Shazam! review

So recently I saw the latest film in the DC film universe. There was a lot riding on this film due to its previous film Aquaman being a box office success and this film hoping to continue that streak. So has this film managed to be as successful as DC biggest grossing film? Well as of writing this it has not finished its opening weekend so I don't know how much it made or making so far, however, the film might be one of the best films DC have ever produced.

The film's plot goes as follows, a street kid who goes by the name of Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is on a search to find his mother. He gets taken into a group home by his foster parents (Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans). One of the kids in the group home Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) grows a liking to Billy. Once Billy helps Freddy out from bullies at school he suddenly is transported to a cave where he meets a wizard known as Shazam (Djimon Hounsou), he then receives the power of Shazam and transforms into a superhero (Zachary Levi). He then goes to Freddy who is a superhero nerd to help him become a superhero and together they help to stop crime in Philadelphia and stop Dr Sivanna (Mark Strong) from destroying Philadelphia with the Seven Deadly Sins.

The film has many familiar faces in the film such as Zachary Levi (Shazam) and Mark Strong (Dr Sivanna). There are also new faces like Asher Angel (Billy Batson), Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), Grace Fulton (Mary Bromfield), Faithe Herman (Darla Dudley), Ian Chen (Eugene Choi) and Joven Armand (Pedro Pena). And a DC regular John Glover who plays Dr Sivanna's father.

The film's director is David F. Sandburg who has only directed horrors such as Annabelle Creation (2017) and Lights Out (2016). So he has not had any experience with these type of movies before. But for his first and hopefully not his last entry into Superhero blockbuster was a good one as he understood the character of Shazam and managed to view a different side to the DCEU that hasn't really been seen apart from the TV shows.

There a lot of good things that happen in this movie such as Zachary Levi's performance as Shazam as you can tell that he enjoys playing him and does a good performance of being a kid in an adults body. The acting was good all round with no character seeming boring or uninteresting to see on screen. There are a lot of ties to the overall DCEU from batarangs to a bullet shot at Superman which make all the films easter eggs enjoyable to spot.

However, as much as the movie does do a lot of things right, it has got some faults to it. The main villain Dr Sivanna is more a less a generic villain as he does not have much screen time in the film and is only there because they decided to give Shazam's arch-nemesis Black Adam his own solo movie which has no confirmation since that announcement. However, he does have a lot of good motivations which make Dr Sivanna not entirely forgettable. Also, some of the scenes are dragged out a bit to fill in the movie's runtime.

Overall, I would give Shazam! an 8/10- For being a fun and enjoyable film and a good addition to the overall DCEU.