Review: I was so disappointed with this movie, which is a shame because it would have been half decent if Shazam! wasn't a blithering idiot. I didn't understand how Billy Batson, who is the human version of Shazam, acted more like an adult compared to the grown superhero. On top of that, the humour was awful and the storyline went from bad to worse. The evil side of the plot would have worked if the evil Dr. Thaddeus wasn't fighting against a pathetic imbecile, who just would've shut up. I also wasn't that impressed with the CGI, which didn't seem to suit the tone of the film, and none of the cast seemed that shocked with the all of the mysterious happenings that were going on in Philadelphia. Basically, it was a waste of time and money in my eyes, and I couldn't wait for it to end. The film kicks off in 1974 in Upstate New York, was a young Thaddeus Sivana is arguing with his father and older brother, Sid, during a car trip. Thaddeus is transported to the Rock of Eternity, a magical temple hidden in another dimension. He meets the Ancient Wizard, Shazam, last of the Council of Wizards, who has spent centuries searching for a new champion who is "pure of heart" after the previous champion, driven by revenge, released the Seven Deadly Sins upon the world, which killed the other Wizards. He then decides to test Thaddeus by telling him to touch the Eye of Sin. Thaddeus is easily tempted by the Sins entrapped in their statues to free them by taking the Eye. After being prevented from doing so by Shazam, he deemed unworthy by the Ancient Wizard. Upon returning to Earth, the confused Thaddeus makes a scene, causing the car to crash and cripple his father, with Sid blaming him. Back at the Rock Of Eternity, Shazam tries again to find another worthy person by casting a Seeking Spell. In present-day Philadelphia, foster child Billy Batson runs afoul of the law, while searching for his birth mother and is placed in a group home run by Victor and Rosa Vasquez with five other foster children, Mary, Pedro, Eugene, Darla and superhero enthusiast Freddy Freeman. Meanwhile, an embittered adult Sivana discovers a way to return to the Rock of Eternity and steals the eye of Sin, becoming the Sins vessel and besting the Wizard. He returns to Earth accompanied by the Sins, confronting and killing his father and Sid along with Sivana industries board of directors. At School, billy saves Freddy from bullies and is chased into a subway, where he is transported to the Rock of Eternity as Shazam summoned Billy to be the champion. By calling Shazam's name, Billy is transformed into an adult superhero, and the wizard turns to dust, leaving his staff behind. At home, Freddy is taken into Billy's confidence and helps Billy explore his newfound powers: electricity manipulation, near-invulnerability, super strength, speed and flight. Freddy's YouTube videos of Shazam testing his powers become viral, and Billy begins skipping school to use his powers as Shazam for money and fame. Seeing Shazam save a bus on the news, Sivana challenges and easily defeats him, demanding he surrender his powers, but Shazam transforms back into Billy and escapes into a crowd. From the news, Sivana deduces Billy's identity and abducts Freddy to find Billy. At the Vasquez home, the other children also infer Billy's secret and tell him they have also found his mother, who lives nearby. Billy reunites with his mother but is disheartened to discover she had abandoned him on purpose, feeling unqualified as a single teenage mother. Billy returns the compass she gave him as a toddler and leaves, telling her he needs to return to his "real family". Sivana calls Billy, having taken his foster siblings hostage, so Billy as Shazam agrees to give Sivana his powers in exchange for his family's safety. In agreement, Sivana and Shazam travel to the Rock of Eternity where Sivana takes the wizard's staff, but the siblings follow and attack Sivana. From their attack, Shazam realises that Sivana loses his powers when all seven Sins leave his body. Sivana pursues Shazam and his siblings to a winter carnival, unleashing the Sins upon the crowd. As Wrath battles Shazam, the other Sins capture his siblings, demanding his powers. Will Shazam save the day against the evil Sivana? You have to watch the film to find out! Personally, I think the director made a simple film over-complicated, which is why it's over 2 hours long. One of the most annoying things about the movie is that it takes a long time for Shazam to come to terms with his newfound powers, and by the end of the movie, he's still not taking anything seriously, so it's obvious that they plan to make a sequel. God forbid! I will give the movie a couple of stars, mainly because of Mark Strong's performance and some of the epic action films, but apart from that, I thought that it was badly written, and it seemed to go round in circles. I think you can tell that I wasn't entertained at all, so I can't recommend it to anyone, but I'm sure there are people who enjoyed it because it did make a slight profit at the box office. Disappointed!

Round-Up: This movie was directed by David F. Sandberg, who also brought you Lights Out in 2016 and Annabelle: Creation in 2017. He's known for his horror shorts, and with only 2 major releases behind him, I'm not sure that he was the perfect director for this project. After watching the bonus material on the Blu-ray, you can tell that David was overwhelmed with the budget, and the whole scale of the film, so it seems like he concentrated on the vision more than the script. With that aside, the movie did make a profit, so he must be pleased with his first high budget film, but I personally could tell that it was made by an unestablished director. There are so many question marks over some of the scenes, which were so far-fetched, and he really let Zachery Levi run wild. It's rumoured that there will be a sequel in 2022 with the same director and Zachery in the lead again, so I hope that David has learnt from this experience, and listened to the critics, to produce something special for the DC franchise.

Budget: $100million Worldwide Gross: $364.5million

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy Cast: Zachery Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody, Djimon Hounsou, Faithe Herman, Meagan Good, Grace Fulton, Michelle Borth and John Glover. 3/10