Shazam! or how to do the new with the old… In adapting this ancient super-hero created in 1940 by C. C. Beck and Bill Parker, DC Comics and Warner create the surprise. The main advantage of this movie out of nowhere is simple: no one had expected the turn-a such character. And yet, such a magical formula pronounced at the right time by a magician inspired by: Shazam! is a startling success that puts Warner in a good place in the race, planetary, which opposes the super-hero Marvel (Spider-Man, the Avengers…) in front of those DC Comics (Superman, Batman, Aquaman…). Ironically, the origin, the name of this super-hero was Captain Marvel. The one who was first considered as the first substitute of Superman, published by the company Whiz Comics, will eventually be bought out by DC Comics in 1972, and then renamed Shazam in 2011 to avoid confusion with that of the firm Marvel. So these are the two films released almost at the same time…
Shazam ! [VOST] [trailer] – Watch on Figaro Live
Still, Shazam share with a handicap of the most serious: there must be a certain amount of temerity, for daring to adapt a character dusty, with a suit retro, with a white cape, bracelets of gold, and a leotard ruby red. Even renamed «Shazam», it accumulates the superlatives mythological up to the caricature. Because, yes, his name is an acronym. The «S» summons the wisdom of Solomon. The «H» is reminiscent of Hercules and his legendary strength. The «A» is for Atlas and its endurance. The «Z» is of course a reference to Zeus and the way it has to launch the lightning. The second «A» invites Achilles and his courage. As for the «M», it refers to Mercury, the messenger of the gods, and at his super-speed.
With that, and how to renew the genre of the movie super-hero? Simply by making original entertainment, full of humor, centered – not around his figure of the heroic – but around a young orphan, tossed from foster home to a foster home. After yet another failed attempt to find his mother, whom he was accidentally separated in a funfair, Bill Batson (Asher Angel) fails in a family senseless, but damn nice. At the same time, a sorcerer cacochyme desperately seeks to pass on his powers to an elected official with a pure heart. This will be the young Batson!
Staccato
With its plot well carried out, her rhythm staccato, his lines funny, family comedy from David F. Sandberg takes off without wasting time. You will find a nice homage to the film in Penny Marshall’s Big (1988), who had allowed Tom Hanks to carve out a nice reputation, in the role of a teenager is found in the skin of an adult. Fans of super-hero there will be one or two nods to Hancock , the super-hero unshaven and big mouth by Peter Berg, with Will Smith, released in 2008. But it is to the Spider-Man of Sam Raimi (2002), that one must turn when it comes to relate the story of learning of Bill Batson, aka Shazam (great Zachary Levi): by telling it through the menu the way for the less clumsy and immature, often selfish, a teen complexed passes from a state of infancy to that of adult, Shazam! file with the metaphor of the difficult transition to puberty. Since the metamorphosis of Peter Parker, as we all know, when one gets «a great power implies great responsibilities»…
Shazam! superhero Movie from David F. Sandberg. with: Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Mark Strong, Djimon Hounsou… duration: 2h12.