Family can at once be the thing that most grates our nerves and what keeps us afloat during the most trying of times. Our early development and socialization is driven almost exclusively by our families as they are our first teachers and friend groups. They show us how to love, speak, and navigate through a world that often times, will never care for us to the extent that they do. Experiencing abandonment or a lack of love in your home life is a traumatic experience for children that stays with them throughout their entire lives. They lost the feeling of permanency, learning that people are only with them temporarily, and can birth within them heightend emotions like volatility and disassociation. Such a complicated topic doesn’t normally sound like fodder for a superhero movie, but it is the theme at the center of Shazam, the latest movie from Warner Bros’ DC Films label.
Shazam is the first foray on the big screen for the superhero formerly known as Captain Marvel (renamed after DC Comics lost the right to use the moniker as the title for his comics). Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is a troublesome 14-year-old foster kid who became separated from and lost contact with his mother as a young boy. Now in another foster home headed by Victor and Rosa Vazquez (Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans) who house foster kids Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), Mary Bromfeld (Grace Fulton), Darla Dudley (Faithe Herman), Eugene Choi (Ian Chen), and Pedro Peña (Jovan Armand), Billy finds himself again surrounded by new faces and “family” that do not include his biological mother. After boarding a subway one afternoon, Billy is summoned by a magical wizard who imbues him with the ability to magically transform into the adult superhero Shazam (Zachary Levi). As Billy enjoys his newfound powers, he must soon contend with the evil Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong) and make the choice on how he will ultimately use his gift.
Thematically, Shazam explores the issues of family and abandonment using the dark mirror trope between its protagonist Billy Batson and the antagonist Dr. Thaddeus Sivana. Both characters experience strained relationships with their parents at early ages, creating a sense of abandonment for each young boy. Sivana longs for acknowledgement from his corporate CEO father who constantly derides him as a screwup, particularly when his constant berating is juxtaposed to the cozy relationship his father shares with his older brother. Dr. Sivana’s need for acknowledgement feeds his lifelong obsession with gaining the dark power of the seven deadly sins, power that can impart upon him an illustriousness that his family can no longer deny. Billy deals with abandonment issues as well due to the disappearance of his mother from his life and his never-ending search for her. As he bounces from foster home to foster home, never making any real meaningful connection with anyone and constantly finding himself in trouble, Billy never gives up hope for a joyful reunion with the mother who lost track of him and couldn’t track him down. Eventually, Billy makes the choice to finally fully commit to using his powers for good and even warms up to his new foster family after keeping them at arms length.
These two disparate responses to feelings of abandonment and family estrangement encompass the real life choices that many are unfortunately saddled with on an everyday basis in this country and throughout the world. Finding a sense of belonging, particularly ancestrally, is of the utmost importance for human beings. Feeling discarded, lost, or separated from one’s lineage can cause untold trauma for a person and reactions to that trauma can range from Dr. Sivana’s rageful pursuit of recognition from others or Billy’s eventual embrace of his non-blood related family. Part of this was of course attributable to the fact that Billy had others in his life willing to step in and be the support he never had while Sivana did not, only underscoring the importance of familial bonds in whatever form they take. Billy has developed great survival skills at the expense of any family skills, while Sivana is hellbent on ensuring the world feels the pain of rejection he suffered from as a child. Shazam’s plot does a fantastic job exploring the question of family and its important in all of our lives and development, both in its absence and its presence.
Shazam primarily features a cast of child actors and all of the young thespians featured perform capably in their meaty roles. Jack Dylan Grazer is one of the biggest standouts in his supporting role as the superhero worshiping teen Freddy. Grazer provides both lighthearted fun and an emotional compass for Billy Batson as he seeks to balance both his new powers and family situation. He manages to create incredible chemistry with both Asher Angel’s Billy and Zachary Levi’s Shazam that powers the movie’s first two acts. Levi and Angel both impress as the dual sides to Batson, providing the funny when needed. The other standout alongside Grazer however is Faithe Herman as the impossibly cute and innocent Darla who shines each time she appears onscreen. By the third time we see Herman, the emotional connection to her and her character is completely established and your are fully entranced in her charm, wanting nothing more than for her to be protected at all costs. Her performance is without question one of the main highlights of Shazam. Mark Strong also puts in a strong performance as the villain of the film, providing just the right amount of emotional backstory to keep the character from feeling like a bland cutout. At times, his Sivana is very menancing and formidable, providing a quality foil for the titular superhero.
Shazam is a joyous time at the movies that surprisingly and skillfully balances serious material with humor throughout much of the film. Jack Dylan Grazer and Zachary Levi provide an undeniable chemistry together that will elicit many laughs and feel good moments while Grazer and Angel provide some moments of emotional levity in addition to fun of their own. Faithe Herman shines as Darla Dudley and will undoubtedly tug at your heart strings, she is the cutest kid you’ll have seen onscreen in years. Director David Sandberg adds in touches from his horror film background in the film (and a terrific homage to Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon through his depiction of the day Billy became separated from his mother), specifically during one pivotal scene that is a full-on horror experience and comes as a pleasant surprise. Indeed, I was shocked at how much of this movie included serious topics and dark moments as I was expecting a total family film. Shazam is still appropriate for families that include all ages, but it’s not exclusively a laugh fest and is very grounded at various points. Despite this, the third act battle scene between Shazam and Dr. Sivana had a touch too much humor for my taste, trading some needed action for an additional laugh that while clever, undercut some much needed tension for that moment. Too much of the superhero/comic book movie genre feels the need to shy away from drama which I don’t understand. Shazam did such a good job of not doing so throughout the rest of the movie, which makes the choice to do so here a little disappointing. Still, the film is such a pleasant surprise and deserved of an enjoyable night out at the theaters for families. It has mature, grounded content for mom and dad, and laughs and spectacle for the kids. Everyone will love something about Shazam.
Image: New Line Cinema
