SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS

Billy Batson and his family are back for another adventure, this time squaring off with the Daughters of Atlas (Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler). They come in search of their fathers staff, which Billy broke in the first film. Once in possession of the staff, they'll have the power to end our world and reimagine their own. I'll be honest, I haven't seen the original SHAZAM! in a few years but I remember having a lot more fun that time around than I did with this installment. One issue I can point to is the film wasn't as funny as the first, but to be fair, the subject matter is also darker too. Maybe it's superhero fatigue or how similar Shazam is to Black Adam, who just had his film released 5 months ago, but I struggled to get into this story. In addition, there's a stark and obvious difference with the Daughters of Atlas, and I'll address the elephant in the room: age. Nothing against any actress as I'm a fan of all of them but having 77-year-old Mirren, teaming up with 54-year-old Liu, with 21-year-old Zegler feels awkward. Mirren and Liu team up for much of the film while Zegler has her own storyline (and yes, I'm fully aware that they're "gods" so age doesn't matter but onscreen, it comes across otherwise). Zachary Levi shines again as the adult Batson/Shazam, being a teenage kid in an adult body with superpowers. He's fun, animated, and childlike, he genuinely takes pride in the character and franchise. We're unsure with DC's new hierarchy where Shazam will land going forward but obviously there's more stories to be told but it'll also depend upon the box office. Unfortunately, the theater I was in wasn't very full so I'm afraid this may pull in even less than it's predecessor. 6/10