"Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)

In the troubled "Extended DC Universe", one film stands out for its technical quality and human warmth: Shazam! (2019), an update of the veteran superhero formerly known as Captain Marvel, adapted to today's modern world and youth, but without resorting to cynicism or depressing and edgy deconstruction.

That film benefited, among other things, from a director who specialized in horror films and knew how to make the most of a lower budget than the other films in the DCEU, so that Shazam! ended up looking better than its "companions". Not to mention that its characters were much more relatable and, while the film was primarily focused on comedy, it's few dramatic moments had more reality than the synthetic psychological melodrama of all of Zack Snyder's Superman and Batman films combined. And it was also an excellent Christmas film!

Shazam! was released with its teenage protagonists in a pre-COVID-19 world, at a time when superhero films were at their peak of popularity. Between 2019 and 2023, not much time has passed, but for certain issues, it's an eternity, and that's reflected in this well-intentioned and likable sequel, which is weighed down more by genre fatigue than its own flaws, which are not many.

With practically the same team as the brilliant first installment, Shazam! Fury of the Gods has to deal with the expected "problem" of the growth of the teenage protagonists, something that is incorporated into the script, as Billy (Asher Angel, much less present in this installment than in the previous one, something that the film resents) is about to reach adulthood and wants to cling to his childhood, even though his adoptive siblings are less and less involved in superhero duties.

In this sense, the film not only subtly criticizes so many members of the X and millennial generations who have reduced adult cinema to a minimum in Hollywood, but also the superhero genre itself, increasingly automatic, insipid, full of cloned digital effects and eternal promises that the next film will be the one to introduce us to the good "phase", to the status quo of the adapted comics (if that even exists).

The post-credit scene, without revealing details, works as a very accurate joke about that endless promise, that false progress towards nowhere.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is weighed down by that fatigue and reflects the supposed change in the direction of the DCEU films, with the witty James Gunn as one of the main responsible. Is it the last film of the previous cycle? Is it a bridge to the new one? Almost no one knows, not even the studio bosses, much less the film's makers, and that uncertainty dominates a film with a simple plot but in which the characters are somewhat lost regarding their present and future.

But all this is something that is said by wanting to overanalyze a little film that cannot help but be tender and likable, and that draws on Greek mythology, with references to the Garden of the Hesperides and a bestiary that includes a cyclops whose design is an obvious tribute to Ray Harryhausen. A somewhat scattered family entertainment, but with its heart in the right place and that will not bore child viewers at any time, whom adults have wanted to snatch superheroes from too often.

Synopsis
From New Line Cinema comes Shazam! Fury of the Gods, continues the story of teenage Billy Batson, who, by reciting the magic word "SHAZAM!", transforms into his adult superhero alter ego, Shazam.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods stars returning cast members Zachary Levi (Thor: Ragnarok) as Shazam; Asher Angel (Andi Mack) as Billy Batson; Jack Dylan Grazer (It: Chapter Two) as Freddy Freeman; Adam Brody (Promising Young Woman) as superhero Freddy; Ross Butler (Raya and the Last Dragon) as superhero Eugene; Meagan Good (Day Shift) as superhero Darla; D.J. Cotrona (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) as superhero Pedro; Grace Caroline Currey (Annabelle: Creation) as Mary Bromfield/Super Hero Mary; Faithe Herman (This Is Us) as Darla Dudley; Ian Chen (A Dog's Journey) as Eugene Choi; Jovan Armand (Second Chances) as Pedro Pena; Marta Milans (White Lines) as Rosa Vasquez; Cooper Andrews (The Walking Dead) as Victor Vasquez; with Djimon Hounsou as Wizard. Rachel Zegler (West Side Story), Lucy Liu, and Helen Mirren join the cast."