Shazam! is a DCEU movie (kinda) starring Zachery Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Hounsou, John Glover, Faithe Herman, Grace Fulton, Ian Chen, Jovan Armand, Cooper Andrews, and Marta Milans.
Billy Batson (Angel), abandoned by his mother at a young age, has spent his life searching for, believing that he was just lost. After skipping through a bunch of foster homes, he winds up at a group home run by Victor (Andrews) and Rosa (Milans), and while he initially intends to run away from there, too, he gets in a fight defending his new foster brother Freddy (Grazer) from some bullies. He runs into the subway and gets off in a magic cave, where he meets a wizard (Hounsou), who gives him the power of magic and gods and so forth. By saying the name "Shazam" he turns into a tall, muscular dude (Levi) with the powers of flight, invulnerability, lighting zappy fingers, and super speed. The wizard claims that Batson is "pure of heart" and therefore gets to be his champion.
Of course, ain't nothing ever easy. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong) was tested as a child (played by Ethan Pugiotto) and found wanting. He spends his life searching for the cave, finally discovers it, steals a magical orb that allows him to absorb the embodiments of the Seven Deadly Sins into himself. He promptly kills his abusive father (Glover) and everyone else who works for the family company, and goes about searching for the "champion" to kill him and take his power.
It's an origin story, so of course Shazam manages to find his inner hero and takes his powers a bit more seriously, and eventually shares those powers with the other foster kids in the home so that they can team up and defeat the Sins and Sivana.
So, the DCEU in general is really hit or miss. This is a hit; Levi is perfect playing a teen in a grown man's body, and while Asher isn't altogether interesting on his own, his interactions with Grazer make his characterization come alive. I love that the other kids figure out Shazam's identity easily, and I didn't see the "Marvel Family" twist coming ("Marvel" as in Captain Marvel...no, the other one).
But with that said, the villains are boring as hell. Mark Strong is appropriately menacing as Dr. Sivana, but since he takes quick, brutal revenge on his family, there's nowhere for his character to go. His motivation is pretty sound - he was told he was going to receive magic powers, but then he was told by yet another authority figure that he wasn't good enough and never would be. Like, no excuse for multiple murders, but at the same time, like, fuck yourself, wizard. But that's never really explored - he's a supervillain, and he's good for some meta-jokes, but there's very little real drama there.
The Seven Deadly Sins, likewise, are just slimy demons. Sure, Gluttony is fat, but that's as different as they get. Which ones were Pride, Sloth, Wrath, or Lust? No idea. We only know Greed and Envy because Sivana calls Greed out by name, and Envy sticking around in Sivana's body becomes a plot point. So why not have Sloth be a big blob thing that drags people into its guts? Why not have Lust actually look human and hot, or if that's too cliche, maybe have some kind of Apple of Discord power? Why not have Wrath fly into battle screaming and biting in a blind rage? They're boring villains because they're just mooks, and like, they should be more than that.
Don't get me wrong, I like this movie. It's funny, it's light, and it pokes some fun at superhero tropes while also having some touching moments of found family and support. It's just that this is one of the best DCEU movies, and it's the equivalent of, like, a mediocre MCU movie.
My Grade: B+
Rewatch Value: High
Next up: Sherlock Holmes
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