DCEU Review Series
Shazam! Fury of the Gods
2023
Director: David F Sandberg
As stated in prior reviews, the DCEU should have built its universe around Shazam and ditched the Darkseid agenda planned out by Zack Snyder. Too bad Shazam! Fury of the Gods didn’t get the memo. DC decided to make a mediocre film which tanked the Captain Marvel franchise.
The film opens with Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu causing problems. Their antics are not very film worthy. It’s as if they were making a TV version of an action film. Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu have the Wizard Shazam held prisoner. They want him to fix a magic stick they stole.
The save the cat gimmick is applied to the Captain Marvel family via a bridge collapsing. They save everyone on the bridge and avoid a Final Destination 5 scenario. We learn the family has redecorated the Wizard Shazam’s layer in a way teenagers would. There’s some family tension because its required to make a movie.
Freddie is still getting bullied by the same kids from the first film. In this first film they drove a car into him which makes them at least 16 (legal age to drive in Pennsylvania). Billy Batson was 14 in that film. In this film Billy is 17 going on 18 and almost about to age out of foster care. So the dudes who drove into Freddie, who are still in high school, should be 19. Maybe they got left back, but 19 and still in high school is pushing it. Also, bullying a cripple kid is really messed up. How evil are those kids? Freddie has a crush on the girl from Snow White that everyone seems to hate.
The Wizard reaches out to Billy with a vague warning that Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu are causing problems. Freddie’s crush causes problems and it leads to Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu to steal his powers. These ladies are really pissed off at Captain Marvel for no reason at all. They kidnap Freddie and he has a comedic pow-wow with the Wizard. Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu try to get the identity of the Marvel family and Freddie tries to sellout his school bullies. The ladies don’t fall for it.
The remaining members of the Marvel family are trying to come up with a way to save Freddie. There are some solid jokes throughout the film which sell really well when you get your characters right. Shazam certainly had that down. Snow White helps Freddie and the Wizard bust out of their captivity.
Captain Marvel gets into a fight with Helen Mirren and takes her back to the Wizard’s lair. She breaks out of her cell steals an apple and books it back to her home. Lucy Liu wants to plant the apple on Earth and destroy it. Captain Marvel shows up, Freddie gets his powers back they go back to earth.
They must have cut some scenes because the entire family is back home and they tell their foster parents they are super heroes. Everyone is attacked by a Lucy Liu on a giant dragon. She wants to get the apple. Lucy Liu gets the apple and plants it in Citizens Bank Park because baseball fields are named after dumb corporations which is a major reflection on the downfall of classic Americana and the overtaking of commercialism. The film doesn’t even try to broach that theme.
A giant tree grows and a ton of monsters come out and attack everyone. Snow White shows up and offers to help stop the chaos. The Wizard gives Captain Marvel a rah-rah speech. There’s a tender moment between Billy and his foster mother. Captain Marvel flies off to save the day.
Lucy Liu has the dragon kill Helen Mirren. Snow White loses her powers. The Marvel family befriends unicorns and fights all the monsters popping out of the tree. Shazam befriends Helen Mirren who isn’t completely dead. He convinces her to help him defeat Lucy Liu. He basically makes a bomb. He blows up Lucy Liu, Helen Mirren dies, the tree disintegrates along with all the monsters, Billy Batson dies.
He can only be resurrected by the staff but it has no magic left. Only a god can power up the staff. Wonder Woman shows up and juices up the staff, gives Snow White her powers back, and Billy comes back from the dead. He hits on her, she rejects him. Freddie ends up dating Snow White. Happy ending for all. Amanda Whaler’s employees pop up and offer Captain Marvel the option to join the Justice Society, he accepts.
The post credits scene shows Dr Sivana meeting up with Mr Mind again. Apparently he disappeared for two years since their last conversation. This could be just a gag or a clever way to passive aggressively wrap up the fact no other movies are getting made. Mr Mind might not actually have any way to implement his plans and he just runs around with a lot of schemes he can’t actually pull off.
Overall the film isn’t bad. It has funny moments. It’s not as good as the first film but not horrible. It got slammed by critics and failed at the box office. This film really should have done a little better and is certainly much more entertaining than most of the other DCEU films. Since DC ditched the Zack Snyder tones, the films have gotten lighter, more fun. Snyder seemed to be pushing an anti-Marvel method of dark and brooding. But Snyder had no clue about what made comic characters so well liked. Shazam embraced the fun aspects of comic book action films. It makes this the last decent film in the DCEU.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
