Shazam releases on April 5.Shazam’s final trailer is out. The 2-minute clip also has the welcome arch tone of the previous promos as Billy Batson, who has become the superhero Shazam, continues to discover his superpowers with his friend Freddy.
There is also a Batman cameo. Well, sort of.
There is one scene wherein Shazam is showing off his electric manipulation power and mistakenly electrocutes a bus, which falls off a flyover. While it is saved by the superhero in the nick of time, all the people in the bus could have died for no reason. The scene tries to paint it off as a joke for some reason.
That is the only scene that has bothered me about the film. Superheroes using their powers with reckless abandon without any accountability is one of the reasons DCEU has been a mess. And no, Shazam being a kid is no excuse.
Mark Strong is playing the role of Dr Thaddeus Sivana, a man who was also chosen by the wizard Shazam as a kid but was then deemed unworthy. Sivana is resentful about that and has worked his whole life to get magical powers through scientific means — and he may have succeeded.
This Zachary Levi starrer was going to be a comparatively low-key affair, but its trailer at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con stole the thunder from other Warner Bros films like Aquaman and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald whose trailers also released at the event
Shazam is directed by David F Sandberg, known more for his horror movies like Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation. It is about an orphan called Billy Batson upon whom a wizard called Shazam bestows his powers which enables the former to transform into an adult superhero called Shazam, by just saying the word “Shazam”.
Asher Angel plays the role of Billy Batson, the kid, and Levi dons the cape of Shazam. Jack Dylan Grazer, known for Stephen King adaptation It, plays the role of his foster brother and best friend, a disabled kid called Freddy. After Bill gets the powers of Shazam, it is Freddy who helps him realise them.
The film has a lot of humour, mostly derived from the children’s joy and delight at Billy’s newfound superpowers. They are not like DCEU’s Batman and Superman’s (Shazam is set in the DCEU) grim, grudging superheroes who would rather be normal people but think the world would not allow them to be so.
Billy and Freddy are kids who are awed at Shazam’s powers. Since Billy can transform into an adult, this also allows them to do lots of things children aren’t allowed to do, like drinking alcohol, and that is what the two friends set out to do.
Shazam releases on April 5.
