Shazam! (2019)
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Shazam! Movie Review
Shazam! is a 2019 family superhero comedy film directed by David F. Sandberg and starring Zachary Levi. It’s one of DCEU’s finest movies so far.
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“Supervillain!
Supervillain!“
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This is of course pretty much a superhero version of Tom Hanks’ ‘Big’. But still, that superhero spin made it different enough that the movie did not feel like a rehash whatsoever, at least to me it did not. And watching a boy become an adult superhero is the ultimate type of wish fulfillment, and the movie so truthfully explored this concept as they portrayed truly how a kid would react in this situation.
The filmmakers know how children behave and they remember being a kid as I was really impressed by how grounded in reality their interactions and especially dialogue felt. The movie is a comedy at heart and the humor is so good that I really had a blast with it. I laughed out loud more than a couple of times which really surprised me as they got children so well that almost everything was funny in their interactions.
However, the movie felt particularly dark with the seven sins and a couple of scenes, especially that truly superb boardroom villain scenes, were way too dark for children. I personally loved those scenes and the movie’s mix of family and adult storytelling, but in terms of wide appeal, the movie hasn’t got that so it’s evident why it struggled so much at the box office. It truly is a shame how that developed.
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The main problem I’ve had with the main character is the one many reviewers and fans also share – Asher Angel and Zachary Levi simply felt like to different people way too much so the protagonist thus really seemed disconnected and even disparate. I liked what they both did, especially how Zachary Levi really gave a strong performance of a child at heart, but the movie needed a much better connection with the two personalities.
Mark Strong is awesome as Dr. Sivana who’s such a terrific villain. Yes, he is your regular cartoony villain, but he got a solid backstory and he was so cool in his looks and intimidating in his actions that I really appreciated him. Freddy is so good and I personally connected with him the most and that jealousy part was so well established. The friendship between the two is the heart of the movie.
As for the other kids, they are unfortunately almost entirely underdeveloped with the exception of Darla who’s a lot of fun and so damn cute. The rest have almost nothing to do and it’s a shame, but then again there were too many of those kids to be developed properly. I did love, though, how they portrayed foster families in a beautifully positive light and how the movie showcased how sometimes a foster family can be much better for a kid than his/her biological one.
As for all of the kids becoming superheroes near the end, I liked it to a degree as it was quite fun seeing all of them in that mode and kicking some ass, but it took away from the specialty factor of it quite a bit unfortunately. The entire last battle was okay, but overall not as good as the rest of the film’s action was, especially the first confrontation between the protagonist and the villain.
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But I personally liked most those scenes where the two tested his new powers and saved people or joked around. Some scenes, especially the lair one, cracked me up how hilarious they were. The movie’s dialogue and humor go hand in hand in making this movie a truly enjoyable family feature.
Shazam! also looks especially strong for its smaller budget as the colors are great, the darker atmosphere really worked and I loved seeing the superheroes flying and wearing capes as it brought me back to those older genre films in a really welcome manner. The acting is strong across the board as is the direction from David F. Sandberg whose horror background really led to an atmospheric, frequently creepy picture.
I did not like that apart from the first sequence the first act was a bit slow and dull, but the rest of the film picked up significantly and was continuously very entertaining. The movie has a lot of heart and it’s never too sentimental which I admired. It’s in the end DCEU’s best movie so far, even better than ‘Aquaman’ and ‘Wonder Woman’ so they really are getting better and better with each new movie.
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Though it takes its time to get going and the other kids were sorely underdeveloped, Shazam! still features a plethora of memorable characters: Darla is so endearing, Mark Strong’s villain is very effective and Jack Dylan Grazer is very likable as Freddy. As for Asher Angel and Zachary Levi, they both did a very good job, but I simply could not see these too different personalities as this one person. This movie is above all else hugely entertaining, very funny and frequently even hilarious as it truly gets how children would behave in this type of situation. It also looks very good, it has a big heart without ever being too sentimental and it’s sometimes quite atmospheric. It’s the type of light, family entertainment that this genre really needed.
