Shazam! (2019)

Starring: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, & Jack Dylan Glazer

Director: David F. Sandberg - Rating: PG-13 - Score: 3 Stars

Despite the fact that Shazam! is a DC Film, I had high hopes for it, after all the previews were terrific, it's a somewhat unique story, and it features two of the most popular young actors in all of Hollywood, however as is often the case with DC Films, I was disappointed. After participating in an act of selfless kindness, teenager Billy Bates (Asher Angel), is whisked away to another place. In this strange place, he meets a man claiming to be a high priest, who guards very special powers that can defeat all the evil in the world, powers he must relinquish. To receive these powers, all Billy has to do is say the mans name, Shazam, and just like that, Billy is a superhero. As expected, the young cast members Asher Angel and Jack Dylan Glazer had terrific chemistry and were the source of the majority of the funny moments that took place. Zachary Levi is also very good, but as DC tends to do, they gave away this entire film in the previews. Everything that looked funny, interesting, or unique about Shazam, is right in the preview. As for the rest of the film, the story is okay at best, with plenty of parts that were completely unnecessary, leading to a film that was over two hours long. Shazam was in fact about forty-five minutes longer than it needed to be, and not only was that obvious, but the filmmakers seem to know this as well, filling in a lot of scenes with boring shit that took a lot away from something with real potential. The film goes around in circle for a while, before we get to the ending and as is common for DC, the ending is a disaster. I would have to spoil too much of the film to explain to you exactly why that is, but if I'm to be honest, the ending really killed the whole film for me. I enjoyed the humor, I liked the fact that were some elements not often seen in the superhero genre, and I liked the interactions between young cast members. What I didn't appreciate was how the plot is constantly re-capped for us and I hated seeing similar scenes multiple times, especially when they don't move the story forward. I would say I'd recommend this film more towards children than adults, but the truth is, the kids in the theater with me were all restless around the ninety minute mark. The bottom line, Shazam! isn't a stinker and it drew enough interest in theaters to probably get a sequel, but in my opinion once again DC dropped the ball on a great idea and spoiled the whole thing in the trailer.