Big Picture Big Sound

As far as DC movies go, some credit is due to the "Shazam!" movies. They're light and goofy, where most DC movies tend to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders and shroud themselves in a moody and dark atmosphere. The first "Shazam!" was silly and so is "Shazam! Fury of the Gods." It's just too bad that they aren't very good.

As was shown in the 2019 movie, teenager Billy Batson (Asher Angel) discovers that he can transform himself into an adult superhero by shouting the titular words (In "Fury of the Gods" Zachary Levi reprises his role as the adult Billy). Billy lives in a foster home with his other siblings, who have taken on similar transformative powers. Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) especially loves his adult superhero powers, but he is more interested in being a teenager when he meets Anne (Rachel Zegler). While dealing with typical adolescent challenges, Billy and his crew must also contend with the Daughters of Atlas, Haspera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu). These two offspring of the pre-Olympian Greek gods have returned for vague superhero movie reasons to get revenge.

The Warner Bros. and DC suits clearly saw the success of "Deadpool" and wanted to have their own wisecracking superhero (minus all the profanity; the "Shazam!" films are much safer for a family crowd), so Billy Batson found his way to the screen. "Shazam!" wasn't sharp enough to be considered DC's answer to "Deadpool," and "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" does not correct that in any way. The movie is overstuffed and tedious, going straight from a first act to an extended third act. The movie has no substance in the middle, and this creates a grating, overlong finale that lasts a good portion of the movie. How many Philadelphia buildings have to be crushed by dragons and various monsters for it to be enough?

Levi is passionate about this role and infuses adult Billy with a teenage sense of wonder. His performance makes you believe that a 17-year-old boy just found out he can be an adult and a superhero at the same time. But he can't carry a 130-minute film across the finish line when there's no clear objective to what story this franchise is trying to tell.

Director David F. Sandberg throws everything at the (green) screen, but not a whole lot tends to stick. The only moments of "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" that feel like they are worth spending time with are when the teenagers are hanging out and discovering their powers. The rest is just generic superhero noise. Loud, loud noise.