Shazam!

Jaysus, the nonstop barrage of Superhero movies would wear you out sometimes wouldn't it. Marvel, DC, Marvel, DC, MEGA Marvel etc etc etc. As enjoyable as they are they all tend to follow the same routine and most of the time you can guess each and every story beat before it occurs. Origin stories are especially predictable. Audience expectation and the need to introduce characters to non comic book reading viewers molds everyone of them into the same shape. Shazam! does the same thing but adds so much fun and a few moments imbued with such genuine emotion that it makes some other origin stories look anaemic beside it.

Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is a foster kid troubled by the disappearance of his mother when he was a toddler. Never able to find comfort in a foster home, he's constantly on the run and falling afoul of the law. His newest home is with the kind and understanding Victor and Rosa plus their 5 other foster kids. Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) is the closest in age to him and they go to school together. One day he stands up to a pair of bully's attacking Freddy and this act of selflessness causes him to be granted with superpowers beyond his wildest dreams. To activate his new powers all he needs to utter is the word "Shazam!" and he's transformed into a caped, lycra clad superhero (Zachery Levi) who really looks the part. Unbeknownst to Billy a man named Thaddeus Sivana wants to get his hands on the powers to and will go to any length to get them.

In a film containing a scene where a man has his head bitten off by a demon before he's thrown out of a skyscraper window, the most violent moment in Shazam is when a young man learns a horrible truth from his past. It's brutal. But it's real. For me it's what makes this film a little bit unique in the field of Super hero movies. In a genre built on wish fulfillment it's a harsh reminder that not everything works out well in the end. It's this small moment, as horrible as it is, that made me fall for this film in a big way. It works because you give a shit about the young man onscreen. There but for the grace of....well...whoever you believe in, anyone of us could be in his situation (familial now, not super powers). Asher Angel as Billy sells the hell out of his part, his heartbreak, his feeling of rejection and eventually his exhilaration. He's the heart of the film but Zachary Levi is the funny bone. Known mostly for his work on the highly entertaining TV show Chuck, here he brings great comic timing as the grown up version of an excited kid and he does look genuinely convincing as the City of Brotherly Love's version of the Man of Steel. It's only a pity both actors couldn't be onscreen at the same time.

It's not all misery of course. It's hilarious in places. Billy's joy at turning into Shazam and the discovery of his new powers makes for a highly entertaining middle third of the movie. What would a young teenager do with super powers? Why he'd buy beer (and hate it), take on bad guys, get free money and free food and of course visit a strip club. Of course it's all posted up on Youtube and before he knows it he's the new caped crusader of Philadelphia. Poor aul Rocky is in the halfpenny place now. The city is delighted. This film is set in the DC extended universe so everyone's heard of Superman and Batman and now they have their own hero. It's his new found fame that gets the attention of Thaddeus Sivana and it's here the film starts to fall into the expected comic book movie tropes. 

Sivana's a pretty decent bad guy actually. Mark Strong is nicely threatening in the part and for a change he isn't a CGI monster. Just a normal fella with a nifty pair of shades and a ropey eye. We see just how dangerous he is during a demonic boardroom massacre that will scare the younger kids in the audience, guaranteed. But it's his story line where the predictability kicks in. His subplot kind of divides the film in two as well. It's all darkness and chaos in his world. Shazam's world is fun and laughter. They eventually clash with a fully expected CGI explosion but at least here all the action takes place in a small fun fair instead of in a city falling apart all around them. That's one cliche that's thankfully subverted.

Shazam! is well worth a watch. Even if you are feeling burned out by superhero stories at this stage there's enough in here to restore your faith in them. All that and the last 10 seconds will definitely make you feel like a giddy child again.