‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ Review: Zachary Levi Is Back in a Sequel with More Monsters and Less Joy
16.03.2023 - 01:03
/ variety.com
Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic Why did they give Zachary Levi a haircut for “Shazam! Fury of the Gods”? Four years ago, in the first “Shazam,” Levi played a kid in a superhero’s body, and the movie was smart and witty enough to be a caped version of “Big.” Levi’s look was a major part of it. Shazam, with that cheesy lightning bolt and gold belt and white Italian-restaurant tablecloth of a cape, didn’t resemble other recent comic-book-film heroes; he was more like something out of the ’40s. And Levi sealed the deal was his big popping eyes and ingenuous gee-whiz grin (he was, after all, playing a 14-year-old inside), as well as the hair that topped off his boyish spirit. It was dark and shiny and stood up an inch-and-a-half from his head — a ‘do as superhero stylized, in its way, as the old Superman’s.
In “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” Levi is back, a little older inside (Shazam’s alter ego, the foster kid Billy Batson, is now pushing 18), but that comic disconnect between the bulked-up dude in his red suit with his limitless powers and the teenager who’s in over his head is still (somewhat) on display. Levi, once again, carries the movie, though with a shade less of that infectious buoyancy. His hair has been tweaked into a slightly shorter, more conventional cut (from certain angles it’s almost a fade), and while the difference isn’t huge, and it may sound like I’m carping over nothing, the new hair changes his aura. He seems less wide-eyed, less winningly goofy, less stylized. That’s true of the movie as well. “Fury of the Gods” is one of those superhero sequels that goes through the paces, presenting us with a story that’s meticulously convoluted and weightless, only to ratchet up the CGI, as if that were the film’s
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