Ten years ago today, June 14, 2013, Man of Steel opened in theaters and introduced us to the Snyderverse and the DC Extended Universe. Unfortunately, it’s been a bumpy decade of ups and mostly downs as DC and its parents company Warner Bros. tried to do a fast track similar to the MCU in just a short time.
The first Shazam! introduced us to Billy Batson (Asher Angel), a 14-year-old who goes to live in a foster home in Philadelphia but finds himself being chased by bullies into the Rock of Eternity through a subway tunnel where he discovers a wizard (Djimon Honsou) who transforms into a superhero adult (Zachary Levi) when he says “Shazam!” It was a well needed light hearted superhero movie that blended the “Body Switching” genre.
The movie looked at how many young children would behave if they discovered they had superpowers. And Levi’s performance as the titular character was great. Like most superhero movies, there was a big action sequences of special effects and a revelation that the other foster children at the house would become superheroes themselves, setting up the inevitable sequel.
And Shazam! Fury of the Gods is that sequel, which takes all the fun ideas of a foster family who are superheros and does nothing with it. There’s the obligatory bridge “collapse and save” sequence in which they save people on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. But they are blamed for the collapse. What bothers me is that it’s been 10 years and Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman (featuring Gal Gadot in a cameo) and the rest are all well known, but everyone seems to still be acting like Shazam and the others are bad people.
Fury is a bunch of tired cliches and tropes and I didn’t really find much of the movie all that interesting. Aside from the bridge collapse and the powers that be saying the superheroes are a menace, they seem to have run out of things for the superheroes to do except sit around talking. This leaves the two most interesting characters to be the villains, Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu), daughters of Atlas.
With the exception of Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), Billy’s foster brother, who has a disability, the rest of the foster family seems to have nothing to do and spend more time in their superhero forms, probably because it was easier not having the child actors on the set. Freddy has a love interest in a classmate, Anne (Rachel Zegler), who happens to be Anthea, the youngest daughter of Atlas. The daughters are seeking to steal the Wizard’s broken staff and to have a lot of power.
It seems not even the writers could come up with a decent storyline. Maybe it’s because Shazam! isn’t as well known as Aquaman or The Flash to get people as interested. Levi, himself, lacks a lot of the charm he had in the first one and here just comes off as an annoying jerk who is constantly bickering with everone. It’s obvious after the failure of the theatrical Justice League and all the problems DC and Warner Bros. had with that, they’re trying to focus more on the Justice Society as there is a hint that Shazam will join.
But the movie was a box-office bomb and got mixed reviews. Just like Black Adam (which features the Justice Society), it seems to be setting up a sequel that we know we probably won’t get. Some of the best DC movies have been The Suicide Squad and Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey for their R-rated outrageousness. I liked Aquaman and the first Wonder Woman, but part of me wonders how the next franchise of movies with James Gunn and Peter Safran at the reigns will leave the DCEU behind. Blue Beetle, due in theaters in August is expected to be a differnent path.
But maybe people are getting bored altogether with the saturation of superhero comic book movies. The last Ant-Man was the worst of the MCU and attempts to revive the Blade character have caused problems. I think what hurt Fury of the Gods is the plot lacks anything new. None of the characters seem to stand out. You can see how bored Mirren looks.
One of my writing professors said he tried to write a romance paperback novel for some quick money but realized he grew tired of the way he had to write it and gave up. This is a movie that seems as if it had to include certain elements and the filmmakers couldn’t connect the dots. Shazam might appear in the future movies planned by Gunn and Safran but I’m almost certain this will be the last standalone movie.
And it’s not that anyone really will be bothered by that.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 