Zachary Levi returns as superhero Shazam, for DC’s latest sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods. After director David F Sandberg’s 2019 film was met with positive reviews for its fun, goofy take on the genre, Sandberg’s sequel continues on the series with plenty of charm, humour and entertainment. After the events of the first film, Billy Batson and his foster siblings have been fighting crime and saving the citizens of Philadelphia, as a super-powered team. Known to their city as the ‘Philadelphia Fiascos’, the siblings are still finding their feet and working on how to work together. It isn’t until the Daughters of Atlas come to town that Billy and his family are tested, and find themselves pushed to their limits, as they try to stop the gods from unleashing a weapon that could destroy the world.
Zachary Levi and Asher Angel once again star as Billy Batson/Shazam, who is joined by Adam Brody/Jack Dylan Glazer as Freddy, Ross Butler/Ian Chen as Eugene, Meagan Good/Faithe Herman as Darla, DJ Cotrona/Jovan Armand as Pedro, and Grace Fulton as Mary – Billy’s foster siblings. The sequel seems to have learnt from the first film and has played to its strengths; with more onscreen time spent with the Shazam-ed counterparts of Billy and his family. With the banter between Zachary Levi and Adam Brody being a strong point, the inclusion of a lot more action scenes surprisingly didn’t take away too much time for character development and back stories. Also reprising his role is Djimon Hounsou as the wizard (also called) Shazam, but with plenty of comedic moments thrown in this time around. Dame Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu and Rachel Zegler join the returning cast as Hespera, Kalypso and Anthea, the Daughters of Atlas. While the three wouldn’t typically play villains, seeing Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu as absolute menaces was a fun element to the film.
Fury of the Gods manages to pack in a lot during its two-hour runtime. While a bit of a CGI-fest at the best of times, the sequel still manages to include what made the first stand out so clearly amongst other DC films – plenty of heart. Despite this being another superhero film, there are still so many relatable moments scattered throughout the film – with Billy’s imposter syndrome being an important factor. One of the film’s strengths was its incredible design, which included a slew of creatures from Greek mythology; minotaurs, cyclops and harpies, to name a few. We won’t go into too much detail about the crazy gothic-looking unicorns or dragon (because why not have a dragon in the film?) – but they were definitely fun moments. That, plus an absolutely bonkers cameo, makes for a fun cinema experience that’ll have you sticking around until the very last post-credit scene.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a fun sequel, as far as sequels (let along DC sequels) go. Packed full of one-liners, and a crazy amount of action scenes that have to be seen to be believed, the sequel brings back everything we loved from the first film, and then multiplies it by 10. Although at this point it is still unclear if Shazam will be part of the DCU’s reboot, we’d love to see the character and Zachary Levi return to screens for another adventure. Shazam! Fury of the Gods is out in cinemas 16 March – make sure you catch it as your next popcorn flick.