{"id":18097,"date":"2019-04-03T15:05:53","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T22:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=18097"},"modified":"2019-04-03T15:05:53","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T22:05:53","slug":"shazam-has-humor-and-levity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=18097","title":{"rendered":"SHAZAM! Has Humor and Levity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Another week, another comic book movie adaptation. This time\nout, it’s one of the less familiar superheroes, arriving as part of the latest\nDC line of features. Shazam!<\/em> comes from the film universe that began in\n2013 and includes titles like Batman v Superman<\/em> and Justice League<\/em>.\nThis particular title takes a less somber and serious approach, emphasizing\nhumor over tortured superhero souls. The end results aren’t perfect, and the flick\ntakes a bit of time to find its rhythm. Still, it’s a far better and infinitely\nmore entertaining film than any of the other DC features that have been\nreleased in the last six years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As previous DC titles have displayed, nasty forces are on\nthe rise. A once great and now aging Wizard (Djimon Hounsou), sends out a\nsignal to find the most noble and pure of heart to take his mantle in the fight\nagainst evil. Unfortunately, no one on the planet qualifies for the position. When\nthe sinister Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong) manifests the spirits and powers\nof the seven deadly sins, the city of Philadelphia\ncomes under threat. With no one else on the roster, the Wizard gives troubled\nfoster teen Billy Batson (Asher Angel) incredible abilities. The boy becomes an\nidealized version of himself, taking on the form of adult superhero, Shazam\n(Zachary Levi). Billy looks to roommate and comic book aficionado Freddy (Jack\nDylan Grazer) for help in determining what to do next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are some awkward bits early on as the movie attempts\nto push through the introductions and story exposition. In the first half-hour,\nit’s mainly up to the kids to deliver jokes. They manage to pull some of them\noff, but a few of them are as written a bit clumsy and not all of them work. Like\nin other DC flicks, occasionally the jokes are based around violent actions and\nas a result these moments don’t always come off as particularly funny. Still,\nthe goofier tone in general helps the blunter attempts at levity come across as\nless maladjusted and just as simple misfires in a feature full of humor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie really picks up with the introduction of Levi as\nShazam. He’s very entertaining in the role of superhero, perfectly emulating a\n14-year-old trapped in an adult’s body. Most of the advertising for the film\nrevolves around the training in the middle of the movie and these moments are\nthe story’s most effective bits. The fact that this story’s hero is essentially\na boy is also a great asset to the feature. This is not a perfect individual who\nseems flawless and unstoppable. Instead, he’s a imperfect character whose powers\nare out of his control and difficult to manage. Billy doesn’t have the maturity\nto process and deal with what is happening, which means the premise itself has the\npotential for more drama and humor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gags arrive rapidly after the intro to Shazam and it results\nin plenty of scenes with a comedic bent that do work effectively. This includes\nthe newly minted superhero’s excitement at being given the “powers”\nof purchasing beer at a local convenience store without reprisal. While\nattempting to foil a robbery and unexpectedly learning that his body or suit\ncan repel bullets, the excited and eager teen asks to be shot in the face by\nthe armed criminals. And late in the film, there’s an extremely funny gag that\nrevolves around the villain’s lengthy and impassioned “bad guy\nspeech” that doesn’t come across as intended. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ultimately, the characters and story are sweet and the action is fast and entertaining. While some of the humor doesn’t quite hit the mark, a lot of it does land thanks to Levi’s work as the central superhero. And the uniqueness of the Shazam!<\/em> concept allows for a bit of drama, while still not taking itself too seriously. This makes the movie a heck of lot more fun than other DC entries and will please most comic book fans young and old. Finally, for those interested, there are two extra bits at the end of the film; one scene that sets up another (somewhat obscure) villain for a future installment, and a post-credits gag. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another week, another comic book movie adaptation. This time out, it’s one of the less familiar superheroes, arriving as part of the latest DC line of features. Shazam! comes from the film universe that began in 2013 and includes titles like Batman v Superman and Justice League. This particular title takes a less somber and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,1877,4668,4669,5376,5378,5380,5959,10089,13269,18207,18208,18209,18210,19362,24725],"class_list":["post-18097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-asher-angel","tag-comic-book","tag-comic-book-adaptation","tag-dc","tag-dc-comics","tag-dc-universe","tag-djimon-hounsou","tag-jack-dylan-grazer","tag-mark-strong","tag-shazam-2","tag-shazam-film-review","tag-shazam-movie-review","tag-shazam-review","tag-superhero","tag-zachary-levi"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18097\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}