Shazam! Fury Of The Gods [4K Ultra HD]

Director: David F. Sandberg

Cast: Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer

Release Date: May 23, 2023

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 7.5/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

Synopsis:

“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” continues the story of teenage Billy Batson (Asher Angel) who, upon reciting the magic word “SHAZAM!,” is transformed into his adult Super Hero alter ego, Shazam. Bestowed with the powers of the gods, Billy Batson and his fellow foster kids are still learning how to juggle teenage life with having adult Super Hero alter-egos. But when the Daughters of Atlas, a vengeful trio of ancient gods, arrive on Earth in search of the magic stolen from them long ago, Billy—aka Shazam (Zachary Levi)—and his family are thrust into a battle for their superpowers, their lives, and the fate of their world.

Please Note: Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ rejoins average teenager Billy Batson (Angel) who is magically transformed into the adult superhero Shazam (Levy) whenever he utters the magic word and continues to assist and save those in need along with his foster brothers and sisters who now also share his abilities. Finally believing things to be getting somewhere near normal and allowing himself to enjoy life with his new family, everything changes when Billy and his co-heroes are faced with a trio of dangerous gods called the Daughters of Atlas who if left unchecked have the potential to not only remove all of their powers but also destroy humanity as we know it. Now Shazam and the others will face their most difficult challenge yet and it will take all of them working together if they hope to stand any chance of success.

Directed once again by David F. Sandberg (Shazam!, Annabelle: Creation) from a screenplay written by Henry Gayden (Shazam!) and Chris Morgan (Fast Five), Sandberg does a nice job back at the helm for ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ guiding along the higher stakes sequel with plenty of charm and style. The cast includes various new and returning individuals and includes Zachary Levi (American Underdog), Asher Angel (Darby and the Dead), Jack Dylan Grazer (It 2017), Rachel Zegler (West Side Story 2021), Adam Brody (Ready or Not), Ross Butler (TV’s 13 Reasons Why), Meagan Good (Monster Hunter), D.J. Cotrona (TV’s From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series), Grace Caroline Currey (Fall), Djimon Hounsou (The King’s Man), Lucy Liu (TV’s Elementary), and Helen Mirren (F9: The Fast Saga) along with more, the majority offering solid or at least fitting performances for the most part in each of their respective roles.

‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ is a fun and fast-paced follow-up that’s loaded with humor and plenty of visually spectacular action sequences, as well as sufficiently larger stakes for our heroes to tackle this time around. The film may not quite reach the level of charm and unique style that its predecessor had in spades, but in my opinion much of the critical and audience response to this one has been unfairly negative considering that while perhaps not quite as good, this is very much a solid and thoroughly enjoyable sequel that delivers nearly everything that audiences tend to expect from a superhero movie follow-up including bigger stakes, more visually spectacular battles and more time with the leads doing their hero thing. Perhaps one of the few negatives within is how heavily it relies on its CGI which populates the majority of the film’s explosive climax, but it handles it all quite well and never allows things to suffer or look questionable along the way.

The sequel still exudes quite a bit of heart which was one of the most rewarding elements of ‘Shazam!’ and never hesitates to take its time to showcase the love and support of the family within while also never allowing it to detract from the visually stellar and always exciting action sequences sprinkled throughout from an invasion of a museum by the baddies to our heroes swooping in to save numerous people from a bridge collapse and of course an epic final showdown that’s as extravagant as it is thrilling to behold; all nicely guided along once again by director David F. Sandberg and further complemented by a perfectly selected cast led by a charming Zachary Levi at its disposal.

Overall, ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ is an exciting, kindhearted and consistently funny follow-up that rejoins the heroic ‘Shazam’ kids and pits them against a trio of gods with a chip on their shoulder for an epic and visually spectacular magical showdown. ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ is definitely recommended for anyone that enjoyed the first film and appreciates some lighter superhero fare that still has plenty of wild action sequences and excitement to deliver. If you’re already at all interested in this sequel but haven’t yet had the chance to give it a whirl, I can’t encourage you strongly enough to ignore all of the negativity that’s curiously plagued this one and decide for yourself. It may not be quite as spectacular as its predecessor but you might just be pleasantly surprised with how solid and enjoyable of a sequel it actually is.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, presented in its original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks rather spectacular as a whole and provides a clean, sharp and richly detailed presentation from start to finish that’s absent of any notable faults to be uncovered along the way. Nearly everything within looks great, with impressive detail evident in everything from character faces and clothing to the backgrounds and landscapes on display, as well street debris and much more throughout. The Dolby Vision addition also contributes to the overall experience and provides a rich and gorgeous color palette noticeable in everything from the costumes our heroes wear to the backgrounds and cityscapes present throughout and all only tremendously complemented by deep, rich black levels. Overall, this is a great Ultra High Definition video presentation that holds up well throughout and shouldn’t have any trouble satisfying fans and first time viewers alike.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack is quite the treat itself and delivers a clean, crisp and hard hitting audio presentation throughout. It constantly takes full advantage of all seven available channels in order to send our heroes zipping throughout the various speakers, along with creatures, action and magic effects, nature elements and bits of dialogue, plus a great deal more; all while never allowing any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible in the process. Overall, this is a solid Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that provides a wonderful complement to the onscreen fun and excitement.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ features a solid collection of bonus content most of which can be found on the included Blu-ray disc. Included on both the 4K UHD and Blu-ray disc is an ‘Audio Commentary with David F. Sandberg’, while the Blu-ray disc additionally includes numerous ‘Deleted Scenes’ from the movie with an introduction by Sandberg (running approximately 31 minutes in length altogether) and various Behind the Scenes Featurettes that explore different aspects of bringing the sequel to life and featuring interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The included Featurettes are ‘Shazam! Let’s Make a Sequel’ (running approximately 25 minutes in length), ‘The Rock of Eternity: Decked Out’ (running approximately 6 minutes), ‘Shazam! The Zac Effect’ (approximately 4 minutes), ‘Sisterhood of Villains’ (8 minutes), ‘Shazam! Scene Deconstruction’ (10 minutes), ‘Mythology of Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ (5 minutes) and ‘Shazamily Reunion’ (5 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray disc included in the 4K UHD Combo Pack and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD disc itself and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on the 4K UHD & Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

–

Film Rating: 7.5/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

–

‘Shazam! Fury Of The Gods’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from DC Comics, New Line Cinema & Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment

–

*Screen-Connections.com is an Amazon Associate that earns from qualifying purchases