Cindy Prascik's Review of Shazam!

Yesterday's Flashback Cinema presentation of the Blues Brothers afforded me the opportunity to pair it with a catch-up screening of a newer release. For better or worse, I opted for Shazam.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

A streetwise foster kid learns to deal with his unwittingly-obtained super powers.

Alright, friends and fans, the usual disclaimer: I'm a DC girl. Even when other people think DC is bad, I usually think it's good. While I'm sure Shazam is somebody, somewhere's favorite,  to me he's kind of a second-rate hero, and it's doubtful I'd have bothered with this movie at all if it had been Marvel. Having said that, Shazam does have some positives, so let's start with those.

Shazam's cast is pretty likable. Outside of the extraordinary Mark Strong, there isn't anyone who would have drawn me to the cinema sans additional motivation, but, together, they're a solid unit. The two lead kids, Asher Angel and Jack Dylan Grazer, work especially well together and are quite engaging. While some green screen work is on the dicey side, the creature effects look good. The story is cute and amusing, though the movie takes longer than it should to tell it. Set during the Christmas holidays, there's a fair bit of cheery decor and even a holiday tune or two, which gives most any film a head-start towards my good graces.

Sadly, Shazam has its share of negatives as well. As mentioned, it is too long and very, very sluggish at times. While the Aquaman movie successfully turned one of comics' sillier heroes into a badass, Shazam unfortunately wallows in its ridiculousness, ostensibly for hilarity, but...well...it's really not that hilarious. As a DC fan, I cannot stand DC trying to be more Marvel, and Shazam suffers almost terminally from two of Marvel's worst defects: First, it attempts to shoe-horn humor into every possible niche, whether or not it suits the moment or is actually funny. The Iron Man "joke at least every third line" model barely works for Iron Man, nevermind for anyone else. Secondly, the film incessantly name-drops better-known (or just better) heroes. When filmmakers do this, at best, I hope they're trying to provide a level of connectivity among their universes; at worst I think they're just hoping fans' goodwill might transfer to the less-loved property. Usually it just reminds me there are other heroes with better stories I'd rather be watching. Ultimately, much like DC's Black Lightning TV series, I found the foster-family story in Shazam far more interesting than anything to do with super-powers. That would be great if it provided depth that made the movie more than "just" a super-hero film (as it does for Black Lightning), but in this case it only accents how unremarkable the rest is.

Shazam clocks in at 132 minutes and is rated PG13 for "intense sequences of action, language, and suggestive material."

Shazam is nothing special, but if your expectations aren't too high, you might spend a mostly-enjoyable couple hours with it.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Shazam gets five.

Fangirl points: In addition to the aforementioned Christmas tunes, one scene features Warrant's Cherry Pie in the background, plus Ramones over the end credits! And...uh...did I mention Mark Strong??

Until next time...