SHAZAM

SHAZAM: B

A fun comedy/action comic-book flick that was full of impressive special effects, passable humor and solid performances. Visually this film was quite strong, with Zach Levi in a very believable role as a boy trapped in a man's body. In contrast, Asher Angel who seemed to be a man trapped in a boy's body. I commend the film for its courage to explore the contrast but feel it could have used more work to mesh the two together. Whereas in the film BIG with Tom Hanks, I felt the child Josh and the adult Josh were the same person throughout the film's entirety. There were times here when I didn't.

The film's greatest weakness in my opinion was the lack of exposition and proper backstory. Especially that of villain Dr. Sivana played by Mark Strong. I didn't buy the fatherly/brotherly/wizardly rejection that was quickly glossed over. I didn't see why when a countless number of others had been rejected, why he was the one destined to lead the evil. And as a result I feel this made the character rather one dimensional.

It's not that explanations weren't there at all, it's more that they felt empty and without substance. As if they were missing something. As if they could've used more.

This film was meant to entertain and it was clear a great deal of attention and detail was spent on making sure that the fight scenes were full of excitement. I personally could have used a bit more development in the characters and a greater sense of cause and effect in essence to experience and reaction.