--- title: "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" year: 2023 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/shazam-fury-of-the-gods" fi1m_id: "shazam-fury-of-the-gods" imdb_id: "tt10151854" tmdb_id: 594767 wikidata_id: "Q84712809" fi1m_score: 53 critics_score: 48 critics_reviews: 16 published: "2026-09-10" updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:09.107450+00:00" region: "SK" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) Directed by David F. Sandberg · 2h 10m · Comedy, Action, Fantasy ## Identity Shazam! Fury of the Gods - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/shazam-fury-of-the-gods - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** shazam-fury-of-the-gods - **IMDb ID:** tt10151854 - **TMDB ID:** 594767 - **Wikidata ID:** Q84712809 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10151854/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/594767, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q84712809 **Fi1m score: 53** · Critics 48 from 16 reviews *In a sentence:* Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu arrive with a staff and a grievance and are out-talked by a man in a lit-up cape > David F. Sandberg’s sequel keeps the foster family and loses the point of them, burying six likeable kids under a grey computer finale. Grazer and Zegler give it a heart for twenty minutes; the rest is noise with a lightning bolt on it. ## Synopsis Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is nearly eighteen and worried about what happens to a foster kid who ages out of the house. He and his five siblings can still say a word and turn into grown superheroes, with Billy becoming Shazam (Zachary Levi), and they spend their days rescuing Philadelphia in a way that leaves the city unsure whether to thank them. Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) is more interested in Anthea (Rachel Zegler), the new girl at school. Meanwhile Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu), daughters of Atlas, retrieve the broken staff of the wizard (Djimon Hounsou) and set out to reclaim what was taken from the gods. Directed by David F. Sandberg. ## Review The 2019 original had one idea, and it was a good one: a foster kid with nobody to call says a magic word and gets the body of a grown man. David F. Sandberg’s sequel has the same kid, five more heroes, two goddesses, a stolen staff and 130 minutes, and the idea is somewhere under all of that. The family is still likeable and the film is still, in stretches, funny. But it has swapped the thing that made it different for the things every other superhero film already has, and the trade does not pay. Zachary Levi plays Shazam as he did last time, a fourteen-year-old’s voice coming out of a wrestler’s chest, and the trouble is that Billy Batson is not fourteen any more. Henry Gayden and Chris Morgan’s script makes him nearly eighteen and frightened of ageing out of the foster home, and then hands almost every scene to the big version. Asher Angel, who plays the actual Billy, is barely on screen. So the joke has lost its anchor. Levi mugs, shouts, fumbles a rescue and apologises to the crowd, and we winced at a routine we had laughed at four years ago, because there is no longer a boy behind it to make it touching. The film is best when it gets away from him. Jack Dylan Grazer’s Freddy is still the motormouth on a crutch, and Rachel Zegler’s Anthea is the new girl at school who has taken an interest in him. Their scenes are small: a corridor, a lunch table, a walk. Gayden and Morgan write them as two teenagers trying to be cooler than they are, and Grazer and Zegler play it without pushing. We were more taken with them than with anything that flies. Djimon Hounsou’s wizard has a good line in weary complaint, and Grace Caroline Currey, playing Mary at both sizes, gives the family a plausible eldest. Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu arrive as the daughters of Atlas, come to take back what the wizard took, and Louise Mingenbach dresses them in bronze and gold plate that looks heavy enough to matter. Mirren delivers every line as if reading a will to relatives she dislikes, and it is the right choice. Liu plays Kalypso as pure temper. Neither is given much beyond standing on high things and glaring. Gyula Pados shoots the daylight scenes bright and clean, and for the first hour Michel Aller keeps all six heroes in view whenever they share a room, which is harder than it sounds. Christophe Beck’s score is brass and drums and does the job. Paul Kirby’s production design is at its best indoors, in rooms that look lived in rather than rendered, and the film gets some of its better gags out of them. Then the effects take over and the picture goes brown. The last forty minutes are a battle under a grey sky that we will not describe, except to say that everything in it is the colour of wet cement and nothing in it weighs anything. Creatures pour through streets and heroes fly through creatures, and Aller’s cutting, so tidy in the early going, gives up trying to tell us where anyone is. We were bored, and then we were cross about being bored, because the film had already shown us it could stage a scene we could follow. Sandberg came to this from horror, and *Lights Out*, from 2016, was built on one idea it never let go of. The first film had the same discipline. This one has a bigger city, more suits and less nerve: it wants to be about a boy afraid of losing his family and keeps interrupting itself with gods. Most critics have landed a little lower than we have, but the school scenes and the first hour’s clarity count for something. Take children to it; the 12A is fair, the jokes are aimed at them and they will not mind the cement. If you are choosing for yourselves, watch the first film again instead, or watch this one at home, where the finale can be got through with the remote. *Fi1m score 53, published 10 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are split, and widely so. Most critics agree on where the pleasure lies: in the foster-family ensemble, the sibling banter and the easy laughs, with Freddy singled out more than once as the character who works. They also agree on the problem. The plot is called convoluted or overstuffed by nearly everyone, the finale is a long stretch of computer-generated monsters that few defend, and a recurring complaint is that the offhand charm of the first film has been swapped for bigger, noisier and more generic spectacle. Zachary Levi divides opinion: some find him as amiable as before, while the Los Angeles Times and Collider hold his performance chiefly responsible for the film’s failings. The Times goes furthest, arguing the script insults the outsiders it claims to champion. At the other end, /Film and Deadline see a warm, funny family adventure that keeps the heart of the original intact. ## Straight answers **How long is Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and what is it rated?** *Shazam! Fury of the Gods* runs 2h 10m. It is a comedy and action film. **Where can I watch Shazam! Fury of the Gods in Slovakia?** *Shazam! Fury of the Gods* is not on any streaming or rental service in Slovakia at the moment. It is available in 50 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **What should I watch after Shazam! Fury of the Gods?** After *Shazam! Fury of the Gods*, try [*Big*](https://film.one/film/big) (1988, Fi1m 81): A boy in a man’s body, played by Tom Hanks with real bewilderment rather than shouting. Then [*Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse*](https://film.one/film/spider-man-into-the-spider-verse) (2018, Fi1m 87): A teenage hero, a found family and effects that know what weight is; and [*Attack the Block*](https://film.one/film/attack-the-block) (2011, Fi1m 84): South London kids versus monsters, ninety minutes, no dome over the city. ### Reviews we read (23) - **Empire**, Sophie Butcher (70/100, inferred): The sequel is bigger and weirder than the first but suffers from information overload and messy plotting. It remains entertaining thanks to laughs, cool moments and an ensemble worth rooting for. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/shazam-fury-of-the-gods/) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (70/100, inferred): The critic finds it a zesty, likable sequel with a cordial, puppyish good nature and awareness of its own silliness that gestures toward diversity. It does not entirely break free of the superhero-movie template but has an appealing freshness. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/mar/15/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review-second-dose-of-dcs-imposter-syndrome-superhero) - **The AV Club**, Matthew Jackson (C): The film overreaches with a convoluted plot and shoddy craftsmanship that fails to recapture the original's warmth and fun, though the cast delivers some enjoyable family moments and comic timing. Visual set pieces lack wit and the story feels like a frustrating case of sequel excess. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/a-review-of-shazam-fury-of-the-gods-1850231422) - **Screen Daily** (55/100, inferred): A by-the-numbers sequel that struggles to evolve beyond usual comic-book derring-do despite heart, impertinent humour and Zachary Levi's charm. Notes it feels overstuffed and familiar with tonal shifts that undercut the story. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review/5180206.article) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Frank Scheck (45/100, inferred): The sequel lacks the charm of the original, delivering expected action and villains but suffering from tedious CGI spectacle, flat gags, and a sense of sophomore slump. Some funny moments from the cast and charming scenes stand out amid the excessive set pieces. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review-1235353215/) - **The i Paper**, Geoffrey Macnab (40/100, inferred): The film is a facetious kids' adventure with no real threat or tension, as the hero cracks jokes even in peril. It is amiable in a goofy way but lacks the spark of the best DC superhero pictures. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review-a-facetious-kids-film-with-zero-threat-2210043) - **Total Film** (30/100, inferred): The follow-up is disappointing and tiresome, losing the original's sweetness amid CGI and perplexing plotting. Worthy new cast members cannot make up for the absence of innocence and real jeopardy. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review/) - **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (30/100, inferred): The sequel forgets the original's offhand charm and nimbleness, becoming a lumbering, uninspired effects spectacle that abandons the kid perspective and emotional core in favor of generic action. Some imaginative creatures are noted, but overall it feels competent yet forgettable swill. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/movie-review-dcs-shazam-fury-of-the-gods.html) - **Slant Magazine**, Jake Cole (25/100, inferred): The film fails to build on the first's whimsical foundation, resulting in a generic, forgettable spectacle with poorly directed action, underwritten villains, and interchangeable characters that saps the material of its novelty. The darker tone clashes with the goofiness without adding depth. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review-zachary-levi/) - **The Times** (20/100, inferred): The critic calls it a vacuous and disappointing sequel that borrows plot devices unoriginally and features a dumb, unaware script with tedious reincarnation tropes. It insults the outsiders it pretends to champion through its buffed-up makeover premise. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review-a-vacuous-and-disappointing-sequel-s7fc0wjs2) - **Los Angeles Times**, Katie Walsh: The overly jokey approach has grown stale, making the film grating, labored, and annoying, largely due to Zachary Levi’s confounding performance as Shazam. The ugly, noisy, and poorly written sequel is a shoddily made mess aimed at kids but executed poorly. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-03-15/review-shazam-fury-of-the-gods-has-an-attitude-problem) - **Radio Times**, Dave Golder (4 out of 5): A fun follow-up delivering the expected mix of silliness, schmaltz and over-the-top action with laugh-out-loud moments. Praises spirited performances, magnificent visuals and in-jokes, while noting some contrived plot elements and wasted villain talent. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review/) - **The New York Times**, Amy Nicholson: The sequel trips over its desperation to amuse and feels like the character has already used up his best ideas in the first film. The cluttered script and overabundance of distractions leave little room for the tenderness and wit of the original. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/16/movies/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review.html) - **Time Out**, Olly Richards (3 out of 5 stars): The critic finds it a fun, light-hearted sequel that retains the charm of the original with witty gags and enthusiasm, though the final act monster battle is familiar. Praises the energy and easy laughs that make the hero more enjoyable than many bigger DC names. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-2023) - **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman: The origin story’s charm is missing as the sequel is hobbled by a less buoyant hero and bland villains, resulting in a busy, formulaic, and rather joyless film. It loses the breezy screw-loose human appeal of the first movie in favor of convoluted CGI spectacle. [Read](https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review-zachary-levi-1235555228/) - **/Film**, Jeff Ewing (8.5/10): The critic sees it as a reminder that superhero films can still be fun, praising strong performances, imaginative worldbuilding, action, and humor while noting some weaknesses in character arcs and logic. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1228354/shazam-2-review-superhero-movies-can-still-be-fun/) - **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the sequel for retaining the heart and humor of the original while expanding the scale with bigger superhero action. They single out the family dynamics and the engaging portrayal of the teenage characters. [Read](https://deadline.com/2023/03/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review-zachary-levi-helen-mirren-lucy-liu-1235300646/) - **Collider**, Ross Bonaime (C-): The critic finds the film disappointing overall, arguing that Shazam is the problem with its annoying lead performance and cringeworthy humor. Some supporting characters like Freddy receive praise for being more fully realized. [Read](https://collider.com/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review/) - **Consequence**, Clint Worthington (C-): The critic calls it a rubbery, unfunny sequel that feels empty due to sequelitis and the bloat of modern superhero filmmaking. The humor and CGI are singled out as flat and featureless. [Read](https://consequence.net/2023/03/shazam-2-fury-of-the-gods-dc-review/) - **Digital Spy**, Gabriella Geisinger (2/5): The critic finds the film a slog undermined by a convoluted plot and muddy CGI finale, though it contains an enjoyable buddy-comedy dynamic between certain characters. The overall result feels haphazard and unreal. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a43173673/shazam-2-review-fury-gods/) - **The Wrap** (40/100, inferred): The critic finds that the sequel's heartfelt story and character moments are overshadowed by excessive CGI action and monsters. They single out the strong family drama and comedy as the film's best elements, which get lost in the blockbuster spectacle. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review/) - **Den of Geek**, Don Kaye (3.5 out of 5): The critic praises the humor, heart, and family dynamics of the Shazam superhero family but notes it suffers from a shopworn plot and overstuffed finale. The repartee and heartfelt performances of the cast keep the film afloat despite its flaws. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review/) - **Film Stories**, James Harvey: The critic finds it a refreshingly old-fashioned family adventure with a big heart and tongue-in-cheek tone that delivers cheerful entertainment. They single out the sweet chemistry between Freddy and one of the villains for praise, while noting the overly long runtime and stumbling ending as drawbacks. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-review/) ## Details - **Director:** David F. Sandberg - **Director:** David F. Sandberg - **Writer:** Chris Morgan, Henry Gayden - **Cinematography:** Gyula Pados - **Editor:** Michel Aller - **Music:** Christophe Beck - **Production design:** Paul Kirby - **Costume design:** Louise Mingenbach - **Producer:** Peter Safran - **Cast:** Zachary Levi as Shazam; Asher Angel as Billy Batson; Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman; Rachel Zegler as Anthea; Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy; Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene; D.J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro; Grace Fulton as Mary Bromfield / Super Hero Mary - **Runtime:** 2h 10m - **First release (the US):** 14 March 2023 - **Genres:** Comedy, Action, Fantasy - **Budget:** $110 million - **Box office:** $134 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIc671o9yCI ## Where to watch in Slovakia Not streaming, renting or buying in Slovakia at the last check. Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Shazam!* (2019): The original, smaller and funnier, with the kid still visible inside the suit. - *Big* (1988), Fi1m 81: A boy in a man’s body, played by Tom Hanks with real bewilderment rather than shouting. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/big.md) - *Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* (2018), Fi1m 87: A teenage hero, a found family and effects that know what weight is. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/spider-man-into-the-spider-verse.md) - *Clash of the Titans* (1981): Greek gods and monsters done with clay and patience; Harryhausen’s last film. - *Attack the Block* (2011), Fi1m 84: South London kids versus monsters, ninety minutes, no dome over the city. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/attack-the-block.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/shazam-fury-of-the-gods