Shazam! movie review

 Here's what you need to know; after spending most of his life moving from one foster family to the next, Billy Baston has still not given up in his search for his real family. But things in his life are about to take a turn when he encounters an ancient wizard who grants him god-like powers, he need only speak the wizard's name, Shazam. But while Billy is getting up to mischief with his new found superpowers, evils far older and more dangerous than any wizard have found a champion of their own, putting Billy, his new family, and the rest of humanity on the brink of an apocalypse straight out of the Old Testament.
So whatever this DC universe is called now didn't have the best of starts, as everyone and their dog knows. Suicide Squad, Man of Steel and Justice League are all films I personally enjoyed, but there is a mediocrity to at least two of them I even I can't ignore. Then something odd happened, Aquaman came out and became an enormous success, becoming the highest grossing DC film in history, and just a few months later, we have Shazam!, another goofy film based on an obscure DC hero, and while its chances of reaching Aquaman's heights are slim, it too is doing moderately well in the foreign and domestic markets. To that end, I've played my part by watching it three times, and none of those times were in IMAX, which I regret because I now know that in addition to five minutes of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, I'd have actually watched a good film.

For a film with as goofy a premise as Shazam!, it's not even a little afraid to hit some seriously morbid lows, case in point; the film's prologue, where we see the origins of our villain, is surprisingly horrific for the film Shazam! was marketed as. It is a little goofy though because of the borderline cartoonish nature of the villain's dad and brother, but it does open a door to the prospect of the butterfly effect in a way; how small things can escalate and domino into life altering events that can completely change a person's moral character, ie, can turn a normal, whiny kid into a super-villain. Then the film becomes what the marketing sold it as, a goofy, light hearted film about a fourteen-year-old runaway as he outsmarts a police patrol to access their database. But of course, this scene exists to establish Billy Batson's character; and he's a pretty solid main character. The conflict he faces is his life in foster care, as we learn that he got lost in a carnival and never saw his mum again, and has spent the rest of his childhood looking for her. Into this conflict comes his new foster family, a group home run by Jerry from The Walking Dead, making him perfectly qualified as the silly old man trying to give these children the closest thing to a normal childhood that he can manage. Getting back to Billy though, one of the strongest themes of this film is family; and this is embodied through Billy, as his story in this film is about him finding his family, in a literal and figurative sense. But like I said earlier, this film isn't afraid to go to some seriously dark places, and without spoiling exactly what Billy finds at the end of his quest, it's some seriously depressing shit, shit no kid deserves to hear. And while this comes towards the end of the film, the build up to it, as Billy reluctantly begins to assimilate into this foster family, is really sweet and charming, as is his ark from a stubborn, single-minded loner to a loving and responsible brother.

But that's just Billy as a fourteen-year-old, after his run in with the wizard, he becomes Shazam, and there are things about Shazam that I really like, and some things I'm conflicted about. Something I like is how convincing he is as a kid, and not simply because he flosses, which gives me Black Panther flashbacks for some reason. At least this is a tad more relevant than the What Are Those joke from Black Panther, that doesn't really change how this joke will exclusively appeal to Fortnite droolers, while giving normal people back ache from all the cringe. Let's not dwell on a shitty joke though, Shazam acts like a kid, which could have tanked this entire film had it been done badly, had every joke been on the level of him flossing, but it's not just in the jokes. Despite being a superhero with god powers, in his first encounter with the film's villain, he runs away, he pleads and grovels, his initial childish arrogance being dashed almost immediately, making for one of the film's most entertaining scenes, but also one of its most compelling scenes as the reality of his situation dawns on him. Adding to that is the villain himself, who I like a fair bit, he is a menacing dude with an eye for style, dressing as super-villainy as is humanly possible, even rocking a face scar, which would probably cost this film BFI funding, but who cares, fuck the BFI, and the BBFC while we're at it. I also like the slightly sympathetic nature of this villain, as we are shown in the film's prologue the moment in his life that he became this monster, making his revenge morbidly satisfying, while also impressively grotesque. Before we get to that grotesque-ness though, we need to talk about side characters, specifically Freddie, who steals the show among the foster kids Billy falls in with. Freddie is a fast talking, obsessive nerd with very little self-control, I can relate to that, but like this film's handling of themes like family, there's a nuance to Freddie that I genuinely admire.

Naturally, Freddie becomes a sort of sidekick to Billy, being the superhero expert and all, but there's a conflict that develops between the two that could have been really awkward, but there was a sincerity to it that I can't really explain. Freddie has his own insecurities that Billy's Shazam powers exacerbate in heart-breaking fashion, making the eventual payoff of this conflict so unbelievably awesome, I had a big, dumb grin on my face over this pay off, as well as everything else in the film's finale. The rest of the kids take more of a back seat until the film's finale, though each is characterised by their own quirks and charms; Mary, the eldest, is conflicted about leaving her family and going to college, Eugene is an avid gamer, and Darla is the sweet, adorable, somewhat overly affectionate little sister. Like everything else in the film, there is a sincerity to this bizarre collection of misfits and outcasts, when it could so easily have been played solely for laughs. Things heat up for all of these characters in the film's finale as Shazam takes on the villain and his demonic puppet masters in a Christmas Carnival, a very poetic setting for reasons I can't spoil. The film throws in a game changing twist towards the end that I really enjoyed, one that brought many of the film's themes full-circle in a very satisfying and amusing way. Which brings us rather neatly into the film's action, of which there is surprisingly little. For most of the film, Billy uses his Shazam powers the way most fourteen year old boys would, but in ways that overbearing parents would loathe and find abhorrent, things like drinking beer, getting out of school and going to strip clubs, it isn't until he gets his arse completely kicked that the superhero in him really starts to come out. Fast forward to the film's finale and we have some pretty damn entertaining action, with Shazam and the Sins throwing each other around and kicking the piss out of each other.

This doesn't quite compare to Aquaman in terms of exciting action, but then again, how on Earth could it, because Aquaman was fucking nuts, and this film is, as I said earlier, surprisingly light on action. But the film never got boring because none of it felt like it was dragging, nothing felt overly drawn out or out of place, the film had a very nice balance of comedy and family drama that kept things moving at a steady and consistent pace. I'd say that this film is even more consistently entertaining than Aquaman, which I felt took a bit to really get going, but while Aquaman was Avatar meets Uncharted meets Star Wars, Shazam! has more in common with Venom, as strange a comparison as that is. And that isn't just in its approach to storytelling and comedy, it's chiefly in its approach to horror. Not going to lie, for a film about a kid with superpowers who has a suit as silly and crap as that, for him to go up against monsters straight out of Ghostbusters is a strange juxtaposition, but one that really works for me because like Aquaman and James Wan, David Sandberg's talents lie in the horror genre, and that bleeds into Shazam! through some genuinely creepy scenes and truly nightmarish monsters. My biggest complaint; you've probably already guessed it, it's the lack of blood, just like Venom, there's a scene where a guy gets his head bitten off, but it's framed in such a way that it obscures the lack of a head as the corpse is thrown out of frame, and for the rest of that scene, these demons are killing a bunch of people in a tiny room, and yet there is no blood. Come the fuck on; these demons are enough to give a kid nightmares on their own, add onto that the dramatic undertones of the film, which have a habit of being utterly heart-breaking, and you already have a film that will emotionally effect your average kid in a myriad of ways, but as scary as the demons are, the lack of blood makes them look toothless, it's such a clean film and like all clean films, there is no need, especially in this case, with the prominent horror undertones and the extensive collection of very adult oriented jokes and themes.


Say My Name So My Powers Will Become Yours
Shazam! was a film that I was expecting to enjoy, but I wasn't all that excited to see it, having watched it though, I'm left conflicted as to whether Aquaman is still my favourite DC film, or if this has taken its place. This is another one of those films that's just incredibly sweet and wholesome, with an emotionally gripping family element and some adorable and hilarious characters. But what gives this film weight is its horror, and I'm not just talking about the demons, this isn't an easy to watch superhero film that won't challenge its audience or pacify them with jokes and action, it gets its hands dirty, it digs deep and explores some of the most depressing themes that this series has seen up until now, and that aspect of the film is brilliant. Shazam! has far more substance than I expected it to have, and its finale is some of the most fun I've had with a film this year. Shazam! is fantastic and it's definitely worth watching.