Lauren Loveless | staff writer
Following DC’s recent success with Aquaman, expectations have been high for the super hero franchise. And although it wouldn’t take too much to top the mediocre-at-best film, DC has been known to disappoint fans with its’ output. So when the trailer dropped for Shazam, I must admit I was a bit skeptical. Despite being funny, the content didn’t look very promising or awe-worthy.
However, my opinion of the movie changed rapidly upon viewing it via early access.
I expected Shazam to be a light hearted children’s movie with little substance and cheesy graphics. And although the CGI wasn’t god tier by any means, it wasn’t necessarily horrible either. Moreover, the film is chaotic and there are some scenes that should not be viewed by child audiences. I don’t want to spoil anything, but rest assure that although humorous, the movie does have its’ dark parts.
The beginning of the movie was very well done, in my opinion. It kicks off by introducing the central villain who plagues our not so heroic main character. It’s dramatic and not at all what you’d be expecting from a movie called Shazam. And of course we also get introduced to Billy Batson, who holsters significant emotional trauma and a grudge against all foster families.
Everything in the movie is going swell, smoothly paced and angst free, until Billy gets his powers. In my opinion, this is where the film goes down hill.
Obsessed with his new abilities, Billy reveals his more self centered and harsh sides, by developing something akin to a power complex. It’s unpleasant to watch and thoroughly ruins the middle of the film, which is debatably the impactual segment. I found myself cringing and annoyed with the main character for the remainder of the film, which kind of swayed my opinion onto the more negative side.
However, at the end of the film of course there’s that big redemption ark and the fight with the villain and his goonies. So perhaps the moral of the story is all’s well that ends well, because I didn’t really catch anything besides a kid with an inflated ego and his irritating side kick.
Despite the overwhelming positive reviews from critics, I must give Shazam a six out of ten, just for the sake of the unappealing plot.
