Oh Captain, my Captain...Shazam?
I’m about to nerd out for a second. Billy Batson was the original Captain Marvel. Carol Danvers wasn’t even the original Captain Marvel in the Marvel continuum. The MCU has done a good job of making the DCEU like a bunch of Johnny Come Lately’s despite the fact that they’ve ripped each other off for the better part of a century. But that’s neither here nor there. Let’s get into it.
I took my boys to see this last night. I’ve often said movies shouldn’t be rated based on the motives and agendas behind them. They should be rated solely on their entertainment value, and then one can discuss the deeper philosophy. While being a fantasy-action movie, I have to rate this particular gem as a comedy based on the number of belly laughs I subjected the rest of the moviegoers to. It was a lot. So many that the row of teenagers behind me started mocking my boisterous laugh. That’s fine. I’ll get my older brother to beat them up.
The plot involves the wizard Shazam searching for his “champion”; someone of pure heart who can be endowed with supernatural powers so as to protect the earth from the demonic physical embodiment of the seven deadly sins. My vote would have been Morgan Freeman, but that movie would have had a more mature tone and rating. Billy Batson seems to be a young boy lacking in purity of heart. The first time we meet him he’s faking a crime so as to steal time on a policeman’s patrol car computer, along with that policeman’s lunch (philly cheese steaks, to be precise). But due to the clever maneuvering by the movie’s Dr. Silvana (so many villains and heroes are doctors in comic books), the wizard (Djimon Hondsu and his gravel-voiced delivery is always strong, but his beard and long hair are worse than the beards in Gettysburg) is forced to settle for the boy. Of course, Billy makes some mistakes along the way but ends up developing as a character enough to stand up to the task.
Zachary Levi plays the not-titular hero a little goofier than the actual Billy Batson. Batson is actually quite serious. Maybe he gains a sense of humor along with his other powers when he shouts the wizard’s name. Nonetheless, Levi plays a loopy teenager in a powerful superhero’s body with a genuineness sorely lacking in today’s cynical times. He and John Krasinski are two of the few who have found respectable success since their NBC shows finished up. On top of looking much like one another, they have both bulked up for respective roles. One pines for the movie in which Krasinski plays Levi’s only slightly more serious older brother in a brother buddy cop movie. Mark Strong, while “bald villain” is standard fare for him, still does work worthy of his last name. Dr. Silvana’s backstory and actions resulting from it are understandable, but not executed with as much aplomb one could want. You should be less aware that you’re watching a movie as the film goes on, and the opening scene makes one painfully aware they are watching a movie.
The child actors beyond Billy and Freddy are a bit disappointing, but there’s a delicious surprise in the climax awaiting those willing to look past this. I’m a child of the 90’s and the use of video game terms “hadouken” and “fatality” are beyond delightful. Jerry from Walking Dead (played by Cooper Andrews) brings a slice of charm to an already charming movie equal to the size of his imposing Pacific Islander frame. Themes of what to do once one’s blood family lets them down ring true for the hero and the villain.
The only factor lacking a bit is the hokiness of the fight scenes. Zach Snyder did two-people-flying-and-fighting much better in Man of Steel, whatever the other shortcomings of that movie. On the spectrum of fantasy violence, this movie gets too close to seeing the strings on George Reeves’ Superman. But in a movie you’d be foolish to take too seriously, that’s totally excusable.
The DCEU has struggled to find its sea legs (there’s an Aquaman pun for a movie that contains an Aquaman joke). Snyder’s vision was too self-serious. It’s fine to be gritty and have dark moments, but comic book fans shouldn’t walk out of the theater with clinical depression. The in-jokes, audience winks, crazy villains (there’s a villainous caterpillar in this movie, for chrysalis’ sake), and tonal shift of their movies represent a welcome cold shoulder to that era. I like Snyder as a filmmaker but his dramatic weaknesses are glaring when aggregating his career. He should be brought back to consult on and direct action sequences. But his nihilism should be checked at the door.
Go watch this movie, and check your serious side at the door.
