SHAZAM!:
SAY THE MAGIC WORD AND YOU’LL HAVE A BLAST!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4
WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND NEW LINE CINEMA
A young boy is given special powers by an ancient wizard and becomes Shazam! The latest installment of the DC Extended Universe based on one of the more obscure DC Comics properties. No Sinbad or Shaq as a rapping genie here just Zachary Levi (Chuck, Tangled, Thor 2 and 3) wearing tights and a cape showing the lighter, funny side of the DCEU.
Originally named Captain Marvel at the time of its creation (Because it’s not like Marvel has a superhero with the exact same name) Shazam! Has been through development hell dating all the way back to the early 2000s with Dwayne Johnson in talks to star. It wasn’t until the character’s reboot in 2012 and the release of 2013’s Man of Steel when the project really started to get off the ground with David F. Sandberg (Lights Out, Annabelle: Creation) attached to direct and Levi scheduled to portray the hero.
Besides the basic idea of the premise I know practically nothing about the comics so I can’t determine how faithful this movie is to its source material. The only knowledge I have of Shazam!Was through one of my friends and it seemed like he walked a similar path as Ant-Manand the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The trailers looked alright, but I was a little scared that it would be too goofy, and I wouldn’t be able to take it seriously…and it was in the messy DCEU. But after the critical and commercial successes of Wonder Woman and last year’s Aquaman DC has proven to me they can still get a good movie out without focusing heavily on franchise building.
How do the wacky antics of Shazam! Fit in the DCEU? Honestly, better than I expected.
Shazam!Is a very fun superhero movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously but manages to have the most heart out of any other DCfilm. With all the big superhero action and jokes going on I was thoroughly invested in just about every single character…and it’s the DCmovie involving a kid transforming into an adult superhero wearing a cheesy-looking costume.
The film follows fourteen-year-old in Philadelphia Billy Batson (Asher Angel-Jolene, Andi Mack) who lost his mother when he was very young and has spent his entire life looking for her, being adopted and taken in by his new foster family the Vasquez’s. One evening after school Billy is mysteriously summoned to the Rock of Eternity by the ancient wizard known as Shazam (Djimon Hounsou-How to Train Your Dragon 2, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Aquaman) who chooses him as his champion but only after Billy has proven himself to be pure of heart and worthy of his powers due to an incident where someone used them for evil purposes.
Billy promises he’ll use his powers for good, takes Shazam’s magic staff, and says the magic word “Shazam!” and BOOM! Billy has become an adult superhero with multiple powers known as Shazam, or the Red Cyclone, or Captain Sparklepants (Levi) he’s known by many names. At first, Billy has a little trouble finding out what kind of powers he has but with the help of his foster brother and superhero enthusiast best friend, Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer-It, Me, Myself & I, Robot Chicken) they discover Billy has all kinds of powers such as super-strength, super-speed, bullet immunity, flight, and of course the ability to shoot lightning bolts out of his hands.
Shazam (Billy) performs several acts of heroism such as stopping robbers at a local gas station, saving a bus from falling off a bridge Superman style, and saving a pedestrian on the street from near-death while Freddy films it via smartphone thus going viral. However, their fun is interrupted when a new threat emerges in the form of Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong-Sherlock Holmes (2009), Kick-Ass, Kingsman 1 and 2) who as a child was rejected by Shazam the wizard as champion and has spent his entire life trying to find a way back into Rock of Eternity ever since, now with a lust for power has stolen an artifact known as the Eye of Envy thus releasing the Seven Deadly Sins onto our world to destroy the new champion.
When everything he loves is threatened Billy must step up and master his powers and discover what it takes to be a real hero to defeat this powerful foe and save the day.
The film also stars Grace Fulton (Ghost Whisperer, Bones, Annabelle: Creation) as Mary Bromfield, Ian Chen (Fresh Off the Boat, Fancy Nancy, A Dog’s Journey) as Eugene Choi, Cooper Andrews (Halt and Catch Fire, The Walking Dead, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk) as Victor Vasquez, John Glover (Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Ed and His Dead Mother, Smallville) as Thaddeus’ father, and newcomers Jovan Armand, Faithe Herman, and Marta Milans as Pedro Peña, Darla Dudley, and Rose Vasquez.
Overall, Shazam! Is a very enjoyable introduction to the character and proof that a light and goofy tone can still work in the DC Universe especially after the unnecessarily bleak tone of Man of Steel. I’m having a hard time believing that it’s set in the same universe as the dark and brooding Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice though I consider it more like Marvel’s Ant-Man movies or Spider-Man: Homecoming as a fun little side project that fits within its larger universe.
Aside from a couple references to Superman, Batman, and Aquaman, Shazam! works as a standalone superhero movie, the film isn’t that concerned about franchise building and keeps the focus where it should be on the characters and story. I could watch it even without seeing any of the other DCEU films and I’d still probably have a great time with it.
It’s basically a coming-of-age story with a superhero and has a lot of similarities to the Tom Hanks movie, Big(Apparently, the movie itself was aware of that) with a kid magically transforming into an adult but still have the mind of a child…only this one has superpowers. It’s nothing new but the film has fun with its familiar tropes and clichés and it’s hard not to smile at its strange but appealing charm.
The performance by Zachary Levi is where the film truly shines, you got this buff, manly superhero body with a childlike innocence and he sells every moment of it. Levi’s got this youthful appearance and the way he delivers some of these lines you swear he was being controlled by some little kid, I believed I was watching a kid in an adult superhero’s body.
Shazam! Ironically is a better Superman movie than the current Superman movies with its lighter and more kid-friendly tone, exciting superhero action, wit, and a surprisingly strong message about family, it put me in a really good mood and I’ll gladly say his name again.
From the blog www.moviewatchinpsychopath.blogspot.com
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