TAS Reviews: Shazam!
When I was about 6 years old, me and my two friends would go to an area in our school with a lot of sand, and we would mix it and crush it with rocks, playing make belief that we were making "potions." At about the same age, I told my mum to lend me some fabric and a sewing machine, and went to my room and starting putting something together. I told her I was doing something for school, but I was really just making a superhero outfit. In my mind, I couldn't let her know because my "secret identity" would endanger her.
Shazam! directed by David Sandberg is such a wonderful movie because it taps into that childlike wonderment of pretending to a hero. Of wishing you could soar through the skies like Superman with no responsibility and nothing to worry about except looking cool. Of wishing you were friends with Batman and Superman. We get a superhero movie every other month right now, so it might be easy to think "well, why just Shazam? Why don't other superhero movies have a similair nostalgic effect on you?"
The obvious conceptual difference between Shazam! and other superhero films is that the hero in Shazam! is a kid who, by saying a magical world, transforms into an adult hero. And it's this idea that makes a world of difference. Modern superhero movies, for all their self-referential humour and comedy, present a very grown up, adult idea of being a superhero. They often portray it as something characterised by decision making, consequences and even something with devastating effects: Infinity War and Endgame for example.
I love those movies, but Shazam! sets itself apart by exploring the idea of heroism that made us fall in love with these heroes in the first place. The idea of heroism we possessed as kids. Of being celebrities, of sipping margaritas with the Justice League. Of kicking ass and looking cool while doing it. It's this perspective of heroism that makes Shazam! such a fresh, different, yet nostalgic superhero movie that reminded me of why I fell in love with the idea of superheroes in the first place.
In fact, the best parts of the movie are the earlier segments with Zachary Levi's Billy Batson growing accustomed with his powers and gleaming with astonishment at all the cool things he can do. These scenes are some of the funniest scenes in a movie full of hilarious scene after hilarious scene. Humour is subjective, so I'm sure this won't apply to everyone seeing this movie, but Shazam! is easily the funniest superhero movie I've seen in a long time, if not the funniest superhero movie ever made. I was constantly reduced to tears by laughter, and they did a great job utilising the premise to create some hilarious scenarios.
As far as comedies go, the script is super-important, but the movie ultimately lives and dies by the comedic timing and likability of your actors, and I'm sure the filmmakers understood this too because this movie has a great cast. Zachary Levi as Shazam is, although not necessarily as irreplaceable as these actors, up there with Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans and Ryan Reynolds in regards to being perfectly cast comic book characters.
Not only is his comedic timing impeccable, but he instills the character with the sense of wonder and childlike irreverence necessary for Shazam, without ever coming across in bad taste or resembling an SNL parody. Asher Angel also makes a great transition from supporting character in a Disney show, to the blockbuster landscape with his performance of the younger Billy Batson. He's by no means an accomplished actor and didn't woo me with his performance, but he does a great job playing Billy as someone who is troubled, but still full of heart and humanity, whereas a less careful performer could've made the character come across as a generic, unlikeable, angsty teenage character.
However, my second favourite performance in the movie is not Asher as Billy, though he is great, but actually Jack Dylan Grazer's Freddy Freeman. The trailer left with me with a lot of fear that his character would be a tacky child character who does nothing but make edgy Game of Thrones and generic Fortnite references. But once again, because of Jack's performance, I instantly become attached to this character, and I love what the character brought to the movie in terms of his superhero knowledge and enthusiasm. It reminded me of how me and my friends would talk about superheroes, and it went a long way in making this feel like part of the larger, connected world with existing, idolised superheroes.
Grazer has great chemistry with both Asher and Zachary, which is incredibly important as the relationship between the two is the heart of the movie, and I loved how the relationship between Freddie and Billy grew throughout the movie. Grace Fulton, Faith Herman, Ian Chen and Jovan Armand all play supporting roles as Billy's foster family, and although they don't get a tremendous amount of screentime, each of them elevates the movie's emotional core, bringing a lot of heart and personality to the movie.
I've mentioned the word "heart" more than once in this review, and it's because this movie is full of heart. There are a lot of moments in this movie that would come across as cliché in another movie, but because I cared about these characters so much, these moments, cliché as they may be, all landed for me. It's the heart of this movie that helps it remain so grounded and relatable in the face of all the superhero shenanigans.
My sole complaint about the movie is the villain: Mark Strong's Dr. Sivana. I loved what they tried to with the character, but what they were trying to do and what they ended up accomplishing in terms of trying to create an antagonist with emotional depth were entirely different things, which is my best way of saying "they failed pretty spectacularly" in the most spoiler-free way possible. Thankfully, this isn't a big enough flaw to take away significantly from my enjoyment of the film, but I thought it was at least worth mentioning.
Conclusion
Led by a perfectly-cast lead in Zachary Levi, and a consistently hilarious script, Shazam! is so brilliant because it unapologetically recaptures the wish-fulfilment that allowed the superhero genre to capture our hearts in the first place. It's a movie that made me reflect on the past: of playing make-belief with my friends, but also a movie that makes me excited for the future. It made me want to see what the DCEU has in store for the years to come. It made me want to see Shazam fight Black Adam. It made me want to see Birds of Prey. It heightened by excitement for The Batman. With Shazam!, David Sandberg has delivered the best DCEU movie thus far, and the best Captain Marvel movie of 2019.
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