Shazam! Review: Unscrupulous Mining from Spielberg, Big Pays for DC Comics

To become a bigger movie studio, DC Comics does not need anything but Wonder Woman. He also needs movies like Shazam!– unique pieces that are free from the weight of a connected universe, that can walk uncompromisingly on the same ground as the best children's action movies of the 80s, that make us laugh with a heart infusion from Spielberg-ian.

Shazam! is not in a position to "redeem" DC Comics' reputation for the Marvel Studios fare, and it does best by taking this on its dizzying neck. Of course, Marvel's comparisons being unavoidable, I'll start with one of them: the resulting movie is somewhere between the first and second Ant-Man movies. It's funny. It's funny. This is good. Shazam! can be easily criticized for problems and failures, but his worst problems are tattoos, not overwhelming reasons to stay away.

We have an Monsters Team apologist here

I was particularly seduced by the strong distribution of children and teens. So shameless mining of the 80s well that brought us Large, The Goonies, and AND. brings us more talented young actors who are fun and kicking with magical powers while learning valuable lessons in friendship, so of course. For my part, I do not get tired of this formula. (Gosh, I still love Monsters Team, which was already useless Goonies scam when he came out 30 years ago.)

There is more conspiracy than it happens in Shazam!– about a wizard defending an ancient temple of seven beasts representing the deadly sins, and a demonic force releasing the said sins, and a threatening kid binding in some way with the said wizard to claim his powers at a specific minute – but none of this does not matter if we do not like the young actors who dominate this film.

Teen protagonist Billy Batson (portrayed by Asher Angel) and his best accidental friend Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) unite at opposite ends of the excluded spectrum and form a good chord. The film sets Billy's series of minor crimes and emotional reticence, then introduces Freddy's wounded enthusiasm. Their friendship is not automatic, so Shazam! is aware of this, leaving each character a little before the transformation, before the teenager Billy turns into an adult and unconscious superhero (played by Zachary Levi). At this point, all of them throw themselves into each other while they become jokers friendly, they only stir up insecurities of each other when they each see the superhero trick unfold differently than expected by the other.

Meaning: the duo has his share of one-liners, including some deliciously Beavis & Butt-headreactions -sque. But to engage in their friendship and watch it evolve is what elevates Shazam! beyond his best jokes (some of which were already spoiled by trailers). This quality, by the way, makes Shazam! easy to watch if you know bupkis about his comic book history.

Zachary Levi also counts as a friendly kid actor in this movie, as he does all Tom Hanks' stuff (a fact that the movie recognizes in a moment of laughing out loud). The biggest problem I have with his performance, though, is that he plays a different teenager as Billy's character. The current adolescent has suffered a legitimate trauma and is hardened and bald, as the case may be. Levi's grip never reflects this crucial emotional content, and in many scenes it makes sense – Levi's with his bullet-proof cloak and skin.

This temporary disconnection does not make the film flow. Levi has some well deserved laughs while doing the old Hollywood switcheroo. But he's a clear example of Levi assuming a legitimately more difficult role than LargeHanks – to balance the painful backstory of a teenage character with the Red Bull sugar rush and its lightnings – and therefore pale in comparison.

A bad adult does not spoil the group of teenagers

The rest of the cast is in the form of a Billy ragtag foster family, led by an early and enthusiastic little sister (Faithe Herman) who earns all her laughs and "aww" without straying into the territory. from Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. It is completed by a sane elder sister (played by Grace Fulton, making a beautiful imitation of Linda Cardellini) and a tech-addicted little brother (Ian Chen).

When Shazam! finally manages to ensure that all his children get together for a great moment, the effect is palpable enough to pass the same gimmick The Goonies. This group of children learns to become a family during the film. This milestone is accompanied by jokes and strange jokes, and not the brutality of GooniesThe kids are taking Chunk.

Unfortunately, the film is sorely lacking in villainous or nasty. Instead, we have Thaddeus Sivana (played by Mark Strong), a researcher long despised and obsessed by the vengeance of his father and brother. His jump into pure evil is as one-dimensional as that of a Scooby-Doo villain, but Strong is not the good actor to take this character anywhere he is encamped or wild and he does not want to take it anywhere. is not helped by a scenario that basically guides him so that he's the example how Billy could turned out, in terms of his own family problems.

Sivana's descent into supervillainie is not aided by some gaping logical holes. First, a helpful wizard tells Sivana's childhood in the first 10 minutes for no apparent reason. Then, a former Sivana deposits years and millions of dollars into a research project to astonish his colleagues when he reveals that it is a study of secret and supernatural forces.

Sneaky things for 10 years

Still, the end result is a superhero movie that bows brazenly in an Indiana Jones atmosphere (complemented by a John Williams caliber score) with a good dose of dead Pool-for-kids gags about the universe DC Comics at large. Shazam! is the kind of family film that looks to be done for older teens – something that a 10 year old kid could watch and have the impression of being sneaky – without letting older fans get bored.

And despite some mistakes and weaknesses, Shazam! braid two sons in the same fabric: the emotional weight of her teenage heart and a trail of sweet and sarcastic laughs at the neat pace. In the end, I still think that the Marvel Universe has better entries in this camp (especially the last two Spider-Man movies), but that's not a reason to avoid success. from DC facing this superhero. subgenus.