The opening of Shazam! is excellent. The moody snowfall, the transportation of the young Sivana to the magic cave, and the demons communicating to him via the Magic 8-Ball was all excellent. However, the rest of Shazam! gets worse as it goes on. This is due in part mostly by Zachary Levi's hammy performance, lame jokes, and the film not doing as much as it could with the concept.
The costume for Shazam! is excellent. The saturated red and frilly white cape, plus greased-back Elvis-style pompadour really compliments the 1930's origins of the character. You'd think with this kind of tribute to the source material, Shazam! would go some way in revitalizing or at least reinterpreting the superhero genre, like how Aquaman and Venom did: Aquaman was a grand fantasy epic and Venom was equal parts buddy-cop and monster movie. Shazam! meanwhile is a potato that's been boiled for too long. Apart from the moody opening, the overall tone is displaced. How is it that this film has so little charisma? How is it that adult Billy Batson acts less maturely than young Billy Batson? Zachary Levi's, or perhaps, rather, Hollywood's interpretation of how kids act is extremely over-excited and enthusiastic about everything, and watching Levi bumble around making lame jokes is hard to watch.
Ah, yes: the "jokes." They act as your typical Hollywood formula for humour: say the most obvious observation as loudly as possible, minimizing wit whenever you can. A lot of the "humour" is meant to stem from Batson's excitement over getting his superheroes, but after a while (and this drags out) the charm of the excitement wears off. There's only so many times you can hear variations of, "Dude, I can fly!" or "Dude, I can run fast!" ("Yeahdudeyoucantotallyrunfast") before you start massaging your temples. Adult Batson sees an attractive women leaving a convenience store and makes an obvious pass, "Hey, I'm, like, an adult" (or something). Yes, Batson, you sure are: an adult that acts more immature than the child actor playing the child version of your character. Your fish-eyes and moley neck aren't creepy at all.
Mark Strong is a good actor but the part of Sivana is as dry and straight as can be. He's the villain, deriving his powers from seven demons that all look alike, have simple designs (green bumpy skin and frowny faces) and stand around doing/saying nothing for 99% of the movie. If they're based on the Seven Deadly Sins, why not jazz up their appearances? Give them unique personalities and voices to match? (Wouldn't it be cool to cast someone like, I don't know, John Cleese, as Avarice? And for kicks, Jordan Peele as Wrath? It'd fit him, as his films, like Get Out, are so gross and hate-filled.)
With the excellent red costume, you'd think the film would go some way in establishing its own character or tone, but they really don't push the concept. Really, if it was me, I would've explored the theme of magic in the movie. Superman gets his powers from science (pseudo-science, of course; Earth's red sun), Batman from tech and willpower; Shazam's power comes from magic. There's a scene late in the movie where the players come to an enchanted cave where a series of doors lead to a number of different worlds, one containing alligator men wearing tuxes. Why couldn't the movie had had more moments like these? Guardians of the Galaxy is fun for the variety of alien life, cultures, and locations: think what fun you could have with magic. Instead, Shazam!'s locations are malls, convenience stores, a fair, streets, and a school, where they take the opportunity to humiliate a security guard. This humiliation was inappropriate and insensitive, given the gun violence in America (and in schools, unfortunately). Also, I really, really didn't like the scene where a national monument of Philadelphia was destroyed; the statue getting decapitated. Honour your country, Hollywood. Honour your history. Stain not thy tomb with blood.
The costume for Shazam! is excellent. The saturated red and frilly white cape, plus greased-back Elvis-style pompadour really compliments the 1930's origins of the character. You'd think with this kind of tribute to the source material, Shazam! would go some way in revitalizing or at least reinterpreting the superhero genre, like how Aquaman and Venom did: Aquaman was a grand fantasy epic and Venom was equal parts buddy-cop and monster movie. Shazam! meanwhile is a potato that's been boiled for too long. Apart from the moody opening, the overall tone is displaced. How is it that this film has so little charisma? How is it that adult Billy Batson acts less maturely than young Billy Batson? Zachary Levi's, or perhaps, rather, Hollywood's interpretation of how kids act is extremely over-excited and enthusiastic about everything, and watching Levi bumble around making lame jokes is hard to watch.
Ah, yes: the "jokes." They act as your typical Hollywood formula for humour: say the most obvious observation as loudly as possible, minimizing wit whenever you can. A lot of the "humour" is meant to stem from Batson's excitement over getting his superheroes, but after a while (and this drags out) the charm of the excitement wears off. There's only so many times you can hear variations of, "Dude, I can fly!" or "Dude, I can run fast!" ("Yeahdudeyoucantotallyrunfast") before you start massaging your temples. Adult Batson sees an attractive women leaving a convenience store and makes an obvious pass, "Hey, I'm, like, an adult" (or something). Yes, Batson, you sure are: an adult that acts more immature than the child actor playing the child version of your character. Your fish-eyes and moley neck aren't creepy at all.
Mark Strong is a good actor but the part of Sivana is as dry and straight as can be. He's the villain, deriving his powers from seven demons that all look alike, have simple designs (green bumpy skin and frowny faces) and stand around doing/saying nothing for 99% of the movie. If they're based on the Seven Deadly Sins, why not jazz up their appearances? Give them unique personalities and voices to match? (Wouldn't it be cool to cast someone like, I don't know, John Cleese, as Avarice? And for kicks, Jordan Peele as Wrath? It'd fit him, as his films, like Get Out, are so gross and hate-filled.)
With the excellent red costume, you'd think the film would go some way in establishing its own character or tone, but they really don't push the concept. Really, if it was me, I would've explored the theme of magic in the movie. Superman gets his powers from science (pseudo-science, of course; Earth's red sun), Batman from tech and willpower; Shazam's power comes from magic. There's a scene late in the movie where the players come to an enchanted cave where a series of doors lead to a number of different worlds, one containing alligator men wearing tuxes. Why couldn't the movie had had more moments like these? Guardians of the Galaxy is fun for the variety of alien life, cultures, and locations: think what fun you could have with magic. Instead, Shazam!'s locations are malls, convenience stores, a fair, streets, and a school, where they take the opportunity to humiliate a security guard. This humiliation was inappropriate and insensitive, given the gun violence in America (and in schools, unfortunately). Also, I really, really didn't like the scene where a national monument of Philadelphia was destroyed; the statue getting decapitated. Honour your country, Hollywood. Honour your history. Stain not thy tomb with blood.