Shazam! on the face of it, is a tight slap to comic book nerds who feel they’re licensed to kill if you don’t take their gods seriously. It’s neither self-serious, nor is it filled with extravagance that weighs down superpowered beings.
Like a candy coloured flurry of activities, the new film from the DC Universe is far removed from the doom and gloom of the studio’s previous misadventures.
At its heart, this is a little race back to a time when comic books meant escapism, and how every child could relate to them.
Instead of a grown-up dude trying to save the world, the film charts the coming-of-age of a runaway boy Billy Batson (quietly effective Asher Angel), who has been in search of his mother since he lost her at a fair. He commits several follies and eventually ends up in a foster home run by a couple Victor (Cooper Andrews) and Rosa (Marta Milans), who themselves were foster kids. A reluctant Billy meets a bunch of kids who first appear ornamental, but slowly grow into homely characters. The house too carries a certain lived-in feeling providing warmth to kids whom society has largely been cold to.
For the usual extended boys-refusing-to-be-men target audience, David F Sandberg’s (Lights Out, Annabelle: Creation) film actually takes one slight risk.
It makes Billy the centerpiece of his narrative, getting him to take on another boy as his sidekick, and thus turning the whole affair into a tale about boys instead of men.
Billy’s helpmate cum roommate is Freddy Freeman who shoots words faster than popcorn pops, filling Billy in with every bit of superhero lore (mind you, only DC characters). Freddy also has a walking disability, but in the hands of young actor Jack Dylan Grazer, this character jumps out of the screen for the sheer affability he curates through his twisted, dark sense of humour.
After an unplanned act of kindness, Billy gets chosen by a Gandalf like wizard (Djimon Hounsou in studied Halloween glory) who has been looking for a replacement. He inherits the magic powers of Shazam. Now who or what is Shazam?
Shazam was (an acronym of six “immortal elders”: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury) created in the pre-WWII era, modelled on actor Fred MacMurray. He wasn’t Shazam then. He was called Captain Marvel, who inspired the likes of Elvis Presley. But we know DC’s longtime rival has a character of the same name who just gobbled up a billion dollars at the box office.
Because of a legal case, Captain Marvel had to go into hiding, and Marvel cleverly managed to trademark this name. Only later, DC managed to resurrect him as Shazam. Which is why we have this movie now.
After meeting the wizard, Billy realises that just by uttering the words ‘Shazam’, he can transform himself into a beefy-bodied adult. An entirely different being altogether, with starkly different sartorial choices. The adult Billy (played by Zachary Levi) is a man in tights who shows off a lightning bolt on his chest. This Shazam has powers, like bullet immunity, godly strength, lightning speed and so on, and the journey of discovering these powers is what lights up the film. The proceedings laid down by Henry Gayden and Darren Lemke’s writing engage Billy and Freddy as a terrific comic duo on a tour of learning, as they figure out what Shazam is capable of, and on what moniker they should settle with. At one point, he is called Captain Sparklefingers!
Levi plays the adult Billy like a baffled boy in a candy store. After all despite the superpowers and a grown-up body, between his ears he is still that kid with unresolved issues. So, he mercifully doesn’t immediately turn into a benevolent being.
Rather he takes the exploitative route to profit from his newfound qualities. Levi oscillates between boyhood and manhood, excels in forming a comic duo with Glazer, but when threat looms, he makes the fear of the young boy wonderfully tactile.
Since we’re in the superhero domain, some things are set – Billy will learn of, and come to terms with his fate, and find his family. After all he is destined to fight the villain in the finale. Sandberg here sets the villain at the very beginning as another unloved boy with parent issues, growing up to be Dr Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), who becomes the host of the seven deadly sins. The film keeps the stakes moderately lower than the usual Marvel/DC brouhaha, and in the final skirmish, actually manages to deliver a pleasing surprise.
In the great divide between the self-serious and knowingly funny adventures of caped heroes, Shazam! with its humour and hurdle takes an enfant terrible and makes him come of age.
He might be exchanging blows with villains, but his biggest demons are internal. And the film handles all of it with a charmed innocence and a bowl of empathy. How lovely is this little change?
(The writer is a journalist, a screenwriter, and a content developer who believes in the insanity of words, in print or otherwise. He tweets @RanjibMazumder)
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