So here's where I talk about that whole comic-book movie fatigue thing again, you know the drill. Origin stories, underdogs, unlikely heroes, that whole problem. But in a shocking twist it looks like Warner Bros have finally gone and pulled off that whole awkward course correction they tried to force with Aquaman. After that bizarre and overblown Atlantean adventure almost-mostly kind of working, they've actually gone at beaten Disney at their own game with a story that out-Marvels Captain Marvel. You see Shazam was once called Captain Marvel and there were rights issues... it's like a whole thing. It's not important, what matters is the resulting film isn't dull and badly structured. Instead it's irreverent, heartfelt and weirdly satisfying.
In a way this is their own Iron-Man, a story about a lower-tier character nobody expected much from. It comes complete with a selfish central hero who needs to sort his life out, and a villain who's clearly a dark reflection of himself. The result is a likeable tale that kicks things into gear and ends up painting a picture of a far more enjoyable franchise future. The components are familiar, but this is a particularly cheesy film with a lightness not found elsewhere; mixing laughs with a few good dramatic beats along the way. To balance this it even throws in a bunch of horror movie moments that keep things interesting while reflecting the director's previous efforts. It's a strange, eclectic, and thoroughly entertaining film, one that makes you wonder what things could have been like if they'd have started here.
The story opens not with the origin of our hero but that of the villain as a boy, in a striking car crash set piece that introduces the wizard Shazam (Djimon Hounsou). Denied the chance to wield supernatural powers, the child grows up to be Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong) a scientist obsessed with finding the wizard's hidden world. It really sets the stage in terms of the sometimes violent nature of the story, as well as the characterisation involved. For once there's an antagonist with reasonable motives. His chiding father's words (John Glover) may be a bit on the nose - that Thaddeus needs to be a man and not believe in magic - but it's still a great opening. The idea of a reckless figure handing out power to anyone as long as they're 'pure of heart' isn't addressed directly, but the results are explored soon enough.
Years later Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is an orphaned troublemaker, running from foster homes and causing problems for the police in an attempt to find his real mother. Again it's a relatable situation, although again some of the family values are rather on the nose. But the classic character inversion is pretty effective with Billy desperate to find and forgive a parental figure he's never met while Dr. Sivana is desperate to punish his own family and prove them wrong. Along the way of course Billy causes more grief for his latest adoptive family and runs across a familiar wizard's cave. Will he rise up and become a paragon of justice... or will be just behave like a teenager suddenly put in an adult's (magic powered gold plated) shoes? The resulting what-if fantasy is the strongest element here.
Of course he behaves in a way that is entirely appropriate for a boy that is able to transform into an adult, and the film makers get a lot of mileage from this Tom Hanks-esque premise. Super-hero obsessed foster-brother Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) has both Batman and Superman souvenirs in his bedroom, and so he comes along for the ride as they explore and document what Billy might be capable of. Large sections of the film are devoted to adult Billy (Zachary Levi) goofing around and doing everything from skipping school posing as his own adoptive father, to seeing what goes in inside certain adult establishments. It's not very original of course, but it's never boring. Soon Billy finds he can deflect bullets, fire lighting bolts from his fingers, and even leap over tall buildings in a single bound, attracting unwanted attention of the bad guy.
While this super-strength testing montage goes on Dr. Silvana is inevitably on the track of the original Shazam, and soon finds he can wield another power in the form of the 'Seven Deadly Sins'. These ancient demons are one of a few strange elements that seem to be a direct reference to Ghostbusters, but the mayhem they cause is a highlight of the story. A lot of the film suffers from bland and sometimes flat cinematography, but it shines whenever these sort of weirder, darker inclusions are on screen. It also seems to get an increased budget during these moments and the creature effects are surprisingly good. I don't think there are many practical effects on show (beyond great joke involving a magic door to another realm) but for the most part the monsters look believable. The generic grey designs are a let down, but it's better than yet another grey CGI villain.
These effects driven moments have been given enough focus where it matters, even if some of the action beats are occasionally too long. In terms of the performances for young and adult Billy things aren't exactly seamless, but the cast as a whole brings a lot of charm to the proceedings. At times the whole family drama feels a bit too much like a pastiche, but as a central theme it also works. When it needs to be funny it pulls it off most of the time, and when it needs to be dramatic there are enough character moments. Billy soon finds that he has to grow up, in more ways than one. Like in a real movie. His other new siblings are too numerous to feel fleshed out at all, but they're also likeable and there's a cute payoff to certain ideas set in place during the first act.
It's not all a well oiled machine in this way, and there are a few gremlins in the narrative along the way. The inclusion of both real life social media in particular stands out as something that will not age well. Elsewhere there are nods to other fictional characters from this universe that can be a little obnoxious, particularly when their appearances in a shared franchise aren't exactly secure. But these are minor distractions rather than major roadblocks. For the most part this feels like a real fresh start for the series rather than a half measure, and I'm interested to see where it all leads. Like Sam Raimi's Spider-Man it goes to show that sometimes horror movie directors work best when they're allowed to be creative and lend their talents to a story that's corny, silly, and a good time.
4/5
BONUS REVIEW
ALITA BATTLE ANGEL (2019)
Speaking of corny, Robert Rodriguez is back with another effects fuelled action film. This time with the backing of James Cameron who for the longest time had this on his own director's schedule. The effects centric approach found in Avatar with the creative mind that brought us Machete? What a nightmare. But it has to be said I was wrong to be so negative about this project as the results are pretty solid overall. It's not perfect and feels like a whole lot of manga source material crushed down into a single feature running time, but it's weird and cute and action packed where appropriate. It's not without its issues of course, but even those uncanny valley designs for the title character work a lot better in motion than the original trailer footage might have led anyone to believe.
Alita (Rosa Salazar) is a typical amnesiac hero, a machine warrior found in a scrap-heap by Dr. Ido (Christoph Waltz) who becomes her father figure after losing his own family. It's all incredibly trite, particularly when potential love interest Hugo (Keean Johnson) arrives to show her new around town. The whole thing feels like a set up so that each character can deliver pages of expository dialogue to the fish out of water protagonist. In some cases it seems like whole scenes and characters exist only to explain what this futuristic world is and why the place is full of part-robot bounty hunters and cyborg sports stars. But unlike dry and awkward CGI driven stories like John Carter or Jupiter Ascending this all eventually comes together and creates a likeable action adventure.
A lot of this is because of the central character (and performance) as she leaps between innocent surrogate daughter to ass-kicking super soldier, but it also has a lot do to with the creativity on show. There are pretty tactile cityscapes, robotic hunting dogs, lunar warfare sequences and plenty of strange character designs. It's not perfect, but it's a far cry from the green-screen nightmare it might have been, and a lot of the effects work is impressive. A simple bar fight and an extravagant race track scene stand out as some of the most memorable sequences. The finale feels like one set piece too far and it leans heavily into sequel bait instead of a proper resolution, but in general it's way better than it might have been when you look back at the other American attempts to adapt Japanese science fiction for the big screen.
3/5
