After its dark stories involving Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman DC
Comics brings us its most kid friendly Superhero to date in the form of
Shazam.
Pitched somewhere between the adult humour of Deadpool and the darkness of
all the Batman stories Shazam could possibly be DCs’ best movie so far.
The story sees 14 year old Billy Batson (Asher Angel) being placed into
foster care after he’s separated from his real mother at a state fair
Vowing to find his mother he rejects any home that he’s put into and
constantly runs away.
After he has a run in with the police Billy is placed with foster parents
Victor and Rosa Vasquez (Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans) and their other
five fostered children, Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer), Mary (Grace Fulton),
Pedro (Jovan Armand), Eugene (Ian Chen) and Darla (Faithe Herman).
After Billy tries to save Freddy from bullies at school he finds himself in
the lair of an ancient wizard called Shazam (Djimon Hounsou). The Wizard it
would seem is looking for someone pure of heart who he can pass his powers
too.
Asking him to put his hand on his staff young Billy is suddenly transformed
into muscular adult Superhero Shazam ((Zachary Levi).
It doesn’t take long before Billy realises that he can change between the
two personas by saying the word Shazam. However what is not so easy is his
ability to manage his superpowers when he’s in his adult body, the middle
section of the movie sees Shazam, sometimes hilariously, learning what
powers the wizard has bestowed on him.
As is the way with comic book characters for every superhero there’s an
evil villain, in the case of Shazam his arch nemesis is Doctor Thaddeus
(Mark Strong).Thaddeus after being rejected by the wizard Shazam, because
he was not pure of heart, wants Shazam’s powers.
Shazam’s biggest plus point is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously
striking just the right blend of humour and action. Levi is particularly
good playing a child in a man’s body (there’s even a wink to the movie Big
where Tom Hanks famously played a child in a man’s body).
Shazam is a lot of fun and comes highly recommended
4/5
