Shazam! (12A.)
Directed by David F. Sandberg.
Starring Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Grace Fulton, Adam Brody and Djimon Hounsou. 132 mins.
Ever since the overwrought calamities of Batman Vs Superman and Suicide Squad, Warners have desperately been trying to persuade audiences that their DC comic book movies are fun now. Shazam is their most determinedly upbeat, smiley face superhero movie yet. In a bright red suit with a white cape and a yellow lightning strike chest crest Shazam (Levi) is no kind of Dark Knight. So much so, that initially I was wondering if just a month after the world was invited to marvel at the shattering breakthrough of the first female superhero – yeah, I don't why Wonder Woman doesn't count – DC, were trying to out woke them with the first camp superhero.
In that outfit the film doesn't really have any choice but play it for laughs. Shazam is the adult superhero alter ego of teen Billy Batson (Angel) and a lot of the film's humour is his glee at escaping into adulthood, being a kid in a superman's body, trying to work out the extent of his powers and what to do with them. And if you're thinking Tom Hanks in Big, the film acknowledges that with a neat sight gag in a toy store.
(It's not all fun and games though; Sandberg's background is in horror films and there are a few surprisingly dark moments.)
The character of Shazam dates back to the forties where he was at one time called Captain Marvel and the publishers were sued for his similarity to Superman. Though the film has that flip, knowing attitude that all comic book movies have now, or more precisely all Marvel comic book have, it harks back to an earlier, simpler age where on-screen superheroes were played by men in brightly coloured tights, conditioned to breath in whenever they heard the word "Action!"
It is lots of fun, but it is all fun that you have had before. There is nothing fresh or novel in it. Though it is about the joy of a kid playing at being a grown-up superhero, the film feels like it is moving in the opposite trajectory. Shazam has the suspiciously black hair of middle-aged game show host, and the movie is like an old fuddy duddy trying to be “with it” and down with the kids.
Directed by David F. Sandberg.
Starring Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Grace Fulton, Adam Brody and Djimon Hounsou. 132 mins.
Ever since the overwrought calamities of Batman Vs Superman and Suicide Squad, Warners have desperately been trying to persuade audiences that their DC comic book movies are fun now. Shazam is their most determinedly upbeat, smiley face superhero movie yet. In a bright red suit with a white cape and a yellow lightning strike chest crest Shazam (Levi) is no kind of Dark Knight. So much so, that initially I was wondering if just a month after the world was invited to marvel at the shattering breakthrough of the first female superhero – yeah, I don't why Wonder Woman doesn't count – DC, were trying to out woke them with the first camp superhero.
In that outfit the film doesn't really have any choice but play it for laughs. Shazam is the adult superhero alter ego of teen Billy Batson (Angel) and a lot of the film's humour is his glee at escaping into adulthood, being a kid in a superman's body, trying to work out the extent of his powers and what to do with them. And if you're thinking Tom Hanks in Big, the film acknowledges that with a neat sight gag in a toy store.
(It's not all fun and games though; Sandberg's background is in horror films and there are a few surprisingly dark moments.)
The character of Shazam dates back to the forties where he was at one time called Captain Marvel and the publishers were sued for his similarity to Superman. Though the film has that flip, knowing attitude that all comic book movies have now, or more precisely all Marvel comic book have, it harks back to an earlier, simpler age where on-screen superheroes were played by men in brightly coloured tights, conditioned to breath in whenever they heard the word "Action!"
It is lots of fun, but it is all fun that you have had before. There is nothing fresh or novel in it. Though it is about the joy of a kid playing at being a grown-up superhero, the film feels like it is moving in the opposite trajectory. Shazam has the suspiciously black hair of middle-aged game show host, and the movie is like an old fuddy duddy trying to be “with it” and down with the kids.
