Who doesn't know Marvel's famous character, Captain Marvel, the one with extreme super powers. Shazam is its another form, but in the DC world, and with some modifications.
a little background...
Characters of Captain Marvel and Superman have been in conflicts with each other from the very begining of their debuts, in the late 1930s. They both represent most powerful persons on earth, with different backgrounds, one is an alien and the other one is turned into a super being by the majic, but these two characters have many similarities ... speed, strength etc.
... but, here is an interesting fact, if you go through the history of these two characters, you'll find that the most of the super powers, Superman today has, are inspired from Captain Marvel, even some of the Superman comics characters are inspired from Captain Marvel comics, and became part of the Superman comics when one of the Captain Marvel comics writer, Otto Binder, started writing for Superman.
Why and when, Otto Binder started writing for Superman comics, that's an interesting read, you can find it on the net.
story & review...
Since, this is the beginning of the new Shazam appearance on the big screen , hence the story is very simple, and most of the audience, who used to watch these type of movies, could easily predict, what's gonna happen next.
Movie started with a scene in the past when a boy, teenage Doctor Sivana, was travelling with his bullying father and brother, and a wizard portaled him to his realm to decide whether he is the one, suitable for the gift of super powers in order to save the world form the evil powers of the monsters of seven sins.
When the wizard made him go through a test, he failed and was denied the gift by the wizard and sent back. This failure caused him his obsession with the realm and its powers, and afterwards he remained in search of ways to open the door/portal to the realm by hook or crook. His evil ways made him the villian of the movie.
Years passed, and finally the wizard succeeded in finding Billy Batson. Billy Batson is an orphan boy who was lost by his teenage mother (this is the most sad scene/angle of the story/movie that when he finally found his mother, he came to know that he wasn't lost but intenionally left).
Due to his age and falling health and some of Billy's character, wizard (previous Shazam) selected him for the gift and transferred the powers to young Billy. Now, whenever Billy says the magic word "SHAZAM!", he turns into an adult with extremem super powers.
After getting the powers, Billy told the whole situation to his foster brother, Freddy. Fun part of the movie begins when they tried to figure out Billy's powers, some of the these efforts are quite interesting and fun to watch. This fun part of the movie remains up until the end. Near the end of the movie, rest of Billy's foster brothers and sisters got the powers as well. They not only succeeded in defeating Doctor Sivana, but also succeeded in caging seven sins once and for all.
Even though it's not magical (pun intended), writer has not only written some very emotional scenes (very emotional if you are a kid), but also has succeeded in creating good humor, except a few dark humor scenes, and director did do justice in transforming the story into very well directed and beautiful movie. Everything is almost perfect in Shazam, best cinematography, best performance etc.
What I couldn't digest is the attitude of the character. When Billy is a boy, he is a very sensitive and serious type of boy. But, when he transformed into Shazam, he started behaving weirdly and funny. I couldn't find any logical, physical and/or psychological reason behind his this attitude. Even though, this behaviour is a part of the original characterization of the role, but still.
my favorite scenes...
- I am bullet proof...
- Your phone is charged...
Despite of having some of the extreme voilence scenes, at the end this movie left you with a "happy go lucky" type of effect.
Have a nice day.
- Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/287947-shazam
- Critic: AAA