I was never going to see Shazam! in theaters. I do not read comics so I did not know enough about the story to pique my curiosity. Boy protagonists usually bore me. It is the seventh DC Extended Universe movie, and after Aquaman, I realized that if Wonder Woman was not going to appear, I probably would not care. If the hotness of Jason Mamoa could not compel me, nothing could, and this cast did not even merit a second glance.
I am completist, and I have not made it this far into the DCEU to stop now so I was willing to see Shazam! at home. Considering that my expectations were so low that Daredevil and Elektra were busy dying in the general vicinity, I am pleased to admit that I was absolutely wrong and am willing to reconsider my Wonder Woman rule.
Shazam! was a sweet, heart-warming, entertaining movie. Seriously my heart grew three sizes bigger. It is the Hallmark movie of the DCEU. The emotional manipulation worked, filmmakers. It is about an orphan who just wants to find his mother when a foster family accepts him, but he is unwilling to give up on his dream of finding his mother. While hanging out with his foster brother, he gets transported to a hidden realm with a wizard who imbues him with powers. When he says the title, he becomes Chuck…I mean Zachary Levi dressed as a superhero, but remember, he is a kid orphan so no uncle to watch get killed and learn that with great power comes great responsibility. So he uses his powers as a kid until a villain confronts him and threatens his family. Is he pure of heart and will he learn the true meaning of power?
I came to Shazam! with arms folded, but the cast, kids and adults, utterly charmed me. How is a juvenile delinquent going to be pure of heart? I did not see it for Billy Batson on paper. Jerry from The Walking Dead, i.e. Cooper Andrews, is the foster dad, and I did not know Marta Milans, who played the wife, but they were adorable and won me over with their chemistry and backstory. The kids in this movie could act and already have an impressive resume. Are any of the kids from It bad actors? Jack Dylan Grazer, who played Eddie Kaspbrak in It, plays one of Billy’s foster brothers, superhero expert and constantly bullied kid. Faithe Herman, who plays Annie in This Is Us, plays one of Billy’s foster sisters. There are more, but they had to make me believe in a very short amount of time that they could be a real family in spite of not knowing each other for a long time, and I did, which is quite a feat for a cynical adult who only reads horrifying stories about foster families. I gave absolutely zero resistance that they cared about Billy and would help him move forward past his trauma.
Mark Strong as a villain is filmmaking 101. Strong could do this role in his sleep, but the delightful cherry on top was casting John Glover, Smallville’s Lionel Luthor, Lex Luthor’s magnificent bastard daddy, to play another magnificent bastard daddy. Strong’s Dr. Sivana is the Evil Queen to the hero’s Snow White constantly asking who is the most powerful of all. Shazam!’s casting agent deserves all the money because this film is a perfect example of how a movie with an uneven story can be elevated higher than it deserves with the right cast.
If you look at this installment as a classic good versus evil movie, then it is fine, but when I tried to go deeper, it was a little disturbing because you have wizards kidnapping kids, grown men trying to kill them and more than a few sexual implicit situations with the babies. Nooooooooo. For example, a teenage girl should not have to fight tentacle porn monsters even if people do not know what that is, and if the herolooks like an adult, but it is a kid, the optics are still gross if he hits on a teenage girl. Most of the teen good guys are teens so when they get up to shenanigans, it is strictly adolescent stuff like underage drinking, but when they are bullied, the violence, even from the amateurs, is quite startling. A car hits a kid! Please tell me that is not a thing in the real world because if it is, they need to be arrested. To borrow a line from Christy Lemire in her review for The Spy Who Dumped Me, whom I disagreed with in that context, but I think absolutely applies in Shazam!, “It’s the extreme violence, which serves as a jarring contrast to the goofy antics.” When Strong starts mercilessly knocking people off with no ceremony, I absolutely believed that these kids were in genuine danger and could get killed. On one hand, it makes the stakes of the story feel real. On the other hand, they are real kids, not archetypes waiting to get knocked off by the monster, and I cannot enjoy violence against kids regardless of how well executed it is if it feels realistic. About twenty-four minutes into the film, I realized that it was definitely not a kid’s movie.
I was not really into Shazam!’s mythology. As a newbie, a world of wizards and Seven Deadly Sins felt like mixed metaphors. When did comic books become so explicitly Catholic? I know that Superman is Space Jesus, but at least it is veiled. I am sure it makes sense if you are familiar with the story. I ultimately enjoyed how it landed and thought that the resolution resonated in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer kind of way, which will make more sense after you see the movie if you are familiar with the series. I was touched, and the movie’s love is ultimately what makes the movie fly.
Because Shazam!’s leads are a couple of teenage boys, there are lots of dumb penis, homoerotic jokes. It did not bother me, but do not come here expecting sophisticated humor. They are juveniles, and the humor matches. There are some cute moments that allude to the characters’ place in the DCEU, which I appreciated. The movie definitely gets funnier as it unfolds and plays off the well-worn meta superhero tropes. If I had to change one thing about the movie, it is the choice of product placement. Dr. Pepper, really?
Even though it is not overt, Shazam! does its best to stay on the political side of the angels. The diverse casting on its own is not enough to signal its good nature since awful movies can parade the United colors of Benetton, but when the villain says “shithole,” I knew that the filmmakers were screaming against Presidon’t. I know that the villain existed long before 2016, but DC Comics really does not see it for tycoons of industry. Um, what is the Silvana family business?
I realy enjoyed Shazam! It may not have changed my life, but it was an entertaining romp that I expected to be dreadful, but it was delightful. If you are looking to watch a movie that is not too deep, check it out, but don’t let the kids watch it.