The DC Comics movies are frequently overshadowed by their monstrously magnificent Marvel counterparts. Most people agree that the DC Comics movies are subpar at best, with a few exceptions. “Shazam!” is one of the exceptions — for the most part.
“Shazam” tells the story of Billy Batson, a foster child who has run away from every family that has adopted him while he searches for his real mother. After standing up to a couple of bullies, Billy flees and finds himself in a strange place. An encounter with an old wizard leaves him with the ability to say “shazam” to gain a multitude of superpowers. At the same time, Billy struggles to stop a man who seeks to have similar powers.
“Shazam!” delivers on something that most other movies can’t claim — a realistic portrayal of a kid with superpowers. At first, he acts immature and selfish, expecting money for selfies with strangers and using his powers to get money from a vending machine, among other misadventures. His friend and foster brother, Freddy Freeman, films the two testing Billy’s powers and uses it to garner YouTube views. Just look at the poster, which features Billy, as Shazam, texting and chewing bubblegum: the picture of maturity, I know. Most movies are about good people that gain powers, or tragedies that lead to the hero resolving to fight, but, until the end, this movie features two immature kids who don’t know how to responsibly deal with the fact that one of them has powers. It’s a refreshing and fun take on the traditional “kid gets powers” story, and this movie has humor that hits. If nothing else, go for the jokes.
Nevertheless, this movie suffers from serious pacing issues that are most apparent in the beginning through the rushed exposition, but they permeate other parts of the story. The movie also doesn’t allow the viewer to absorb the atmosphere of a scene and truly understand it; they’re thrown from one scene to the next.
“The fights might be lame, but at least they are consistently lame”
The pacing issue is largely contained in the beginning of the movie, but the end of the movie has its own share of problems that appear mainly in the form of boring action. While it’s understandable that Billy is probably an inexperienced fighter, there are moments where you expect him to burst out of nowhere and deliver a megaton punch to the villain, but he doesn’t. While there are moments of heroic triumph, virtually none of them are in the fights scenes, which already suffer from dull choreography.
Despite these issues, the writing is quite consistent. The fights might be lame, but at least they are consistently lame. There were plenty of moments where Billy confidently shouts “Shazam!” as he heads towards a conflict; these moments were iconic. Even with the poor pacing, the plot is clear and easy to follow while also staying true to itself and avoiding complication. The characters were always true to themselves as well, which made them very real. None of the characters were particularly annoying, which is also something that most movies can’t claim.
In the end, “Shazam!” is pretty average. It’s not bad by any means; it has a few cool moments, a lot of great humor and a consistent story that tackles the superhero archetype in a fairly new way. However, it lacks impressive writing, interesting fight scenes, a fascinating villain and good pacing. Still, if you’re in the mood for a humorous, fun movie and you have some time to kill, give “Shazam!” a watch.
