Movie Reviews - Shazam!

Director: David F. Sandberg
Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Comedy
Runtime: 123 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody, Djimon Hounsou, Marta Milans, Cooper Andrews

Description: We all have a superhero inside us, it takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel_ case by shouting out one word – SHAZAM – this streetwise fourteen-year-old foster kid can turn into the grown-up superhero Shazam (Zachary Levi).

Review: “Shazam!” is not (yet) a part of a bigger film universe. Like Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) and Arthur Curry (Aquaman), teenager Billy Batson gets his own origin story. Off course there are lots of easter eggs and a lot of DC name dropping. But “Shazam!” mostly goes his own way. And it’s so different from the dark Snyder films.
They didn’t worry about making the magic lightning suite look realistic or create an ideal image of a superhero. “Shazam!” is a comedy, sometimes an even heartwarming family film. It had to be: a magic staff, magical words, a clumsy hero and a silly name. it wouldn’t have worked as a dark and gritty story. But with comedy and a splash of satire, it does work. Very well actually. The starting point is great: what to do when, as a teenager, all of a sudden you have the same powers as Superman? Exactly, you are going to try it all out. Jumping over buildings, by alcohol, smash things and trying to get rich. It becomes a delightful and recognizable child fantasy, where sidekick Freddy Freeman provides sassy comments. And Zachary Levi is the perfect choice to play the superhero.
Mark Strong plays Thaddeus Sivana, the villain. His name isn’t special, his look doesn’t look impressive and he has no epic backstory. But it does work surprisingly well, because he actually is a serious threat to Billy Batson.
“Shazam!” is very aware of itself and there are many references to other movies in the genre and even to “Big”, where a teenager also all of a sudden wakes up in an adult man’s body. And some things look really silly. But because of the friendly tone of the film, lead actor Zachary Levi and his dynamic with Jack Dylan Grazer, it’s a great superhero film.
“Shazam!” is lighter than “Wonder Woman”, more focused than “Aquaman” and very true to the comics. With that, it’s actually one of the better DC films.

Rating: 4/ 5