Shazam Review.

The highly anticipated Shazam enters the big screen after what feels like an eternity of waiting and I have to say, the wait was well worth it! It’s not my favorite of the DCEU films but it’s definitely in the top five thus far. Shazam is a story that millions of people all over the world know very well, where 15-year-old foster boy Billy Batson is found after a life long search for a child who is pure of heart to be bestowed with awesome powers by the mighty wizard Shazam. Only when the Wizards’ name is spoken, young Batson is struck by a mighty thunderbolt and transformed to his full potential and wield the mightiest of Shazam’s power.

Starring Zachary Levi (Shazam), Asher Angel (Billy Batson), Jack Dylan (Freddy Freeman), Djimon Hounsou (The Wizard) and Mark Strong (Dr Sivana)

Zachery Levi as Shazam, in my opinion, is the perfect choice as in life he embodies a man-child persona. Levi is also a major geek at heart, so he’s definitely going to think of the fans expectations and find a way to put their needs before the final cut. Asher Angel plays Billy Batson with who let’s face it, he’s a foster child, he’s untrusting and he’s very much got a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He’s very reluctant to stay in one place so I feel he’s really afraid to be loved and to show love in return. Because in his mind that’ll keep him from being hurt again. But the thing is when he’s suddenly bestowed one day with all these powers, it’s going to go to his head as all of a sudden he can become an adult whenever he wants which is an internal struggle that he’s challenged with and I really feel holds a very strong message in the feature finale.

Asher Angel plays this character with complete and total believability and really kept true to this character. Fellow foster child Freddy Freeman played by Jack Dylan Grazer is just boatloads of fun, quick-witted and boisterous and Freddy just blends so well together with Billy, it’s insane. He’s not only one of the biggest superhero slash geeks around, but he kinda keeps Billy grounded. He’s not afraid to tell him when he’s gone too far as Shazam. Plus, Grazer is in my opinion on a road leading to great opportunities in his acting carrier. I think this kid can play anything.

Dr Sivana played by Mark Strong, however, is portrayed with what I call is a very heavy Lex Luthor complex. The similarities between the two of them are very close if you ask me. Like Lex Luthor, he’s very illtreated by his very rich father at an early age and just grows up looking for power and not seeing that he basically becomes the villain of the story. Don’t get me wrong,  I didn’t hate the character, It’s just that It’s something we’ve all seen before which is unfortunate because Mark Strong is such a talented actor.

This Superman meets Big feature is a film that’s full of fun and adventure that is true to the original characters, with a purposefully campy theme at times and mixes in with a story where a boy is just looking for his home. It may not be the one he was looking for but as they say… Home is where you hang your hat. It just ticks all the boxes really. And also, I won’t tell you who it is but we get to find out who the next antagonist Shazam faces in the sequel and I am very much looking forward to seeing how that story plays out. Also on a personal level, I’m absolutely geeking out on the prospect that Dwayne Johnson is going to be playing the one and only… Black Adam. His stand-alone feature movie will be shooting in action sometime this year and I cannot wait to see it in theatres. You may already know but Black Adam originally was going to be featured in this year’s Shazam movie. The trouble was though to tell that story, both character origins would’ve had to be explained in this story. And I can understand why they didn’t go in that direction as it would’ve just been too complicated to explain and Shazam in all likelihood wouldn’t have been that successful. I’ll give you this though! Shazam vs Black Adam… It’s going to be EPIC!!! 10 out of 10 all around people.

Thanks for reading.