'Shazam!" A Review

Shazam! is a superhero film about an orphan boy Billy Batson(Asher Angel) who gets placed in the latest in a long line of foster homes. After standing up to some bullies for his foster brother Freddy(Jack Dylan Grazer) Billy is then summoned by wizard Shazam(Djimon Hounsou) and given his powers which are activated by saying his name. Billy transforms into his superhero self(Zachary Levi) and initially him and Freddy experiment with the identity for social media popularity and financial gain. Dr. Thaddeus Sivana(Mark Strong), spurned by Shazam as a child for being corrupt, confronts the wizard as an adult and allows himself to be possessed by the seven deadly sins in exchange for power. The inevitable confrontation ensues.

Both Angel and Levi as Billy have an earnest wise-cracking charm that engages the heart and keeps things moving and light enough to still be fun. We are engaged in the transformation the character goes through and we still get the fun of the superhero-as-Big concept and the thrill of the action. Strong is solid as always and brings necessary commitment and gravitas, his usual, to a story that could very easily veer into the laughable. The real stars though are the foster parents and siblings of Billys defacto family. Grazer has the biggest part, as fast talking wry nerd, but Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans(the foster parents) and Faithe Herman, Grace Fulton, Ian Chen, and Jovan Armand(the foster siblings) all give Billy and his story a fullness and heart that uplift and augment an already solid piece of entertainment to something actually compelling(especially for the DCEU).

The sound track is solid, the costumes are bold and colorful, and the action is captured with a fantastic realism that is playful and fun. There is no somber, rain soaked, CGI battle that plagues many a superhero film. The action is clearly visible, the production design has a flare for the fantastic even if the cinematography is more pedestrian. It all works together to make a unique and appropriately aged superhero story. A surprise treat.

See It.