Shazam!

Much like Captain Marvel from last month, Shazam! is a fairly standard superhero movie that does its job well enough, and while it never really goes above and beyond, it is a lot of fun.  The main reason why it does work is the lead performance by Zachary Levi, who is clearly having a blast as the title character.  He brings an exuberance to the film that is infectious whenever he's on camera.  When he's not, the movie's never quite as fun, so it's a good thing he's in at least 80% of the film.

The movie itself is kind of a cross between your average superhero origin film, and the 1988 body swapping comedy fantasy, Big, starring Tom Hanks.  The movie even throws in an homage to the keyboard dancing scene in that movie, in case we can't figure out its main source of inspiration.  Instead of a young boy wishing to be big, however, we get a 14-year-old orphan named Billy Baston (Asher Angel).  He's a troubled kid whose mom abandoned him years ago, and has found his way in and out of various foster homes over the years.  At his latest home, one of the foster kids he meets is young Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), who loves obsessing about superheroes.  In this movie's world, the characters of the DC Cinematic Universe are real, and Freddy is a diehard fan of all of them.  It's a fun idea, and one that the movie sadly does not exploit that much.  I kept on waiting for Wonder Woman or Aquaman to pop up.  There is a cameo of sorts, but it's clearly a victim of behind the scenes politics.

Billy isn't exactly one for costumed heroes, until he finds himself somewhat forced into the role of one.  As it turns out, there's an ancient wizard (Djimon Hounsou) who has been tasked with protecting the world from demons based around the seven deadly sins for countless centuries.  He is the last of his people, and he has been searching for someone pure of heart to carry on his work and be the world's protector.  The demons are freed by the power-hungry madman Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), your typical comic book movie baddie who never quite intimidates, and is not as impressive as he seems to think he is.  With the demons on the rampage, the wizard must find a champion to represent him in a hurry.  Out of desperation, he chooses Billy to take up the mantle, and the young child is instantly transformed into a full-grown superhero in tights and a cape named Shazam (Zachary Levi).

The movie gets a lot of mileage out of the fact that even though Shazam may look like a legitimate crime fighter, he's really still a 14-year-old boy in a man's body.  That's also the key to the success of Levi's performance.  He fully embraces this fact, and perfectly sells the fact that he's not what he appears to be.  He doesn't know what powers he has in his new superhuman form, so Freddy helps him develop a series of tests where he can try out his various abilities.  One aspect of the film that I liked is that no one seems quite sure what to make of Shazam.  He's a superhero, yes, but his outfit makes him look like a cheap knockoff of one.  He sort of looks like the failed mascot design for a toy or candy company.  He does have powers.  He can fly, shoot lightning from his hands, and possesses superhuman strength.  But, he's also quite awkward.  Of course, that's because he's actually a kid behind that body.  He's new not just to his powers, but to being an adult.

Whenever the movie is focused on Billy/Shazam trying to figure things out with Freddy's help, the movie is a lot of fun, and also gets a few good laughs.  Maybe not as many or as big as the best moments of the Deadpool films, though.  This movie doesn't really try to poke fun at the conventions or cliches of the genre like the Ryan Reynolds movies do.  That's too bad, because the biggest laugh in the film is the one scene where it does. (It concerns the villain making a speech while floating in the air above the city.) Speaking of the villain, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana is easily the weakest element.  He doesn't have any cool abilities or grand evil plan.  He really comes across as your everyday jerk who got pushed around by his family growing up, and is now on a power trip with the help of some evil demons.  The demons themselves are your standard CG beasts who do nothing but growl and hiss, and make no effort to provide a lasting impression.  Like a lot of comic book movies, this one gets the hero completely right, and then forgets to give them someone memorable to fight.

Shazam! is a lot of fun, and is probably the best effort to come out of DC's film division since Wonder Woman.  That being said, it's far from perfect.  The movie does seem dragged out, especially during the big action scenes that are never as thrilling as they should be.  The climax, in particular, seems to go on for far too long.  This movie's strongest aspects lie in Levi's performance, it's sense of humor, and the big heart that it gets to display from time to time.  Whenever it takes on the role of being an actual superhero movie with special effects and action, it feels awfully standard.  Maybe it's because the film's director, David F. Sandberg, has dabbled mostly in horror before this (he made Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation), and he's new to the blockbuster realm.  He nails the humor and human elements of the story, but seems to flounder when it's time for the movie to really wow us with its spectacle.

Even if there's room for improvement, that's what sequels are for, and I truly hope this does well enough to earn one.  They're on the right track here.  They have the funny hero and the right tone, they just need to give us some real world-shattering stakes for the hero to handle.  If they can get an actually decent villain, they'll really be on to something.

0 comments