This is not your older brother’s DC Extended Universe tone.
If you thought Wonder Woman gave the DC Extended Universe a breath of brighter air, take a look at Shazam! This is a superhero movie unlike any that DC fans have seen in ages — in live-action feature form, anyway. Seemingly more comedy than comic book blockbuster, Shazam! is obviously inspired by Big and as far as the superhero genre goes, this may be more like Ant-Man than anything in any of the big cinematic universe franchises.
Like Scott Lang in the Ant-Man movies, Shazam is a superhero who is just a kid at heart (and mind and soul and everything else but body, really) who is just shocked and elated that he gets to be a superhero. And Zachary Levi looks like a perfectly goofball actor to be DC’s Paul Rudd. The difference is that Levi’s Shazam isn’t quite as sardonic or, ironically, childish as Rudd’s Ant-Man. But Shazam! has that very light family friendly comical charm.
Check out the first trailer below.
As we see in the trailer, young orphan Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is placed in a new foster home, where he meets his new best friend, the disabled Freddy Freeman (IT‘s Jack Dylan Grazer). After helping the kid deal with some bullies, Billy finds himself transported to another world, where he encounters an old Wizard (Djimon Hounsou). Because of his strength of character, he’s given the powers of Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury, which form the acronym SHAZAM.
We don’t see too much of the stakes of Shazam! There’s a minor moment between Shazam and Mark Strong‘s villain, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana where the latter is literally recognized as being “like a bad guy.” And the action is limited mainly to Shazam and Freddy comedically discovering what the newly super-fied Billy can do, including taking down a bunch of convenience store robbers. This movie looks charming and sort of old-fashioned compared to most DC Comics superhero movies, to which it is slightly connected. And that’s wonderful.
Shazam! arrives in theaters on April 5, 2019.
Fans were shocked by the news that Disney had fired James Gunn from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Now one of the stars of Ant-Man and the Wasp is speaking up in Gunn’s defense.
David Dastmalchian, who plays Scott Lang’s friend Kurt in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, made a post to Instagram speaking to Gunn’s character.
“I’ve been saying this FOR YEARS! James Gunn is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever known - both professionally & personally. there are so many people in our lives that we would never have known without the incredible magnet of talent & goodness that is James (& his awesome partner in life, Jennifer Holland). Thanks for making us a part of your family, buddy.”
Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista has also spoken out on social media on James Gunn’s behalf.
"I will have more to say but for right now all I will say is this.. [James Gunn] is one of the most loving, caring, good natured people I have ever met. He’s gentle and kind and cares deeply for people and animals. He’s made mistakes. We all have. I'm NOT ok with what’s happening to him," Bautista tweeted.
Gunn’s tweets, which were made before Disney hired him to direct the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, were brought to the fore by an alt-right media personality. This caught Disney’s attention, and the company was quick to sever ties with Gunn.
"The offensive attitudes and statements on James' Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio's values, and we have severed our business relationship with him," Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn wrote in a statement.
Gunn himself has made multiple apologies for the tweets.
"My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative," Gunn said in his most recent statement. "I have regretted them for many years since — not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don’t reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.
"Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse. To everyone inside my industry and beyond, I again offer my deepest apologies. Love to all."
It is still unclear how Gunn’s firing will affect the production of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which was expected to begin filming in early 2019.
This movie sequence the cliffhanger let by his first movie, not just that but it does have consequences left by the movie Captain America: Civil War, wich if you haven't seen you may lost a little about what they are talking about in some moments, but they explain everything that you need to
This movie sequence the cliffhanger let by his first movie, not just that but it does have consequences left by the movie Captain America: Civil War, wich if you haven't seen you may lost a little about what they are talking about in some moments, but they explain everything that you need to know. This sequel is directed by Peyton Reed wich also directed the first one.
After Scott Lang comeback of the quantum realm, until then impossible, Hope, Scott and Hank Pym, will trie to pull out Janet, the original wasp, from there. To do it so, they will need to get some equipments, face some trouble caused by old situations, and deal with other people that want their stuff. All of that while Scott still is trying to trick the cops and take care of his daughter.
This movie is meant to be fun with zero deepening in the subjects that he stands in, if you are looking for something that is deep and goes beyond the marvel standard this isn't for you, but if you want a fun movie that will not make you think much and have a good time, this may be perfect. It's a lightweight movie, that you can watch, have a deep breath and relax with some fun moments and some fun characters and a simple story.
The actresses and actors are a high point, they are all so cool and fun. Evangeline Lilly is very fun and have great expressions, you totally buy her in the action scenes, she did a really nice job being able to pass emotions and peculiar moments while with Paul, being distrustful but at the same time testing. Paul Rudd isn't very different, he don't have big expressions as Evangeline, but in other hand he have a great comical timing and really pass the nice guy idea, he is also very fun. Michael Douglas was the most serious good guy in the movie but at the same he had to intertwine it with comic moments, he also were able to express emotions in determinated moments. Michelle Pfeiffer had really little time in the movie, i don't think she could pass much emotions as it was suposed to, but considering the movie tone, it was very functional. Michael Peña really deserves a light because he had one job in this movie, make us laugh, and he did it well.
The action scenes are creative, but not that much, i mean, the situation with the size of objects, cars, the increasing and decreasing the size of the things and people is what make the difference here, it is a kind of power that we don't see in other movies with any frequency, so it is not just cool but different as well, but at the same time you feel that it could be better.
The relationship between Scott and Hope is another big point here, the two actors definely have some chemistry wich make the conversations and atittudes among them be not just natural, but pretty.
I get that the point of the movie never was to be deep or explain anything, but i believe that they could have sacrifice some fbi invading Scott's house time, wich happens a lot, to show more and make us feel more about the quantum realm, the quantum realm is what they are talking about the whole movie and what the plot is about, and when they finally reach there, it is beautiful, but it is so fast and don't show almos anything. Janet was there for many and many years, she says that she is changed, but they gave no clue about how she survived there for so long, how that place works, what possibilities it give, considering that the movie is about that place, i really expected them to develop more. The story of the movie doesn't try to surprise us any time, it is very predictable, and it does have some questionable things that may be considered as plot holes. The Ghost character is good, it does have a very clear motivation wich make total sense. The movie also have way to many subplots, every character have a little arc and that may have make the movie get a little swollen. One pretty good thing of the movie is the relationship between the characters, so as the Scott and his daughter, that is formidable. One thing that i found really good here, is the dimension of the story, i like to say that not all super hero movies need to save the world like a lot of them does, this one it is good in this sense, it is just a rescue and assault movie.
The visual effects work in the majority of the movie, in some moments the green screen got to obvious wich bothered me, the Ghost effects i found pretty cool, not just her moviment but that combined with the voice altered really gave a badass looking character. The effects of the the increasing and decreasing the size were pretty good.
The movie is fun, definely give some nice laughs, the action is good, the movie is very episodical and doesn't present nothing new, it was made intended to be just a little adventure with some fun and a family junction. Definely a not very memorable one.
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