शज़ैम! फ्युरी ऑफ द गॉड्स

I mean the best thing I can give this film is that if you loved the first film, then you will love the second film. If you hated the first film, then don't bother with this one. This film literally captures EVERYTHING from the first and somewhat does it again. But for some reason, I think it did it better. The bad guys despite the horrible trailer, are actually not to bad. There perfectly fine one time villains. The action is about the same, visuals mediocre but compared to the MCU great and the comedy hits better. The film is less cringey and actually more funny than the first. Overall, I personally found this film the better version of the first film.

I did not really like the first Shazam. It felt a bit too juvenile and it tried too hard to be funny. But the first movie at least had some heart and a bit of fun, this movie does not have any of that.

If you saw the trailer you know what will happen, you can pretty much recite the entire movie without seeing it. This is very full of cliches, bad writing and many of the family of Shazam's are really bad actors. But my main issue with this movie is how incredibly boring it is. Nothing feels fun, no jokes land, no fights have any stakes, the story is bland and cliche.

The only good things I can say is that the DC tech department have stepped up their game in the past two or three movies. Their FX CGi used to be horrible, now it is not anymore. Perhaps I can give some props that this movie is not the worst I have ever seen, but damn this is so, so boring.

Also, did I mention how boring this is?

I give this a 3/10. Almost feels a bit generous, but most of the movie is not bad-bad, this just lack everything above decent and it is so boring and horribly written with cringe scenes every 2min I cannot stand watching it. If you liked the first one you definitely need to stay away from this one. This is one of the worst superhero movies the past years and definitely the most boring.

Did I mention this is a boring movie?

The sequel takes us through the Philadelphia fiasco, where Billy and fellow foster kids are enjoying their superhero days in their annoying childish manner. Enters the three daughters of Atlas who wants to take back their powers stolen from them and wreck havoc in the human realm. It is upto the Philly fiasco to be the Champions to beat the goddesses and save the realm.

What works is the humor despite the teens being annoying enough. Billy still is going through the impostor syndrome, trying to figure out where ye fits in. The action set pieces are elaborate and are entertaining for most parts of it. The screenplay checks off all the stuff a comic book sequel needs and the dull moments are lesser than anticipated.

What doesn't work are the weak villains. Though Lucy Liu makes the best of what she can with her riding the dragon in the third act, the trio however come out as bland. I mean they are goddesses who get overwhelmed by a group of kids. Add to this, Zachary Levi as Shazam / Billy is less fun and more desperately trying to be funny. His character didn't fully work for me.

Overall, the film knows it's limitations and plays along.

This was a very disappointing sequel to say the least. There wasn't anything captivating about it. This was more of a cheesy Disney T. V. movie. The first movie was better in all aspects, do not watch with high hopes.

The characters of Billy and Freddy are not as interesting as they were in the first movie. Freddy's romantic plot is very typical and lame. The whole story is very predictable as is everything about all the villains. The writing of this film is at fault. None of the villains feel like an actual threat even with their destruction and their motives. We just know them to be bad because we are told they are but they do not feel menacing on screen.

What made the ending of the first Shazam exciting was seeing that Billy's brothers and sisters were given powers. This movie completely takes away that excitement by not showcasing any of the other characters or their individual powers. The humor in this movie is a complete let down as it tries so hard to make every line of dialogue a comedy sketch.

There are some mediocre CGI scenes throughout the film mainly during some of the destruction that takes place. There are scenes of poor acting from those who play some of the civilians. The creatures that show up are kind of pointless as no one really fights any of them.

Djimon Hounsou was good as usual although he played a limited role with limited amounts of dialogue. The design of the dragon was pretty cool but otherwise this movie is a poorly made sequel.

This film does not do any one thing great, but it was still a pretty decent watch. The plot is average-nothing we have not seen on the big screen before. Our villains have no development; their motivations are sound, but there is nothing further that develops them into something greater.

This movie starts off incredibly strong, with a fantastic first act that had me laughing hysterically. The comedy hits more often than not, which was a surprise for me. There is a bridge rescue scene that is electric. The combination of "I Need a Hero" mixed with all of the heroes showcasing their abilities was amazing. I think superhero films have dropped the ball by not showing heroes rescuing everyday people. The stakes have gotten so high outside of the everyday troubles that this art is lost. I really enjoyed that aspect of the film, but unfortunately, after the first act, this story becomes inflated to a point where it is indistinguishable from many other superhero blockbusters.

The final act is overly long and bloated with a plethora of CGI monsters for our heroes to defeat. I think the CGI actually looked pretty good, but it just was not an engaging conclusion for me. The stakes were high, but not built up properly for me to be genuinely interested. The action is pretty decent, but I couldn't care less. The finale did have emotional beats in terms of the family connection, which worked surprisingly well. That is when this franchise works best. When the focus is on family and not on god's attempts to destroy Earth,

The performances overall were pretty good. Zachary Levi is fantastic as Shazam; he has mastered the art of playing a child in a man's body. Jack Dylan Grazer is hilarious; his comedic timing is brilliant. Grace Caroline Currey is a queen. Rachel Zegler is a standout, and her chemistry with Grazer is top notch. The rest of the Shazamly do a great job as well. I think Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu are fine as antagonists but were wasted with a lack of screen time and development.

Overall, this might not be good, but it is entertaining. That is a lot more than can be said for some of the recently released superhero films (Black Adam and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania).

Score: 65% Verdict: Decent.