Movie Review - Shazam

MegaSoulhero Back in December, the DCEU came out with their worst film by far. Aquaman was such a painful experience with absolutely no redeeming qualities. The one to come out after is Shazam. Which comes out in April. I managed to see an early screening of the movie. I didn’t know much about the character, but trailers made it look promising. After watching it, I can safely say that I loved it.

It’s about an orphan kid named Billy Batson who gets adopted and has a new family and one day, he comes across a wizard who gives him the power to transform into Zachary Levi as a superhero. So he has to learn how to use his powers that he got and has to defeat an evil threat who wants to obtain those powers. Right of the bat, this movie is absolutely hilarious. This movie is right up there with Deadpool as one of the funniest superhero movies I’ve ever seen. Nearly every joke works and they managed to get everyone in the theater to laugh. It’s also very self-aware. It tends to make fun of superhero tropes. I won’t spoil what the jokes are, but they are really funny. Not only does the movie have a very comedic tone, it’s also not afraid to go dark at times. There are some death counts, though the graphic violence often happens off screen. Given who the director is, it’s not surprising how dark this film can get. Even the performances are great. The kid actors do a surprisingly great job. They each act like their age and it never feels fake. Zachary Levi as adult Billy aka Captain Marvel aka Shazam is just brilliant casting. He manages to make the movie a lot more entertaining and he’s having a lot of fun. Mark Strong plays the villain in the film. I honestly thought this was gonna be another bland villain, but he’s actually pretty terrifying. We also get to see his backstory and it’s pretty understandable why he took such an evil turn. Mark Strong really sells the role. He kinda reminds of Frollo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame at times.

There isn’t really that much action in the movie as it’s mostly Billy learning how to use his powers. When the action does happen, though, it’s really entertaining. It’s understandable why we don’t see much of Shazam fighting. He’s just a kid and he needs to learn how to be brave enough to fight against a villain. The movie makes up for it with a very epic third act battle. Some might say that it goes on for too long, but it was just so entertaining and it manages to have some great humor and very cool visuals during it. It doesn’t feel boring at all. There’s also a really great message about family. That they’ll always be there and that they’re a team. This leads to some pretty mature moments and even some emotional moments. Not something I would’ve expected from a Shazam movie. There are a few issues I have, but they’re mostly just nitpicks. Whenever Billy is turned into Shazam, I feel like his personality is slightly different from his kid self. Even though his powers are just supposed to make physically older and not mentally. When he’s Shazam, he seems to have more of a child-like personality to emphasize that he’s still a kid, but when he’s kid Billy, he seems to act a little more mature. It’s two actors playing the same character, but they feel like two different characters. That kinda bothered me a little. And as much as I liked the climax of the film, there is this one thing that happens, which I won’t spoil, and while it is a cool moment, it also feels like lazy writing. Again, these are just nitpicks and they don’t ruin the movie for me.

Shazam is easily my favorite movie in the DCEU and it’s currently my favorite movie I’ve seen this year. It’s just so much fun with its very hilarious humor as well as some great action and it has a lot of heart to it. The DCEU is officially 2 for 7. I highly recommend seeing this when it comes out. I’ll definitely be seeing it again. It’s way better than the other Captain Marvel movie. That was such a disappointment.

Score: 9/10

Comments

This looks great - iliekpiez (3/26/2019)

Just recently saw it, Great movie. - B1ueNew (4/6/2019)

I liked it. However, some of the comedy sucked and the drama I couldn't really care about. - iliekpiez (4/9/2019)