Shazam! review – Tom Hanks’ Big with a superhero twist

Zachary Levi was born to play a child in a superhero’s body!

First things first, please note that this is a spoiler review. if you don’t want any twists and turns revealed to you about the Shazam! movie before you see it yourself, look away now…

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Okay, so I assume you’ve seen Shazam!, and I bet you were as wow’d as I was. With Warner Bros. being in muddy waters lately with their DC franchise, it needed something good to get the rep back up. Aquaman got the ball rolling on that, then Shazam! came in and sealed the deal.

Shazam! tells the story of teenage boy Billy Batson (portrayed by Andi Mack‘s Asher Angel), a young rebel who wants nothing more than to find the mother he lost at a fairground 10 years earlier. Bouncing from foster home to foster home, Batson tends to not stay in one place very long, until he finds a friend in Freddy Freeman (portrayed by It‘s Jack Dylan Grazer) and obtains mysterious powers from a mystical wizard (portrayed by Captain Marvel‘s Djimon Hounsou). This leads Batson to being able to turn himself into a super powered adult who looks an awful lot like Chuck‘s Zachary Levi by saying the name of the wizard who bestowed said powers on him…you guessed it….”SHAZAM!”.

Angel and Levi both pull off the part of Batson perfectly. Angel brings us the brooding teenager who feels man enough to take the world on by himself, sometimes almost resorting us to tears with his performance. In the case of Levi, his comedy chops are up to scratch as you would imagine. You truly believe that a teenager has been given a bulking physique and god-like powers when you watch him blast lightning from his finger tips or learn that he can fly. The way in which he first fights the film’s villain likens to how you would if you were 13 and having to fight for your life – powers or no powers.

Grazer’s Freeman is the perfect comedy partner for Levi. Both actors easily bounce off each other and you can just see the chemistry between the two. Everything – from bunking off school so they can test out Billy’s powers to being weirdly excited as they let shoplifters make sure he is bulletproof – just lands perfectly. It really gives the impression of older Josh and Billy in Big…just with a lot more muscle and lightning powers (speaking of the Hanks classic, who else loved the nod to the giant keyboard scene? Seemed forced but I don’t think anyone is complaining!). The two also work well when it comes to the issues they face, such as Billy’s misuse of his powers and Freddy’s annoyance at that.

The villain of the piece fits in perfectly, as with every solo DC movie so far in this franchise. Mark Strong’s Dr. Thaddeus Sivana is given a backstory that actually opens the movie and resonates powerfully all the way through the film’s two hours. We find out in the film’s opening minutes that it was actually a young Sivana who was first approached by Hounsou’s wizard to become his ‘champion’, but unfortunately his potential to be loyal to the Seven Deadly Sins makes him unworthy. Fast forward decades later and Sivana is still seeking a way back to the wizard’s cave to claim his power.

The side-by-side comparison of Batson and Sivana is what creates interest in the film. As the film progresses, we see Batson becoming cockier and cockier with his powers, and it begs the question, ‘what could young Thaddeus have become if he was granted powers at the same age as Billy?’. Childhood is a theme that runs right through the film when it comes to these two. Sivana’s life has been set on a course very much by that one encounter where he missed out on being given super powers, whereas Batson’s childhood is never easy even before becoming a cocky hero, and it just gets more difficult.

The story paces well, and actually makes the two hours feel like half of that! We become so engrossed in Billy learning to become a real hero and Sivana’s journey to becoming what he wanted at a young age, that we find ourselves in the third act before we know it.

The film could maybe tone it down on the CGI, but what else can you expect from a superhero genre flick? The best VFX from the film is not the lighting powers or even the flight, but easily the super-speed effect when Shazam moves. It’s appearance echoes back to The Flash tv show from the 90’s – it almost makes an old effect look new and fresh.

The final act of the film still contains the humour that helps to make this film so fun, but it also throws in emotion to remind us of where Batson’s journey started. He finally finds his mother, but it is quickly revealed that she willingly left him at a fairground and had next to no remorse. From there, Batson finds himself having to go to yet another fun-fair to save the day as his foster siblings are put in danger by Sivana. This is almost symbolic of the fact Batson lost one family in that environment, and he was refusing to lose one again.

This then leads into the ultimate twist of the film – the introduction of The Shazam family. From the names of each of the foster kids living with Billy, hardcore comic fans will know they are destined to have the same powers as Billy at one point. But, did we think that would happen this soon? Absolutely not. Some would argue that it would have been great to introduce in a potential sequel but this Shazam! movie does it to fight off Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins. Not only does it give an unexpected yet powerful end to the film, but it also symbolises that ultimately Billy works best with a family unit, both as a superhero and as a normal teenage boy. FUN FACT by the way – D.J. Cotrona and Adam Brody who portray super powered versions of both Pedro and Freddy respectively, were cast as Superman and The Flash in the abandoned Justice League: Mortal back in the noughties. Ah, what could have been.

Ultimately, Shazam! is a winner. It is yet another DC solo film that shows the franchise needs to work its way up to an ensemble film instead of rushing straight in. With clear themes, ideals and motives from both the heroes and villains, we have a solid film that deserves its rave reviews. From me, the first big Shazam! movie gets a 9/10….

Oh P.S there’s also a small Superman cameo that just didn’t work well as the final frames of the film. Wasn’t even worth mentioning in the body of this review. Next time use Cavill, Warner Bros.