Shazam! Review
“I’m not a hacker, but I’ve played Watch Dogs and Uplink”
Shazam! is the latest movie in the DC Extended Universe, and it is one of the best. As a superhero movie, it doesn’t break the mold in the story it tells, but it distinguishes itself through its engaging characters and outright zaniness. In this spoiler-free review, I’ll cover what exactly makes this movie stand out.
Shazam! is a movie about 14-year-old foster child, Billy Batson, and how he reacts to being blessed with the powers of a superhero by a mysterious wizard. He then has to turn to his foster brother that is obsessed with all thing’s superheroes, Freddy, on what he needs to do with all these super powers.
The heart of the movie lies with Asher Angel’s portrayal of Billy. He doesn’t ever really bring the laughs, and sometimes he can be a little stiff, but when there is an emotional sting or poignant moment he is able to move the audience and really make you feel for him. Although in the moment I was a little turned off by the performance, I realized that the character we saw at the beginning of the movie and the end of the movie had totally changed and Angel’s performance was more nuanced and gradual than I first thought. Mark Strong gives a solid performance as Dr. Thad Sivana, the supervillain. There isn’t some kind of intense tour-de-France display here, but there is enough of a compelling character here to give Strong some wiggle room to have fun with the character. He is given fine motivations, and is waaaaaay better than any of the vibe from the trailers were giving off. Will I even remember his name by the end of the year, absolutely not, but the villain almost never memorable in the origin story. We then come to the crippled foster kid, Freddy Freeman, the big mouth nerdy kid that just stumbles into Billy’s life at the right time. Jack Dylan Grazer shines as bright as the North Star in this role. He holds his own and demands the screen when he’s standing next to a superhero. Watching his utter star struck glee when watching Shazam do incredible feats before his very eyes is electric and could have easily played off as cheesy if trusted with a less capable actor. This brings us to Shazam himself, Zachary Levi. I knew the instant the casting was announced that we had the next “perfect superhero role” on our hands. Anyone that has seen an episode of Chuck knows just how great Levi is at playing a character that is thrust into a position of power with no proper training. He is so great at portraying that childlike excitement and being in awe of the world around him. Zach Levi to Shazam is as perfect as RDJ to Iron Man, Chris Evans to Captain America, or Samuel L. Jackson to Nick Fury. He was born to play this role. The movie is lacking the distinct “fun” of the trailers up until Shazam is introduced. I was only scared that the character would feel totally different from Billy, but Levi is able to really carry the torch and keep the personality that Angel sets up for him.
The action set pieces are again, nothing extraordinary here. BUUUUT, it’s the first time we’ve seen a super hero movie really focus in on how the superhero interacts with the public and how they respond to a new superhero. Rather than just blocking the peripherals here, director David F. Sandberg embraces this dynamic. Most of these comic books movies have the comedic beat of the middle of an epic fight, it cuts to the POV of a bystander with their mouth gaped and it gets a chuckle from the audience. Shazam takes this to the next level, where they constantly will focus in on these bystanders and have them interact with Shazam. They also have Billy try to use his new found powers and celebrity for personal gain. These selfish acts are always fun and lighthearted, but it’s also refreshing to see such selfish intentions portrayed by the protagonist of a superhero movie. Shazam also is never afraid to reference the world it exists in. Characters wear other heroes shirts, kids collect and obsess with everything superhero related (kind of like our lives except they are actually real). It’s just rare to see a solo character movie acknowledge the larger goings of the universe. There is always the throw away line “Why don’t you call your big green friend?” or something like that, but to have the characters talk about these people that are their heroes is so much more authentic and real and adds a whole dimension to the film.
The style of the film is also more toned down than I have come to expect. Especially in the DCEU, everything is so epic scale and grand, while Shazam feels like the stakes are always pretty low and keeps the story more personal to Billy and his family. A lot of the color pops, especially on the beautiful suit, with lots of the story being set in the nighttime. I think the shot (that was in the trailer) of Billy jumping off the building before turning into Shazam is going to be iconic, or at least I’ll remember it for a while to come.
I love how accessible Sandberg made this movie to the entire spectrum of comic fans. I’m personally familiar with Shazam/Captain Marvel primarily through Flashpoint, Kingdom Come, and Young Justice in recent years of my comic world consumption. There are nice references that I understood, and then there are things that only hardcore Captain Marvel fans will even recognize, let alone understand right off the bat. There are plenty of moments that gave me chills referencing the material I know, and then there are moments that I was clueless to that were properly built up to and got a similar feeling of goosebumps crawling over my skin.
I think the score of the movie was shockingly classic. It very much reminded me of John Williams original Superman score. It felt so heroic, which was used nearly ironically as it juxtaposed the lack of heroism and experience Billy had at being a superhero. It was also mixed in very nicely by the accompanied licensed music. Not one theme was recognizable to me throughout the film. But it stuck out in a complementing manner.
The entire foster family was a blast. Every character felt unique and had their moment to shine, and their impact on Billy is very profound throughout the course of the film as a character that has really struggled to emotional connect with anyone throughout his childhood. At the end of the day, Shazam! Is just another great movie that is all about family. Just like The Fast and the Furious.
Final Score: 9.0/10