#18: Shazam! (2019)

You know me, for the most part, I like the DCEU. I don't think it's perfect, I understand the criticisms, but I like how they immediately started by breaking the mold instead of waiting 20-some odd movies to do so.

This is really the tone they've been trying so hard to strike, and they nailed it.

 This opens with parental abuse and car accidents - I didn't expect something described as a "Fun adventure for the entire family" to do that.

Some of the imagery is what I call 'dark with purpose' - it's not dark for the sake of being the DCEU, instead it shows Sivana anger/lack of morals.

The enemy isn't a big CGI world destroying villain, it's one angry dude.

The hero's moral struggle isn't "We have to do this bc we're metahumans." It's "Where does my value as a person come from?"

Is there a humongous disconnect between how Asher Angel and Zachary Levi play the same character? Yeah, it's still tolerable and funny.

Spoilers beneath the cut;



For the longest time, when I saw that clip of Billy jumping off of the roof and shouting "Shazam!", I thought he was attempting (and then changing his mind) suicide because his birth mother intentionally abandoned him to police custody when he was a toddler and she did not want him back in the present day, because that's just how somber and serious the serious moments have been.

This is also insanely funny, a lot of snarky, one-liner humor. It works better for me than Marvel's sometimes long drawn out scenes, doing their damndest to wring out one last chuckle sometimes.

The cinematography is surprisingly spectacular, though there are moments of slightly obvious CGI. Climax is too long for me, particularly the carnival sequences, with far less drama or intensity than the preceding scenes.

I love that DCEU doesn't kill their villains (for the most part). Because they have villains worth sticking around. I want to see Sivana again, especially with the character they tease at the end.