Shazam!
Directed by: David F. Sandberg
Written by: Henry Gayden
Starring: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Grazer, Asher Angel, Grace Fulton, Faithe Herman, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Djimon Hounsou, Cooper Andrews, Marta Milans, Caroline Palmer, Meagan Good, Adam Brody, D.J. Cotrona, Ross Butler, Evan Marsh, Carson MacCormac, John Glover, Lotta Losten, David Kohlsmith, Paloma Nuñez
Action/Adventure/Comedy - 132 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 4 April 2019
Written by: Henry Gayden
Starring: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Grazer, Asher Angel, Grace Fulton, Faithe Herman, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Djimon Hounsou, Cooper Andrews, Marta Milans, Caroline Palmer, Meagan Good, Adam Brody, D.J. Cotrona, Ross Butler, Evan Marsh, Carson MacCormac, John Glover, Lotta Losten, David Kohlsmith, Paloma Nuñez
Action/Adventure/Comedy - 132 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 4 April 2019
If you ever wanted the superhero version of Big, 13 Going on 30, Freaky Friday, and Vice Versa, then Shazam! is right in your wheelhouse. Set in the DC Comics universe, meaning Superman, Batman, et al, exist in this realm, we’re not scouring Gotham City or zooming through Metropolis, we’re navigating foster homes and high school in Christmastime Philadelphia (which looks suspiciously like Toronto). Directed by David S. Sandberg, a director who’s worked his way up through the horror ranks with Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation, Shazam! is much lighter fare than your standard, morose DC film. There are still issues with parents, but nobody’s folks are violently murdered. And instead of the muscle-bound brooding hulk sagging under the weight of his responsibilities, plucky Shazam wants to play; he’s more than happy to be a superhero.
In these pubescent boy hiding within an adult man’s body films, one can accept the logic of the transformation as part of the cinematic buy-in, but the behavioral connection always feels off track. In Big, young Josh Baskin has regular kid problems and took them seriously; he wanted to be older and taller to attract the attention of a girl. As an adult, he focuses on outfitting his Manhattan penthouse with bunk beds and trampolines. Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is a street-wise, habitual runaway. He has no choice but to take life serious. Therefore, it is a tough pill to swallow to believe this kid with all too real issues, would act the total fool in an adult’s body. Adults assume a 14 year-old kid would giggle and ask a 7-11 clerk for the establishment’s finest beer, but there is no way this kid who grew up in foster homes and carries a massive chip on his shoulder would do any of that. The family-friendly script needs him to act this way to get laughs, but it doesn’t fit his character.
In these pubescent boy hiding within an adult man’s body films, one can accept the logic of the transformation as part of the cinematic buy-in, but the behavioral connection always feels off track. In Big, young Josh Baskin has regular kid problems and took them seriously; he wanted to be older and taller to attract the attention of a girl. As an adult, he focuses on outfitting his Manhattan penthouse with bunk beds and trampolines. Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is a street-wise, habitual runaway. He has no choice but to take life serious. Therefore, it is a tough pill to swallow to believe this kid with all too real issues, would act the total fool in an adult’s body. Adults assume a 14 year-old kid would giggle and ask a 7-11 clerk for the establishment’s finest beer, but there is no way this kid who grew up in foster homes and carries a massive chip on his shoulder would do any of that. The family-friendly script needs him to act this way to get laughs, but it doesn’t fit his character.
We’ve seen Zachary Levi (Thor: Ragnarok), who plays the adult superhero coming to terms with his new powers, play a very similar character before. Remember good ol’ Chuck, the Nerd Herd tech support geek, who suddenly gained powers to ‘flash’ on faces and fancy technology? Levi spent multiple TV seasons tripping over himself trying to cope with and familiarize himself with a skill-set he was never supposed to have. Billy Batson has the same dilemma. An elder magician/sage (Djimon Hounsou, Captain Marvel) whisks Billy to an etherial lair called the Rock of Destiny, tells Billy he is pure of heart, and he must save the world from the seven deadly sins.
What 14 year-old is ready for that? Those of us who remember Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman explaining the seven deadly sins to us back in 1995 have a major head-start in understanding the villains - your kids will not be able to differentiate their Gluttony from their Greed though. The sins hitch a ride in the body of Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong, Miss Sloane). Dr. Sivana was a boy whisked to the Rock of Eternity only to learn he was not pure of heart. Not getting the superhero gig turned young Thaddeus into an evil genius who figures out how to get back to the lair, release the sins, and prepare to take over the world. The only obstacle left is a boy/man busy experimenting with his new powers and uploading the funny epic fails onto YouTube.
Young Billy Batson is as cynical as they come, and considering his childhood, he has every reason in the world to be. His plucky sidekick, fellow foster kid Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer, It), who limps around town on a crutch, is delighted to watch Billy figure out if he has super strength, speed, and/or bullet immunity. He’s a superhero superfan, and what luck, when one ends up sharing a room with him. Just as much of Shazam! takes place in and around Billy’s foster home and follows his reluctance to latch on with his new foster family filled with earnest parents and five other kids ranging from five to 18 with their one-dimensional quirks. Shazam! is as much family film and coming-of-age as it is action.
Henry Gayden’s script give us a superhero through the eyes of a pubescent high school freshman and all the logic that entails. But the logic does not pass the sniff test. Jaded Billy Batson would not chuckle as he uses his lightning powers to zap a Dr. Pepper machine and drink a case load of sodas. A family film requires that of him because that’s what a seven year-old will think is outrageous. So as not to truly scare the wee folk in the audience, the seven deadly sins are not so deadly - they emit a sort of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers villain vibe. They’re too silly to really cause any harm. So is Shazam! It is lighter than the superhero films you’re accustomed too, yet still sags from a too long 132 minutes.
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