Shazam! Fury of the Gods Review

0:22 Hi, Welcome to the Dynamic Dual Podcast, a weekly show where we review superhero films and debate the superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters in stat based battle simulations. I'm Johnny DC and I'm his twin brother, Marvelous Joe, and in this episode, we are reviewing the first theatrical film to come out for DC this year, Shazam Fury of the Gods, which of course is a sequel to twenty nineteen Shazam. Loved the first one. We give it to a four point five out of five stars when we reviewed it on this podcast back then. Did the sequel live up to the original. We'll let you know later on in this episode when we talk about our thoughts on the film. Before that, we're going to break down the comic book movie news from the past week, of which there is really one big news item to talk about, and that was James Gunn confirmed that he will be directing Superman Legacy. As always, we list our segment times in our episode description, so feel free to check out the show notes if you want to skip ahead to a particular topic. If you've listened to our recent episodes, you'll know that our Dual simulator has become so advanced that it's gained sentience and has named itself the artificial life form for running extensive duels. Just a rather very intelligent simulator nine thousand, or Alfred Jarvis nine thousand. He has a quick message for our listeners, so let's hear it. Why hello there.

1:44 Do you love listening and chatting about Marvel and DC. Then become a part of the Dynamic Dual community on Patreon, where you can choose from three tiers. The Dynamic two otier lets you listen to this podcast without ads and gives you access to its discord chat group where you can at with Johnny DC and Marvelous Joe. The Fantastic four tier gives you that and more with two bonus episodes each month, including Bloopers and Top ten shows where Johnny and Joe count down your favorite Marvel and DC subjects. And finally, the x Force tier makes you an executive producer of Dynamic Duel, where every month you help the host choose what to review and who to fight against each other. Check it out at patreon dot com, Dynamic Duel Pit, pip Cheerio. Thanks Day j nine thousand and thanks to everyone who supports the podcast, especially Tim Brown and Dustin Belcolm, both of whom are patrons that had birthdays this past week.

2:38 Happy birthday to both of you. Tim. If I could get you a gift from the Marvel Universe, I would get you some Kmoo beads from the Nation of Wakada. They're like mini computers on your wrist. And if I could give you a gift from DC, I would give you Death Strokes outfit and arsenal because I know you're to cosplay and I think there would be a really cool cosplay outfit, and I know you're a fan of the team Titans. And for Dustin, if I could give you a get from Marvel, I would give you the Fantastic Car, considering you stated that your new company to Kowaid the Company car, and I know you're a family man, so you know, Fantastic Car covers all those bases. And I would get you Phantom Stranger's necklace, which interestingly enough, is made up of thirty pieces of silver, which you deserve you Judas for anyone not in the know, Dustin used to be a fan of DC, but then he switched over to Marvel on our discord server. I think your saltiness over the fact that he switched sides is a large part of why he's still part of Team Marvel, because it's just so fun to make you angry. Now, I'm super petty.

3:43 I'm super petty, and I will continue to be so until he switches back. Thanks again to both Tim Brown and Dustin WelCom for being patrons. Yeah, happy birthday, guys. With that out of the way, quick to the new Prize. A NO Prize is an award Marvel used to give out to fans our the Dynamic Dual. NO Prize is a digital award we post on Instagram and in our email newsletter for the person that we feel gave the best answer to our question of the week. Last week's question was which superhero costume has been the best in all of Marvel and DC's live action films and shows and why. We got a few answers for this one, So let's go ahead and run down our honorable mentions as well as the no Prize winner. Our first honorable mention goes to Connor Pierce, who said, Hey, guys, it's um Conna piss and I think that wull Ki as Ronan from The Avengers is probably one of the best live action superheroes suits we've ever gotten, and oricon it just gave me goose bumps that same way, then snapped half of the University Gone on a rain page in Japan, and yeah, Hawkeye's Ronan costume is pretty damned sweet, especially in that scene in Avengers and Game. I remember when I first saw Ronin in the New Avengers comics back in the early two thousands, and I thought he looked really damn cool.

5:06 It was a mystery as to who the character was. It turned out to be Echo, if I remember correctly, and the title has kind of gone to a number of Marvel characters over the years, and in the case of the films, it went to Hawkeye, and I thought they did a pretty good adaptation of the suit for those films. Yeah, it just looks like a really badass ninja. Yeah, it had like the cool mask in the hood and the color scheme of like the dark green and gold with the black. It was all really damn cool looking. There's a lot of costumes out there where the like very bright and colorful, and it's like if I ever became a superhero. I would never wear that, but I could see myself wearing the Ronan costume for sure. For sure. Yeah, especially if you needed to keep a secret identity. You know, that's kind of what the whole purpose of the Ronin identity is. It's a faux secret identity for existing superheroes, basically when they need to do something shady. Great answer, counter Pierce. Our next honorable mention goes to Clive from Toronto, who said, Hey, it's Clyde from Toronto. When you asked about the best live action superhero costume in all of Marvel DC, the first thing that came to mine was Michelle Phifer's Catwoman costume and Batman returns. Some may argue she's an antihero, disqualify my pick, but her costume needs to be acknowledged. I don't care. Any current artistic rendering of Catwoman in a leather costume with stitches or a damaged mask with the hero is a callback to that character and Batman returns. It was a moment I consider Catwoman to be a superhero. You know, she has some pretty villainous tendencies sometimes, but I think anti hero is an appropriate title. Well, you know, she steals things, but

6:38 she also fights bad guys and you know, helps defend people in need, So she's very borderline for sure. Yeah, she defends the innocence. But regarding her costume in Batman Returns, it's not my favorite Catwoman costume on film. That probably goes to Anne Hathaway's costume. But it is a interesting one, I will say, considering that, you know, shows the stitches and kind of feels a little bit like a Frankenstein kind of costume, which is more or less the approach they took in Batman Returns. Considering Slee and Kyle was sort of raised from the dead by cats. Yeah, it's kind of out of left field answer, but also a bold answer. I really like Clive's choice here. Regardless of whether or not it was like faithful to the comics or not, there was just something inherently really cool about the visual of seeing Michelle Pfeiffer in that suit that stands the test of time. It was sleek and shiny, and Michelle Feifer just gave a great performance in it, and she looked great in it. Absolutely. Yeah, it's great answer, Clive. Our final honorable mention goes to Scott Camacho. Who said this is going to be a cop out answer, But I see no way around it.

7:44 The best superhero costumes are going to be from the Zack Snyder universe. Every detail, every nostalgia, even coming from the comics and even bringing something new. All those costumes look amazing, and I find myself going bad back watching the movies and sometimes even the shows Zack Snyder's universe. So it doesn't really mean like the whole universe, right, I think he's referring mainly to the Justice League characters here, because in the Snyder verse you also have people like the Joker. Yeah right, and a lot of those Suicide Squad outfits were ass well yeah, maybe, I mean, but the Justice League character designs were incredible. Maybe not so much. Aquaman actually think he got the better costume at the end of his own movie, but characters like the Batman ripped straight from the page. Superman has never looked better on screen. Gal Gadote her One Roman costume is legit, next level, and it even translated really well into the comic. I also really liked the Flash's costume. It was definitely a more interesting take than I've ever seen on the character before.

8:52 Just the silhouette of it was really cool and Cyborg was yeah, he was okay, yeah, yeah, it was all right. Grant answer, Scott Camaco, We want to give a big thanks to making My think Ian for also taking the time to visit our website and leave an answer. We'll be posting everybody's answers up on the discord for discussion. But the winner of this week's no prize goes to Matt Lamb, who said, Hey, guys, Matt lam here. So I'm definitely gonna have to give this to the Iron Man armors from the Marvel films. It's a suit of armor the Tony Stark himself made, which is not something that most of the hearers can say about their costumes, and he's constantly modifying and updating the suit. With each iteration it gets better and better. But I'm definitely gonna have to say that the Mark three was my favorite. It was the first suit that heralded in the MCU. Yeah, the Mark three is also my favorite Iron Man suit from all his appearances in the MCU. Overall, Iron Man has had a fantastic string of costumes throughout all of his appearances, and like Matt said, I really like how each iteration is him kind of building upon what came before and making advancements to the suit, and it got so advanced at the end.

10:03 It was a Nano suit that he wore for Infinity, wore an end game that Bleeding Get armor. I think you could consider it. The Bleeding Get armor was really cool, and it's interesting to go back and watch the films and just see how the suit evolves. I think the latter suit's got a little too streamlined for my taste. Didn't look as industrial as I liked them too. I think my favorite armor was the one he wore at the end of the first Avengers movie. I thought that one. I think that was like the Mark six or seven. I want to say something like that, Yeah, it was cool. That was a cool one. Yeah, I like that a lot. But yeah, I mean this may be an obvious answer, but I think it's still the best. Iron Man will probably always have the best suit out of all the heroes in comic book movies. The suit is his superpower, right exactly. So congrats to Matt Lamb for winning this week's no Prize. If you the listener want to shout at winning hero no Prize, stay tuned till later on this episode, when we'll be asking another question of the week. And now that that's odd to the news, okay, and what is probably the worst kip secret. We learned this past week that James Gunn will be directing Superman Legacy. Now, we knew when the project was announced that he would be writing it, but considering that it was going to be like the flagship kickoff film for this new universe that he's establishing, it made sense that he would direct something that critical to the franchise and critical to his vision. Yeah, yeah, right, And the news

11:35 was pretty much leaked a few weeks ago by DC writer Tom King, who is one of the writers in the writer's room with James Gunn working on these upcoming projects. So yeah, James Gunn finally admitted it on Twitter this past week. I thought it was pretty interesting how he was basically saying like he had a good story in mind for the character, but he wasn't quite committed to delivering the vision on screen. It's a lot of work to direct, and he wasn't sure if he was the man to do the job or if there was someone better. But it sounds like he's just really happy with the way his script has turned out, and he can't wait to see it realized on screen. He mentioned in his tweets that the way he's approaching the story of Superman this time is sort of as a Superman of two worlds in more ways than one. You know, not only is he from Krypton and a man of Earth, but he also has this aristocratic Kryptonian side because his parents were Kryptonian aristocrats. But he also has like the Kansas farmer, rural side to him, and I think that's a fascinating approach. Well, he also has the metropolis side to him too. You know, that's another world right there that's completely different from either Krypton or Smallville, Kansas. Well, he didn't mention that in the tweet, but you're right. I personally have been looking forward to this announcement because not only do I think he's a great writer who's able to capture the heart and bright side of character, but I also think he's a really good director. You know, I really liked the direction of Guardians of the Galaxy and the Suicide Squad films, and even Peacemaker.

13:09 I thought those were really well directed. So I'm absolutely looking forward to him directing the Superman movie. Now, you could say that while Guardians and The Suicide Squad were not similar films tonally, they both have this kind of like cress comedic tone to them. Right. Do you think that James Gunn would be bringing that to his Superman movie. I think he could bring it to the world of Superman perhaps in some areas, maybe, you know, like he could bring some humor to the Daily Planet, as long as he keeps it away from Superman himself, because I don't think that Superman is a character like star Lord. But James Gunn is smart. He's a smart writer at the very least, and I think he knows not to take that approach with the character. And honestly, you know, I think he's trying to prove himself with this film. I definitely think that he has what it takes to do that. Largely, you know, in the works that he's come out with. You could say that he's kind of inhibited by his own sense of humor, but I absolutely think that he's capable of going above and beyond that to deliver really powerful stories that don't necessarily have like a bunch of dick jokes like the suicide squad. You know, I definitely trust in guns vision.

14:24 I trust him as well, although I have to say my trust did take a bit of a hit this past week when I think it was the Hollywood Reporter dropped an interview with Ben Affleck who said that he is definitely not interested in directing a film in James Gunn's universe. And we heard from Gunn that Ben Affleck was excited and eager to find a good project to work on in this universe. But it sounds like that's not the case. So is someone lying here? And why is Ben Affleck so apprehensive about working on projects for James guns dc universe? Is he familiar with the stories and the direction they want to go in. It kind of came across that way. It may not be that anybody's lying regarding ben Affleck's eagerness to join the DCU. It could be that they probably had discussions and then talks fell through. Basically, what Gunn said may be true. You know, they may have been trying to get Ben Affleck on board, and what ben Affleck said maybe also true, and that he is no longer interested, And that may be for any number of reasons, you know, I couldn't see Ben Affleck directing an MCU movie. But that's not to discount the quality of those Marvel Studio films.

15:33 Is just that Ben Affleck doesn't seem like the type of director who would work within that sort of creative system. Yeah, he did mention in the article that he really really dislikes like the superhero comic book movie Hollywood machine right now, you know how they're just turning out comic book movie left after right without scripts even being finalized or anything like that. You know, he had a really bad experience on the Justice League film with Josh Sweden, and he mentioned that it was like his worst experience actually, so I think he's probably trying to avoid that. And also, you know, I imagine if you were going to direct a Batman film like he was going to in the DCU, that if you come across another version that's significantly different from what you had planned to do, like with Batman and Robin, potentially, then you may not be as interested in doing that the brave and the bold you mean, yeah, exactly. Yeah. I suspect that a Batman movie directed by Ben Affleck would probably come out more similar to what Matt Reeves did with the character than what The Brave and the Bold sounds like it's going to be. And you know, if Matt Reeves has directed that film, there's really no reason for Ben Affleck to direct a similar one like that, I guess. Regardless of whether Ben Affleck wants to direct a DC film, I'm still excited that James Gunn is directing Superman and that brings us to our question of the week.

16:53 Who do you think should be the villain of James Gunn's Superman legacy film and why? Record your answer at Dynamic Duel dot com by clicking on the red microphone button in the bottom right hand corner, which will prompt you to leave us a voicemail. Your message could be up to thirty seconds long, and don't forget to leave your name in case we include you on the podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer and award that person a Dynamic Dual No prize that will post to Instagram and our email newsletter. Be sure to answer before March twenty fifth. But that does for all the news. Now let's move on to the main event, where we reviewed the latest DC theatrical film, Chazam Fury of the Gods all right. Shazamne Fury of the Gods is the sequel to twenty nineteenth Shazam, both of which were directed by David F. Sandberg.

17:55 Now. I loved the first Shazam film, where we reviewed it on this podcast when it came out, giving it four and a half stars. As I mentioned earlier, it was a smart blend of humor, action, heart, and horror, with a touching coming of age story and strong themes around family. It was a lot for the sequel to live up to, but considering the history of superhero sequels improving upon the first film, it never really crossed my mind that Fury of the Gods wouldn't live up to the first film, and spoiler alert, it didn't. But that's not to say that Fury of the Gods is bad or that I didn't like it, because I did. It has everything that made the first one greats and though it's a little less focused and has a little less heart, I'd definitely recommend watching it in the theaters, and I definitely recommend stopping this review if you haven't seen the film yet. That was my first reaction to seeing the film. I had just watched the first movie, the day before I saw Fury of the Gods. That was only my second time ever watching the first Shazam film.

18:57 It was everybody as good as I remember it being, but walking you away from the second film, my initial thought was that it was less focused. Yeah, and I would agree. As much as I enjoyed this film, it's hard not to be disappointed by it, you know, especially as we're starting to see superhero fatigue set in in real time amongst film critics in the box office, Like, odds are this film probably won't be a box office success, Like isn't it weird to say that a film that is entirely fine and good still disappointed you. That's exactly how I felt with A Man of the Wass Quantum Mania, which I had a great time with it. But when something doesn't surpass the quality of what came before, you're getting diminished returns, right, which you usually don't see in like a sequel to a good film, because people are excited to see the next iteration of that story.

19:49 Ultimately, when I say I'm disappointed, though, it's less to do with the movie and more to do with humanity, because they're not coming out to see the movie, right and critics are I think overly harsh on what's a really fun family movie? Really though, Shazam not being a success and a possible trend of superhero fatigue means that less DC projects will potentially be made. You know, as DC is about to undergo this soft cinematic reboot with all of these projects recently announced, like now is the absolute worst time for superhero fatigue to set in. Like, if you're a DC fan and you want to see more DC films made, you've got a responsibility. If you're sitting on the fence about whether to see this film in theaters, you get your ass out there and you see this fucking movie. Okay, Billy Madison.

20:45 But the good news in all of this is that if you see Theory of the Gods in theaters, you're gonna have a good time, because even though it may not be as good as the first film, it's still a lot of fun. It has solid action, great special effects, mostly great performances, and most notably, it's funny as hell, Like easily DC's funniest film. No, that would go to the Suicide Squad, but I did laugh a lot during this movie. At the very least It's a more family friendly kind of humor, which is nice. The Fury of the Gods does a great job of blending the comedy with horror and a little bit of tragedy, just like the first film, though not as well as the first film.

21:26 You know, the opening of twenty nineteen Shazam was intense, as was Fury of the Gods, with Calypso turning everyone into violent zombies in a museum before his Spara turns them all to stone, so they're like frozen in these terrifying poses. It was fantastic and definitely showed the benefits of hiring a horror film director like David F. Sandberg for the franchise. It gets you hooked in the story right away just seeing these things unfold on screen. Yeah, great opening scene. There were monsters in the first movie, but here they were a little more recognizable, like the minotaurs, the harpies, maticors, and cyclops were well realized and fit in with the mythic origins of Shazam's powers very well. I thought, Yeah, the monsters here were cool. They were a little bit less scary than the Seven Deadly Sins, but I like the overall mythological themes like the comics, you know, beyond the silliness and the monsters that are there, the core story of Shazam has always been a coming of age story. You know. The first film, Billy learned that sometimes your family is the one that you choose, and now that he has this family, he's afraid to lose it and learns that despite all of his power, you can't cage and control the ones you love, and that sometimes protecting what you have has a personal cost, that self sacrifice, in a way is the ultimate display of love. It's one of the strengths of this franchise, those familiar themes. It has very strong themes. Yeah. Unfortunately, though, I would say this film kind of trips into its themes since you

22:59 know, there were a lot of characters to juggle this time. You know, you have the cast of kids and their superhero adult versions, three villains, two parents, a wizard, and a partridgin a peatree. The kids, in my opinion, are the best part of the movie. You know, like, they're funny, great actors, and it makes more sense to see them learned coming of age lessons. But sadly, in this film, the filmmakers decided that scenes that didn't need the kids to be their adult versions, such as like planning in the Rock of Eternity, it had the kids and their adult versions. I would have much rather seen the kids and their camaraderie and their chemistry together. It's just fun, and you know, it reminds you of your own childhood, and it's like the same reasons why everyone loved like the first IT movie. It's just great to see those kids come of age, and there's something inherently more silly watching adults pretend to be children.

23:52 It kind of takes you away from maybe the importance of those coming of age themes as they're happening in the film, when you see a bunch of thirty year old learning those lessons exactly. It was kind of interesting how they mirrored the protagonist lesson about controlling the ones you love with the antagonists lesson in that you see the daughters of Atlas kind of learned that same thing, and that they were very controlling of each other until one of them basically snapped, you know, Lucy Lou's character. Yeah, I mean, like in Greek mythology, the mythical godlike figures have always had you know just as many dysfunctions as humans on Earth do. The Daughters of Atlas very much had a power struggle amongst the three of them in a way that you're right, slightly did mirror the struggle that Billy was having with his siblings, But ultimately Billy learned a lesson that the daughters did not. Let's talk more about the cast and their arcs and the character breakdown, starting with Shazam slash Billy Batson. Now, Shazam was played by Zachary Levi and his younger counterpart, Billy Batson, was played by Astra Angel. Zachary Levi is a terrific comedic actor who also nails dramatic moments. But as great as he was, I did miss Astra Angel as Billy because Billy is the dramatic core, the true form, whereas Shazam is more of the mask. I thought they did a really good job balancing the two characters in the first film and not so much here. Yeah.

25:18 Yeah, Billy had a lot of great stuff in the first movie to work with in regards to trying to find his mom and stuff like that, and just dealing with the struggles of being an orphan and getting a new family and stuff. There was a moment that was like that in this sequel where his mom tells him to change back into Billy so that she can talk to her son, and it was a nice moment, but it also felt like it was too little, too late. It felt a little shoehorned. Honestly, like they were trying to capture the magic of the first film in that moment, but with everything else going on, it almost felt out of place. Now the movie, Billy tries to use his adult form to throw some authoritative weight amongst his siblings and organize them into a team, but he's not an adult and has no real idea what he's doing. Seemingly lacking the wisdom of Solomon that's supposed to make up his power sets, he doesn't know how to keep his family together despite his reluctance to fully integrate himself into his foster family. You know, he calls his mother Rosa instead of Mom because he knows he's aging out of the foster system soon and doesn't want to get too attached because he's afraid of being abandoned like he was by his real mom.

26:27 At the end of the film, when Shazam realizes that the method to destroy the Daughters of Atlas and the Tree of Life could destroy all of Philadelphia, including his family. He decides that it would be better for him to die than the rest of his family, and he does, which was a huge surprise, though I hate the way they brought him back to life. Like I complain a lot about Deos x Machina on this podcast, but this was literal Deo SX Machina with Wonder Rouman making a cameo at the end to bring Zam back to life. I can't decide if it was totally appropriate for this film or totally lame. I kind of side with the latter. While it was novel to see Wonder Woman in this movie, it felt kind of convenient and cheap. Well that's the problem with Dao sex Machina, right. And as much as I love this Wonder Woman cameo by Gal Gadote, it always brings up to question like in these shared universes, like well where are the other heroes? Like why didn't Wonder Woman help in Philadelphia if she knew what was going on or saw what was going on like she did that in Batman v. Superman. When I intervene earlier, like where are the Avengers when like, I don't know, Moon Night is having trouble in Egypt or something like that. You know, well, you can say that about the comics too, that's fair. So I tend not to like that argument. I don't think that's the reason why Wonder Woman's apparents felt cheaper lame. The fact that she came around as a means of resurrection, I think is really what made it feel so cheap. Yeah, that's I mean, they didn't really

28:00 allude to that being able to happen in the realm of the gods. But getting back to Billy's arc, you know, his apparent's lack of wisdom or knowledge of what to do made him feel unworthy to be the Wizard's champion. But the Wizard assured Billy that it was his heart that was wise, and that by following his heart, it would lead him to make the right decisions, which was ultimately to sacrifice himself for the family he loved. And I thought that was interesting, Like, usually when you think of wisdom, you think of not really intelligence, but experience, which Billy doesn't have. The kid only has his own instincts and that's really what I think the wizard was referring to. That was a nice moment. I liked that. I did love the joke when Shazam referred to Solomon as solo man. Yeah, that was great. Solomon has always struck me as like one of the weird inclusions in the Shazamn pantheon because he was not a Greek, a Roman god.

28:56 He was a Jewish king, So I guess Athena didn't quite fit in there. Hazam. I think one of the vast improvements of the character over the first film was the costume. Oh yeah, the costumes in this movie were fantastic for the Shazam family. I think my favorite improvement was the lightning bowl emblem. It looked so much cooler in this movie. I thought it was really well done. The costume really was pretty much flawless. There were some like weird like buckle things on the sides, but even those like I didn't mind. I thought they looked cool. Yeah. Those silver embellishments, yeah I did not like those, actually really yeah, I found them visually distracting. I could take him relieve them, but I didn't think they looked bad. Still, an improvement will agree over the first movie for sure, for sure, and that goes for all of the Shazam family, not just Shazam, including Freddie Freeman's character. Now, Freddie Freeman was played by Jack Dylon Grazer as a kid and Adam Brody as a superpowered adult. Jack Dylon Grazer shines in ensemble roles like this send the movie it, and Adam Brody totally captures that same orgy, making it the most believable of the kid adult pairings in the movie. Freddy is totally living his dream of being a superhero and being free from his disability. He's the most dedicated of the group, you know, listening to police scanners and going off on his own late at night to fight crime. He doesn't want to be Billy's sidekick. He wants to be his own thing, and rightfully so, because he's heroic by nature, you know, as evidenced by how he stood up for the new girl Anne,

30:29 despite the thrashing he would receive from the bullies when Anne is revealed to be one of the daughters of Atlas and Freddie is humbled by having his powers taken away, his heroism never falters despite being imprisoned or even unable to run away, and he proves himself in moments such as when he displays a limited ability to stand up to Calypso's chaos whisperings or even the fear emanating from the dragon Ladon. By the end of the movie, though, he's shown the ultimate example of heroism in sacrifice, and he expresses regret that he cannot fight alongside his brother in the end like Billy had always wanted. Yeah, that whole arc was really touching, and I think that Freddie's character was really a highlight of the film, particularly in those moments you mentioned when he's like standing up to the dragon and calling Billy an asshole for dying on him and stuff like that. Yeah, really an emotional performance. I thought he was the heart of the film, and I thought he had more interesting arcs to him than even Billy did. Well, it was interesting that we got to see more of Freddie as a kid than we did Billy as a kid. Yeah, that's true, and it probably goes to show that they probably should have had the other kids on screen more than what they did, And it may have to do something with like child labor laws or something like that maybe in regards to the child actors, yeah, yeah. Moving on to Mary Brownfield, she was played by Grace Caroline Curry formerly known as Grace Fulton and both her unpowered and powered adult forms. I thought she did fine in the role, as she did in the first film. I actually didn't care too much

32:00 for her performance in this movie. I thought it came across as a little bit bored or lazy or something. Largely, I think she was frustrated with Billy's character and that's what she was going for, But there was just something passive about her performance I found. Well, I think, you know, she was hanging around a bunch of kids. I think she would have much rather been doing something else. But she also didn't want to give up the superhero lifestyle. She enjoyed being a superhero. I get that, but in regards to the performance itself, it came across as a little bit more disinterested than it needed to and like even towards the end of the movie, she didn't really have much to do, Like she was running around with the other kids and was really taken away from any agency that she might have had earlier in the film. Or I think she just wasn't a big enough character.

32:43 I don't really think she had a major arc in the story to really give her more screen time than was allotted already. Well, we know that, you know, she wanted to go to school, she wanted to help support her family. We don't really know what happened to any of that. Well, you know, like in the comic, she's in this film serving as Barry's more mature mentor figure of sorts, like she's always been more mature than him. She recognizes that Billy's trying to get as much time as he can with his siblings before he fears he leaves their lives forever, and she lets him know that, you know, he needs to be responsible, like she is, balancing superhero life with work life to help support her parents while also trying to have just a normal life for someone her age. Mary is Billy's example of what sacrifice for love looks like, and that ultimately does pay off at the end. But you're right in that we don't really see how that pays off for her. Like I guess it would have been nice to see her finally go to college at the end of this film, maybe even like in an after credit scene, or something like that. I don't know, honestly. You know, even taking like community college classes online would have been a nice tidbit, like before the Wizard Shazam visits the house for dinner.

33:57 It does raise an interesting point as to why Billy was afraid of aging out of the household when he already saw that Mary did not. I think part of it was just a fear of growing up, which is really interesting for a character who has an adult form as well. And I think that was kind of lost in a way that wouldn't have been if it was Asher Angel delivering those same lines. I don't know why he was nervous. I think it just meant that it was time to grow up, in time to leave the nest, and you know, he wasn't ready for that. He wasn't ready to take on the kind of responsibility that Mary had. Maybe he didn't want that for himself. It is interesting how the character of Billy was so independent in the first movie and then so dependent in the sequel. I think that kind of just speaks to the danger and finding someone or something to love is that now you have something or someone to lose. So it kind of makes sense that like you wouldn't want to lose that now more than ever.

34:52 Good point. Yeah, but back to Mary. You mentioned how great the costumes were. I think she had the best costume of the Shazam family. I would argue the number one best female superhero costume of all time. I think I said that honor went to Cyclone in Black Adam, but Cyclone is now number two because Mary's outfit was like an amalgam of like all of the best female superhero costumes from like Wonder Room into Supergirl. It was just perfection. It was really well done. Yeah, I'm going to skip the rest of the Shazan family real quick and moved to the villains, starting with Hespera. She was played by Oscar winning master thespian Helen Mirren. Any role she plays, she plays seriously, and I'm really glad she took this role because I'm kind of afraid under anyone else it would not have been done as well.

35:40 You know, I was kind of horrified that they had cast this woman who was up there in age to be the bad guy in this superhero action flick. I thought it might look kind of goofy when she's throwing fists with the superheroes, but to my surprise, it didn't. I thought she did fantastic. Oh yeah, yeah. I knew from the trailers when she delivers like a Spartan kick that it was going to be pretty badass, and it was. But like even when she got like slammed to the ground like freaking power bombed by Shazam and then she was about to do the same thing to him, she was actually intimidating physically in this film. Yeah, I was impressed. Job will done to Helen Mirren for sure. Yeah, yeah, she was totally game now. His Spur is an original character not in the comics. Alongside her sisters, the Daughters of Atlas. She supposedly had control over the elements, though it really seemed more like telekinesis to me outside of like turning people to stone in the beginning. Yeah, I was gonna say that too, although she did like superheat these prison bars or something like that.

36:40 But yeah, I couldn't quite make out where her power set was because she could also like control this energy magic dome kind of thing, which I'm not sure if it was made out of like magic water or something. It was strange. Oh yeah, I didn't think it was water. I thought it was just magic, but I don't know. I would have loved to have seen more things like fire and wane things like that. I think that would have been a lot cooler than just Telekinesis. Now Hespera and her sister Calypso gained the Wizard's broken staff in the opening scene of the film, with the intention of using it to get revenge on the Wizard, whom they already had imprisoned, as it was the wizard who killed their father Atlas, and they feel Shazam and the Champions don't deserve their father's power along with the power from the other gods. At some point, the daughter's new mission becomes to restore the realm of the gods with the Golden Apple from the Tree of Life, but they argue where to plant it, and for some reason, they also in prison Philadelphia in a dome and imprisoned Freddie. I will admit the motivations for some of the actions of the daughters gets a little muddied, and I'm still not sure, like why they didn't simply use the Wizard's staff to give themselves more power. Why didn't Shazam use the magic staff to steal the powers of the Daughters of Atlas, which we know could be done. It could be used to take away their immortality because we saw Calypso use it on Anthea that way. So yeah, a lot of just strangeness around that and even Hespera's motivations. You know, in the beginning of the film, it looked like she was, you know, very much in charge and very much

38:13 the one pushing for their agenda. And yet by the end she had this kind of change of heart that kind of surprisingly came out of nowhere. It did by the end of the film, you know, once the daughters had the apple and Hespera considers their mission complete essentially, but Calypso betrays her sisters, you know, killing Hespera. Though as hesparaly dying, she ends up helping Shazam trap and defeat Calypso, recognizing him as a true god. And I'm not quite sure why once she got the apple, she kind of seemingly forgot or ignored the whole revenge plot that kind of kicked the whole movie off. Yeah, revenge against Shazam and his champions. It was more about restoring the realm of the gods. Once she got the apple. It was really Calypso who was the one to kind of like keep them on track with the whole revenge angle. But speaking of Calypso, you know, she was played by Lucy Lou and she yells a lot on this film, Like, I'm not sure she handled the dialogue as well as the other daughters, which was unfortunate because you know, Lucy Lou is an established actress. I totally saw that coming from the trailers. There was a line in the marketing where she was like, this ends now, and I brought that up during our discussion of one of the trailers, and I feel like you didn't believe me.

39:24 Yeah, I think I remember that. Actually, I don't know what to say. You're wrong. No, I'm never gonna say that. Kudos, I guess thanks. Yeah, I didn't have much faith that she would be able to give a convincing performance here, and yeah, it was a little bit cheesy and it looked like extra bad alongside Helen Muhren, who like totally sold her lines even when she was reading that ridiculous letter from Billy. Like, Helen Muhren totally sold it. That was a great gag. That whole thing with them dictating to Steve and like Steve writing down everything they were saying. I laughed my ass off. It was great. Now, regarding Calypso's arc, you know, she was the daughter in control of chaos, and her ability to control others by whispering was actually really cool, I thought.

40:13 And being that she controlled chaos, I thought it was appropriate that she was the one to be the most evil and try to destroy humanity over the Wizard's actions because they were human. I wonder why it was Calypso that was so gungko on destroying humanity over her sisters. I think she was just more vengeful in general. It kind of seemed like she had a chip on her shoulder because of the way she was treated by her older sister. That's true, like playing second fiddle In that regard, her arc kind of mirrored Freddie Freeman's because he didn't want to play second fiddle to Billy, right, right. But what's interesting is that she didn't actually need the staff of Zam or this dragon guy to destroy humanity like she could have easily done on her own, as she proved in the film's opening sequence, just by inciting chaos amongst the populace. She still could have fulfilled her goal of destroying humanity and also planted the seat of life in the realm of the gods like they were supposed to.

41:08 That's true, Honestly. If Hespera didn't turn those people to stone in the museum at the beginning of the film, like that would have been it for humanity. Yeah, the movie would have been over. Yeah, the cast would have just kept spreading interesting plot hole. Movie gone to Anthea, the third daughter of Atlas. She was played by Rachel Zegler, a relatively new actress in Hollywood who was actually cast by Jack Dylon Grazer after some chemistry tests between him and several other actresses. I think she did great in the role, and I think she's going places. Yeah, and I thought she did have a pretty good chemistry with Freddie. Now, Anthea, who goes by Anne early in the movie, is a love interest for Freddie, which is interesting considering Freddie isn't the protagonist in the film. She used him because she knew of his reputation for being friends with the Wizard's Champions, but when he was revealed as being one of those champions, she took pity on him and kind of played both sides throughout the film. Yeah, some of her actions were a little bit convenient to the plot, but her sisters were jerks, so I could see why she kind of wasn't totally sold with all the douchebaggery that they were causing. I want to know why she went undercover as a teenager in this movie. Well, it was to lure information from Freddie as to the whereabouts of the champions. They didn't need to do that.

42:23 They could have just caused chaos in the city of Philadelphia where these guys were and brought them out that way. That's very true and even easier. Clipso could have gone up to Freddie and just whispered in his ear, you know, say their names like she did later on in the film. Right, he was like Destiny's Child? Did it better? That was great? Yeah, Yeah, there was like no reason for her to go undercover. It was just a strange element that the movie introduced to add that romantic angle. Right, I'm a little bit confused as to what her powers were too. Oh, axis, I thought that was really cool. She was able just to like spin things around her. Yeah, But like when she was like basically rearranging the city of Philadelphia, Like, don't you think that would be like physically devastating to the city and the people living inside of it as they're like being whooshed around at such high speeds. Are you asking me if I thought it was appropriately dangerous for a villain to have that type of power.

43:20 Yes, I do. I'm saying that the movie didn't address the consequences of a power so large in scale. You know, when she's throwing skyscrapers at Shazam, it's almost like it didn't affect the people living in the city. Well, maybe it didn't. Maybe it just warped space. Why does everything need to be spelled out for you, Joseph, I guess warping space is the best way to put it. Going back to the rest of the Shazam family, not much to say, particularly about characters like Eugene, though I did like his idea to use video games to help foster teamwork in military strategy for his siblings. Pedro. He played a fairly important role in the film, as he was the one who found the rocky of Eternity's library, and though I'm surprised he didn't tell anyone about it, earlier. Pedro is a pretty quiet character. Darla was cute as always. I love the Taki Tani Easter egg with the kitten in the Shazam comics, Taki Tani is a tiger who gained superpowers. My favorite moment in the film also came from Darla.

44:21 It was when she was writing the unicorns just mowing down the monsters, and she was like, taste the rainbow, motherfuckers. That was so good. I tried to stop laughing, but I couldn't. I think they only needed to say taste the rainbow once, though it seemed repetitive in that way because she whispered it to the unicorn earlier. Yea, so it was kind of like the same joke. That's true. Actually I whispered it out loud right before she did because it was just like way on the nose. Product placement. Yeah, Skittles being like ambrosia, the nectar of the gods. I don't know, no, I mean, skittles are good, but I don't know if they're ambrosia good. You know what is ambrosia good? A good question. I don't know. Like I would say, my favorite candy is jellybellies, like jelly beans like just because of the assortment of flavors that they have none of the gross shit, but I like the variety that those provide.

45:12 M I feel like I'm not the best expert on what candy would be the ambrosia of the Gods starburst, The correct answer was sour patch kids. I'm sorry, those are good. Yeah. Lastly, I want to touch on the Wizard played by Jiman Hansu. I use a little bit more comedic relief this time around, but he pulled it off like he's a good actor, and I'm glad they found a way to bring him back, even though I don't quite understand how they did. The way I took it was that once he gave up his power of the Champion, he could no longer exist in the realm of the Champion, and so while it looked like he died in the first movie, he was actually just transported to the realm of the Gods. That's where they were. I thought, Yeah, but which didn't make sense because he wasn't a god. Yeah, you think he would be sent to Earth or something. What if when the Wizard Chisam gave up his power, he was transported to Earth and then he was just captured by the sisters at that point and then take into the realm of the guns. Maybe I don't know. I don't know, that's the problem those Yeah. Moving on to the story highlights, Hispara and Calypso, two of the daughters of the Titan Atlas, break into the Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece, to steal the Wizard's broken staff. The duo then take it to the imprisoned Wizard, forcing him to repair the staff and activate its powers again. That opening sequence was awesome, really cool, great way to set up the film.

46:43 In Philadelphia, Billy Batson and his Chazam family of Foster siblings save people on the collapsing Benjamin Franklin Bridge, but are called out for its destruction. The group is drifting apart at home due to them growing up and having different personal interests. Speaking of the bridge collapse scene, what caused the bridge to collapse? Do we know? Usually events like that are triggered by some kind of major catalysts, usually by the main villain of the film, But here there seemed to be no catalyst. The bridge just was falling apart for no reason. That's true. I think when I was watching that part, I was waiting to hear like how the villain was responsible, but then we just never learned that and I forgot about it. That's a great point. And like that bridge was freaking crumbling, like it was made out of paper. Like that's insane. If that just happened naturally, that's true, that's a plot hole. Honestly, I feel how did the bridge start collapsing? I don't know now. Billy is worried about being kicked out of the Vasquez family after he turns eighteen and ages out of the foster system. In a dream at Shazam, Billy is warned by the Wizard about Hisspara and Calypso, and he and the Shazam family researched the daughters and the rock of Eternity's library. And that library was really cool, is very magical and felt kind of like a room you'd find in Hogwarts in the Harry Potter universe. Yeah, totally, Steve the Penn was really cool. Yeah. I like the way this movie treated magic in general. Actually, it's very different from like the Doctor Strange

48:13 type of magic that you see in Commtage and stuff like that. Here, it's a little bit more whimsical and pretty unique among superhero franchises. True. Yeah, that's true. Freddie Freeman, still bullied at school, falls for a new girl named Anne, to whom he shows off his superhero self. Unfortunately, his Spara and Calypso arrive with the Staff and steal Freddy's powers. Anne is revealed to be their youngest sister, Anthea. Billy and the other Shazam family try to save Freddie, but the daughters kidnap him and place a dome around the city, trapping everyone inside. The scene where Calypso causes the teacher to kill himself was super dark. That was hardcore. I'm wondering why that was necessary. I guess to sit up the stakes. But yeah, poor dude right wrong plays at the wrong time. So the goal of the sisters at this point was to exchange Freddie for the group's powers. Is that what was going on there? I believe so. Yeah, they were still bent on revenge against the Wizard's champions. It's interesting why they didn't just fight them there, considering they had the staff, they could have used it to steal everybody else's powers. Very true. Yeah, like when Billy was right up against them. They could have easily just blasted him with the staff.

49:27 I don't know why they didn't do that. Instead, they decided to put Philadelphia in a dome, which why and wager? Yeah, it's change if Freddie's imprisoned along with the Wizard. In the God's Realm, Hespara and Calypso revealed they want revenge because the Wizard killed their father. Meanwhile, the Shazamne family enter the Rock of Eternity, where they encounter a sentient pen named Steve, which they used to draft a letter to Hespera as a negotiation for Freddy's release. Billy meets Hespera, and while the meeting is initially cordial, she and Calypso soon fight the Shazam family. Pedro loses his powers during the fight, while Hespara is captured and returned to the Rock. I love the door thing they have going on at the Rocky of Eternity, where they could just like turn any door into a gateway to it, and the porta Potti thing was kind of hilarious. Yeah, I'm wondering if it was all part of Hespera's plan to get captured at this point, though they implied as much she would be taken to the Rocky of Elternity and then get the Seat of Life there. I think it was Yeah, I think it was her plan, but I'm not sure how she knew that it would be at the Rocky of Eternity. I guess maybe if she knew that the Wizard had had the apple at one point, that it would make sense for him to keep it there where they couldn't reach. Yeah, and plus, like if their plan was to go to the Rock of Eternity, all along, the way they went about doing it was very strange. Well, I mean that might be the reason why they connapped Freddie and didn't depower the others, was because their ultimate

51:00 goal wasn't necessarily revenge, but to gain the Apple, the seed of life. It's just hard because when you don't know the villains like motivations until like the last very possible moment, it's hard to sort of always understand what's going on with the movie and why. And thinking about it more, it seems like Anthea did have the best approach going undercover, but everything was done wrong. I think she could have convinced Freddie to take her to the Rock of Eternity. Oh yeah, without her sister's intervening. I don't know. I mean, there's way seemed to work as well. Yeah, it's just they're multiple motivations. You know, they want revenge, but they also want the seat, so they want to be captured, but they also want to fight take their powers, but they also want to punish humanity. It's a lot.

51:44 It's I'm having so much trouble with their whole plan. Yeah, as am. I also I wonder why the apple the Seat of Life thing? Why was the Seat of Life a paperweight in the library. It's so convenient. Beat the shit out of you right now? Sorry, I just I think about everything. The more I have an issue with it, I'm going to go back and we were going to rerecord at man, and I'm gonna be just as nippicky as you're being right now. I feel like I'm not being that nippicky. I'm just really honestly trying to understand everything that happened in this film and why, I mean, the apple was behind like a secret door with like a secret button and stuff like that. You think it would be in an actual like magic safe or something like that, and not wrong.

52:30 Come on, man, it was a paperweight. Back to the story, Hesperah easily breaks out and steals the Golden Apple, the seed to the Tree of Life. Meanwhile, Freddie and the Wizard try to escape the God's realm with Anthea's help, just as Hespera returns with the apple. However, the daughters argue, as Hesperah and Anthea want to use the apple to revive their realm, while Calypso wishes to plant it on Earth and conquer it. Freddie steals the apple but is discovered, though Billy and the Shazam family show up, and Freddie reacquires his powers. This was a funny scene where they use the flaming violin as a distraction, like what is that? And he's like, I have no idea. A lot of great moments here, like when Shazam throws the staff at Freddie for him to catch it and it's easily intercepted, and he's like, shit, I hated that, honestly, Like he should have known. I was like, what the heck did you just do? It made me angry. That's a good point, like considering that Shazam knew he was more powerful than Freddie, given that Freddie was an immortal form Why would he try to give the staff to someone who is less able to protect it? And why throw it when you have like superspeed? Yeah, why give it to him? In general, I just yeah, a lot of I don't so many questions that are being brought up just talking about this film. It's it's not easy. It's not easy. You get mad at me, but you have the same questions. Whatever, moving gone.

53:58 Billy and the Shazam family emerge with the Wizard in the Vasquez home, where they reveal their secret identities to their foster parents. Calypso appears with a dragon named Ladon to acquire the apple. He was way cool. Like in mythology, Ladon is supposed to have one hundred heads. But I actually liked the vine bark. Look. They gave the dragon here, and I thought, you know, giving Calypso this formidable pet was a smart move because her powers alone would not have been cinematic enough for an end battle. You're not wrong in the sense that her using her standard powers of chaos wouldn't have given the Shazan family someone to punch except all the people of Philadelphia. Yeah, that wouldn't look good all, But Billy lose their powers in the skirmish. While Calypso retrieves the apple, she intends to plant the tree on earth rather than in the God's realm, planning to terraform the earth. Calypso mortally wounds Hispora and depowers Anthea when they object. It's a little questionable why Calypso decided to depower Anthea but straight up murder Hespara. I wonder why she didn't depower both of them or try to murder both of them. It is interesting that you're asking so many questions that who cares? Yeah, okay, I mean it just leads up to the whole events later on, where Hespara is able to use her magic to help out Shazam because she is able to survive her sister's murderous attack for a while. I think ultimately she was just more threatened by

55:28 Hespera and just wanted to punish her younger sister Anthea. Yeah, that's a totally valid reason. I think, why can't you give me more of those to my questions because I need time to think of them. Calypso later plants the tree at Citizens Bank Park, which spawns monsters that attack the city, Billy, in despair, asks the Wizard to revoke his powers, though the Wizard assures him he is a true hero. Heating the Wizard's words, Billy turns into Shazam flies to stop Calypso, while the Shazam family enlisted the help of unicorns to fend off the monsters in the city. Did you think it was strange? How earlier in the film, the wizard Chazam was like, I chose poorly, and then in the scene in the parking garage was like, you are a true hero. I chose correctly. I did think that was strange, And I'm not quite sure where the one eighty happened where he changed his mind. I was trying to think about that. I guess because they were able to rescue him, that changed his mind. But there was nothing really else that they did that they had anything to show for, because they still did not have the staff and they gave up the seat of life.

56:38 We did see him kind of come around on Freddie once he started calling him Freddie. Maybe that was the moment. That's probably it, Like he kind of saw that Freddie was heroic and that he was chosen by the Champion, that he chose, and that was an implication that Billy was wise and who he chose. Yeah, yeah, there we go. Chazanne persuades a die Kispara to help him stop Calypso, before realizing the dome reacts violently to his lightning. Billy urges Calypso to the park while Hespera shrinks the dome to contain them. I am surprised that she helped him, Honestly, I think she just really wanted to get back at her sister for killing her as opposed to trying to save the people of Philadelphia by that. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Billy fights Calypso and Laddon before killing them both by overloading the staff with electricity, destroying the tree and Calypso's army with them at the cost of his own life. The scarring they did on Billy's face that was super sad. I kind of wish they wouldn't have done that at all, though.

57:37 I think he could have came close to sacrificing himself without actually dying, because the more you have these heroes dying these films, the more it cheapens the act, especially the way you know he was resurrected as we'd touched on earlier. I'm totally going to agree with you there. I think they should have kept him dead. Of course, they couldn't do that because you know, they're trying to set up a sequel at the end of this film, but it was definitely cheap. Like you mentioned now, Anthea brings Billy's graving family to her kingdom for his funeral as they mourned for him. However, the demi goddess wonder Rooman suddenly appears and repairs the Staff and buing it with her power before using it to revive the god's realm and resurrect Billy, who happily reunites with his family. Billy then uses the staff to restore both his siblings powers and that of Anthea and the Wizard. The Shazam family fixes their home while Anthea and the Wizard take up residence on Earth. One of the moments in this movie that made me smile was when Shazam finally asked the Wizard what his superhero name was, because it's been a running gag throughout all these films that he's had multiple superhero names. You know, he couldn't settle on one right and the Wizards just like your name Shazam. They're like, oh, yeah, it makes sense, Yeah, it makes sense. Yeah, And then Freddie's like, I think we could beat it. Though. It makes you wonder like all the other characters are going to take up for their names Shazam, Junior Lady Shazam's zam At, Super Shazam and Thundercrack, I don't know. In the mid credit scene, Emilia Harcourt and John Economos attempt

59:09 to recruit Billy On, behalf of Amanda Waller, to join the Justice Society, which blew my mind. On one hand, I really love the fact that Shazam would join the Justice Society. I could see him being their Superman because he's been a part of the Justice Society and the comics. Yeah. And what's interesting is that in the comics, the Justice Society was formed largely at the request of the US government by President Roosevelt during World War Two. Yes, and Amanda Waller works for the US government, and it seems like she's behind the formation of this team, as we saw in the Black Adam movie. So it's like the government's response to the Justice League basically, and they're calling it the Justice Society as a kind of riff on the existing team's name. It's very in line with what they did with the New fifty two in the com mix, because when the Justice League formed, it was just called the Justice League. And Amanda Waller made her own counterpart of superheroes capable of taking out members of the Justice League, and she called her team the Justice League of America. Oh that's right, Okay, that's pretty interesting.

1:00:15 Yeah, yeah, I thought so. And that team included characters like Hawkman. I wonder if this is all going to lead up to a Justice Society movie with Eldis Hodges, Hawkman, Shazam, the New Doctor, Fate, Anna Smasher, Cyclone and the like. Well, that brings me to my other point, because I said, in one hand, I liked that he was going to be a member of the team. On the other hand, I don't know if we'll ever see this team come to fruition. So why include it in the film, Because it's likely part of James Gunn's plan, I would say. I mean, otherwise, they had time to remove this mid credit scene from the film, and that gives me, I feel like a false sense of hope. I mean, the actress who plays Amelia Harcourt is James Gunn's wife, so you would think that if she was involved in it, it would have to be include did in James Gun's future plans, right, But with Shazam's box office, I'm not so sure. I don't think we're gonna get another Shazam film, But I do think that we'll see Shazam again in the DCU. That's my guess. Really, Okay, yeah, maybe you're right. I hope you're right. That would be cool.

1:01:15 They couldn't get the Justice League film to work in theaters. I really hope they could get a Justice Society film on screen. Now. In a post credit scene and incarcerated, Savannah encounters mister Mind once again and is frustrated that Mister Mind hasn't begun enacting their plan yet. That was kind of funny. He's like, I'm just a caterpillar. I can only move so fast. I did think there's a lame excuse, considering he can go into people's brains and control them and move faster that way. Ultimately, this felt like kind of a cop out for why they weren't the villains in this sequel, which I still think they should have been. You know I would have loved to have seen Mister Mind and Black Adam be the villains in the sequel, as opposed to the Daughters of Atlas, characters we've never heard of or really care anything about. I didn't love this post credit scene because it reminded me of what we could have had and may never get. This post credit scene did make me miss Doctor Savannah as a villain, because I thought he was so effective in the first film, and it did kind of make me realize that the sequel does have a villain issue. Yeah. Absolutely, Doctor Savannah was a fantastic villain in the first movie, really good, and I can't say the same thing about the Daughters of Atlas, considering a lot of times a superhero film is only as good as its villain. As much as I liked this film and had fun with it, just talking about it made me realize kind of how broken it is. I don't know if I blame you for that. I think I do. I think you ruined the movie for me because if your nit picky bitchiness, jeezus, I mean, honestly, I didn't set out to do that. It was an honest effort to try to

1:02:45 understand the narrative, because like you, I enjoyed this film. I had fun with it. It's only when you stop to think about it for long enough that these issues arise that just didn't come to me during the course of watching the film. Usually I watch a film twice in theaters before I review it. I only had the opportunity to watch this film once, and I feel like if I would have watched it a second time, a lot of the issues that we're talking about would have kind of come to the surface for me earlier. Because again, I enjoyed the movie. I thought it was a great family film. My daughters loved the movie, and I loved watching it with them. But I feel that, you know, though narratively it's less focused than the first film, it still delivers the trademark humor, action, and hearts of the franchise, and it resulted in a largely fun family film. I'm giving the movie three and a half out of five stars for ra and Tomatoes a fresh rating. Yeah, I would agree with three and a half stars. For me, this film was about the same quality as Amen at the Wass Quantum Mania, which recently came out. Especially after discussing this movie with you now three and a half seems highly appropriate. I enjoyed the movie. I think the film actually does a really good job of hiding gets narrated, of inconsistency within everything that it does well. Like you said, the humor, the action, the heart. It's all still there from the first movie, just not as well delivered. Right right, Well, that does it for this review. Let us know what you thought about the movie by writing to us at Dynamic Dual podcast at gmail dot com, or

1:04:17 by visiting us on Instagram or Twitter. You could find links to all of our accounts by checking out our show notes or visiting our website Dynamic Dual dot com. And on our site, you could also find a link to our Patreon page, where you can join our Dynamic two O tier and chat with us and fellow listeners are Fantastic four tier, which gets you bonus content each month, or our x forced here that makes you an executive producer of this podcast. If you can't join Patreon, you can still support the show by signing up for our e newsletter also at Dynamic Dual dot com yeah, or by writing the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, pot Chaser, or our website Our Next episode is going to be a dual where we find out who would win in a fight between the Flash Rogue Mirror Master and the Spider Man villain the Spot, who is going to be the main antagonist in the upcoming Across the Spider Verse animated film. Yeah, that's gonna be a super interesting match. I have no idea how that's going to play out, because the guys can just basically go anywhere they want almost. Yeah, it'll be interesting looking forward to it. But that does it for this episode. We want to give a big thanks to our executive producers Ken Johnson, John Starovski, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Belcolm, Mickey, Mathinian, Brandon Estorgard, Nathaniel Wagner, le Va Yaton, Nikabanto, Austin Wazulawski, Aj Dunkerley, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, and Adam Speas for helping make this podcast possible. And we'll talk to you guys next week, Up, Up, and Away.

1:05:48 True Believers,