Despite the hard loss at the box office after “John Wick: Chapter 4” and the surrounding controversies about its fallout, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is a good movie that deserves the limelight. 

The first “Shazam” movie had delved into the backstory of the main character Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and how he had received his powers. 

Picking up from the last movie, the audience is introduced to the main villains of the movie, Kalypso (Lucy Lui) and Hespera (Hellen Mirren). These two characters are the daughters of the god Atlas, with their main goal being to find an artifact to restore their home, which was destroyed by humans. Kalypso and Hespera were what roped me into this movie as the actors portrayed them wonderfully and held the villain story together. 

Of course, the movie then introduces the main Shazam holders, including the two main protagonists Batson  and Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer). It is made known that the team of superheroes they formed had been receiving bad press surrounding their hero work, and Batson begins to feel his family dynamic faltering. 

In addition to the family troubles, the two goddesses pose a threat against the Earth. The team discovers the motives behind Freeman’s new love interest, who is revealed to be another daughter of Atlas, Anthea (Rachel Zeglar), the youngest sister. Once this reveal is made, Freeman is captured and the rest of the team is forced to face these goddesses with Freemans life at stake. 

In the last half-hour of the movie, the film mostly consisted of gruesome fight scenes that the CGI really did justice for since most of these gorey scenes were fairly realistic and even had some adults frightened. Of course, for younger audiences this might not be the best choice film to watch because of the last scenes. 

There were a few parts that were not as entertaining to the audience, as some of the jokes didn’t stick with them. Many actors’ performances were not as appetizing either; for example, the child actors were doing significantly better compared to the adult actors. These parts seemed unnatural and almost forced as the adult actors were less childish despite the holders being children and if they tried being childish it wasn’t good at all. Although overall most of the acting and humor was on point with the film. 

As a sequel to the first movie, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” was a more deserving movie considering the amazing CGI compared to some movies within the DC Extended Universe. The story had pulled a lot of heartstrings that had the audience crying in the theater.

Contact Jordan Graham at [email protected]