Thread by @andrewphilos1

So I just saw an early screening of #Shazam! I went into it thinking it was gonna be a cringey mess, all quips and no substance. And I mean, it's not that. It's fine. Serviceable, even. I just can't help but feel I've seen this a gazillion times before.

I think what it's done is take the original concept and modernize it, make it a little more palatable for 21st-century audiences. Which... is exactly what's made every other DC movie fail? And exactly what Marvel never does, which is why their movies all have charm and heart?

Like, take Billy Batson. From what I understand, he was the golden child of the Justice League, a paragon even more noble than Superman. Why? Because he was pure of heart, a child with a child's idea of morality. He was simple, but a good simple.

This movie isn't about that. Without spoiling too much, it's a movie about vice, and sin, and taking what you don't deserve. (Guess what: my verdict for this movie is Black.) The movie still sees Billy as a child, but now a child's flaws: stubborn, selfish, defiant, and cowardly.

It's not a wrong read, not really. It's just a very bleak one. It's a read that says there are no heroes, just children playacting as them, imperfect people doing their best, and we've gotta live with what we get. And I just... is this what you want to see?

Wasn't Wonder Woman more than that? Wasn't she White as could be, a Hero with a capital H? Didn't audiences love that she stood for justice and fought against the evils of man? Isn't that what you could have made, DC, with your noblest hero, Captain Marvel?

But no, you made a perfectly safe, by-the-numbers hero flick, quietly stagnating the medium just a little more. You made Billy Batson just like everyone else, a dick with a heart of gold, if only he could just bring it out through the Power of Family, yadda yadda.

Maybe I'm just being mean. Like I said, it's perfectly fine. It's not a complete mess, just... kinda soulless. Like the characters staring vainly at where the CGI will be, or the actor for his older sister trying her best, but not really with her heart in it.

(Though his younger sister, the little black girl, was great. She'd be a shoo-in for Kenzie if they were making a Ward TV series in the near future. [Read Ward, by the way. Worm first, though, if you haven't.])

So... yeah. Difficult to recommend, beyond to those who just really want to see a DC movie that isn't awful. My verdict is Black, for those of you who want to see fights, and roughness, and morally gray. That's about all you get here, beyond formula. #Shazam #shazamreview