REVIEW: Shazam! Misses The Lightning, But Creates A Spark For DCEU

Shazam! is the tale of teenage foster, Billy, who has spent his life searching for his mother. Instead he ends up gifted with the abilities of Shazam to protect the world from Dr. Thaddeus Sivana. Dr. Sivana is an evil villain out to destroy the world due to his own parental issues. Billy, while on his journey, meets his “brother”/superhero know it all, Freddy in a group home. Freddy makes it his goal to help Billy test his Shazam powers. Billy begins to learn that maybe it’s not his mother he has been searching for over the past few years, but something else.

Directed by David Sandberg, Shazam is caught between two storylines battling for center stage. One is Shazam and Freddy’s hilarious antics and brilliant chemistry as they try to discover what exactly Shazam can do. Much of the brilliance in these scenes come from Zachary Levi, who plays Shazam and Jack Dylan Glazer, as Freddy and the duos chemistry. The other storyline is Dr. Sivana and his poorly CGIed monsters causing havoc across the city. The dual storylines feel as though they are from two completely different movies. They are so different that when they finally cross paths, the fun of the film is overtaken by mediocre fight scenes. The fight scenes are weak, extremely hard to follow and contain some seriously poor dialogue. Most of the great scenes are when Shazam is with Freddy or one of his other foster siblings.

Zachary Levi plays the film’s title hero and his ability to exude such joy and innocence in almost every scene makes one forget he is an adult and not some awkward teenager learning that he has superpowers. Asher Angel steps in as Billy, Shazam’s teenage counterpart with just as much enthusiasm as Levi. Jack Dylan Glazer plays Billy’s foster brother and superhero know it all, Freddy and he is tasked with one difficult job. He has to have the same level of chemistry with Angel as he does Levin and Glazer nails it. The chemistry between all three men is infectious and one of the highlights of the film. Mark Strong steps in as the film’s villain, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, and as much as Sivana fits the simple villain card, Strong plays him with such seriousness it is sure to have the younger ones shaking.

Shazam! is another step in the right direction for DC Comics, even if it is a tiny one. The film is refreshing and different in a comic book universe being saturated with angst and turmoil. If only it could keep the refreshing atmosphere through out, it’d be one dynamite film.

Grade: C+