I got to it a bit later than most, but I was able to see Shazam! this morning. And while I will try to avoid some spoilers, it would be nearly impossible to avoid them all with this movie and really talk about the film. Go ahead and assume there are spoilers here.
***** SPOILER WARNING ******
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Still here?
Okay, let’s do this.
I’ll start off by admitting that I’m not a real fan of Captain Marvel / Shazam. It always seemed overly campy and silly to me when they tried to fit him into the DC Universe. He felt like a sitcom character living in a drama world. I put that aside going into the film and after having a friend pass away yesterday, I was looking forward to a fun movie. And for the most part, it is a fun movie that is great for the family, or at least about 80% of the film. About 20% of the film is way dark tonally compared to the rest and that felt a bid disjointed. Like someone decided to make a superhero version of Big but let Zack Snyder deal with the villain parts.
The acting in the film is really well done down the line. Asher Angel is a breakout star and Jack Dylan Grazer played equally well off of Billy and Shazam. Zachery Levi pulled off the boy in a grown man’s body very well, but he seemed sillier and more selfish than his younger counterpart. I guess the wisdom of Solomon isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. I loved the family dynamic in the foster home. The parents were great, and the kids had pretty good chemistry for the screen time they had. I found it interesting though that they spent so much time in the film having Billy figure out his powers that it seems odd that others got the power and just new how to use them.
My biggest problem was with Sivana. Mark Strong always delivers and having John Glover play his father was great. But how he was treated in the beginning and the boardroom scene seemed almost unnecessary. They start by making him a sympathetic character and introduce his family but only use them in two scenes. I get they wanted to show the Sins being evil, but the scene is over the top horrific when you compare it to the lighthearted nature of the film. Also, Sivana was so powerful when the first met that it was just basically him beating on a kid. That started making me feel uncomfortable.
Those things aside, the film is still fun and worth seeing. The acting is well done, the story moves quickly, the action is good and there are some nice twists in it. There are also enough fun Easter Eggs to keep comic fans happy. Another good film for DC.
***** SPOILER WARNING ******
.
.
..
.
.
Still here?
Okay, let’s do this.
I’ll start off by admitting that I’m not a real fan of Captain Marvel / Shazam. It always seemed overly campy and silly to me when they tried to fit him into the DC Universe. He felt like a sitcom character living in a drama world. I put that aside going into the film and after having a friend pass away yesterday, I was looking forward to a fun movie. And for the most part, it is a fun movie that is great for the family, or at least about 80% of the film. About 20% of the film is way dark tonally compared to the rest and that felt a bid disjointed. Like someone decided to make a superhero version of Big but let Zack Snyder deal with the villain parts.
The acting in the film is really well done down the line. Asher Angel is a breakout star and Jack Dylan Grazer played equally well off of Billy and Shazam. Zachery Levi pulled off the boy in a grown man’s body very well, but he seemed sillier and more selfish than his younger counterpart. I guess the wisdom of Solomon isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. I loved the family dynamic in the foster home. The parents were great, and the kids had pretty good chemistry for the screen time they had. I found it interesting though that they spent so much time in the film having Billy figure out his powers that it seems odd that others got the power and just new how to use them.
My biggest problem was with Sivana. Mark Strong always delivers and having John Glover play his father was great. But how he was treated in the beginning and the boardroom scene seemed almost unnecessary. They start by making him a sympathetic character and introduce his family but only use them in two scenes. I get they wanted to show the Sins being evil, but the scene is over the top horrific when you compare it to the lighthearted nature of the film. Also, Sivana was so powerful when the first met that it was just basically him beating on a kid. That started making me feel uncomfortable.
Those things aside, the film is still fun and worth seeing. The acting is well done, the story moves quickly, the action is good and there are some nice twists in it. There are also enough fun Easter Eggs to keep comic fans happy. Another good film for DC.