Shazam!

In 2018 DC released Aquaman which I found to be one of the studio's most consistently good films. I've said it before and at the risk of repeating myself, the rest of their films have generally been a mixed bag and never quite satisfied, with the exception that is Joker.

Come 2019, DC released Shazam! that was connected to the rest of their universe but only very loosely and I heard some good things about this even if there wasn't a whole lot of excitement for it here in the UK. I knew nothing about the character going in but with DC gradually getting their show back together I recently gave this a try to see if this deserved more attention but alas it wasn't everything I had hoped it to be.

The story follows a teenage boy moving into a foster home in Philadelphia and comes across a special suit that gives him a range of super powers and also turns him into Zachary Levi. Meanwhile, Mark Strong has becomes possessed and thus adds another villain role to his collection while providing the film with its magical antagonist. It's all very forgettable but what Shazam! does well is its comedy and Levi does a good job with what he's offered. The problem is the film is very slow at the beginning, the whole story around the villain is nothing special and a few days after watching the film it's a struggle to recall much of it.

Shazam! toys with a few fun ideas but it's ultimately an unremarkable experience that will only satisfy the youngest of viewers while leaving everyone else out in the cold. For something as feather light as this is, it's hard to recommend this as it treads way too far beyond the two hour mark and not even its talented lead can help this film from escaping a sense of 'meh'. It's great to see DC looking beyond the usual favourites and exploring new stories but this one needed more time in the screen writer's room.