Let's turn out gaze towards Shazam! Fury of the Gods!
It's been a couple of years since Billy Batson and his fellow foster family kids "SHAZAM'd" up as super heroes and defeated the nefarious schemes of Thaddeus Sivana. In the intervening time, these heroes have become the...
Well, certainly not the pride of Philadelphia.
The local media refers to this collective of heroes as the "Philly Fiascos".
Case in point, a bridge begins to collapse and hundreds of motorists are in danger. Billy and his "Shazamily" swoop in and save 162 lives with no injuries or deaths.
But they can't stop the bridge from collapsing.
Philadelphia's collective response? "You SUCK!"
Philly sports fans are mean assholes and damned if they ain't the same way with their would be super heroes.
Billy is trying to hold the gang together but they're getting older and itching to do their own thing. Mary wants to go to college but has to work. Billy is on the verge of turning 18 and aging out of the foster program, meaning he may have to leave his foster family.
And there's a dark and ominous plot afoot from immortal beings known as the Sisters of Atlas, seeking revenge on the Wizard for killing their father, stealing their powers and always forgetting to put the toilet seat down.
So the sisters are on a tear to get back the powers from those upstart heroes in Philadelphia.
Beyond that, well, the sisters are not in agreement vis-a-vie their long term goals. One of them is seriously pissed at humankind and ready to destroy the world.
There's some obstacles to be overcome, battles to be fought, secrets to be revealed, sacrifices to be made....
Well, it all works out in the end.
Is Shazam! Fury of the Gods a great movie? Not really.
At the very least, is Shazam! Fury of the Gods a good movie? Well...
Look, I came out of this movie feeling sufficiently entertained and amused.
But sitting here writing about it, I am kind of hard pressed to explain exactly while I was entertained and amused.
One my favorite bits from the movie involves the Shazamily, their sentient magical pen they named "Steve" and a letter they dictate to the Sisters of Atlas. When Steve takes dictation, he literally writes everything the speaker (or anyone around them) says.
So we have a sequence that begins with adult Billy beginning the letter with "To the Sisters of Atlas, violence is not the answer..."
A moment later, the sisters magically receive the letter and the one played by the great Helen Mirren reads the letter: "To the Sisters of Atlas, violence is not the answer. Oh, that's a great opening. Yeah I thought we needed to set the right tone. Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, right. Violence is not the answer. I propose we should meet for a peaceful negotiation. Wow, that sounds so grown up. We need the Sisters to take us seriously." And so on and so on.
I and everyone else in the theater was laughing so hard at this bit. It is just too damn funny hearing Helen Mirren read this stream of consciousness dreck.
But I think where the movie falters is the see-saw between these bits of outright comedy and also trying to be a straight up super hero action film. Hell, this goofy movie ends with people frickin' dying.
In one case, death is reversed with help from a cool cameo from Wonder Woman. (Gal Gadot is still with us for one more movie.)
Scenes with Billy as an adult super hero are always played for laughs and scenes with Billy as a teen-ager are always played for drama. So when adult Billy has to make a sacrifice play to save the Earth from being destroyed, one might wonder where the hell did that come from? How is this big goofball suddenly the dramatic core of our big save the world ending?
Billy spends most of the move in his adult form played by Zachary Levi and has very little to do in his teen-age persona played by Asher Angel. OK, we get it. The funniest moments from the first film was a teen-ager mucking about in a super powered adult body so let's give everyone more of that, right?
But there is a disconnect when the boy is more mature than the boy in the man's body. In the sequel, Billy is now 17 while Zachary Levi is playing adult Billy with the mentality of someone closer to 13.
As I said before, I came out of Shazam! Fury of the Gods feeling like I had a good time. But upon reflection, I wish that good time had been with a better movie.
Next week, Cinema Sunday visits this year's Oscar winner for Best Picture.
It's Everything Everywhere All At Once.
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