{"id":160223,"date":"2023-08-19T14:47:17","date_gmt":"2023-08-19T20:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=160223"},"modified":"2023-08-19T14:47:17","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T20:47:17","slug":"dceu-rewatch-shazam-fury-of-the-gods-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2023\/08\/19\/dceu-rewatch-shazam-fury-of-the-gods-2023.html","title":{"rendered":"DCEU Rewatch: “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” (2023)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part of my DCEU Rewatch<\/a>. First Watch? YES.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/meter> 2.5 Acting
\n<\/meter> 3.0 Production
\n<\/meter> 3.0 Story
\n<\/meter>\u00a03.0 OVERALL<\/strong><\/p>\n

There might be spoilers …<\/strong> (but it’s hard to care too much).<\/p>\n

\"Shazam:<\/a><\/p>\n

I went into Shazam 2 knowing only that, with a huge stable of classic Captain Marvel villains, the creative team had chosen to come up with something new of their own — a big waste of possibilities, even if Captain Marvel’s classic villains tend to be stuck with a Golden Age sensibility to them.<\/p>\n

(Don’t worry: there’s a lamp-shading post-credit scene for that.)<\/p>\n

The bottom line is, after a sort of rocky start, and toying with questions of self-worth, of identity, of belonging, of independence, the movie finally settles for rollicking sibling action with some independent side quests (especially for Freddy) along the way. It’s cute, and it’s actually more engaging than when brushing on some of the deeper, more serious themes, but at the same time, it’s really, really<\/em> generic. Half the kids (in either form) are random tropes, and aside from Billy having imposter syndrome and Freddy falling for a girl, there’s not much there<\/em> actually there.<\/p>\n

The antagonists are generic godly types resentful of the wizards who stole their powers and the one wizard in particular who passed them on to Billy (and through him to his family). There’s some slight interest here in that the three godly sisters, the Daughters of Atlas, don’t agree on policy, which leads to some not-insignificant conflict between them. But even with talents like Lucy Liu and Helen Mirren involved,\u00a0 it still feels (to use the word again, and intentionally) generic.<\/p>\n

(How this movie’s depiction of the fall of the gods jibes with the the analogous backstory from Wonder Woman<\/em> is not worth thinking too much about. Ironically, SPOILERS<\/strong><\/em><\/span>, Diana herself makes an appearance, leaning into the god thing herself a bit more than usual, but also classing up the joint tremendously.)<\/p>\n

\"Shazam<\/a><\/p>\n

Shazam 2<\/em> isn’t a bad film. It’s just sort of fluffy, middle of the road, undistinguished. If there is actual “super-hero fatigue” in movie audiences (and I think there is, to the extent that super-hero movies are now like anything else: audiences demand something special and interesting, not just a satisfaction to a hunger for anything about super-heroes; they want steak, not hot dogs, or at least a thick, juicy burger), Shazam 2<\/em> is definitely a self-victim of it, generally entertaining but safe and unchallenging. It’s the summer family comedy that you’re sure you’ve seen the commercials for, but don’t know anyone who went to see it (or who thought the viewing noteworthy enough to mention at work).<\/p>\n

What it also is, is proof that in no way would a Shazam\/Black Adam film ever, ever work. Ever. They are tonally way too different.<\/p>\n

Or, on consideration, maybe I’m wrong: the seriousness and confrontation with violence that Black Adam would bring to Shazam might shake the sub-franchise out of its family dramedy doldrums, while giving Teth-Adam something to do other than brood and murder.<\/p>\n

Not that we’ll ever know one way or the other, since it seems unlikely this iteration of Shazam will ever make it into the New, Improved DCU. And, with Billy Batson turning 18 “in only five weeks” (something he makes a somewhat uncomfortable point of mentioning to Wonder Woman), maybe this a good opportunity to bring this particular tale to a close, even if it weren’t being shut down by WB in the first place.<\/p>\n

\"Shazam<\/a><\/p>\n

Do you want to know more?<\/em><\/p>\n