Shazam! (2019)

Review

124min

Genre:     Comic-book, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

Director:  David F. Sandberg

Cast:       Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Mark Strong…and more

Writers:   Henry Gayden, Darren Lemke, Bill Parker… and more

-Synopsis-

In and out of foster homes and placed with a quirky new family, a street-smart teenage loner is chosen by an ancient wizard to become the world’s protector, and given the power to become an adult superhero at will with one word—but he must find the wisdom to apply his formidable abilities and the will to defend what really matters, as DC adds a distinctly lighter tone to its cinematic universe.

Less than four months after James Wan helped to reinvigorate the ‘DC Extended Universe’ with their most successful film to date ‘Aquaman’, Warner Bros. teams up with yet another horror director to inject a new energy into their cinematic franchise, as David F. Sandberg (Lights Out, Annabelle: Creation) joins writers Henry Gayden and Darren Lemke to bring us a humble, family orientated comedic reworking of the original ‘Captain Marvel’—establishing a whole new tone and opening a magical dimension for the DCEU.

Asher Angel stars as Philadelphia foster kid ‘Billy Batson’, a spirited streetwise orphan whose latest placement sees him share a house with meek superhero obsessive teen ‘Freddy Freeman’ (Jack Dylan Grazer), a group of quirky kids and their devoted foster parents. But when he’s deemed worthy of inheriting considerable powers by ‘Wizard Shazam’ (Djimon Hounsou), Billy is given the gift and responsibility of transforming into adult superhero ‘Shazam’ (Zachary Levi) by uttering the magic word—leaving the youngster struggling between selfishly taking advantage of his new gifts, or using them to protect the world from the dark power of the ‘seven deadly sins’, and the megalomaniacal ‘Dr. Thaddeus Sivana’ (Mark Strong) who sinisterly harnesses them.

When the film’s makers described it as ‘Superman’ meets ‘Big’, they really weren’t kidding, as Sandberg and the writers manage to smuggle in tones and key narrative elements from both those beloved family classics, and occasionally even reference them directly. ‘Shazam!’ could hardly take itself less seriously, putting it out of place in the DCEU, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing of course—and it adds a family friendly light comedy dimension to the franchise, which will be interesting to see if and how it might blend with the other DC films and superheroes.

Even for a superhero universe which hosts an indestructible caped alien, an Amazonian demigoddess and an underwater Atlantean king, ‘Shazam!’ requires new levels of suspension of disbelief—combining Greek and Roman mythology with magic, monsters . . . and a whole lot of silliness. The tone and ethos of the film is similar to that of the ‘Ant Man’ films in the MCU, with a narrative centred around family, belonging and second chances. And it delivers loads of grounded humour and plenty of hilarity, often revolving around the chemistry between the two main youngsters and the classic comedy trope of ordinary people (who become extraordinary) in extraordinary circumstances, bringing new levels of humility to the superhero epic.

The film has its share of dynamic action sequences of course, taking advantage of Shazam’s array of superpowers and hilariously portraying the learning curve of a teenager in an adult’s body figuring out how to use them, while often proving self-referential about the world in which they exist. The flight, fight and general action-set pieces aren’t exactly groundbreaking and they’re versions of what we’ve seen before—essentially reworking much of what the DCEU has already offered—but they’re far more playful and whimsical than its DC predecessors.

‘Shazam!’ is far from a modern superhero classic though, nor does it signal a groundbreaking turn for the genre, taking inspiration from all corners of the movie milieu and occasionally stepping over the line between referential and derivative. The narrative is simple if not slightly underwritten, and the more poignant moments come off as trite and unconvincing, while the comedy is safe and lacking the edge of some recent R-rated comic-book fare. But unlike some other DCEU films, this has no major faults—no huge plot holes or majorly underwhelming narrative failures, not a moment where you question what the writers were thinking, and most importantly it doesn’t leave you deflated come the end . . . quite the opposite.

Ultimately the film’s success comes down to its charm and comedy, and the effectiveness of both hinge on the actors and their chemistry. Luckily ‘Shazam!’ has captivating character dynamics to spare, seamless translating into the undeniable chemistry between Asher Angel and Jack Dylan Grazer as the two central teens, and between Grazer and Zachary Levi as Shazam himself, as the comedy veteran puts his considerable chops to good use and builds on his physical frame. Meanwhile a precocious and adorable cast of supporting youngsters also get their chance to shine (and flash), with the youngest Faithe Herman stealing many a scene, while the always intense and dependable Mark Strong provides the brooding DC mood of the piece as the resentful and emotionally damaged villain.

With the release of much anticipated sequel ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ being pushed back to the summer of 2020—effectively pulling Warner Bros. out of an unwinnable fight with Disney this year to make a bigger splash in the next—‘Shazam!’ is the only DCEU film of 2019. Luckily for us they’ve gone with pure entertainment value here, foregoing gloomy moral messaging or timely social commentary for an unconventional coming-of-age story, and a simple morality tale which champions adoption and the outsider . . . and is fun for the whole family.

The Bottom Line…

A tightly packaged, simple, family-friendly comic-book romp with no major issues, ‘Shazam!’ introduces a lighter tone and a new comedic dimension to the DCEU, charming and entertaining the audience on the way to proving one of the better films in the lucrative franchise—perhaps indicating that Warner Bros. and DC have found their feet and turned the corner with their integrated superhero exploits.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

With his superhero career on ice and daddy duty taking precedence, ‘Scott Lang’ is called upon to once again accept responsibility and save the day—teaming up with fugitives ‘Dr. Hank Pym’ and ‘Hope Van Dyne’ to stop a dangerous new foe and correct the devastating mistakes of the past.

Directed by Peyton Reed and starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas among others.

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