We all know that DC got off to a bumpy start with its cinematic attempts, beginning with Man of Steel. Wonder Woman was the first movie we can all agree on being actually good, and after Justice League dropped the ball for many people, Aquaman was more or less able to pick it back up and keep running. I don't really know where else to take this sports metaphor, but Shazam is pretty awesome.
While I am a big DC Comics fan, I didn't know much about Shazam going in, so roughly 90% of the story here was all new to me. Shazam was formerly known as Captain Marvel, but this was changed a few years back for obvious reasons. (Speaking of which, fun fact: In a wild coincidence, Djimon Hounsou was in this movie, in the MCU's Captain Marvel, AND in Aquaman.) The character of Shazam has had a few different origin stories over the years. For this movie, Henry Gayden and Darren Lemke adapted the story from the New 52 version, where protagonist Billy Batson is an orphan, bouncing around from foster home to foster home before being summoned by an old wizard who gives him the ability to turn into a superhero by saying the word "Shazam!" Director David F. Sandberg and the aforementioned writers are well aware of how silly and dated many parts of this concept are, and wisely play a lot of it for laughs. For the most part, this works REALLY well. A good portion of this story is Billy figuring out what exactly his powers are, with a couple really fun montages that reminded me of Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man movie.
Asher Angel and Zachary Levi portray both sides of Billy Batson smoothly, despite Zac being in a padded suit the whole time (you get used to it, though he did actually do quite a bit of working out to prepare for the role to be fair). The only big thing Asher's really been in before was Andi Mack, which I've never watched, but he was an awesome lead actor and can definitely carry a movie by himself. I have to confess that I'm a big fan of Chuck, that TV show from about 10 years back, so I'm very biased, but I've always found Zac Levi to be a lot of fun to watch. I won't say much about his character, because I didn't even know he was in this move before I saw it, but I will always argue that Mark Strong can do no wrong, even if his character isn't quite used to his fullest potential. It was also fun to see Smallville's Lionel Luther himself, John Glover, playing basically the same role I grew up seeing him in. All these names aside, my favorite actor in this movie was also one of my favorites in the 2017 adaptation of Stephen King's It, Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman. I really, really hope this kid keeps up this career because he's absolutely killing it right now.
I mentioned that this movie is funny, and it really is, full of both self-referential and self-deprecating humor, but it also knows when to dial it back a bit to hit you right in the feels. Billy isn't the obvious choice for a kid to get superpowers; he's selfish and untrusting, and quite a bit of a jerk through most of the movie, and because of this, he learns some hard lessons. But to say any more would be saying too much, so I'll leave it there. I'd be dishonest if I didn't mention this, but most of the last 20 minutes or so just felt like they needed just a bit more time to smooth out the writing because it really dipped in quality to me. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as it should've been, and wasn't near where the movie was leading up to it. It was like they tried to do too much in this last bit, and as a result they left it feeling pretty thin. The VERY end, though, was absolutely perfect, and mostly makes up for it.
That said, the vast majority of the movie is a blast, and it'll fit nicely on my shelf next to Wonder Woman and Aquaman. Also, remember to stay after the credits for two more scenes. I don't want to say DC's planning something big, but it's looking like there's more to come, and I'm completely onboard.
Side note - not to be that person, but... I loved Justice League. Although, Steppenwolf was a terrible choice for a villain, I'll admit.
Side note - not to be that person, but... I loved Justice League. Although, Steppenwolf was a terrible choice for a villain, I'll admit.