‘Shazam’ Movie Review

“Fun and hearty,
Shazam is a breath of fresh air in the convoluted DC universe.”

Slowly and steadily DC are making GOOD movies, and not universe BUILDING movies. Shazam is a prime example of this. DC is finally delivering after the horrific Snyder- Verse and Justice League ( we shouldn’t talk about it that much ).

This movie has what usually superhero films lack i.e., heart. This addition of *heart* elevates the movie and is the centre of Shazam.

It makes the characters relatable which might sound easy but it is a really difficult thing to do. Shazam has minor flaws (which movie doesn’t) but they’re overshadowed by the fact that it is a very self aware film and doesn’t take itself too seriously but it becomes serious when it has to. This balance was maintained very well throughout which is very impressive. Now let’s go to the spoilers.

Spoilers ahead:

I’ll start off saying that Thaddeus Sivana ( Mark Strong ) is one of the best supervillains till date. Might sound controversial to some, but his character set up was done so well that I’m compelled to say this. He’s not at the level of The Joker played by Heath Ledger but he comes close. The boardroom scene (you know which one I’m talking about IF you’ve seen Shazam) was the turning point. When Dr. Sivana threw his brother out of the window, that is the moment I realized that the movie just got real. And the 7 spirits which followed later was handled particularly well by the VFX team. David F. Sandberg, the director of Annabelle: Creation and Lights Out brought his *horror* skills in this light hearted film shockingly well. Shazam ( Zachary Levi ) perfectly embodied the thinking of a 14- year old kid, Billy Batson ( Asher Angel ). Both were very well handled in the film. The subplot of Billy and his mother was done very well. It dodged all the possible clichés and had me impressed.

Now, the heart of the film i.e. the foster home of Billy. Freddy ( Jack Dylan Grazer ) delivered the dose of humour and Darla ( Faithe Herman ) was adorable. Billy’s foster parents were the most heartwarming characters I’ve ever seen put to film. Now, to the technical aspects. The background score wasn’t up to the mark and felt flat at times. The editing was top notch and the cinematography was up to the mark.

With the budget of only 80 million, pretty low considering the budget of other superhero films which are usually around 150 million, Shazam delivers a fun, entertaining and heartwarming film with a relevant message.

Story: Excellent
Performance: Excellent 
Treatment: Good 
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Recommendation: 
If you're a superhero film viewer, then it's a must watch.