‘Shazam!’: Movie Review

After the massive success of DC’s last outing ‘Aquaman’, which was pretty grand in scale with a huge underwater world and a lot of CGI (which worked well for that movie), it is surprising to see DC taking a U-turn, deciding to tell a much more down to earth story of one of its lesser known heroes. And it is a pleasant surprise, that yields a simple yet effective story which brings back the fun in what is seemingly the thankless job of a superhero. DC’s course correction to focus on character stories in genres that suit the key players (looking forward to Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker later this year) feels like a smart move, and I hope it’ll deliver good results. 

‘Shazam!’ tells the story of Billy Baston (Asher Angel), a foster kid who keeps escaping out of foster care looking for his birth mother. When he gets taken into a group home with five other foster kids, Billy befriends one of the kids Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer), a superhero enthusiast on crutches. When standing up for Freddy as he is bullied at school one day, Billy ends up being transported to a magical hidden temple in another dimension, and granted the powers of Shazam, an ancient hero who protects the world from manifestations of the seven deadly sins. On saying out the name, Billy gets transformed to the grown-up superhero version (Zachary Levi). Billy, with help from Freddy, must now explore his new-found superpowers and navigate the responsibilities around wielding it, all in time to counter the threat from supervillain Thaddeus Silvana (Mark Strong).

The refreshing thing about ‘Shazam!’ is the lightness of touch and the grounding of the stakes involved – it makes for a more personal tale which gives a chance for us to get to know these characters and their motivations. And, more importantly, this movie focuses on one aspect of superhero life that DC seems to actively go against – that the superhero life can be “fun”. The movie is whacky and incredulous, but it does not take itself seriously and calls itself out on its ridiculousness – and this is what lends the movie its USP. The movie plays with the trope of a young boy being endowed with super powers, and the interactions between Shazam and Freddy, which plays with this very well, provides some of the best moments of the movie.

The acting is very good. Zachary Levi is perfect as the man-child superhero, and his chemistry with Jack Dylan Grazer is great. Asher Angel is impressive as Billy. Mark Strong is menacing yet understated, and you really do get a sense of his character’s motivations. The rest of the support cast are all in good form too.

All in all, ‘Shazam!’ is a fun popcorn entertainer that will leave you with a smile on your face.