When I walked into the theatre lobby with my family I asked for three tickets to Captain Marvel. My daughter yanked hard on my arm and said "PAPA! NO!" The thing is, I was thinking thinking "Shazam!" but I said "Captain Marvel", because, well, the character now known as "Shazam" was always "Captain Marvel" to me.
If you're not steeped in comics lore, then perhaps this means nothing to you. It's a long sordid tale of copyright infringement, lapsed use and corporate rivalries, not worth getting into in a movie that doesn't really deal with any of it. Point is, the character now known as Shazam until recently bore the name Captain Marvel until DC finally conceded the name to their primary competition.
Having done so, back in 2015 DC Comics relaunched the character in 2015, a reinvention that forms the foundation of what we see in Shazam! on screen. With a new name comes a vast amount of changes for the character, his background, and his supporting cast, changes I've been reluctant to accept in comics, but after seeing the movie, I'm all in for.
I enjoyed the hell out of this movie.
Things are about to get very spoilery.
SPOILER WARNING
First, the basics. Shazam! is the story of Billy Batson, an orphaned teen who is bestowed the power of Shazam (an acronym for wisdom of Solomon, strength of Hercules, stamina of Atlas, power of Zeus, courage of Achilles, and speed of Mercury) by the ancient wizard Shazam who needs a new champion on Earth to protect it against the evils of the seven deadly sins. When Billy Batson says the wizard's name he is magically transformed into a beefy superhero in red tights, white cape and lightning bolt insignia.
Shazam! first reinvention is Dr. Sivana, who was sort of Captain Marvel's Lex Luthor figure. Historically Sivana was a puny little wisp of a man, certainly not a physical counter to the brawn of Captain Marvel, but he was a mad scientist who would use said mad science to oppose the big red cheese (yes, seriously, the character was colloquially known as "the big red cheese"...not quite as inspired as "the caped crusader"). Here Sivana is played by Mark Strong (in his second DC supervillain role after playing Sinestro in the aptly maligned Green Lantern ), not a small or puny man by any measure. As a boy in the 1970's he was one of many chosen to be the wizard's champion who failed the test of being able to resist the sins of greed, lust, envy, gluttony, pride, wrath and sloth. Years have passed and he's scoured the world trying to find a path back to the wizard, to get his power, and he's successful, only instead of getting the wizard's power, he frees the seven deadly sins and gains their power (which is oddly the equal of Shazam's).
With the sins freed, Shazam is desperate and accepts Billy Batson (again an orphan here, one abandoned by his mother at age 5) as his champion. Billy's been recently placed in a new foster home where five other children of varying ages and ethnicities live under the care of a very loving couple. Billy is bunked with Freddy Freeman, an enthusiastic kid and superhero fanboy (where in the real world we fanboy over comic book and movie heroes, in this world, Superman and Batman are real). When Billy gets his powers, he looks to Freddy to help him figure things out, which Freddy does by documenting and sharing the power tests on youtube (they include lightning powers which is a new power set for the character, but makes sense for the power of Zeus). This draws the attention of Sivana, again, craving the wizard's power and he begins to stalk Philadelphia's new superhero.
The changes here are plenty. Billy historically was kind of a goody two-shoes, and a real go-getter (often as a boy reporter for a radio station, which seems more far fetched than being a kid who can magically transform into a superhero). Here Billy is pretty singularly focused on finding his mother, ditching school and getting in trouble with the cops. He's been looking out for himself for so long, he doesn't know what it's like to be looked out for by others, nor what it's like to look out for others, nor what it's like to be accepted. The foster home dynamic is one of the film's greatest strengths. A great cast of young actors fills in the roles of a very sweet cobbled-together family. I was instantly endeared to all of them.
Asher Angel, playing Billy, is like a younger, more charismatic Tobey Maguire, and even though he does some cheeky things, you can tell through his performance that he's a wounded soul who is trying to protect himself from further hurt. He sometimes makes bad choices, but for good reasons. Transforming into Shazam, he's played by Zachary Levi who brings his considerable charms to the screen, a real enthusiasm and zeal for the role he's playing. He's tonally consistent with Asher's performance, if perhaps even more amped up by all the incredible things he can do. Freddy is played by Jack Dylan Grazer who amazing at being very excitable, a motormouth, and representing a kid whose defenses to being disabled and an orphan are to be almost offensively extroverted.
Shazam! was produced with a modest budget as far as superhero films are concerned, and it keeps things pretty small-scale, but that's exactly what works for it. The film really focuses in on the relationship between Billy/Shazam and Freddy, making it a buddy comedy in many regards. But their quick friendship is tested by the fact that they really don't know each other all that well. The story is a very personal one, and not just a showy power fantasy. The fact that, in the third act, Billy shares his power with his new family means that the power fantasy isn't just exclusive to the white kids in the audience which maybe the thing I was most reticent to accept going into the film but most excited about coming out of it. (I was spoiled to this happening by the action figures of the transformed foster kids that were released in the weeks coming into the film).
I could have gripes with how thinly portrayed Sivana is or how utterly nonthreatening the seven deadly sins are or just the nonsense rules of magic but the film is too much fun. The tone of the film is on-point for reinventing the DCU. Where Wonder Woman and Aquaman still had to pull themselves out of the shadow of Zack Snyder's bleary, grimdark DCEU, Shazam is vibrant and lively, full of humour and a few little frights. There's a bit of a Ghostbusters vibe to this, with some scary monsters, a few frightening scenes, but a lot of comedy bits and casual swearing. So not for the little, little ones, but pre-teens and up should be wholly entertained.
no comment about Toronto watching? :)
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