SHAZAM!: DC Hits A Heroic Grand Slam

It’s easy to feel burned by the hype that greets pretty much every new project from Warner Bros. and DC Films. Ever since the studio shifted away from the perpetually moody heroes of its early output with the revolutionary help of Patty Jenkins‘ Wonder Woman, it feels like each new DC movie has been viewed as the film that will finally solidify the production company as a rival to Kevin Feige‘s Marvel juggernaut, proving once and for all that the origin story of Gal Gadot‘s Diana Prince was no fluke. Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon‘s Justice League and James Wan‘s Aquaman were hailed as saviors of the brand, but in this critic’s humble view, that faithful praise was misbegotten.

But this one is different.

On paper, David F. Sandberg‘s Shazam! seemed like a solid single for DC – less ambitious and visually wonky than its recent predecessors, though not exactly aiming to be a game-changing blockbuster. Considering Sandberg‘s somewhat mixed track record (Annabelle: Creation and Lights Out showed a talent for jump scares, but little success elsewhere) and my own indifferent reaction to the whole DC endeavor, the best case scenario for Billy Batson’s cinematic origin appeared to be nothing more than a mildly pleasing diversion.

Again, I can’t emphasize enough that this one is really different. To use a baseball metaphor, Shazam! is, I kid you not, a walk-off grand slam in extra innings, a film that feels like a statement from a studio and director working so hard to finally get it all right. Even in comparison to Marvel’s crowd-pleasing, fan favorite action movies, the unique combination of a distinctly retro flavor, a heartfelt story, and a one-of-a-kind tone elevates Sandberg‘s third feature to the top of the superhero canon. I have not grinned from ear-to-ear like this for a long time, and it’s been a while since an eruption of applause at a film’s end felt so earned. Shazam! is, to borrow from the hero’s original name, marvelous in every way.

Billy Batson Becomes a Hero

Amusingly enough, the film doesn’t start with the eponymous superhero- instead, Sandberg opts to begin with the origins of a boy named Thaddeus Sivana (Ethan Pugiotto). On a long car ride with his pretentious father and equally despicable brother, bespectacled young Thad is suddenly transported to another dimension, where the aging Wizard Shazam (Djimon Hounsou) offers him a set of powers. Shazam is in constant conflict with the physical manifestations of the Seven Deadly Sins, which is why he needs to transfer his powers to someone who is pure of heart. But Thad is tempted by the Seven Deadly Sins, and he is quickly banished by the Wizard, never to return again. Call it “A Supervillain is Born.”

Decades later, Billy Batson (Asher Angel) becomes the latest ordinary kid to get swept into this world of magic and mystery. First, Billy is introduced as a lonely, trouble-making foster kid; separated from his mother at a young age, he has since jumped from home to home, breaking rules along the way. After another run-in with the law, Billy finds himself transferred to the home of Victor and Rosa Vasquez (Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans), former foster kids who have established a refuge of their own for a new generation. Among the many kids in the house, Billy is quickly paired with Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), a fast-talking, self-identified “disabled foster kid” who happens to be obsessed with superheroes.

Being the moody teen that he is, Billy doesn’t quite acclimate to his new surroundings and new family. But when school bullies pick on Freddy, his true nature comes out – he fights them off, eventually escaping through the Philadelphia subway. Which is when things get interesting for Billy.

The Wizard, whose powers are weakening by the day, summons Batson into his lair, searching again for someone who can take his abilities. When asked if he’s pure of heart, Billy immediately refuses, but the Wizard insists that he take the powers that have belonged to him for so long. In a flash, this teenage kid has acquired the powers of a god – which means he can buy beer and spark viral videos, of course. Eventually, Billy’s new powers as Shazam (played by Zachary Levi) will be tested with the re-emergence of Sivana (Mark Strong), who spent years waiting for this moment of revenge.

Rejuvenation of the Archetypal Origin Story

With a story of hero vs. villain, good vs. evil, and purity vs. corruption, I wouldn’t exactly say that Shazam! is a revolutionary step forward in the superhero genre. The irreverent and mildly subversive strains of deeply self-aware humor resemble a more kid-centric version of the raunchy satire of Deadpool, but Sandberg and screenwriter Henry Gayden are firmly working in archetypal superhero movie territory here. Unlike Captain Marvel‘s fractured structure or other recent films that have re-tooled the origin story as an introduction to a greater universe (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse comes to mind), Shazam! is as earnest and straight-forward as these movies get.

Which, inevitably, is a large part of why it’s so charming. Billy Batson and Freddy Freeman exist in a world where Superman, Batman, and Aquaman all exist, but by limiting the film’s scope firmly to this set of characters and their world in contemporary Philadelphia, Sandberg is able to make something more thoughtful and more satisfying than even most Marvel films of the last few years. Consider the film’s attention to Sivana, a villain who could seem like a glorified prop in a lesser film. Instead, there’s something crucial about the way he’s introduced from the outset, allowing the establishment of his tragic backstory and motivation to function not as an afterthought, but as a core element of the film.

That’s not to say that Sivana is a great villain by any stretch, but there’s an integral, consistently intriguing duality between a kid who becomes a hero and this shy, bullied kid who was denied that opportunity so many years ago. What the careful attention to Sivana’s character displays best is the film’s embrace of the entire ensemble; no character is deprived of their moment in the sun, no matter how small. Shazam! has fewer movie stars and recognizable characters than your average superhero saga, but with their roles here, Sandberg may have just turned a few unknown actors into stars. The cast of young performers who play fellow foster kids at the Vasquez’s home (Faithe Herman, Ian Chen, Grace Fulton, and Jovan Armand) are especially terrific, and the payoff of their story is so phenomenal that I wanted to leap up and cheer.

Blast from the Past

Of course, the thrilling character arcs permitted by Gayden‘s top-notch script and Sandberg‘s strong direction aren’t the only impressive thing about Shazam! This movie is also a pure dose of popcorn entertainment from start to finish; in fact, it’s so positively joyous that calling it “fun,” the standard superlative hurled at superhero films that don’t pass the litmus test in other areas, feels like a diminutive understatement. Though its Big-influenced concept certainly lends itself well to laughs (there’s a direct reference to Penny Marshall‘s film; I was the only one who laughed in my theater), the hilarity generated by Zachary Levi and Jack Dylan Grazer is enough to have even the most serious-minded viewers in stitches. Shazam! is funny without being obnoxious, using its jokes as a natural extension of its core character’s journey from random teen to super-powered hero.

It is also, in many ways, a genre film, something that isn’t necessarily surprising coming from Sandberg. From the very first trailer, I could sense that there was a bit of a Big Trouble in Little China influence in play, but that John Carpenter-esque sensibility is even more apparent in the final film. Sivana walks around with the visual embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins, who seem to have been crafted as physical, stop-motion models, with a degree of care that is rare to find in modern blockbusters. DC has always been more interested in the realm of gods and monsters, but Shazam! finds a way to make that concept amusing and frightening, putting its villains to use for some retro fun. Plus, the film has the zippy energy of something that was ripped right out of the 1980s, enhanced by Levi‘s deliciously daffy performance and a kind of zaniness that is often as wickedly amusing as it is mildly terrifying.

Last but certainly not least, Shazam! may be the first superhero movie that also doubles as a full-blown Christmas movie, even if Shane Black kinda sorta did this in Iron Man 3 (beyond that, Christmas has obviously been a running motif throughout his entire career). The fusion of Christmas iconography and the tropes of the superhero genre is brilliant on a number of levels, but Sandberg goes so heavy on the Christmas atmosphere that it becomes practically inseparable from the film’s family-oriented themes, linking the songs and the mood of the holidays to this heartfelt story. And best of all, if you’re looking to separate yourself from the superhero pack, why not make a movie that people will almost inevitably revisit around the holidays? I know it’s practically destined to enter my yearly rotation.

Shazam!: Conclusion

Shazam!, naturally, isn’t without its small share of problems. At 132 minutes, the film can’t always sustain its comic and narrative momentum, slipping into mildly tedious lulls; a manufactured fight between Billy and Freddy is the low point.

But these are minor quibbles in the face of a film that’s such a joy to behold in so many ways, a roller-coaster ride of wonderfully heroic glory. It’s a cliche at this point to say that a film made you feel like a kid again, but at a certain point in Shazam!, my critical facilities shut off and I found myself laughing and cheering like an elementary school kid who drank too much caffeine. At a time when the superhero genre is growing, with many comic book films being directly compared to their literary origins, Shazam! is the first film that tapped into my own memories of this vital comic book spirit, reinvigorating cliches that were long presumed to be dead and buried. For lack of a better word, this movie simply rules, and DC would be smart to hand Sandberg the keys to the future of their kingdom. He’s earned it after this one.

What did you think of Shazam! ? What’s been your favorite of DC’s recent output? Let us know in the comments below!

Shazam! will be released in the US and UK on April 5, 2019. For full international release information, click here.