Word’s Out and It’s Good

A review of the latest DCEU installment, Shazam! by Tejas Raghuram

Shazam!–starring Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, and Jack Dylan Grazer–is about a foster kid named Billy Batson (Angel) who is given the ability to turn into a superhero (Levi) just by saying the word “shazam.”  Batson’s adventures with his buff alter-ego and Freddy (Grazer), his best friend, are all geared toward their attempt to defeat the evil Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong).

So, first things first: this movie is great! Going into it, I knew that Shazam! wouldn’t suck, as the trailers were entertaining enough. However, I definitely did not expect it to be as good as it is.

One of the best things about this movie for me was that barely any of it was shown in the trailers and other marketing material, which is not something that can be said for many movies. Easily the biggest surprise about the movie was just how dark it is. There are parts of this movie that are reminiscent of films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was influential in creating the PG-13 rating. This is largely because of the villain of this film, Dr. Sivana. Strong does an excellent job portraying a character who is not cartoonishly evil, but imposing and even terrifying at times. There is one scene in a boardroom that works very well to set up Dr. Sivana as a competent foe for our hero to fight. The fact that the writers of this movie had the guts to include a scene like this is incredible, so major props to them. In addition, Dr. Sivana controls seven entities, all of whom are surprisingly scary for a family movie. While I did not love them, they still worked to establish Dr. Sivana as a serious threat.

The other part of the movie that was hidden from the trailers was Billy Batson’s foster family, the Vasquez family. They have a much bigger role than what is advertised in the trailers, which I can’t go into without spoiling the film, and they contributed to some of my favorite moments in the film. The way they were worked into the third act is very clever, and how they interact with both Billy and Shazam is very funny and great to watch.

One part of the movie that was not hidden from the trailers was its comedic elements. This is easily the funniest superhero movie or just movie, for that matter, that I have seen in a long time. My favorite part of the movie is the montage of Shazam finding out what his powers are with Freddy. It is well directed and absolutely hilarious, as the leads had excellent comedic delivery and timing, with maybe the exception of Angel.

Jack Dylan Grazer and Zachary Levi have fantastic on-screen chemistry, but this really is Levi’s movie. While he does not really step up his game compared to his other works, in this film he is very good at what he does, and it shows. The one place where he falters, however, is in the more serious elements of the movie. Levi does a decent job in the dramatic scenes; when his performance is weak, the rest of the main and supporting cast picks up the slack. Probably the best here is Grazer, who is able to sell the dramatic moments of the movie without it coming across as overacting.

This movie, though, is by no means perfect. One major problem I had with it right from the start is the clicheed nature of its premise. It is another story about evil beings breaking free from the control of the good guys, who have grown too weak to contain them any longer. The only reason that I was able to take this movie seriously was that the movie poked fun at itself, so I was able to laugh with the movie rather than at it.

As for the action, it is honestly not great in this movie. The scenes with Shazam and Dr. Sivana flying around and punching each other around Philadelphia bring up flashbacks of Man of Steel, only with less wanton destruction. However, this did not detract much from the film at all. What makes the action fun to watch is the comedy, as there are plenty of jokes and funny moments throughout all of the fights. There is also one part of the final battle that is super cool, and that I really want to talk about, but I can’t without spoiling the movie.

Overall, Shazam! is a hilarious superhero adventure that is able to toe the line between family film and dark thriller without skewing either way. Despite its lackluster action, the film succeeds through the comedic performances from the leads as well as its great supporting cast. This movie completely exceeded my expectations and delivered a well directed and well written story despite having a familiar premise. So far, Shazam! is easily the best superhero film of 2019 (at least, maybe, for the next 19 days). I would definitely recommend everyone to go and see this movie. Even if you didn’t like the trailers, there is so much good stuff not shown in the trailers that Shazam! is definitely worth a watch.