Shazam! Fury of the Gods
It is perhaps ironic that one of the early scenes of Shazam! Fury of the Gods has Zachary Levi’s eponymous hero in an impromptu therapy session, confessing that although the public image he and his brethren have attempted to cultivate is that of “the strongest and most keenly intelligent heroes,” no small feat considering they share a universe with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, he does in fact feel like a fraud.
It is easy to understand why imposter syndrome might have set in, not only with the hero’s alter-ego Billy Batson (Asher Angel) about to hit eighteen and concerned that no longer eligible for foster care he may be homeless, but with the wider DC Extended Universe in upheaval, Henry Cavill apparently replaced without warning even as he announced his return and the new animated studio ident featuring a short-haired Aquaman indicating Jason Momoa is also to be recast before his second adventure is even released.
Once again directed by Lights Out’s David F Sandberg, he, Levi and his co-stars have been dealt a mixed hand by returning writer Henry Gayden, now teamed with 47 Ronin’s Chris Morgan, who have created a generic adventure which lacks the sparkle of the original film and fails to capitalise on the greatest assets they have to hand, the natural charm of Levi and the dramatic range and complexity Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu could have brought to the roles of Hespera and Kalypso.
The Daughters of Atlas seeking the artifact which gave Billy and his step-siblings their powers which they regard as having been stolen from them by Djimon Hounsou’s wizard, also named Shazam, the Fury of the Gods is first unleashed in Athens where Hespera and Kalypso spread chaos like an infection before leaving a monument to their wrath, an incident strangely not making global headlines until it becomes necessary to a plot until that point more concerned with school bullying and teenage crushes.
The first film having only had to balance one teenage boy who also happens to be a superhero, with Billy now joined by his five adopted brothers and sisters in dual roles, plus their foster parents, a trio of villains and a wizard, eighteen named characters means the Fury of the Gods is top heavy with little room for any of the secondary roster to be more than supporting players while any bystanders placed in jeopardy awaiting rescue are little more than animated wallpaper as the Philadelphia skyscrapers inevitably collapse around them.
DC often accused of mishandling their characters, of focusing on the darkness rather than the joy of their adventures, it had seemed that Shazam! had been the buoyant exception but even that is now cast in shadow, more concerned with plugging Warner Bros properties with Lord of the Rings and Goonies t-shirts and dragons and caverns out of Harry Potter than playing to the strengths afforded by what was and should have remained the bright corner of the DC franchise with the broadest family appeal.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods is currently on general release and also screening in IMAX
