I got to see another anticipated film really early due to a promotion from Fandango, and that film was Shazam!
Okay, I’m going to be honest here, I was not a DC fan during my grade school years, I was and still am more of a Marvel person, but that didn’t mean that I did not watch a couple of shows or movies that are based on DC comics (Justice League, Static Shock, parts of Batman: The Animated Series)s, I’ve just started to become a DC fan in the past few years because of The Dark Knight Trilogy and SOME of the DCEU films like Wonder Woman and Aquaman. When the DCEU started, we had Man of Steel, which I still sort of like even though others don’t, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, which had a decent Batman played by Ben Affleck but was very flawed, Suicide Squad, liked at first but started to hate on later, Wonder Woman, which finally showed a glimmer of hope for this franchise, and Justice League, a major disappointment in my book. I don’t know what happened after that, but in my opinion, DC has started to finally make some really decent Superhero films, and it continues with their latest DCEU film, Shazam!
“Shazam!” tells the story of Billy Batson (Asher Angel), a teenager who has been without his parents for most of his childhood and has been gone through several Foster homes. Billy gets moved into another foster home and meets several members of the family and eventually meets Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), a disabled teen who loves superheroes like Superman and Batman and has a vast knowledge of superhero elements. One day after school, Freddy gets bullied by two jerks and Billy fights them off only to be chased later on. After getting away on a Subway, Billy is suddenly transported to a mystical realm and meets an all-powerful wizard named Shazam (Djimon Hounsou). The Wizard recruits Billy to become a champion and gain all of his mystical powers by simply calling his name. Billy calls out “Shazam” and is transformed into an Adult red-costumed superhero (Zachary Levi) with the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlus, The power of Zeus, The courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. Billy finds Freddy and they both try to discover how to use his new powers, mostly using it for frivolous purposes like buying alcohol, doing tricks for money, and sometimes Superhero work. Billy later encounters the evil Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), an inventor who wants Shazam’s powers as it is the desire of demons known as the Seven Deadly Sins and has to defeat all of them in order to protect his foster family as well as the city of Philadelphia before it is too late.
Right off the bat, the whole kid becoming an adult concept sounds like the plot to Big, and in many ways, yes, it is like Big, but what “Shazam!” does right is be a fun and entertaining film that pays tribute both to Big and old superhero films like Superman I and II. What the film also does right is have a heart, Billy Batson has been trying to find his mother as he was lost in a carnival and has been trying to find her ever since, even to the point to where he rejects almost every Foster home that wanted to love him. Billy has to learn to love his new family as they are, they don’t have to be biological, just people who care about him. Both Asher Angel/Zachary Levi do a fantastic job as Billy Batson/Shazam, after seeing this film, I can’t think of anyone else that could’ve pulled off the dual role like these two did. Jack Dylan Grazer is very good as Freddy Freeman, he along with Asher Angel make a great duo of friends who work with each other to figure out this whole superhero deal. I also love the actors who play the rest of Billy’s foster brothers and sisters, the way they react to Shazam and the rest of the film was cute and light-hearted. The film was also really funny and makes fun of DC tropes in a good way. So really, this film is a really fun superhero film with heart and horror director David F. Sandberg did a good job with directing this film for what it is. I honestly liked the villain in this movie, Mark Strong does a great job in any type villain role, so it very much reminded me of his role as Lord Blackwood in Sherlock Holmes but unlike Blackwood, Dr. Sivana has a decent motive for being a villain. Look, it’s not like MCU levels of villainy, but Strong gets the job done as Dr. Sivana.
With all the gushing I have on this film, does it have flaws, yes it does, I felt the film dragged a little bit too long in the third act and that there were a few spoiler elements that could’ve been saved for a sequel and felt brought out at the last minute, but it honestly doesn’t detract from my enjoyment of this film. The DCEU franchise seems to be getting better and better with each new film since Aquaman and “Shazam!” is up there for one of my favorite DCEU films. I think that a lot of the audience will be surprised by this film, I felt that the trailers did not do the film any justice and the marketing was very bare bones.
Overall, “Shazam!” was a very fun time at the movies and continues to prove that the DCEU can be good if taken in the right direction, I want there to be a sequel to this film as I know that a potentially great villain seems to be teased by both the film and fans of the comics, Black Adam. I will say that you need to be careful if you take little kids to this film because it has some brutal scenes that may scare them, particularly with the scenes involving the Seven Deadly Sins. I’m interested to see how this film does at the Box Office because it could be one of DC’s biggest surprise hits in a long time. Shazam! is worth seeing in theaters and should not be missed for the sake of sequels and quality entertainment. It was a surprise hit for me and one of the DCEU’s best films in my opinion.
8.5out of 10
