Shazam! Review (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Story

• It was a solid and faithful adaptation of his introductory arc in the New 52
• Nothing felt out of place as far as pacing was concerned and everything happened organically
• The moral of what true family means was handled very nicely throughout the movie; it did a good job of conveying it with the version of Shazam that they went with
• It also makes the eventual arrival of Black Adam a huge deal when it happens, because it’ll be all him from the same source as Billy with quadruple the experience. With the exposition they gave about him in this movie when they hinted at his existence, the sequel has the potential to be a family friendly version of The Dark Knight 

Characters

• While I’m still salty that his Sinestro was wasted on that Green Lantern movie, I was pleasantly surprised with how they did Doctor Sivana in this along with Mark Strong’s performance. I like how they did his backstory, and I thought swapping out Black Adam for Sivana in this was a wise decision. Given the overall plot of the movie, I liked how they worked in the traditional Captain Marvel lore bits to make him more unique as opposed to a Dollar Store knockoff of Lex Luthor
• Zack Levy’s portrayal of Billy at times were very enjoyable. Because of things that I’ll get to later, I’d be lying if I said that I enjoyed 100% of it. But the stuff like figuring out his powers, the majority of the scenes of him enjoying himself, fighting Sivana and using the fact that he can do adult things in his adult body was fun to watch

Likes

• The use of the rest of the Shazam family was very well handled and was a nice way to help drive the message of family home. Personally, I wouldn’t have done a certain thing that the movie did with them until a sequel, but I understand why they were handled that way from the story the movie was trying to tell

Dislikes

• I don’t like Billy in this movie. Not to say that I don’t like Billy, because I do. I love PRE-New 52 Billy, and this movie completely channeled New 52 Billy, which I don’t like and it cut my enjoyment of this film a LOT.
• Because pre-New 52 Billy WAS pure of heart. He was always optimistic and never gave up and always tried to do the right thing no matter what, despite his situation; he DID deserve to be Shazam’s champion
• New 52 Billy - and movie Billy as a result - who’s been chosen because there were no other options left, has been “ruined by the system” and is an asshole who has to learn a valuable lesson in order to actually BE worthy. Some would argue that in order to tell the story that the movie was trying to tell that Billy HAD to be cynical and selfish, but the kicker is that you could’ve told this exact story with the Pre Flashpoint Billy and it be just as enjoyable, because it would’ve done a better job at challenging Billy and see him make those hard decisions when trying to be a hero. Kinda like in Richard Donner’s Superman when he had to choose which bomb he was gonna go after first; the one in California or the one in Hackensack, New Jersey
• Sounds like I’m gonna have to dust off the “My Version” segment when this comes out on DVD

Overall

• Considering the overall movie and having no choice but to factor in my distaste of the version of Billy Batson used in this movie, Shazam was...okay.
• It did a good job telling an origin story that fit within the timeline of the DCEU while still able to fly on its own
• Did a good job in replacing a well-known villain in the arc that inspired it with one that I believe was one of the best rewrites in his mythos when the New 52 dropped
• And did a good job executing the message of home and family is what you make of it
• Worth a theater watch, but I’d understand if you want to wait for a matinee. If I wasn’t so pressed to get the DC and Marvel films on Blu-Ray, this would be a late DVD purchase