‘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.

Movie Review: ‘Super Deluxe’

Just by virtue of it being director Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s second film, ‘Super Deluxe’ generated a lot of buzz. Add to it that it has Mysskin, Nalan Kumarasamy, Neelan K. Sekar and Kumararaja himself as writers, and actors like Vijay Sethupathi and Fahadh Faasil part of the ensemble, and expectations became sky high. It is great, then, that ‘Super Deluxe’ delivers on its potential in fine style.

‘Super Deluxe’ consists of multiple storylines – there is one plot of a group of boys trying to watch a porn movie, and how it leads to two stories – one where a subgroup of friends have to try and make money quickly, and the other where one of the friends gets injured and needs to be hospitalized while his mother (Ramya Krishnan) and father (Mysskin), a self-proclaimed godman, scramble trying to heal him in their own ways. Another plot involves Vaembu (Samantha) whose lover dies during the act of lovemaking, and she now needs to dispose of the body with the help of her husband Mugil (Fahadh Faasil). Yet another plot tells the story of Manickam aka Shilpa (Vijay Sethupathi), a transwoman who comes back home and tries to come to terms with his son Rasukutty (Ashwanth Ashokkumar).

As expected with the calibre of the writers on offer, perhaps the biggest plus of ‘Super Deluxe’ is its writing. The screenplay is sharp with full of surprises, and the dialogues are pure gold. Hats off to Kumararaja for pulling off a seemingly difficult task – getting together four writers to put their styles into the plots, and seamlessly combining them to make one final product. The love for the characters and attention to detail here is clearly evident. The movie is beautifully shot, and is very stylish – the colours pop, and the camerawork is great. The background music by Yuvan Shakar Raja works perfectly (look out for the memorable ‘Star Wars’ reference). The acting here is top notch as well – Vijay Sethupathi is expectedly good in a difficult role. Bagavathi Perumal as the crooked cop Berlin is the perfect amount of creepy. Samantha, Ramya Krishnan and the boys do a great job as well. Mysskin is brilliantly cast as Arputham. But for me, the scene stealers were Ashwanth Ashokkumar as Rasukutty; and Fahadh Faasil as Mugil – the layers to his performance are just amazing!

While addressing the cons, I think the movie could have been shorter – it has been edited very well to seamlessly blend the stories, but the indulgence is evident. The runtime is quite long, and the movie would have benefitted from a reduced length, especially in the second half. Also, the movie may not be very accessible to a wider, mainstream audience – there are profanities aplenty which would dissuade family audiences, and the movie is more for the new-gen audiences and may not really be appreciated by the regular movie goers.

That being said, I count myself as a movie buff, and I can safely say – I loved ‘Super Deluxe’. There is so much going for it, and full marks to Thiagarajan Kumararaja and the entire crew for putting together such a wonderful package. I am excited to see what more Kumararaja has to offer (hopefully we get something sooner than the 8 years it took between this movie and ‘Aaranya Kaandam’.)

Movie Review: ‘Us’

After his extremely successful, Oscar winning ‘Get Out’, writer-director Jordan Peele is back with his second horror outing – ‘Us’. For those expecting an intelligent horror movie with a lot of underlying themes like his first movie, ‘Us’ would deliver – however, it should be noted that this one is not as straight forward in its storytelling as ‘Get Out’. The social commentary here is anything but direct – and most viewers (myself included) would scratch their heads trying to figure out what exactly Jordan Peele wants to say. This is evident from the amount of breakdown and exploratory videos on YouTube, which try to decode what the movie is all about.  

‘Us’ follows the Wilson family comprising of Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o), her husband Gabe (Winston Duke) and their two children (Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex) who go for a vacation to their beach house in Santa Cruz. Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) is apprehensive of the trip as it reminds her of a traumatic incident in the past, while her husband Gabe (Winston Duke) is trying to compete with his more affluent friend Josh Tyler (Tim Heidecker). Soon enough, the family are attacked by a family of doppelgängers, each of them wearing identical clothes and wielding scissors. Who are these doppelgangers, what do they want, and will the family escape them forms the plot of the movie.

As I mentioned, ‘Us’ is much more obtuse than ‘Get Out’, which seems to have disappointed a lot of the viewers. That is not to say that ‘Us’ doesn’t work – on the contrary, ‘Us’ probably is more effective as a straight up horror movie than ‘Get Out’, where the key theme of liberal racism was central to understanding the movie and was instrumental in creating a lot of the discomfort. Here, however, while the subtle meaning and the themes of classism, rise of the have-nots and how our circumstances define who we are would enhance the viewing experience, the movie is plenty scary even if you don’t really connect with the themes.

Jordan Peele is already establishing himself as a brilliant creative voice, and his direction is top notch here as well. He creates an eerie sense of discomfort and tension, more akin to something like ‘The Shining’ rather than relying on jump scares. And his liberal use of humour to undercut the tension is brilliant. It also helps that he has a stellar cast who play both the roles very well – Lupita Nyong’o is a treat to watch, and is the highlight here. But full credit to the other cast, including Winston Duke and especially the children, who give amazing performances as well.

‘Us’ is by no means an easy watch – even fans of classic horror may be put off by the movie’s ambiguous tone, open ending and indirect messages. That being said, the movie is not something you can forget easily – it would make you want to revisit it and peel off the many layers to understand the hidden meaning. I have spent quite some time researching the movie after I saw it. And any movie that is capable of generating that interest is definitely a recommendation from me (Shame that it had such a limited theatrical run in India, but would definitely recommend watching it once it is out on streaming).

Movie Review: ‘How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World’

Dreamworks Animation’s final installation of the successful ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ franchise is a definite improvement on its predecessor, and is actually quite sweet and charming. It is a fitting conclusion to the series – if you loved the previous films, chances are you will definitely love this one as well. I am not the greatest fan, and for me this one was, like its predecessors, a decent watch but wouldn’t rank among my favourites.

‘How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World’ (THW) continues to follow the story of unlikely Viking leader Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his dragon Toothless. Hiccup and his fellow dragon riders of Berk are now into saving dragons full-time – so much so that they have caught the attention of infamous dragon hunter Grimmel the Grisly (F. Murray Abraham). Hiccup must now try and find the “Hidden World” to provide a safe haven for all dragons. Meanwhile, Toothless discovers a female Fury dragon and falls head over heels in love – but is it a ploy by Grimmel to capture Toothless?

One of the key highlights on the movie is, of course, the animation – the evolution of the quality of the animation is very impressive to say the least. The detailing in this movie, in scenes of Toothless with Light Fury, and especially in the scenes in the Hidden World, are beautiful. This coupled with a good story and screenplay, which highlights the evolution of these characters, and highlights mature themes of family, relationships and letting go, and you have the basis for a fine movie. The voice acting complements these very well – so you have a well-rounded finished product.

For me, the issue was that the material never really elevates to the status of some of the best animation movies I’ve seen. The emotional heft is missing, and I felt the third act in particular was a bit flat – while it concludes the series perfectly, I felt the major conflict is resolved way too easily, and Hiccup’s misgivings are more of an afterthought.

‘THW’ is a decent watch, and if you are a fan of the series, a fitting conclusion to the franchise.

Movie Review: 'Captain Marvel'

I have enjoyed pretty much all the movies in the MCU – it is easily the most consistent movie franchise, if you can call it that. I think a large reason for that is that despite connecting threads linking it to the larger MCU, each movie had its own unique flavour, which suited the lead character and the story that was being told. Which is probably why ‘Captain Marvel’ feels underwhelming. The movie sticks to the tried and tested, but ultimately tired formula of origin movies – and with just one movie left in the current story of the MCU, playing it safe feels lacklustre.

‘Captain Marvel’ kicks off in the year 1995 with the Kree empire’s Starforce member Vers (Brie Larson), who suffers from amnesia and has recurring visions of what seems to be her past, getting trained by her mentor and commander Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), who tries to get her to control her abilities. The Kree empire’s ruler is an artificial intelligence known as the Supreme Intelligence (played by Annette Bening). After she is captured by a group of the shape-shifting enemy known as Skrulls, Vers escapes and crash-lands in Los Angeles. Her presence attracts the attention of Agent Nick Fury of the newly established S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson, made to look young by really impressive visual effects). They need to work together to fight the Skrulls threat, uncover Vers’s past and essentially save the day.

Like pretty much all Marvel movies, this one is a pretty solid movie. The acting, for one – Brie Larson is a very likeable Captain Marvel, and her chemistry with Samuel L. Jackson is probably the best thing about the movie. Jude Law is very good – so it’s a shame that he doesn’t have a lot to do. The supporting cast is pretty good too. The special effects are great, the nostalgia aspect with all the ‘90s references are fun, there are laughs to be had – there is a lot to like here.

The problem, for me at least, was that there is nothing new on offer here. There is a ho-hum feel to the entire proceedings, and I was never really invested in the story. It was emotionally quite light, and didn’t really elevate from a popcorn entertainer. Not that it is a bad thing – but I have come to expect a lot from these movies. I saw ‘Captain Marvel’ more from a continuity standpoint to be honest.

To sum up, the movie is definitely worth a watch – needless to say I guess, considering how successful it is. That being said, this is not up there among Marvel’s best offerings.

Movie Review: ‘Kumbalangi Nights’

Malayalam cinema has always fascinated me – I think it was the first movie industry I was exposed to where masala entertainers, hilarious; seemingly “mindless” comedies, and intelligent cinema (be it drama, comedy, action, whatever) coexisted homogenously under the “commercial cinema” umbrella and were equally successful. I guess it helped that I grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, which has been dubbed “the golden age of Malayalam cinema”. And I think that inherently, most of the movies at that time paid a lot of attention to the script, screenplay and dialogues, and were inherently intelligent, thoughtful and detailed in their execution. Though this changed in the 2000s, it is now heartening to see a resurgence in the film industry with some intelligent, though provoking cinema which is redefining the space of commercial cinema. ‘Kumbalangi Nights’ is one such film.

‘Kumbalangi Nights’ tells the story of four brothers – Saji (Soubin Shahir), Boney (Sreenath Bhasi), Bobby (Shane Nigam) and Franky (Mathew Thomas), who live in a small, cramped and incomplete house in the wasteland area of Kumbalangi and have troubled relations with each other. When Bobby falls in love with Babymol (Anna Ben), he needs to try and improve his job prospects, and get along with Saji to try and convince Babymol’s brother-in-law Shammi (Fahadh Faasil) to agree to the marriage. Meanwhile, events in Saji and Boney’s life involving their business partner and an American tourist respectively, change the course of their lives and force the brothers to come together and “complete” their incomplete home.

‘Kumbalangi Nights’ is a brilliant film in large part because of its script and screenplay by Syam Pushkaran, and the direction by debutante director Madhu C. Narayanan. The pacing is leisurely and almost lazy – while this may irritate some viewers, it is in sync with the scenery and the gradual payoff is rewarding. The subtlety and humour with which the movie handles its themes is delightful. The surprising element for me, which didn’t strike me immediately (probably because most of the main characters are men), is the feminist angle and the theme of toxic masculinity – while Malayalam cinema has many movies with female protagonists and themes of feminism, I think I have not seen the subject matter handled with this subtlety since ‘Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala’. I will not spoil anything, but I have to mention the brilliant climax, which took me by surprise. A word of mention also for the soundtrack, which again adds to the ambience.

The acting is very good here. Soubin Sahir and Shane Nigam especially work well together, and a scene where Boney tries to reconcile with Saji was so hilarious without trying hard at all. And of course, there is Fahadh Faasil (who is also one of the producers) – I have been sadly ignorant of a lot of his great work and am just catching up, but his performance in this movie is very special (I want to elaborate, but will not to avoid spoilers). All the other cast members also do a great job as well.

I would strongly recommend ‘Kumbalangi Nights’ for fans of good, albeit slightly offbeat, storytelling. Even if you have not watched Malayalam movies, would recommend this as an entry point if you can watch with subtitles.

Movie Review: ‘Gully Boy’

Zoya Akhtar has often been criticized that her movies are focused more on the upper class and rich people’s problems. Not sure if ‘Gully Boy’ was a conscious attempt to silence that criticism, but the way the movie captures the lives of the people living in the lower strata of society is a clear statement that Zoya is a versatile filmmaker who can succeed in making a movie on this population. ‘Gully Boy’ takes a pretty basic underdog story and puts it in a very unique setting – the underground rap scene in Mumbai.

‘Gully Boy’ tells the coming of age story of Murad (Ranveer Singh), a college going youth living in a small house in Dharawi with his mother (Amruta Subhash), grandmother (Jyothi Subhash) and his father (Vijay Raaz) who has recently remarried to a much younger woman. He is in a relationship with the feisty Safeena (Alia Bhatt) who is studying to become a doctor, and his friends include his college-mate Salman and the shady mechanic Moin (Vijay Varma). Murad is a fan of rap music and writes poetry in secret. Murad happens to see a rapper MC Sher (Siddhanth Chaturvedi) perform, and while stuck chauffeuring on behalf of his injured father, writes down lyrics which he later showcases in an open mic hosted by Sher. Sher takes Murad under his wing, and with the help of music student Sky (Kalki Koechlin), they try to make it big. Murad’s journey, with his troubled relationships and innate desire to lead a better life and follow his passions, and how he tries to achieve them while juggling the challenges life throws at him, form the crux of the story.

The direction by Zoya Akhtar is really great here. It is clear that the makers love Mumbai, and the city is captured in all its at-times glossy, at-times grimy glory. The stark contrast between the haves and the have-nots is shrewdly captured without overtly pointing it out through the glitter, the lights and the camerawork. There are many themes covered in the movie, but the extremely different lives of the people living in the same city and the inequities we see in everyday life is a constant one. That being said, there is no preaching here – the shots are visualized without any judgement, and the movie points out things without pointing fingers.

The screenplay is pretty good, even though it does not offer any surprises – it is a straight forward underdog movie. That is not to say it is not an intelligent movie – some scenes indicating the aforementioned class disparity are subtle and beautiful, and really make you think. The movie could have been shorter though, and I felt the subplot with Sky took away from the movie a bit.

The performances are perfect, and pretty much all the actors inhabit the character and their lives. Ranveer Singh slips into the skin of Murad – there is none of the flash we’re used to seeing. Murad is quiet, reflective, and hides a lot of pain he’s going through. This performance is a good indicator of Ranveer’s range and versatility. Alia Bhatt is as impressive as ever. Siddhanth Chaturvedi has a dream debut here. I would be remiss not to mention Vijay Varma, who is excellent as Moin. Other actors like Vijay Raaz and Amruta Subhash also perform very well.

And of course, there’s the music. I was not really familiar with the Mumbai rap scene, and it was a revelation for me. With scathing, thought-provoking lyrics, the music makes you ponder over issues and takes the story forward by conveying the characters’ thoughts and emotions. The slower numbers also work very well. For a movie like this, the music should be an integral part and would be a key driver for the success of the film, and boy, does it work!

On the whole, though the pacing falters at times, ‘Gully Boy’ is a definite recommendation from me.