Review: 'Shazam! Fury of the Gods' is an uneven superhero movie that can't stand on its own in a world of franchises

The current turmoil over Warner Bros. restarting the DC movie universe, starting over next year by producers James Gunn and Peter Safran, leaves the last movies under the old regime, such as “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” in something of a pickle.

This superhero movie was made in the mold of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — where the story before us is often shot through with callbacks to past installments and call-aheads to future chapters. But when we know there aren’t going to be those future chapters, how do we watch this movie as a story beholden only to itself?

The second “Shazam!” movie shows our hero (Zachary Levi) trying to deal with the great responsibility that comes with great power (oh, wait, that’s Spider-Man’s thing) — especially as the leader, of sorts, of the six superpowers kids who live with his human alter ego, Billy Batson (Asher Angel), in a Philadelphia foster home. The six of them try to do good, like in the early going when they save motorists from a collapsing bridge, but are mocked in the media as the “Philadelphia Fiascos.” 

PR problems turn out to be the least of our hero’s worries. In Greece, a pair of supernatural women — played by Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu — show up to reclaim the staff of Atlas, which works off the same kind of magic that gave our six kids their powers. Meanwhile, Billy’s best friend, Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), in his non-super form, develops a heavy crush on the school’s new girl (Rachel Zegler, from “West Side Story”), who introduces herself as Ann, but is more than she appears to be.

Director David F. Sandberg returns from the first film, and doesn’t change much of what made the first “Shazam!” so much fun: Showing Levi’s superhero as a kid in a ridiculously buff adult body, enjoying the heck out of his situation. Now, as then, when things get serious — and our hero has to save the world from Mirren and Liu’s nefarious plans — the mood drags a bit, even when screenwriters Henry Gayden (who wrote the first “Shazam!”) and Chris Morgan (a veteran of the “Fast & Furious” franchise) try to inject some humor into it. (A running gag involves some extended product placement for a popular brand of candy.)

Then there’s the stuff, especially in the end and the now-obligatory mid- and post-credit scenes, that are supposed to connect this movie to the future movies that we know Gunn and Safran aren’t going to make. This includes the appearance of a major actor — I’d say it’s a spoiler, but Warner Bros. put the scene in its advertising during the Oscars — whose next DC movie has already been canceled, and a mid-credit scene that teases a superhero mashup that isn’t going to happen.

“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is serviceable superhero storytelling, but it’s missing the great spark of absurdity that made the first movie so engaging. Before, we had a kid who’s becoming a superhero. Now, we’ve got a superhero who’s becoming a grown-up — which isn’t as interesting here as it should be.

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‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’

★★1/2

Opening Friday, March 17, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence, and language. Running time: 130 minutes.