Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Shazam! 

This is DC’s most fun film yet! DC seems like they’ve found their footing on how to do their films after the success of Wonder Woman and Aquaman and now this film it seems that they have realized that trying different tones and styles is refreshing instead of always making every single one dark and gritty. Which they’ve been trying to replicate since the success of the Dark Knight and now it seems like they are trying new and different things which I love. 

Firstly, Shazam is very much a breath of fresh air as most of what is in it hasn’t been done before with having elements of a foster kid and people who are disabled and just very different themes that I haven’t seen explored in a DC film before. And I love that as the film is very much using very different styles it brings key elements of great dramatic weight and then has the brooding evilness that is the antagonist and the sheer optimism and fun of the lead. This film was such fun for a great amount of reasons the number one being the Lead Actor Zachary Levi who gives one of the most hilariously enjoyable performances I’ve seen in a superhero film as the film really rests on his performance at times and he makes it work. He’s very much reacting to everything around him which makes for great comedic moments as what was an aspect that was hilarious but also something I loved was that he’s just exploring and finding out what powers he has and thinking how cool it is as to many superhero films they just think yea I have powers but here it’s how someone who respond like I have powers what can I do and it’s that approach and humour that blended so well with the style and story. The supporting cast all also give terrific fun performances as well as Mark Strong as the Antagonist you can really see he’s having fun with the role. All involved contribute greatly to the film escalating the film with their great performances. 

Secondly, I love The approach to the film as they discuss other characters from their universe and the many tones the film layered in was more then I thought. As the film as one side is a film about being a foster kid and trying to find his mother and father the second one being that it’s a origin story for Shazam and setting up that world and then having backstory and context for the antagonist also and their able to showcase and bring all three aspects of all those stories and intertwine it together in a way that was well structured and felt very smooth they balance some heavy themes and also the lighter themes very well never feeling like it outweighed the other. It is a comedy superhero origin film wrapped with fantastic depth and a emotional aspect you don’t expect that really works greatly. 

Lastly, Shazam! Is unlike anything DC has done before which is refreshing as it brings great humour and great emotion giving one of their best films yet from DC and giving a great time at the theatre introducing you to a character you’ll be in love with by the time the credit roll Shazam! Is a great time to be had I highly recommend people check this film out. 

Rated PG - 13 : for intense sequences of action, language, and suggestive material

This film tells the story of Billy Batson a Foster kid who is trying to find his parents and one day encounters a god like person who gives him the powers he posses and whenever he says the word Shazam! Turns into a superhero adult version of himself

Zachary Levi : Levi gives a star making performance! Zachary is a character actor that’s popped up in films over the years from Tv but hasn’t really established himself as a big breakout star as a lead in a film until this film. Here he plays the adult version of Billy and really relishes in each moment onscreen. He has this adult childlike innocence to him that comes across as charming and incredibly humorous as for the entire film he’s very much reacting to everything and that easily could of got annoying very quick but Zachary dose it in a way that is so well timed and executed onscreen you can’t help but love it. He reacts to how anyone would if you got superpowers and what’s great about his performance is you can see his incredible charisma and energy just pop onscreen. As every line and every scene he’s so supercharged with energy and his delivery is fantastic as he says his dialogue in such a endearing and genuine way that when he’s very enthusiastic you believe him as he gets you to love him within the first five minutes he’s onscreen as he’s able to show his great comedic side and then also show that he can be a stoic hero and also show some depth of emotion as well and not just be a one note performance which I liked he’s able and dose show great sides to him that are all different and steal the show of the film with his terrific leading performance in this film he just gets you to want the film to keep going as it’s such fun with him onscreen that you don’t want it to end. Zachary Levi was perfect for this role and just nailed it onscreen with his great range as an actor and fantastic charisma too Zachary is so much fun to watch in this film he gives such an entertaining performance that is hilariously fantastic. 

David F. Sandberg : David has crafted a damn enjoyable film full of incredible lengths of energy. David brought us lights out a few years ago showing his strength as at tackling horror and here he tackles the superhero genre showing he can do any genre. Here he brings great brushes of comedy and drama with deep emotion and mixed them together and he result is fantastic. He gets you to have great fun as the comedy is smartly played out as it’s never over used it’s well timed and it lands every time as he also shows the outlook of if you had superpowers how would you react it makes for very entertaining scenes and the entire cast jells so well onscreen having tremulous chemistry and also having a fantastic antagonist too. It all was very evenly balanced and well executed showing a great origin story that is more then a origin story with great depth to it that I hadn’t seen DC explore before and David executes it amazingly well onscreen. Making the humour work and then toning it down when needed for the more smaller emotional moments that shine onscreen. And it’s that ability to be strict with himself and now when to pull back in the tones that was smartly done that made the film work so well as he let the audience breath from a joke with a serious moment and then switch it up he just was able to capture a fun and enjoyable origin story of a character you may not know in such an entertaining way you’ll want to see more and part of the great reason it works is due to the director and David proves himself capable of tackling a big budget superhero film like this while Introducing the audience to a character they may not know and getting you to fall in love with it he just shows great childlike wonder with fantastic action emotion and heart which makes the film shine so bright David gives solid direction on this film.