Shazam!

Official Australian release date: 4/4/19. Viewed: 4/4/19.

Directors: David F. Sandberg

Actors: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Jack Grazer, Asher Angel

Genre: Action / Comedy

Rating: M

‘Shazam!’ is the seventh DCEU film and is similar to ‘Aquaman’, in that it’s a standalone origin story, but could also easily link into future ‘Justice League’ films. It also has a similar tone, being a bit less serious in parts, thanks to the protagonists being teenagers – Billy (Angel) and Freddy (Grazer). It’s from the director of ‘Annabelle: Creation’ and ‘Lights Out’, which explains the bits of the film that are a bit darker – it is rated M, not PG, mostly due to how the “seven deadly sins” are portrayed. But it’s definitely not ‘Batman v Superman’ or ‘Suicide Squad’ darkness/quality.

It starts a little slow, as we follow a flashback of Thad (Strong) as a kid – why? He later reappears as the antagonist, and is always fun to watch him as the bad guy. The film does a solid job of introducing Billy and his backstory and why he’s a foster kid. The home life gives the story heart and meaning, with all five of the other kids having enough character development. Freddy gets the most screentime, and most of the film has you wishing he was the one who becomes Shazam/Captain Marvel (Levi), rather than Billy! Levi's good, even if his chest is so fake it distracts half the time!

When it finally does happen, it’s fun to see the “learn how to use superpowers” montage (set to Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Now’). There’s actually quite a few laugh-out-loud moments, as it takes a fairly tongue-in-cheek approach to comic book films – and it gets to reference Batman and Superman heaps, as this comes after the other three films they’re in. It’s a bit long at 130min, there’s some slow patches and some of the fight scenes are a little forced, but it holds together quite well and has more good moments than bad.

Overall: Fun, slightly different, comic book origin.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.