Skip to main content

Fury of the Gods: Needs Less Drama, More Fun

 

Shazam/Captain Marvel and family are in a deity duel. Photo courtesy of IGN and Warner Bros. Pictures.



Shazam!: Fury of the Gods did a good job in showing family empowerment, female empowerment, and growth in some of the characters. I enjoyed Rachel Zegler's performance as Anthea and chemistry with Freddy Freeman (played by Jack Dylan Grazer) and occasional goofy humor from the titular superhero (played by Zachary Levi), but it was more mature than the last film, in a good and bad way. For example, while still learning his powers, Billy Batson had to think about his future once he aged out of the foster care system, and he's still dealing with abandonment issues while struggling to find wisdom and lead his team. Good for character development, but it has to show more light than blue moments.

And the film had more dark tone with the dark magic compared to the first film, angry goddess parts, and fantasy monsters. Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu were truly fired up in their roles, Hespera and Kalypso,  respectively, given how they were brutal in combat against the Shazam family. On the other upsides, the film showed more details as to what made Shazam!/Captain Marvel who he is today. Funny cameos, good score by Christophe Beck highlighting the peril and tributing to John Williams' Superman music (possibly), cool songs from artists such as Elvis or Beastie Boys, and hilarious sitcom-style problems with the Shazamily.

If you can find them for inexpensive prices, I recommend the classic Shazam comics and the modern ones to see how faithful the film tries to be to them. I get that there are issues the family needs to overcome in personal life to become better superheroes. But if there's another one coming up, they need to find a way to make the adult life fun, as well as offering a slice of life on the drama. It had some funny parts, mostly in young Freddy's case, but not as fun as the kid who outsmarted cops one time in the first film or spoofed "Eye of the Tiger" with his lightning powers. In summary, Fury of the Gods was more mature, not as fun as the first film, yet worth a shot.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Superman-Great Past and New Hero Magic

Superman (2025) poster. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. James Gunn's iteration of  Superman  was a well-thought-out film. I give it a 9.4/10 for both the occasional references to the Christopher Reeve film from the late 1970s and for standing out with different presentations of the iconic Man of Steel and his colorful supporting characters. This was my first time seeing David Corenswet, but he was great acting out the drama and heroism in the lives of Clark Kent and Superman. It was also great to see Rachel Brosnahan bring some gumption and humor to her role of Superman's love interest, Lois Lane, and it was great to see former X-Men actor Nicholas Hoult bring some vigor to his role of Superman's ruthless archenemy, Lex Luthor. In this Superman, it stood out by skipping the intro of Kal-El leaving Krypton as a baby and instead showing Superman, played by Corenswet, in his third year of protecting Metropolis and the world. In his quest to prove Superman a threat to humani...

Sonic 3-Dark Turn, But Still Shined Brightly

'Sonic the Hedgehog 3' poster. Copyright 2024, Paramount Pictures and Sega of America. "Start with the great fireball," Tails, voiced by Collen O'Shaughnessey, 'Sonic the Hedgehog 3.' When I saw 'Sonic the Hedgehog 3' on New Year's Eve '24, it was like a cross between 'The Empire Strikes Back' and 'Spider-Man: No Way Home.' It was like those two particular films given that Sonic the Hedgehog, voiced by Ben Schwartz, took a dark character turn while trying to ferret out Shadow the Hedgehog, voiced by Keanu Reeves. Fortunately, Blue Justice snapped out of it to save the day and hang with his friends and family. 'Sonic 3' brings back the usual lovable antics of Team Sonic and Jim Carrey, this time playing Doctor Eggman and his grandfather, and shows some emotional journeys that make Sonic mature and Eggman and Shadow less one-dimensional villains. Taking place after 'Sonic 2', Shadow the Hedgehog, voiced by Reev...

‘Transformers One’-Best I’ve Seen In 2024

‘Transformers One’ poster. Taken by William Beavers. Copyright 2024, Paramount Pictures.  “What defines a Transformer is not the cog in its chest, but the spark in its core.” Josh Cooley of Toy Story 4 fame directed Transformers One , an epic, tragic, funny origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron and their factions, the Autobots and the Decepticons , respectively. Watching Transformers One felt like watching Marvel Studios films and Disney animated classics all rolled into one, and it was the best film I’ve seen in 2024 and the best portrayal of Transformers . Chris Hemsworth voices Orion Pax/Optimus Prime in 'Transformers One.' Courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Brian Tyree Henry is the voice of D-16/Megatron in 'Transformers One.' Courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Transformers One was an origin story of Orion Pax and D-16, voiced by Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry, as brother-in-arms before becoming Optimus Prime and Megatron. As the young automatons so...