Shazam! (2019)
Billy Batson is a trouble-making fourteen-year-old living in a foster home in Philadelphia, having been abandoned by a young mother he’s been searching for since she left him at a crowded carnival many years prior. One day, the sleuthing prankster gets transported after an act of bravery to another realms to meet a powerful and reclusive wizard, who has been on a long-term search for someone pure of heart to pass on his magical powers to. The wizard bestows upon Billy the power to turn into an muscle-bound, adult-bodied, costumed superhero by using his name of “Shazam!” Along with his superhero-loving best friend in the foster home, Freddy, the still adolescent-minded Billy has plenty of fun in discovering his new powers and all of the things he can do with them, from buying beer to giving the school bullies some comeuppance. However, things get serious with the emergence of Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, once past over as unworthy by the wizard and seeking to usurp them from Billy, along with the cabal of demon-like possessors within him, representing the Seven Deadly Sins who plan to come to power with Sivana as their vessel to the outside world.
The DC Extended Universe continues its current trend of lightening up the dark and lumbering tone of its initial mediocre releases with its frothiest and funnest outing yet. For this effort, they dust off the long-time comic-book character once dubbed Captain Marvel (although they can’t nowadays for reasons that would exceed the scope of this review) and make it a comedy about an abandoned teenager who finds his calling when he is bestowed with god-like powers. This one is all about the wish-fulfillment, as just about every kid has dreamed about becoming a grown-up, and many of those about what it would be like to have super-powers. Billy Batson is the one who actually gets to do these things, even though many have tried and been denied before him.
Shazam! is directed by David F. Sandberg with a lot of energy and a concerted effort to be playfully irreverent with the material, unconcerned, even though there are references to Superman and Batman existing elsewhere in the world, about striking the same tone as the prior DCEU films – something the MCU had greatly benefited from throughout their 20+ entries. Perhaps taking a cue from the equivalent superhero flick on the Marvel side, Spider-Man: Homecoming (the animated beginning of the end credits played out to a Ramones classic feels like it’s directly lifting from that film), it feels like the kind of superhero flick in tone with something that would have come out in the 1980’s, with its mix of Big (there is a nod to that film as Shazam runs over a giant floor keyboard in a toy store), Spielbergian kid-centric family angst, and the lighthearted Superman films as obvious influences to its main story. As with those films, the tone of Shazam! does tend to drift into a certain unevenness, particularly when people begin to die, many flung off buildings or our of high-rise windows to deaths that feel awkward in their meaninglessness.
The superhero comedy benefits from a likable cast of actors, with Asher Angel’s Billy just as fun to observe as Zachary Levi’s big-sized counterpart lending the feel of juvenile man-child fun. Mark Strong is a competent and intimidating choice for the villain, though he’s less charismatic as you’d expect, a bit under-served by being mostly one note. The film offers Sivana a bit of a back story as the child who was thrown away both by the wizard as well as his family, following tragic events that left him vowing to regain the path he was offered before fate cruelly yanked it all away in one fell swoop. However, any sympathy for the character is not quite developed, making it a bit of a waste to explore. The shoddy CG gargoyle creations known as the Seven Deadly Sins are not that fun or interesting to observe, however, and lend more to that aforementioned unevenness in tone once they stat threatening to bite off people’s heads.
Shazam! is certainly a fun and very funny film in many regards, despite a few heavy-handed moments, but at two hours and twelve minutes in length, it does begin to outstay its welcome a bit, stretching a thin premise well beyond what’s necessary to tell its story. That length is especially felt once we get into the third act and much of the sense of logic is jettisoned in favor of CG spectacle and reducing the special qualities of becoming a hero by letting just about everyone not only take part, but they’re already skilled enough to go mano-a-mano with powerful god-like demons who’ve been honing their skills since time immemorial. It’s the kind of movie where you go into it expecting to have a good time and not care about whether it’s all going to make sense or adhere to any form of real-world reflection. Along those lines, at least, Shazam! will likely leave most movie-goers leaving the theater with a smile.
- Note: there is a mid-credits extra scene that set up for a possible sequel, and a brief amusing stinger at the very end of the credits.
Qwipster’s rating: B+
MPAA Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of action, language, and suggestive material
Running Time: 132 min.
Cast: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Hounsou, Grace Fulton, Cooper Andrews, Marta Milans, Faithe Herman, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Michelle Borth, Megan Goode
Director: David F. Sandberg
Screenplay: Henry Gayden