citizens of the reject Nation I am just walking out of Shazam 2 Fury of the Gods IMAX invited me
to an early screening and I highly recommend you see it in IMAX this is a big bold loud movie that
should be experienced big bold and loud is the fury of the Gods gods are enormous see it thusly
thank you so much to IMAX and you watching this video please do leave a like below leave a comment
let me know what you think of this review what you thought of the movie let me know anything I'ma
read them let me know in the comments what's going on also citizens of reject Nation we the rejects
are doing our first panel on Sunday the 26th at 11 A.M at WonderCon I am so excited to see you there
we're going to talk to the state of DC the state of Marvel the state of the industry and I want
some fan interactivity so we'll see you there all right let's get into this movie now going
into this the movie has a 68 Rotten Tomatoes as of press as of the time I'm filming this it also had
a trailer I liked in a trailer I was okay on and the first movie is my favorite of the DC EU so the
stakes were high impossibly high it's my favorite and it's the sequel and then Word of Mouth wasn't
that great so I went in a little concerned I had such a good time in this movie I honestly think
that going into it worried helped my experience because I smiled the entire time there is a sense
of childlike Glee and wonder that is this Shazam universe that is so good that I now want a rolling
reboot of the DC Universe as opposed to a hard reset of the DC Universe I've been very clear
in that I think it's cleaner to just get rid of the old Universe if you want a new Superman
than Henry cattle if you want to tell these new stories that these new characters in the roles
that they'll need to play in the DCU versus the DC EU I like this so much I want a rolling reboot
that it seems to be what James Gunn has described as doing and that's that's what I want like I had
such an incredible time in this movie the first one warms my heart in a way I can't even describe
I have such a soft spot for foster family for blood family versus adopted family for choosing
your own family there's a reason I love the Fast and Furious films they're about family yes that
is also referenced in this film and yes this film stars three Fast and Furious folk now I am
passionately obsessed with the idea of maintaining a child like sense of wonder I am passionately
obsessed with what it means to be childlike without being childish and once again they nailed
that once again they managed to make me feel a childlike sense of wonder without the movie being
childish all the time there are certainly childish jokes there are moment that are just ridiculous
and I still somehow felt them and that that brings me to some of my favorite standout performances
which would be Jack Dylan Grazer man Jack Dylan grazer's got his own stronghold on a very specific
type of Comedy that kid is everywhere for a reason the kid should be everywhere and he's so good in
this and he's so much in this and you love him and he's the ultimate Underdog and you're so endeared
to him and he's just such a powerful performer he he brings you in to such a level like you want to
know him and that's that's so special he's such a star for lack of a better term and then Zach Levi
man Zach Levi I was so worried after the first film that that the one note-ness of the character
could happen and it didn't the character could be one note with a lesser actor this could be a very
cheesy in a bad way instead the cheese Works more than not and Zach Levi is an adorable giant kid
and it works this is big but as a superhero and it absolutely works and it doesn't get stale it
doesn't get old the humor lands for me nine times out of ten they're sure are jokes that don't work
but there's so many moments that do it outweighs them all and as I said there were moments that
emotionally didn't pay off and I'll talk about my negatives near the end but there are moments
that I wanted to be critical and I wanted to more uh judgmental just as someone watching
a movie and then the Glee outshone the cynicism I was like I should be critiquing I didn't want
to there are some edits that I didn't love that they took away some emotional moments but I was
still so giddy that they never went away which also brings me into another standout performance
diamon hansu I love that actor I'm such a giant fan of that actor I really wanted more of him in
the first we get more of him in this and I am so happy with the way he's portrayed with the the
Lee of having him on screen I don't want to give too much away but there's some wonderful diamon
hansu moments Rachel zegler I've only seen him West Side Story she is such a delight the thing
she's able to do in this is really special and this is a non-spoiler review so I don't
want to give anything away but she's able to make unbelievable circumstances not only believable but
you care about every decision she could make and you buy that is decision she make even when they
seem impossible she makes the impossible possible which is what acting is but she does it with such
Grace such dignity such Poise and you want to love her at all times and it's such an incredible feat
what she's able to do and in that same vein Helen Mirren as a villain is so wonderful because she
brings a gravitas to anything she does but here the gravitas helps serve the entire Narrative
of the film because it's doing things that I don't think worked in Thor dark World or other sword and
sandals superhero films because they're gravitas to Helen mirror and you buy a lot more the entire
third act goes into some truly absurd things and some characters I don't want to give away
that are archetypal characters from myth and their design is so stunning and so wonderful
and that's actually one of the things that I think is slightly better than the first film
for me is there are character designs that I like more than the sins from the first film that serve
the narrative better that feel more tied in and it gives them a comic sense of scope this feels like
a comic book in so many ways and Shazam comics are insane there's talking Tigers there's crocodiles
there's insane moments but this movie is able to give you that scope with these character designs
while also being this world of Shazam that feels so unique to itself that also feels like it could
happen it it's balancing definitely many tones it feels like a comic it feels almost possible it
feels Greek myth it feels like so many things and all of it is Glee and joy even when the movie's
dark the sense of childlike wonder is there because of these actors Asher Angel man one
of my only negatives I wanted more Asher and again the emotionally resonant moments in the
first movie I do prefer the first film I do think the first film is more of like an A A minus it's
my favorite DC EU film this one's about a B plus for me that's not that far off they're close but
there are some heartfelt moments in the first film that this one didn't quite have but I do like that
the first film was like a coming-of-age story and this film is like a college story like the
next step in a story a good evolution of a story but whereas the first film felt very 80s in amblin
this one feels like the Walkabout this one feels like pagemaster this feels like the early 90s this
feels like the late 80s going into early 90s where these adventure movies were so unique and bold and
weird and it just goes there and it keeps going there I do think the first one is more for me but
I do think the second one does a lot of new things really well and again this is something that I
enjoyed so much I want to live in this universe more I want to dive deeper into this world I want
more of all of these things I do think Lucy Liu I I've Loved forever I would have liked to have
seen a little bit more of a backstory with some of her choices I do think that I I enjoyed the hell
out of Lucy Lou but I wanted a little bit more context for some of her decisions I do think that
would have helped me be more invested in that side of things but I was more invested than I expected
I went in with very low expectations and I was rooting actually rooting for a lot of things the
opening sequence there's an action sequence that's on a bridge and basically that whole sequence is
kind of a proof of concept of how to do a team up well how to tell a family story with dialogue and
how to tell a superhero story as a team with action and it's balancing family and action
just as the movie does the rest of the time I love the shazamly I have such a soft spot for what it
means to be a family as I said at the top but the shazamilee feels like one like those actors feel
like they're connected those foster parents feel like their adoration for these kids absolutely
translates and then the set piece I'm talking about is able to also skip you ahead from where we
left them off they've just got their powers this jumps you ahead to their working as a team this
gives you Fantastic Four X-Men you know dynamic of of compatibility of partnership of how they would
have learned how to use each other's Powers with each other and then that ties into the greater
plot and Exposition it also ties into what it means to be a family it does the family heart and
team brain thing so beautifully well over and over again and that opening sequence it really just
shows my love for this world the negatives are some elements of editing do undermine emotionality
there there are sequences where I'm like oh they they could have used a different take or oh you
cut away as soon as it was feeling like a moment or you could have let that breathe believe that
bothered me there's a lot of jokes and nine out of 10 land but when they don't land there's a bit of
a an oof to it but that is a comedy thing like I can't really begrudge the film that because while
that is an issue this feels more lived in than most DC or Marvel films when it gets to the action
like a lot of action there's always like the same civilian or like the same people they cut to to be
like this is actually happening this movie's got so many moments of like civilians in Peril that
feel like people you could run into and they're not the same person you keep running into at the
coffee shop in fact David F Sandberg has a cameo with the third Act of of one of these civilians
it was funny to see the director Cameo like that I missed those but like the movie makes you feel
lived in so when the comedy doesn't work it almost feels like the character would find that funny so
even if it doesn't work for you it worked for them I don't know I just I feel like these characters
are so well fleshed out but another negative would be that I don't I don't think they use
the young version of them enough I do feel like there was an element of we need Zach Levi a lot
so we can't let him be Asher and that bothered me because Asher is a great actor and I really
like his Billy Batson but the kids overall felt like they didn't get as much time to balance as
they did in the first film so I would have liked to see more of the kids would have liked some
different edits would have liked some different moments but the score really makes the emotional
resonance work the comedy really worked for me I was gleeful the entire time I disagree with the
Rotten Tomatoes score and I know a lot of people like koi likes everything he hasn't lately and
he really liked liking something again so if this is the koi likes everything review I'm happy it's
back I missed that koi and koi was childlike and gleeful throughout so thank you Shazam Lee if you
love the first one check out Shazam I hate that it's getting underserved by the marketing I hate
that it's getting tossed around because of the new universe coming in and I hate that people are like
I'm not gonna see it because it doesn't connect there are moments that I think you'll miss out on
in cinema for this movie not being advertised the right way and there's also a thing that have been
revealed in marketing that are used so much more cleverly than you think and there's an incredible
comedic set piece that is a bait and switch tying to the first film that is pure genius
that is such a self-aware moment from the director that I really enjoyed the scene at dinner
I could keep going on I'm gonna do a spoiler review hopefully with Greg uh this weekend but
for now this is going to be my spoiler-free happy happy Shazam fan be plus-ish loved it foreign