What's Up Urban Acolyte Family,
My name is Prince, and I am an Urban Acolyte.
Last night I saw the new Shazam movie from the DCEU, and I want to share my thoughts
on the movie, so this is going to be my non-spoiler review.
I'm not going to discuss spoilers in this video, but if you want to talk spoilers, check
back because by the time you see this video, I will have already recorded my full review.
Before I get into Shazam and all things related to Earth's Mightiest Mortal-- I just want
to say that if you're new here, I call this "geek culture with a purpose."
I talk about Super Hero movies from Marvel and DC, Star Wars, and Martial Arts films.
If that sounds like your kinda thing, be sure to subscribe--and for y'all who are already
subscribed, ring that bell to enable notifications so you don't miss new videos from me.
Okay, so this is actually the first time I've left a review about a film after seeing it
on some place besides my YouTube channel.
When I got home after seeing the movie, I posted over on the Fandango app that this
was a different kind of superhero movie.
I know I said the same thing about Captain Marvel--you know, the Marvel movie with Brie
Larson-- Captain Marvel was also different from anything else in the MCU-- the same can
be said about DC's Captain Marvel, The Big Red Cheese, Earth's Mightiest Mortal--or whatever
you want to call him.
I'm sorry y'all--it's just really hard for me to call him Shazam.
I guess I'm just an old school Captain Marvel fan.
Is it okay if I just call him Captain Thunder?
I know that's his name in the Flashpoint Universe.
So back to the review I left-- I said that this movie was hilarious.
I literally laughed through the entire movie.
I went to a later viewing--normally I try to get the first showing in the big auditorium,
but I went to a much later viewing.
There weren't many people, but everyone there laughed from the beginning all the way to
the end--even through the post credit scenes, and there are 2, so you want to stay for everything,
just like you would with a Marvel movie.
The description of this being Tom Hank's "Big" set in a superhero origin story is very accurate
minus the part where Tom Hanks and his best friend are running around New York.
If you substitute Tom Hanks character wishing he was big with Billy finding the wizard Shazam,
the characters are very similar-- Billy is trying to be on his own, and he kinda wants
to be emancipated, at the start of the movie.
I won't go too much into it because it's a big theme in the movie and part of Billy's
character development.
I'll talk about that in my full discussion of the film.
I'll just say that if you've seen the movie "Big," you will appreciate this movie a lot...especially
if you can remember that keyboard scene from "Big."
Like I said, this movie is very funny.
It's not like Aquaman funny where Aquaman had a lot of humor to it because you basically
got Jason Momoa if he were actually Aquaman.
Like you know how Ocean Master actually looked like comic book Aquaman?
Yeah, if you took Patrick Wilson and had him saying all of Jason Momoa's lines, I don't
think it would have worked, so Aquaman had humor, but I don't think it would be funny
without Jason Momoa.
Shazam is not like that-- I mean, Zachary Levi is a funny dude, and he totally pulls
off an almost 15 year old Billy Batson in a Superman body.
He does all the stupid, goofy teenage stuff--but he also has this innocence to him.
It's very consistent across both actors playing Billy, so you don't notice a difference between
Asher Angel and Zachary Levi's depictions of Billy.
If you ask me where I would rank this when it comes to other films in the DCEU--well,
if you really know me, you wouldn't ask that question.
I don't like to rank these films, I either say that I like them, or I don't like them.
Like I didn't see Suicide Squad in the theatres, but the Extended Edition of Suicide Squad
is probably one of my most watched movies out of all my superhero movies--that goes
for both Marvel and DC.
I'll say this-- I think the 3 best films in the DCEU are probably Aquaman, Wonder Woman,
and Shazam.
Wonder Woman was something different from all the superhero movies out there; Aquaman
was something different from everything else out there; and Shazam is something different
from everything else out there.
I heard what Zachary Snyder wanted to do with Justice League and the DCEU with his big master
plan, but I feel like the films coming out after Justice League have been much better--and
I know Wonder Woman technically came out before Justice League, but Patty Wilson directed
that, and it did so well that the marketing folks tried to highlite Diana more in their
Justice League promotional material due to her increased popularity.
I mean look at it--we're living in a world where a Wonder Woman movie is more popular
than Super-Man.
Aquaman is actually a cool character now.
Shazam is someone the casual fans may start to talk about in geek discussions-- like it
would not surprise me if a month from now, I hear teenagers arguing over whether Shazam
can beat Superman--or in the case of the kids I'm often around, it might be if Shazam can
beat Goku or Broly.
Something I've considered talking about in a video is if the DCEU can make a shift to
focusing on the magic based characters.
According to Charlie over at Emergency Awesome, future Aquaman movies could deal with this
pantheon of the Gods of Atlantis which gets into Greek mythology.
You know who else is tied in with the realm of Greek mythology?
Well--Diana Prince, the daughter of Zeus.
If you're talking about gods, goddesses and magic, well--we just got reintroduced to the
person who is the guardian of magic in the 7 realms.
If the DCEU can't seem to make a decent movie with Batman and Superman, well, if you have
a story based heavily on magic, you put Batman in a role where he's more of a detective,
so you can cast a good actor who doesn't have to necessarily be fit or do lots of action.
Since it's magic, Superman is basically irrelevant because that's his one weakness besides irradiated
rocks from Krypton.
Billy becomes the new flying tank mage, but he's a kid--so now he has a weakness,or a
character flaw because he's actually only 15.
Anyway y'all-- I didn't mean to get on a tangent about the future of the DCEU--but this movie,
this movie along with Aquaman really give me a good feeling about the future direction
of DC movies.
They don't take themselves too seriously.
You get some good action, you get some laughs-- I mean, these are movies about comic books.
Unless you have a really dark character, they should be pretty family friendly, and folks
should leave feeling like it was worth the money you spent on a ticket and some popcorn.
I really loved this movie, and if you want to see a Superman-type movie that actually
does have an interesting theme and some funny jokes, get out and go see this movie.
It's really great.
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If you liked this video and you want to see more, be sure to check out these videos on
the top Star Wars Episode 9 Theories.
I've actually got a new one to get out to y'all really soon.
You can also check out this other video from my channel that was picked specifically for
you.
Well, that's all I've got for this video, so thanks for watching.
Y'all keep on breathing, and May the Force of Others be With You, Always.