Shazam! Fury of the Gods (Mini-Review)

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is the latest movie in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). It has been two years since Billy Batson and his adopted family defeated Thaddeus Sivana. Now Billy is having problems figuring out how their group is supposed to work. With enough on his plate as is, he's hardly able to deal with a new threat. The Daughters of Atlas have escaped and now Billy is in danger. As is his entire family. Shazam! Fury of the Gods was released in 2023. It was directed by David F. Sandberg. It stars Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, and Jack Dylan Grazer.

I didn't see the first Shazam movie until a night before watching the sequel. So the first movie was very fresh in my mind. The thing I enjoyed the most about it was it being so fun. The sequel continues to be extremely fun even if, objectively, it isn't the best movie. But if you're wanting a fun, relaxing film to watch one afternoon you won't be disappointed.

There is a post and mid-credits scene. The mid-credits has characters from Peacemaker appearing. The post credit scene is a continuation from the previous movie's post credit scene. I enjoyed this as the post credits scene from the first movie was a major cliffhanger.

Billy battles with his fear of Freddy leaving him. I have abandonment issues so I connected with this subplot. I have this fear that everyone will eventually leave me in the end. I had one person say they wouldn't leave me and...they did. They got busy with college so I can understand them not wanting to talk with an online friend anymore. College is...yeah...a major life event, honestly. So when Billy was afraid Freddy would eventually leave him, I thought of all the friendships that have fallen by the wayside throughout the years.

I love dragons. I really love dragons. So there being a dragon in the trailers was enough to sell me on this film. The dragon seemed to even have a personality of its own. Even if it just wanted to destroy everything in sight. Near the end of the movie one of the characters ends up riding it. While the CGI looked silly, it fit in with the rest of the movie.

Near the start of the previous movie, the Wizard ended up dying. This left Billy with no one able to tell him about his powers. So it was jarring to see the Wizard alive and well...er...at least alive. I was hoping by the end of the movie how he survived would be explained. The fact that many characters mention the Wizard being alive only makes this plot point more distracting. It could be that the Daughters of Atlas intercepted him once his soul went to the Underworld. Or it could be that he never died in the first place.

I would recommend Shazam! Fury of the Gods to fans of the DCEU. I would also recommend Shazam! Fury of the Gods to those looking for a fun superhero movie.