Shazam! Review

Shazam! was directed by David F Sandberg, and stars Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer and Djimon Hounsou. It is based on the DC comics character.

This film is about an orphan who receives the power to turn into an adult superhero with a range of powers whenever he says the word ‘shazam!’. And like the last DC comics adaptation, Aquaman, this film goes for a more light-hearted approach that sometimes works and other times does not.

The performances in this film are rather mixed, Levi for example embodies the childlike personality of the hero very well and has fun with it, but someone like Jack Dylan Grazer at times seems very energetic and very loud and very annoying. I think the most notable performance is Mark Strong as the villain. He was charismatic, had good screen presence and when he is in a scene there’s no doubt the whole room belongs to him.

The film was scripted by Henry Gayden. He has given the script a very basic origin story, with a greater emphasis on fun and humour, plus some drama to balance things out. While I do think all these things are balanced out well, I will say that if you want to get a laugh out of this it will require the acceptance and ability to laugh at low-grade humour; if you can’t do that you will find it unbearably obnoxious!

The film was shot by Maxime Alexandre, and unfortunately looks unremarkable, the only thing that stood out to me as visually interesting is the look of the cave and the things that surround it, as they are very different from everything else and you feel a change of tone every time you see them.

The score was composed by Benjamín Wallfisch who has composed a very formulaic superhero movie score. This is especially evident in his main theme- instead of trying to write something original, he appears to have chosen the best-loved superhero themes, made his own adjustments to them and compiled them all together. The result does sound adventurous and exciting, but there is no denying it’s lacking in ambition and inspiration.

Here is my major flaw with this film – it’s the main character of Shazam! I feel like that there is nothing much at stake with him because he seems invulnerable to anything that happens. Any time he does appear to suffer harm, it’s used for comic relief. Plus, when the time comes for him to seriously fight a villain he’s backed up by another four or five heroes, all with their own powers. This only adds to his invulnerability, and lack of believability. The climactic fight just feels overlong and boring.

The conclusions I draw from this are that Shazam! has some variable performances, a humorous script where sometimes the jokes land successfully and at other times do not. There’s only one thing that’s visually interesting to look at and to finish it you have a score with a main theme that suits the movie but is an undeniable imitation of various other themes. The film also fails badly in the areas of investment in the characters and their believability.

Having taken all my pros and cons into account, I’m going to give Shazam!..

C

Thank you for reading.