Film Review : "Shazam"

As a kid I was more into D/C characters than I am now, though even then I preferred Marvel. So while I have an appreciation for Captain Marvel, who we are now back to referring as Shazam, despite the fact he came before Carol Danvers, I don't have an emotional investment in the character. In fact before Kelly Sue DeConnick began to write her. In the battle of the two Captain Marvel movies I will go ahead and say that this one wins. I think what puts this movie over the caped shoulders of most D/C movies is the tone stands out. While Aqua-man, tried to add a bit of levity to things, this movie does a better job of that. Does it at time wear out it's welcome with the "Big" inspired jokes, somewhat though it does directly wink at this fact. I think it succeeds in the same way Guardians of the Galaxy did for Marvel movies.

It falls into a few tired superhero tropes, with a villain who is an inverse mirror image of the hero. Not that he has as deep of a rogues gallery as Bat-man or Super-Man. I also think bringing in the whole Marvel family was jumping the shark a bit. I get that it is a part of his mythology, but it turned the end of the movie in one of the typical D/C cgi fests that seems to be a reoccurring problem for the post -Nolan films. The bulk of the movie was fun and made the most out of the fact it was an origin story. While I normally dislike origin movies, I think the fact the story of Billy meets the Wizard has not been told a half dozen times helps.

The 7 Deadly Sins felt like monsters from Ghostbusters, but once again the tone of the film made this work. As far as D/C goes I think this movie was much better than Aqua-Man. It stands shoulder to shoulder with Wonder Woman , and perhaps a little better since aside from the Little Rascals elements it comes closer to the comic books. If you are a fan of the comic book, then you are going to feel the same way I felt about the Dr. Strange movie. It did the best it could given the medium being used to tell the story in this day and age. In fact Shazam needed an origin more than Dr. Strange did. The acting is better than bulk of the post- Nolan films and I think it could set the tone for movies to come if D/C is smart..