SHAZAM!, a superhero film that serves one for the books.
Serving a little background for the hero, Shazam was originally named Captain Marvel but then had to be rebranded as Shazam after the name had been bought; I assume we all know who bought the name.
Our famed lightning superhero feature starts off with introducing us to the villain as a kid while showing us what will lead him down this path of evil. Honestly his upbringing was terrible and kind of leads you to understand a bit why he turns into the proclaimed Doctor Thaddeus Sivana.
Then introducing us to the wizard Shazam who will be giving our hero Billy his abilities later in the film. The problem gets set up pretty early and were almost automatically introduced to what will be happening. Billy Batson aka Shazam played by Asher Angel for Billy while Zachary Levi plays the adult hero Shazam.
Now the film is centered on our hero Billy, after making some not so good choices, looking for his mother, whom by the way abandoned him 4 years ago in a crowd and, catch this, NEVER LOOKS FOR HIM. Lands himself in a group home where it honestly isn’t so bad but with our main character being so closed off based off of what he went through, he won’t see it as such until later in the film.
We're then introduced to the foster children in the group home who contribute most of the laughs throughout the film, especially Freddy, Billy’s foster brother, who really pushes our hero to well become a hero. As the film progresses and Billy obtains his superpowers becoming the almighty Shazam just by saying the name, he begins to let the power go to his head.
The film had more laughs than I thought it would while also serving up some awesome action and special effects. The villain was self serving and deserving to be called the villain as it is shown early on he means business and wants to do nothing but command Shazam to transfer over his powers.
While not giving away too much, you learn in the beginning where our villain's vendetta with Shazam truly comes from. My favorite scene, however, comes from the third act, the ultimate climax scene where something takes place that, in my opinion, transcends the film into legendary superhero movie status. Without giving away too much, lets just say I wouldn’t be surprised if the film got a sequel titled “The Shazam Family.”
With actors like Adrien Brody, Meagan Good and Ross Butler making appearances, you’ll just have to check it out to really understand the jaw dropping moment. A great start for the Shazam franchise, showcasing a hero not seen much in live action while delivering a positive light-hearted take on it while also showing the true meaning of family. I absolutely can not wait for this franchise to flourish. Shazam will definitely live on.
Echo Grade: B
