REVIEW: Shazam! sends up and stares down any superhero movie taking itself too seriously

Put simply, Shazam! is non-stop fun, which at its best both sends up and stares down every stale and stodgy superhero flick you’ve ever had to sit through and leaves just as lasting a mark as its more serious counterparts.

Though a wilfully silly superhero movie, Shazam! leaves just as much of a lasting mark as its more serious counterparts.

Sure, it does run a tad long if you have a bus to catch at 132 minutes, yet it never runs out of gas.

In fact, somehow, Shazam! leaves you wanting more.

This spry, clever and unpretentious affair hails from the DC Comics movie stable, a mob which have never been known for really getting it right as they have done here. (Though there were faint signs of a turnaround in DC’s recent hit Aquaman.)

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Shazam! is DC latest effort to take on the Marvel Comic Universe. Picture: AP

The movie is spry, clever and unpretentious. Picture: AP

Whenever Billy exclaim’s “Shazam!” he turns into a superhero. Picture: AP

The story revolves around a 14-year-old kid named Billy Batson (Asher Angel), who acquires a weird transformative superpower from a wizard (Djimon Hounsou) in a parallel realm.

Whenever Billy exclaims ‘Shazam!’, he becomes a 35-year-old superhero who can fly, zap things, repel artillery at close range, and much, much more.

Goofy enough for you? Well, just you wait. Shazam! is not afraid to indulge in the irrationally inexplicable to keep things hustling along.

The twist here (like the Tom Hanks classic Big) is that it is still the green teenager Billy inside the burly title character (played with just the right notes of knowing naivety by Zachary Levi).

While it could be argued the movie wastes too much time giving Billy too much of a backstory — he is a ward of the state who pines to be reunited with his missing mother — the pay-off is justified deeper into the script.

This image released by Warner Bros. shows Zachary Levi, right, and Jack Dylan Grazer in a scene from "Shazam!" (Steve Wilkie/Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP)

Shazam! villain Docto Thaddeus Sivana is played by Mark Storng. Picture: AP

Shazam’s excitement as he explores his new-found talents is infectious.

And not just because the villain of Shazam!, Doctor Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), has parental abandonment issues of his own he is working through.

Speaking of backstory, it is also of immense benefit to the movie that Shazam himself has no backstory whatsoever. He is very a much a blank canvas, making up what he stands for (and what he will knock down) as he goes along.

Shazam’s excitement as he (and/or Billy) explores his full suite of new-found talents is infectious, and keeps the audience well and truly in his corner throughout.

Further guaranteeing boredom is not an option is director David F. Sandberg’s deft handling of the action sequences, which often undercuts an overblown spectacle with on-point sight gags and punchlines.

Put simply, Shazam! is nothing more than non-stop fun, which at its best both sends up and stares down every stale and stodgy superhero flick you’ve ever had to sit through.

SHAZAM! (M)

Rating: Three and a half stars (3.5 out of 5)

Director: David F. Sandberg (Lights Out)

Starring: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Djimon Hounsou.

Saving the world while learning on the fly

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