Movie Review – Shazam! Fury of the Gods

I think the target audience is probably people about half my age (56) or less, but nonetheless, I enjoyed most of this movie. Right up until the end, which I’ll get to later.

The plot of this movie is as complex as a cartoon. It wasn’t bad, just simple. The same goes for the characters. There’s nothing subtle about this movie. All of the plot and character development is spelled out very clearly, multiple times. Come to think of it, maybe this movie was intended for a pre-teen audience.

There were a few really funny moments in the movie and one was a solid LOL for the whole audience. They got the humor right and it didn’t feel like the writers were trying to force it. Plus, the little reference to Fast and the Furious to Hespera (Helen Mirren) was really cute.

Shazam’s Future

James Gunn is taking over creative control of the DCEU (DC Extended Universe) so the future of Shazam is uncertain at best. There could be more of Shazam in the future, but my impression is that Gunn is going to start with a clean slate. That being said, Shazam is pretty much standalone from the larger DCEU with only a few cameos to tie it into the larger universe. So maybe there’s a chance that we’ll see a continuation of Shazam.

Spoilers Ahead

Please don’t read further until after you see the movie.

Given the uncertainty about Shazam’s future, I wish someone would have made a definitive decision regarding Shazam’s future before this movie was released so that the ending could have been better. I get it that the suits probably want to see how this movie does at the box office to help determine if Shazam is worth continuing, but they really missed a great opportunity to have a much more impactful ending. What better ending could they give it than to let Shazam sacrifice himself? But, they tried to have their cake and eat it too by letting him die and then resurrecting him in about the most deus ex machina/magic way possible. Super heroes are, well, super hard to kill. But Shazam’s sacrifice really worked well in the story. It’s just such a disappointment that they found a hack to bring him back.

Grade: C+

About The Peetimes: I have three Peetimes. I would recommend the first one over the others. The last Peetime is for emergencies only. There’s some important dialog. I recap it in the synopsis, but it’s best if you can hear it yourself.

There are extra scenes during, or after, the end credits of Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Rated:	(PG-13) Sequences of Action | Language | Violence
Genres:	Action, Adventure, Comedy
Starring:	Helen Mirren, Zachary Levi, Meagan Good
Director:	David F. Sandberg
Writer(s):	Henry Gayden, Chris Morgan, Bill Parker
Language:	English
Country:	United States

Plot
The film continues the story of teenage Billy Batson who, upon reciting the magic word “SHAZAM!” is transformed into his adult Super Hero alter ego, Shazam.