Go expecting a destruction-fest a la Justice League and you’ll feel off kilter – but go expecting a funny bubblegum action movie and you’ll revel in it
NOTHING needs a hit more than the DC Universe. For all my sins, I’ve tended to fly in the face of it’s popularity - Loved Wonder Woman, hated Aquaman, didn’t mind Batman Vs Superman.
All these films were, at launch, seen as the reset button for what was thought to be a moribund, poorer cousin of the Marvel Universe (not unfairly it has to be said).
Whilst we have Joaquin Phoenix’s awesome looking Joker coming in October and Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman 2 next year, the saviour of DC seems to have come early, from the most unlikely of sources.
Shazam! is a strange phenomena in superhero films — namely that it’s been created first and foremost for young, fun-loving fans whilst inadvertently appealing to nearly everyone.
It’s a kid’s version of Deadpool. Wry, innocent, funny and exciting without feeling the need to hoist itself on it’s own petard. It’s not perfect, a lot of it is pretty disposable, but for an Easter Holiday doss - it’s ideal.
Ignoring the whole copyright argument furore (Shazam was called Captain Marvel originally before, well, Captain Marvel) this is a mixture of Big, Power Rangers and The Last Action Hero, Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is an orphan, forlornly searching for his mother, flitting from authority to foster home when he finds himself teleported to meet an ancient wizard-type figure called Shazam, an bloke who has spent centuries looking for someone to pass the baton and responsibility onto.
Billy is chosen, and now all he has to do is utter the immortal word (Shazam, duh!) and he is transformed into a muscly hunk in spandex and a cape, but crucially still with the mind of a young boy.
With the help of his buddy Freddie (played excellently by IT’s Jack Dylan Grazer) he has to learn what his powers are, how to use them, what his responsibilities are and - gulp! how to fend off the threat of bad Dr. Sivana (Mark Stong), who needs Shazam’s powers for evil purposes. Whilst Billy works out how to defeat his foe, he must also learn to keep his ego in check and use his gift for good rather than personal gain (which must surely be more than being automatic phone charger for his schoolmates - great scene!).
Look, this is a really wholesome film and feels timely. Everything IRL is dank, grey - and stressful. This is the movie equivalent of the clocks going forward and daffodils breaking soil.
The foster family Billy moves in with are really nice and modern, it shows disability as an everyday part of life, is laden with good messaging and is such fun it would be cloying were it not for the smile it leaves you with.
Much like Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool, or Downey Jr as Ironman — you can’t imagine anyone other than Zachary Levi playing the adult Billy/Shazam. I found his manner too bouncy and enthusiastic at first, a bit like Jimmy Fallon after too many lemonades, but you have to get your head around the tone of the movie. Go expecting a Zach Snyder destruction-fest a la Justice League and you’ll feel off kilter - but go expecting a funny bubblegum action movie and you’ll revel in it.
As I said - it’s not perfect. It suffers, as a lot of these movies do, from boring baddie syndrome. Studios need to apply some of the creativity they use on the heroes for the dark side too - it’s simply not enough anymore to have a megalomaniac with an evil agenda building up to a climactic fight among skyscrapers. Been there done that a billion times.
But you know what, this is still a right laugh and will put a smile on your face. The hero we need at the moment.
