Superheroes are, by definition, completely stupid. Even the more realistic ones are built upon the idea that regular everyday humans can have the power of flight, invisibility, and impeccable beach bods. Despite how much the more recent DC films and the MCU as a whole have captured the various building blocks of the comic book, that kind of gleeful stupidity or whimsy hasn’t existed in a superhero movie since the 90s. DC’s response to all that? Just say the word.
That word is, of course, “Shazam!”, which is the name of the super-powered man-child played with gleeful abandon by Zachary Levi (“Chuck,” “Tangled”). It’s genuinely incredible how Levi manages to make this, walking embodiment of every 14-year-old’s dream of what an adult is, not come off as annoying. His performance is a ball of comedic mastery, with tightrope precise comedic timing, with the ability to still nail the epic superhero scenes.
His teenage form, Billy Batson, played by Asher Angel (“Andi Mack”) is just as charming as Shazam himself. Both have a wonderful sense of continuity, and it really does feel like the same person on the inside, which is a testament to the talent of both of them.
While his roommate and best friend Freddy, played by Jack Dylan Grazer (“IT,” “Me, Myself & I”) gets a larger chunk of the runtime to skip school and cause various shenanigans with Shazam, the remaining family members are shortchanged. This is a shame because each of them is charming and memorable in their own ways. The third act does bring them all back together in a genius way, but it would have been nice if they had each gotten more room to establish themselves.
Mark Strong (“Kick-Ass,” “Kingsman: The Secret Service”), who plays the villain, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, does his job well; strutting and scowling like you’d expect from a big budget supervillain. His character does represent one of the film’s biggest weaknesses; the tonal shift associated with the character. They are only a minor issue though, as they’re ironed out after the first act.
Narratively, there isn’t anything particularly new about “Shazam!”, but it does its job well enough. Really, it’s the small moments of downtime and the power of Shazam himself that allows for the creativity of the filmmakers to shine through. Director David F. Sandberg (“Lights Out,” “Annabelle: Creation”) has clearly been let loose here, and his film feels less like the strictly structured superhero films of the modern day, and more like a kid, joyously smashing his action figures together.
There is one plot hole midway through the movie that may catch most off guard. Really, it boils down to one character blaming another for something that the other one was clearly responsible for. And the clear illogical nature of the character’s argument is never brought up. While it is minor, and plot is clearly not the film’s highest priority, it’s something that should have been either ironed out or addressed.
What is the clear and very highest priority of Sandberg, and his cast and crew, is fun. It is genuinely bizarre how much fun “Shazam!” is at times. It’s such a gleefully stupid and silly movie that practically begs you to make fun of it. There’s a genuine irreverence to the entire proceedings that make it a sheer blast. The cliched nature of the villain and his minions is poked at with every turn, and it serves to create a stronger identity at the core of the film.
Yes, it is funny, but it’s also a beautiful picture of whimsy and the joy of childhood. The comparisons to Tom Hanks’s 1988 film “Big” are apt, but this whimsy works because of the superhero genre itself. This is, again, a genre where people who can fly and talk to fish are considered normal. And while poking fun at those tropes has been done in films before, what sets “Shazam!” apart is the joy and excitement it has about those tropes.
Primary colors and scale are at the center of the visual identity of “Shazam!”, and it helps set the film apart. While just about every superhero film is set in a city, Sandberg and his cinematographer Maxime Alexandre (“Earth to Echo,” “The Crazies”) make the city feel big. Maybe it’s the child perspective or the use of scale with the surrounding buildings, but the world of “Shazam!” feels bigger and more consequential than your average superhero film, strengthened by an incredibly vibrant color palette.
The film is excited to show off Shazam, his powers, and his origin. It’s excited to show you the final confrontation, and it’s excited to show you just how bonkers things can get. It’s genuinely weird to say that this kind of excitement and sense of whimsy has been missing from the genre for quite a while, because the way “Shazam!” uses it, it feels like you couldn’t make a superhero film without it.
David F. Sandberg’s tribute to childlike wonder and whimsy manages to leap directly over its first act tonal shifts, its majorly minor plot hole and its routine narrative to create a film that wants to celebrate the idea of superheroes. It does this with flying colors, blasting past previous DC flops with a burst of primary colored joy and crackling humor, bolstered by a wonderful cast, and setting a very high bar for the future DC films to come. Apparently, all you need to make a great DC film is to be like Shazam and get in touch with your inner child. 4.5/5
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