Following the first “Shazam!” movie which came out in 2019, the second movie, “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is full of the same jokes and fun. It takes viewers on the journey of a new and more challenging battle for our superheroes.

Asher Angel plays the movie’s main character, Billy Batson, a teenager who is living with foster parents and siblings. When Billy yells the word, “shazam!” he is transformed into an adult superhero (Zachary Levi). All except for one of Billie’s foster siblings are superheroes as well, and when they yell “shazam” they also turn into adult looking superheroes. Billy is almost 18 and he is extremely nervous about being kicked out of his foster home once he ages out. He pushes a lot for the superheroes to bond as a family, but for most of the movie no one else is interested in this and preoccupied by other responsibilities. 

Within the first few minutes of the film, I knew I was going to thoroughly enjoy it. The movie starts with the villains making a dramatic entrance to show what the Shazam team will be going up against, which increased my excitement. I really liked the casting for Billie, he’s a funny yet anxious character and Zachary Levi does a fantastic job of playing an adult character while still acting the way a kid would. 

The movie’s main setting is in Philadelphia, and the media and most of the city refers to the Shazam group as the “Philly Fiascos.” The setting of the movie definitely drew me in. Throughout the movie, as different fight scenes unfold, you get to see different parts of the fantastic city — one of the main fights being at Philadelphia’s baseball field. Even Billie’s foster parents (who don’t yet know the identity of the group) refer to the team as the Fiascos which is a bit upsetting to the Shazam team. The superheroes earned themselves this title as they messed up a few times when they were attempting to save the city. This title causes the group (mostly Billy) a lot of anxiety. This is why the pressure is really on when they are faced with the movie’s main villains. 

The movie’s villains are the daughters of the God Atlas, Hespera and Kalypso. The third daughter remains a mystery until later. At the beginning of the movie, when they’re introduced to the audience, they destroy a museum and do a type of of mind control on innocent civilians. The sisters are all angry because in the previous movie they became trapped in their world by a wizard, and they will do anything to destroy the human world and the Shazam team. Later in this movie, as revenge they capture and kidnap the wizard who had trapped them before.

The movie is pretty long, at two hours and ten minutes. Towards the end, it did start to drag. There are so many characters and it’s clear that the directors wanted every character to have their own moments and storylines, but this causes it to get a bit boring. Additionally, there is just a lot to unpack — with the kidnapped wizard, one of the sisters beginning to fall in love with one of our superheros and the question of what will happen to Billy once he ages out. 

Overall, I enjoyed watching this movie. I watched the first one in 2019 and thought having the kids turn into adult superheros was new and fun. This second movie, despite being a bit long, lived up to my high expectations. I am definitely hoping for a third movie.

“Shazam! Fury of the Gods:” ★★★★☆