Shazam!

Up until pretty recently, Shazam was very low on the list of superhero movies I was interested in for a couple of reasons. The first was, I'm not a huge fan of Shazam as a character. Granted I haven't looked into the character that much but he was the least interesting in the Injustice Games. I also wasn't really interested because Shazam never felt like it made sense in my mind. Compared with the trouble track that DC has been on, I both had low expectations due to the fact that DC hasn't had the greatest track record and I didn't believe that this movie was gonna tie in very well.

Then I saw the trailers, and Aquaman came out, and I just felt a vibe of excitement around this movie that I hadn't seen for a DC movie in a while that I thought was really interesting. So by the end of this (honestly pretty shitty) week, I just needed a good comedy that was gonna get my psyched and Shazam! was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Shazam! follows the story of Billy Batson (played by Asher Angel), an orphan who is prone to getting in mischievous trouble and is on the look out for his mom. He's a good person but you can tell he's mischievous and looking out for himself. He gets placed in a foster home with a really nice couple running the home and a band of lovable misfits who populate the house with him. I really wanna talk about them in a little bit.

He also meets another foster kid by the name of Freddy (played by Jack Dylan Grazer who you might recognize as Eddy Kasbrack from IT). Freddy is obsessed with superheroes and the two become a mismatched duo. Billy is looking to run off again while Freddy tries to make friends and make Billy apart of the family.

Then one day, Billy finds himself transported to another dimension and offered the power of an old wizard (played by Djimon Hounsou). The way he obtains his powers is to say the name of the wizard, Shazam, and Billy is transformed into an adult super hero (played by Zachary Levi), but still maintains the mind of the 14 year old Billy.

One really interesting about this dynamic of the character being split between a child and Zachary Levi is that it never felt like Zachary Levi or this kid were playing a different character. Even though Asher Angel turns into Zachary Levi, it never feels like it's a different character. Billy becomes an adult and has that ability to help people but he still sees it like a 14 year old would. And Billy is a flawed character which makes him a good character and the fact that he doesn't jump straight into being a super hero makes this character interesting and fun.

The other thing that I really liked about his character was the magical elements behind his superpowers. There's the typical YouTube montage of him discovering his powers that you see in the trailer, but they're able to set up a really cool mythology and backstory that just feels epic no matter how comedic this movie is. Also, every time Billy yells Shazam! it just put a smile on my face.

Of course every hero needs a villain and the villain in this film is the evil Thaddeus Sivana (played by Mark Strong). There's a backstory to his character and I actually kind of dug him as a villain. Mark Strong just has the ability to play a villain in his sleep so if he had just shown up, looked the way he does and said, I'm the villain, it would have been fine. But you understand the villain and where he's coming from. Almost to the point where you can relate to him.

Now is he the strongest villain in a superhero movie ever? No. Will he go down as one of the most memorable of villains? No. But he definitely doesn't need to. This is a good example of taking hints from Marvel and developing a really good story and a really interesting, likable main character. And they do that with Billy Batson.

On top of that they're able to do that with his foster family.

This was the part of the film that I wasn't really expecting and what I really enjoyed. In the beginning when this foster family is being introduced I was like, "Oh crap, I'm gonna really like these people aren't I?". And it's a really good element of the story. They set up these characters very quickly and there's still things that would be nice to know about them, but they do it so concisely and quickly that you feel like you know them already and you really enjoy them every time they're on screen interacting with Billy, in both versions of himself.

But of course, the main relationship worth talking about is the relationship between Billy and Freddy.

I just loved these two, both when Billy is an adult and when he's a kid. Jack Dylan Grazer is a really good actor with a great future ahead of him and the way that Billy is written and the consistent character between Asher Angel and Zachary Levi works really well to create some great chemistry between the two characters.

These two's relationship as well as the family really create the heart of the movie. There is a fantasy element that was really well done and something I would absolutely love future films to delve into more. The overall fact is, I want to see this character come back. I actually felt like the movie was the strongest when it was it's own thing. There aren't a whole lot of references to the DCEU and the mentions that are in there felt a little forced, but I love how this movie doesn't feel like it ties into Aquaman or give an indication that Shazam is going to appear in a future Batman movie. He could and I think that'd be fun, but I'm fine with this just being its own thing.

There are a couple of issues with the film. There are a couple of plot points that don't really go anywhere and the character development that gets characters from feeling one way about something to feeling another way is a little clunky. The story is also a little bit predictable at times, but I don't see that as a bad thing. If you're building off of something that has proven to work and are able to make it feel new, it doesn't bother me too much.

Overall, I really, really enjoyed Shazam! This is a movie that I feel like I'm going to want to own instead of wait for it to come to a streaming service. This movie was fun and gave more credence to the idea that DC is turning things around. I'm still a little bit skeptical that Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Shazam are just a lucky streak, but that's becoming harder to argue. I really hope that this new direction works for DC and I can actually come into these movies with higher expectations and be satisfied.

But did you see Shazam? What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of the blog.

Thanks for reading!