Has anyone seen this movie yet?

I'm in line for a screening right now, hope I get in.

Edit: welp didn't get in, Saturday it is

Yah seeing it Saturday as well. At least we’re seeing it 2 weeks early

Saw the 4:00 sneak preview or whatever they are calling the shows for Saturday 3/23.



*If mdana uses all caps when reviewing a movie, get your ass off the internet and into a seat for the next showing.

Love this movie. Soo much heart. Take your family with you and see it ASAP.

It was very enjoyable. Levi is awesome and the humor for the most part lands.

I will say [spoiler] Cavill not doing that cameo is pretty infuriating lol like you know how much more that ending would've worked? Oh well

1. Man of Steel
2. Wonder Woman
3. BvS Ultimate Edition
4. Shazam!
5. Aquaman
6. Justice League
7. Suicide Squad

It's a DC movie for sure (they are still unsure how far to blend comedy with serious tones) and while I liked Shazam! better than Aquaman and WW, given the reviews I thought this was overrated. Levi was perfectly cast for this role, his innocent over the top tone from Chuck works perfectly here. The MVP for me was Grazer even when he is annoying at times. Loved the initial build-up of Strong's character which is very rare these days. The villains are formidable as you'd expect from DC but I felt they were treated like black ogres in the final act specially after the twist. I liked the family solution in the end but something felt off; the others weren't as competent.

The discovery of superpowers became very repetitive and annoying "oh hey I can fly" in one scene when he did that in a scene before or when we have seen those trailers with a serious face. Also what the hell was he doing with that music box on the street? Earning money? Seriously? I can understand people watching it but why would they call him a superhero? Because he wore a dress and cape? He even racks a bus before few people get seriously injured while he is joking down with a bed. This part specially reminded me of DC/Snyder's superhero movies where these characters consider hero-work as a job and not responsibility. The much needed sense of fear/dread and rewards from initial build-up of Strong's villain were dealt by rushing story to push it in direction of the finale. And I know it's trying to be a family movie but the final fight was a small scale MoS ripoff (no reaping benefits of family/teamwork). All they did was fly in the end without much of a challenge to each other. The fight in the mall was choreographed much better than the finale.

I believe the sting from BvS and JL is still so fresh that critics have low expectations from DC movies but this is no where close to the sense of discovering powers theme we saw in just last year's Spiderman into the Spider-verse movie. The best way to summarize it is that it's a perfect Deadpool PG version and does what it intends to do in a fun way.

Eh, it's fun. Feels very small in scale and a bit of a wasted opportunity with a stop in the action for a gag every few minutes. It's unable to build any momentum. But I guess it's just aiming much lower than most other superhero movies. Levi is fine, I guess. Honestly I was bit bored by the time I realised nothing much was really going to happen. The first half is more enjoyable than the second because by half-way it has plateaued and doesn't raise the stakes or gags or anything. And multiple Shazams is a bit lame. Is that going to happen in every movie now?

It's better than Wonder Woman and Justice League and Aquaman but nowhere near Man of Steel or even BvS. DC still can't touch that masterpiece. It's serviceable entertainment, nothing more.

All of the stuff with the kids is great.

All of the stuff with Mark Strong is not great.

I liked it, there's some good fun in the film. I don't think it was really deep, both the family drama and the scope of being a superhero in this day and age of films were small scale, but the former was decently done for a comic book adaption. The film excels the most at the moment when all the kids become Shazam-ed and that was the best part to watch, from scene one I already saw Adam Brody in that other kid. Levi is good as Shazam and it's a much more rounded film than DC's previous films. The villain(s) were just not very interesting and it doesn't scream sequel for me, but at least I'm curious about what DC films are coming next.

B-

And yeah that's where I'm feeling with this too. It's finally something that feels capable again, but it still hasn't been able to present something very good since MoS.

I give it an A. I thought it was a very funny and the cast was great. It was the best DC movie since Dark Knight.

Saw it again. There are some weak elements in the beginning but when Billy transforms to Shazam the movie is elevated so much thanks to Levi. I think they did a bad job casting Billy tbh but Levi (and his chemistry with Jack Dylan Grazer) is so good that it's not a humungous problen.

SHAZAM!

Um. It was okay, nothing great. I did like the origin business some of it anyway. I think they could have done more with the costume. It didn't have to look like that. Sometimes change is good. The lightning symbol while neat with the motion cloud effects was just too big. Asher Angel and Jack Grazer were good. I liked them in the film. Zach Levi while good some of the time for me. Idk if he was best for this role. Maybe he was too buff for this role. Also, the visuals with the demons was kind of lame and they could afford to make their mouths move when speaking? What's up with that? The villain was also lame. He was really offputting but not in any good acting sort of way. The character was just bad. Mark Strong is just over the top bad for me here. I did like the moment when Billy shared the power with the other kids for a second but when it was all just more children and even that adult who had to act like a 7 year old or whatever. No, that didn't work. Finally, I was slightly perplexed when I heard his mom say she was only 17 when she abandoned him. The kid looked like he was 3...at least 3 to me or that was one big ass child. The end credits were lame too. Get rid of that boring villain.

Grade - C

1. BvS Ultimate Edition
2. Man of Steel
3. Wonder Woman
4. Aquaman
5. Suicide Squad
6. Shazam!
7. Justice League

I had an absolute blast with this. Easily my second favorite DCEU film, although that probably isn't saying much considering most of them haven't done in it for me. Yeah its really small in scale, and the action isn't all that memorable, but I had a big smile on my face throughout most of it and I never found it not entertaining. Maybe a bit long considering its over 2 hours and it does feel kind of repetitive at times with the humor/gags, but I loved the overall energetic feel of this movie and Zachary Levi definitely has a lot to do with that. Really solid casting IMO and I also think I enjoyed his banter with Grazer more than Asher Angel. Both are quite good in this, but idk Asher Angel's Billy Batson was kind of a dick at times. I also thought Mark Strong was great here, and honestly I don't understand why he is getting so much flack.

Sure he's a little generic, but I also found him to be pretty damn sinister and scary in some scenes and I liked that he had such a dark edge to his character. The kids getting Shazamed towards the end was a fun sequence too, especially seeing the actors they got to play them like Meagan Good, Adam Brody and D.J. Cotrona.

B+

1. Aquaman
2. Shazam!
3. BvS Ultimate Edition
4. Man of Steel
5. Justice League
6. Suicide Squad
7. Wonder Woman

You thought Levi didn't fit the role for being too buff?

Guys can be too muscled up. It’s possible but that and that hideous suit.

The mom said she was 17 when she had him, not when she abandoned him.

Levy was good and very funny, I get they are trying to make him the new Pratt. John Cena would have been perfect for the role though since he basically is Shazam in real life.

The mum didn't specify. She just said "I was 17..". Could've been talking about the abandonment or the birth. We don't know.

And I'm surprised at the hate for the villain in this. I thought he was fine. Actually better than Shazam. He was already aware of his powers and using them, which I dug more than the stop-start approach to Shazam. And the multiple Shazams, I thought that was used too early. It should have been kept for a sequel where just one Shazam isn't enough to overcome a new type of threat or something. It's been played too soon now, but I guess that's typical of DC.

It's fine. I'd enjoy a tighter cut closer to a 90 minutes. There are so many repetitive scenes/moments, particularly in the third act.

They used the same "someone standing center frame...beat...something hits them/falls on top of them, etc." set-up like a dozen times.

 I give this a solid B





two problems I had





- The Seven Deadly Sins: Started off pretty menacingly but by the end of the film they were pretty much generic CGI monsters. I am also not sure how they even connected to the seven deadly sins.



- The fight between Billy and Freddy when Freddy accuses Billy of being a "bully". Huh, when did this happen? And wasn't Freddy encouraging his behavior just a little bit ago and enjoying the perks of it  and now because he won't show up at the school to show off for him Billy is now a bad person? This whole part felt like there was something missing. 

I just remembered this morning while walking to the office that when the Asian boy turns into his Shazam, the first time he shoots electric bolts from his hands he says "hadouken". That made me chuckle.