Review by C.J. Bunce
DC Entertainment and Warner Brothers began to take a shift in their superhero movie franchise with last year’s more adventurous Aquaman. With Shazam! the studios proved that a movie based on DC Comics characters could be every bit as good as the source material, and more satisfying than their past big budget efforts. True to the spirit of the characters and the story going back to the original Captain Marvel that was so successful in the 1940s, director David F. Sandberg found the sweet spot with Shazam! Just as seen on the big screen, now on home video Shazam! balances good fun with the requirements of demanding modern audiences. With the heart of the 1978 Superman and the Tom Hanks hit movie Big, the movie is the best of what DC has to offer in live action entertainment (check out my review of the film earlier at borg here). Worthy of the film itself, the new home release offers a trove of special features.
The film’s first strength is screenwriter Henry Gayden′s lighthearted story. It’s all about heart and family bonds, but it also has its action, and even for its comparatively modest $100 million budget, the movie relied extensively on practical effects for its key action sequences. All of the scenes with Shazam, his extended family, and the villain Dr. Sivana featured a mix of actors and stunt professionals, with far less reliance on the CGI in so many recent DC and Marvel films. So many of these scenes are showcased in the features that it’s apparent the 1,000 effects filmed for the third act in the final 12 weeks of shooting required something like the strength of Shazam to accomplish. As director Sandberg remarks in the bonus features, the production had very little slippage in their timetable. And the success can be seen in the final edit.
Some of the best content on the home release examines how the lead actors filmed their aerial scenes. Comic fans and fans of stars Zachary Levi and Mark Strong will appreciate their knowledge of the history of the characters they played. Levi initially submitted screen tests to play a grown-up version of Billy Batson’s foster brother Freddie, and it was apparent immediately to Sandberg he needed to take the lead role. Strong, who already played a great Sinestro in the less well-received Green Lantern movie, continued to add to the wealth of powerful live-action supervillains, bringing gravitas to the production, reflected in the final cut of the film. His acting prowess while being transported as if soaring across the sky with cables in front of a green screen (instead of rendering him entirely in CGI) reflects a versatile, impressive thespian who can do his craft in whatever environment is thrown at him. But fans of the film will find more than 37 minutes of deleted scenes really make the home version a must-watch.
So what all is in the home release?
