What about the New Gods? They're pretty popular among fans! True. But the average person doesn't know the difference between Steppenwolf the character and Steppenwolf the band who brought us the hit song 'Born to Be Wild'. I argue that a lack of familiarity with the villains in Scott Snyder's Justice League doomed the film way more than Joss Whedon's interference with the final cut. And that's also what doomed Shazam: Fury of the Gods!
When 2019's Shazam concluded, we were teased with a potential team up between Doctor Sivana and that domineering worm, Mr. Mind. I was so pumped for the sequel. Even with the poor showing of The Rock's Black Adam movie, I was expecting the Big Red Cheese and his Shazam family to take on Sivana, Mind and Black Adam in this sequel. And if Adam wasn't in the picture, maybe we'd get that evil brute Ibac! Instead, we got 3 daughters of Atlas who I've never heard of before in my life!
The daughters are played by Helen Mirren, Lucy Lui and the controversial actress Rachel Zegler. Lucy Lui was pretty good as the menacing Kalypso. She played a really good psychopath. Zegler was okay. But her romance with Freddy Freeman made her predictable. And I think Helen Mirren is one heck of an actress. But I just don't see her playing the role of a titan/goddess out to punish humanity because they turned their backs on the old gods. In her prime, Mirren is just too nurturing. Throw in a magical apple, some tree of life that actually does just the opposite and a bunch of mythical creatures that are more bark than bite and I was seriously bored with a lot of this movie.
The beginning when the 'Shazamily' saves a crumbling bridge full of car riders to the tune of Bonnie Tyler's 'Holding Out For A Hero', had promise. The unexpected return to Djimon Hounsou as the supposedly dead wizard Shazam was warranted. I loved the banter between him and Freddy. And the ending with that very much needed cameo and the whole family enjoying the spoils of victory was a great way to end the film. But the middle was so complicated and I found myself fiddling around on my phone instead of paying attention to the movie. In fact: I recorded this film on my DVR in March, where I made it through the first 45 minutes. It wasn't until now in July that I finally got up the nerve (and care) to complete it. In all honesty, I just finished it so that I could review it and get the 2 hours back on my recorder.
Some are going to argue that the 2023 film bombed because of the pro-Trump platform of lead actor, Zachary Levi. It probably didn't help. But it didn't deter me from watching it in theaters. Out of this world ticket prices led me to wait for it to come on TV. (For those of you wanting to blame the pro-Palestinian comments of actress Rachel Zegler for this movie tanking, her comments came AFTER Fury of the Gods left both the silver screen and Pay-Per-View.) Really, what killed this movie was that it was smited by the gods. The deities of Egypt in Black Adam couldn't illicit an opening segue into more interest for the second Shazam picture. Using obscure Greek gods stuck a knife through its heart. As a result, James Gunn, with his new vision for the DC cinematic universe, buried any hopes of a third movie with what I suspect will be a blockbuster with the new Superman coming out tonight!
Not Worth Consuming!
Rating: 3 out of 10 stars.
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