie.  The story was interesting and its direct tie into the original added a strong sense of continuity.  The script is witty with the same mixture of adult and juvenile humor that made the first film so enjoyable and entertaining.  What really made this movie stand out, is the heart that its characters give it.  Zachary Levi does a great job being both overconfident and vulnerable knowing that leading this team is way over his head but acting the way you might guess a 17-year-old would act when given God-like powers and the heavy responsibility that comes with them.  Asher Angel as able to continue this theme when in his human form even showing more of the fear tied to losing his foster family. The entire group of foster siblings plays their parts extremely well.

The real star power though comes from the “Big Bads” of the movie, Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu) who portray their roles with a sense of fun and flare that only those two actors could pull off.  Like all good villains, the sisters feel justified in their actions, even when those actions could result in the destruction of humanity.  The entire cast was great in both the comedic and dramatic areas of the film, and there are a couple of tear-jerking scenes which tugged at my heart strings.  It was also good seeing Michael Gray in a cameo role, he played Billy Batson in the 1970s television show which is a particular favorite of mine.

The production value on the film was good.  The movie’s tempo is quick and flowed with a nice rhythm. The music was a good mixture of pop songs and originally composed, but the sound effects for the movie are loud and noisy, possibly a bit too noisy, but that might be my old age speaking.  It is a very heavy special effects driven story, and this is done quite well.  There are several mythical creatures that come to life, and these were all appropriately rendered on screen.  I won’t say they looked realistic, because they are mythical beings, but they seamlessly fit into the story without looking overly fake or out of place.  Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience and a fun movie featuring a great cast!