Film Review - Shazam! (12A)

Oh hey, 'sup? I'm a super-hero!

With the current slew of comic-book movies taking up space in mainstream cinema, a fresh approach for each is essential. Shazam! (note exclamation mark) is all freshness, and one of the most instantly likeable films of the year to date. For all its two-hour running time it's pretty much pure joy, revelling in its premise - Tom Hanks' Big revisited as a super-hero flick - but managing to be something more.

Asher Angel plays Billy Batson, a fourteen-year-old runaway from numerous foster homes, who's considering doing a similar disappearing act from his latest carers (the amiable Vasquez family). That's until he encounters an ancient wizard (Djimon Hounsou), who's searching for a pure soul to defend Earth against - well - some bad supernatural dudes. Billy is granted the power to transform himself via the word 'Shazam!', into a super-powered adult version of himself, complete with spandex suit and Christopher Reeve physique. Sharing his secret is fellow foster-kid Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), a wise-cracking misfit, who has insight into the workings of the whole 'super' thing. Together they set about exploring the nature of Billy's powers, while elsewhere the evil of which Billy has been warned is brewing...

Shazam! is chiefly memorable for its sheer comic exuberance, an element which comes into full force once Billy transforms for the first time. By then we're already up to speed on the lad's grim backstory and have met his new foster clan (underneath all the super-heroic hi-jinx this is an open-hearted tale of finding family, with Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans radiating warmth as the surrogate parents). Time has also been spent establishing Billy's rapport with the fast-talking Freddy, so that there's a sense of the developing relationship, even as he zaps back and forth between his teen self and the eponymous super-guy. However gleefully silly the film becomes, it's grounded in real human connection.

As Shazam, Zachary Levi (best known for his TV and voiceover work) gives a performance to be treasured, one that fully embraces his gauche inner teen. There's not a false vocal note or physical tic here to blow the illusion - you accept instantly that this is the adolescent Billy in a Superman body. The effect is duly hilarious. Teen awkwardness combines with boyish euphoria at being granted amazing abilities - cue much sweetly judged slapstick as Billy tests his boundaries. Grazer serves as a terrific foil (he's already impressed as hypochondriac Eddie Kaspbrak in 2017's horror sensation IT), managing to be funny and affecting, a vulnerable kid basking in his friend's magical good fortune. It's the year's most original double-act - one half of it shared by actors twenty-two years apart. 

The Vasquez' motley foster-crew provide an additional ensemble feel, while Mark Strong does good villain duties as the embittered Dr. Thaddeus Savana. Always dependable, Strong peps up the scenes that traditionally bog down a superhero origins tale. His character arc also adds some dark 12A horror elements at odds with the sense of fairground fun elsewhere. There's a whole lot going on here - arguably too much - in a story that might benefit from some editorial trimming in its final act. Happily its exhilaration and the lovable nature of its characters carry you to the end.

Shazam! is DC's most satisfying creative achievement to date - a cohesive standalone tale like Wonder Woman or Aquaman, but with a sharper screenplay than either of those two. It's a bubblegum crowd-pleaser making cheeky reference to a wider comic-book universe, but existing on its own terms. You'll love the boyish escapades of Billy and Freddy so much that when the sequel is teased, you won't mind a jot. Bring it on. Let's Shazam! some more.

Gut Reaction: Laughter - the out-loud kind and lots of it. Also some genuinely warm fuzzies.

Memorable Moment: The super-power testing montage.

Ed's Verdict: 8/10. 'Big' in its comedy and sincere in its characterisation, Shazam! is this year's Bumblebee - a family event movie with heart and a massive sense of fun. Take the kids, particularly your own inner one.