Movie Review: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (PG13 – 131 minutes)

Godzilla made his movie debut in 1954 and has been tearing through cities alternatively saving us or thrashing us since then.  Traditionally, he’s a huge prehistoric, amphibious monster who was originally awoken by nuclear bombings and moved on to attack Japan.  He has always been a reaction to humanity’s destructive tendencies, and is often layered in thematic references.  His first appearance was a commentary on the dangers of nuclear weapons. Here, he's definitely a response to the climate crisis.  From his original appearance, he became incredibly popular and shifted from villain to hero.  He would go on to fight various other kaiju (giant monsters) including Anguirus, Gigan, King Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra, and most notably King Kong in 1962.  Incidentally in that movie, both fell off a cliff at the end of their final battle, with only Kong surfacing to swim back to his island home.  There was no sign of Godzilla, but of course he returned in another movie.

In 2014, director Gareth Edwards gave us a very serious big-time reboot featuring a Godzilla that looked more like the original (like a dude in a suit – which is really what we want).  It was the first movie in Legendary’s MonsterVerse.  In his 12 minutes of screen time, Godzilla helped Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver defeat some other kaijus referred to as MUTOs.  It also introduced Monarch, a shady company that seems to be all about keeping tabs on kaijus.  

Kong: Skull Island brought Monarch to King Kong’s island in the 70s where Sam Jackson tried to kill him and John C. Reilley, Tom Hiddleston, and Brie Larson tried to save him.  That movie is referenced many times in this movie, building to next summer’s showdown Kong versus Godzilla.  That is reportedly mostly a Skull Island sequel.  I’m not sure how I feel about that, it seems to lean towards Godzilla being the heavy, and I’m on team Godzilla all the way.  After that, we’re going to get another Godzilla sequel, which is good, because we know he’ll be back to the hero. 

In this movie, we join Monarch as they are being chastised by the military. Essentially, the military wants to take over Monarch and use their intelligence to destroy all the ‘titans’.  Monarch’s brass is arguing that the titans are here to restore balance, and since the majority of them are in hibernation anyway, let’s just let them be.  Monarch is keeping tabs on hibernating titans all over the globe, researching their previous appearances through stories and ancient pictures.

Dr. Emma Russell is working for Monarch and keeping tabs on a sleeping larval Mothra while her daughter Madison keeps reaching out to her estranged father, Mark.  Mark used to also work for Monarch apparently, but left after he and Emma lost a son in San Francisco in 2014 during Godzilla’s battle with the MUTOs.  Emma has developed a machine called the Orca that uses audio recordings of titans in order to create an ‘alpha’ sound to keep the titans at bay, calm, or drawn towards her. It has different effects throughout the course of the movie.  Mothra wakes up, gets scared when folks point guns at her, but then is soothed by Emma’s recording of the alpha noise – enough to let Madison pet her giant moth head.  Of course at that point, a group of eco-terrorist mercenaries lead by Jonah Allen burst in, frighten Mothra, and take Emma and Madison.  Mothra takes off to cocoon herself under a waterfall, as per usual.

Monarch goes to Mark to tell him what happened and get him to help find the Orca, which in turn should find Emma and Madison.  Mark’s a bit furious at all this and sides with the military in terms of wanting to kill all the titans, but shifts his opinion pretty quickly.  Allen and his crew head down to Antarctica to wake up Monster Zero – who is actually King Ghidorah.  It turns out their plan is to wake up all the titans to ‘cleanse’ the earth of the disease that is humanity.  Monarch was hoping one or two might wake up here or there to restore balance, but Allen and company are going to go a bit titan-crazy.  The problem is, Ghidorah is not like the others, and once he wakes up, things go bad quickly.  Luckily, Godzilla is still around to attempt to keep him in check.

The movie is directed by Michael Dogherty, who is mostly a writer but did direct Trick ‘r Treat.  He brings a great sense of epic action to this pure popcorn flick which I much prefer to the 2014 version.  There’s a ton more monster action here, and that’s what I want. In a Godzilla movie, I honestly don’t much care what the humans are up to - I’m here for the monster action.  That being said, the ‘plot’ is a little contrived and some of the performances are a little less than.  But overall, most of the humans know what movie they are in and are having an absolute blast.

• Vera Farmiga plays Dr. Emma Russell and I was pleased with her through the movie. She’s making some questionable choices for the right reasons, and bound and determined to do what she can to save her family and the planet. 

• Kyle Chandler plays Mark Russell and I still picture him as the guy who was getting tomorrow’s paper today, regardless of what other football things he did.  I wish he was having a little more fun in this – he’s great, but he’s taking it very seriously.  Of course, his role doesn’t leave much room for fun, so perhaps he made the right call.

• Here we come to what might be an unpopular opinion – Millie Bobbie Brown plays their daughter Madison, and I found her completely useless in this movie.  The character seemed so unnecessary. Everything that Emma and Mark do would have exactly the same impact if she wasn’t there, and anything she did could have been done by Emma with the same results.  Not her fault, she was fine staring around in shock for the whole time, but honestly, did not need this character.

• Ken Watanabe returns as Dr. Ishiro Serizawa from the previous Godzilla movie. He’s still Godzilla’s number one fan, and gets some up close and personal time with him here. Watanabe knows exactly what movie he’s making and plays it just a bit over the top in the most perfect way. Sally Hawkins returns as Dr. Vivienne Graham, and she’s there to remind everyone that the titans are fulfilling a purpose, right until she gets eliminated – sorry, spoiler alert.

• Ziyi Zhang plays Dr. Ilene Chen and Dr. Ling – twins!  Which if you know anything about Mothra, is not a surprise to you.  Mothra always had two twin fairies with her to translate through song her greatness, or something like that. 

• Bradley Whitford plays Dr. Rick Stanton and steals every damn scene he is in. This is a guy who understands the movie and spends a lot of time yelling at computer screens in the best possible way.

• Charles Dance plays Jonah Allen and is equally as creepy and menacing as he always is.  It’s a little hard to buy him as a guy who wants to save anything - even if it is the planet and not the people.

• Thomas Middleditch plays Monarch employee Sam Coleman.  I love Middleditch – but again, he seems to be an unnecessary character.  There are a ton of humans in this movie, and some of them really have nothing to do.

• Aisha Hinds plays Colonel Diane Foster, and she’s there to make sure the military folks are in line and doing what needs to be done. 

• O’Shea Jackson Jr. plays Chief Warrant Officer Barnes, and he’s there to be the audience representative – being shocked at the monsters and cracking jokes.

• David Strathairn returns as Admiral William Stenz, and his main purpose – aside from trying to kill all the titans – is to release an ‘oxygen killer’ missile that will kill Ghidorah and Godzilla while they fight – at least, that’s what he thinks. You know that’s a bad plan.
• Joe Morton pops up briefly as the older version of Dr. Houston Brooks – the character Corey Hawkins played in Skull Island.  My guess is that he will have a larger role in Kong vs. Godzilla. You don’t just have Joe Morton there for 3 minutes for no reason.

In the credits, Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Mothra and Rodan are listed as themselves, so here we are.  You can get details on all the monsters at MonarchSciences.com.  

• Once Mothra comes out of her cocoon, she is simply stunning.  She’s 52 feet tall with a wingspan of 803 feet, and apparently, she’s about sprinkling bio-luminescent rays from above to help Godzilla when he needs it. She's also pretty badass in a fight, and not above using her very pointy legs to get the job done when necessary.

• Rodan is very pteradon–like and living in a volcano in Mexico.  He’s 154 feet tall with a 871 foot wingspan.  He's here to spread firey destruction and is far more mobile in the air than I remember him being. Also, he's a bit of a punk and will follow whoever is in charge at the time.

• King Ghidorah is the 521 foot tall three-headed two-tailed space dragon who gives Godzilla a run for his money as the alpha.  The center head and body is performance capture and really makes a difference in the visuals.  Ghidorah is pissed when he is awoken, and sets about calling everybody to wake them up and reign destruction on the planet. He’s mean, vicious, travels in his own hurricane, and does not care about you or your helicopter or your baseball stadium.

• Finally to our star, Godzilla.  He’s even bigger and more muscle-y in this version at 393 feet.  It’s the second largest he’s ever been.  He’s also performance capture, which gives the fights more impact as well as the standing around bits.  He definitely looks like a dude in a suit, but even better, his eyebrows give him a bit more facial expressions.  When he’s tired, you can tell – when he’s surprised, you can see that too.  When he’s angry at the end, man, you can definitely see that.  The scene where he stares down Ghidorah over Boston and then sprints toward him at a full run is still one of the best things I have ever seen. Godzilla is awesome and absolutely beautiful in this movie that cements him as the King of Monsters.  Kong who?

Overall, the movie is a ton of fun, exactly what you expect, and a near-perfect popcorn flick.  Don’t think about the science too much, just enjoy the visuals. Yes, there are too many human characters, so some really get shortchanged on story, but that’s okay.  Maybe they’ll be back in the next one!

9 out of 10 – fantastic and fun.

Sidenote - Godzilla is an incredible cultural icon and one of Japan's most popular exports, he's even got a star on the walk of fame!  I will be sorely disappointed if he does not feature in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics opening ceremonies next summer in some way or form!

Movie Review: John Wick Chapter 3 Parabellum.

John Wick debuted in 2014 and proved that a simple story, executed well, can create an exceptional movie. In that chapter, we met John Wick, retired hit man, shortly after the death of his wife due to an extended illness. Knowing he would be alone, she arranged to have a beautiful puppy delivered to him after her funeral.  John randomly encountered some thugs who stole his car and killed his puppy – he spends the rest of the movie hunting them down and killing them.   Directed by Chad Stahelski, who has been Keanu’s stunt double since 1999’s The Matrix, the movie was fast and fresh, and who doesn’t want to see puppy murderers get what’s coming to them?  By the end of that movie, he had found a new dog, and killed enough people that the High Table started to wonder if he was un-retired.

The second chapter in 2017 delved more into John’s hitman world, and the Continental, the hotel where they can seek refuge, but where they cannot conduct business.  After a movie’s worth of folks trying to get John back into business, John breaks the rules and kills a guy on Continental grounds.  That movie ends with John getting excommunicated, and a bounty getting taken out on his head with notice going to all the bounty hunters and assassins everywhere.

Chapter 3 picks up immediately thereafter. John has one hour to prep before his excommunicated status goes active and everyone begins coming after him. He gets his wounds tended as best he can as the time runs out.  He then spends the rest of the movie attempting to find allies and backup while going to meet ‘the elder’ who operates above ‘the table’.  The High Table is the organizing body of the association of hitmen, or at least, that’s what it seems.  The Elder agrees to waive John’s sentence, if he comes back into service, and does a job for him.  Things go awry from there, but we’ve already been guaranteed chapter 4.  Eventually, hopefully, he will get back to his quiet life of retirement with his new dog.

This chapter is also directed by Chad Stahelski, and again features action sequences second to none. The hand to hand combat sequences are exceptional, and John does get to battle hordes of ninjas here. The gunplay is a bit excessive for me, but Keanu does it very well.  Halle Berry’s character has two dogs she has trained to essentially function as extensions of her weapons and they are amazing, I have never seen anything quite like that before.  The dogs and their interaction with her is one of the most exciting things in this movie.  Neither of them get hurt – also, John’s dog is fine.

• Keanu Reeves is perfect as John Wick. He’s a man of few words, definitive actions, and a desire to get back to his retirement.  But he also is not going to let anybody get away with pushing him around.

• Halle Berry plays Sofia, a woman who is running the Continental in Morocco and is less than thrilled to see John.  She does what she can to help, and gets just a couple of scenes, but what incredible actions sequences they are.

• Ian McShane plays Winston, the manager of the Continental in New York. He’s either John’s closest friend or greatest enemy, and that seems to change from scene to scene, which makes him one of the most interesting characters in the movie.

• Lance Reddick plays Charon, the concierge of the New York Continental. He’s happy to dog-sit for John, and also not afraid to get his hands dirty when things get questionable.

• Laurence Fishburne plays the Bowery King who has a network of ‘homeless’ undercover assassins and information gatherers. He helps John, but ends up pissing off the Table with that action, which in turn, pisses him off.

• Mark Dacascos plays Zero, and I have been a fan of his for so long, since Only the Strong in 1993.  It’s so wonderful to see him in this, and he really seems to be having the best time of anyone in the movie. He is obviously enjoying every scene as he chases down and admires John Wick.

• Asia Kate Dillon plays the Ajudicator, who shows up to bring the Table’s ruling to various characters who have interacted with John, helping him along his way.  Dillon is cold as ice, and perfect in the role.

• Anjelica Huston plays the Director of some sort of Russian organization while also cruelly coaching ballerinas and wrestlers – she has a lot going on.  John goes to her for help, to call in a favor from long ago.

• Said Taghmaoui plays the Elder, despite being younger than almost everyone else in the movie. He’s just wandering the Moroccan desert waiting for folks to try to come find him so that he can remind everyone he’s above the Table.

• Jerome Flynn, most recently seen as Bronn in Game of Thrones plays Berrada, someone only Halle Berry can get John an audience with, and he’s less than helpful. Although he provides some random history on the word ‘assassin’.

• Jason Mantzoukas plays the Tick Tock man, one of The Bowery King’s assets who seems to be there just to remind John Wick he’s running out of time. It’s a thrill to see Mantzoukas there, especially if, like me, you’re a fan of the How Did This Get Made podcast. If you aren’t, you should be, it’s fantastic.

• Also – there’s a random non-penguin Robin Lord Taylor appearance!

Overall, if you liked the others, you will love this. There are so many action sequences that are crafted to include bits I have never seen before – which is tough these days. The action is incredible, the story is fine, but in reality, it is second tier to the action. This movie is the perfect example of how a simple story executed perfectly can be far superior to a complicated story executed poorly.  I am looking forward to seeing what John gets up to in Chapter 4, and if he can ever get back to his retirement.

8 out of 10 – same score as the other two chapters, exceptional action and really entertaining.

Movie Review: The Hustle (PG13 – 93 minutes)

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was made in 1988 and was actually a remake of the 1964 movie, Bedtime Story. It starred Michael Caine and Steve Martin and was directed by Frank Oz.  In it, Michael Caine played a very posh con man living in the seaside town of Beaumont-sur-Mer, making an incredible living conning mostly women, heiresses, with the help of a few assistants.  His pleasant world is rocked by the arrival of a crass American sub-par con man played by Steve Martin.  Caine agrees to help train Martin in return for his assistance. They have a falling out, and compete for the territory by attempting to get the fortune of a wealthy woman.

This new version, produced by Rebel Wilson and starring Anne Hathaway and Wilson is almost exactly the same story.  Wilson plays Penny, a crass con-woman who runs into Hathaway’s Josephine Chesterfield, a very posh and polished con-woman.  Josephine trains Penny, but after a falling out, they compete to steal the fortune from an American tech giant in town for a conference.

The movie had potential and really should have been so much funnier than it is.  Wilson is game, and goes full-out for the comedy. Hathaway seems an odd choice for this movie, and really I can’t help but wonder if the movie would have been better with someone more comedy-capable in the role.  The movie is directed by Chris Addison, who has previously directed mostly TV shows, and this movie is well put together, just not as funny as I wanted it to be.

• Anne Hathaway plays Josephine Chesterfield with a questionable British accent that may have been a choice since we do not really know if the character is British, or if that’s a con as well. She seems disinterested and aloof, but again – perhaps those are character choices and she’s doing a great job?

• Rebel Wilson plays Penny Rust, and it’s very similar to other characters she has played. It’s interesting to see her progress through the training with Josephine, but I would have liked to see that result in more of a character shift.

• Alex Sharp plays Thomas Westerburg, the tech genius whose fortune they are after. He’s one-note until the end, which is not a surprise if you’ve seen the original.
• Ingrid Oliver plays Brigitte Desjardins, a police officer helping Josephine.
• Dean Norris has a very brief role as a mark for the two women.

Overall the movie is fine, and there’s a chuckle here and there, but I really wanted laughs from this movie and it did not deliver that level of hijinks. Of course, I remember having the same feeling from the original. It made me feel uncomfortable more than it made me laugh, and this one is right along those lines.  I would have liked to see the women targeting some terrible men so that you could get on board with them taking their fortunes.  That felt like another missed opportunity.  Honestly, I didn’t like either of the characters, and that would have been a way to get the audience on their side. The potential was there, and it’s a perfectly serviceable comedy, but it could have been much funnier.

6 out of 10 – it’s fine, but it’s not great.

Movie Review: Avengers Endgame (PG13 – 181 minutes)

It has happened – we reached the twenty-second movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe!  At this point in the MCU, we are still reeling from the end of last year’s Infinity War where Thanos (the Mad Titan) collected all six of the infinity stones (space, power, time, soul, mind, and reality), inserted them into his Infinity Gauntlet, and snapped his fingers to eliminate half the living beings in the universe.  It’s his way of solving overpopulation and a lack of resources.  I guess he didn’t think about just snapping more resources into existence while he was working on this plan for his entire life.  That movie ended with the shocking disintegration of most of our heroes, and this movie picks up with the remaining heroes stunned and confused. 

Slight spoilers from here down – it’s tough to say anything else about this movie without discussing at least a little bit of plot!

The post credits scene from Captain Marvel was Danvers showing up on earth as War Machine, Banner (not Hulk), Black Widow, and Captain America had found and were using Fury’s Marvel pager.  She demands to know where Fury is, and we can assume they ask her to go get Tony.  This movie begins with a quick flashback to Hawkeye on his farm as his entire family gets dusted (Thanos’s ‘half’ can unfairly affect some folks disproportionately).  We jump to Tony and Nebula in the remains of the Milano in space, killing time while their air runs out.  Danvers rescues them, and brings them back to earth, after 21 days up there.  Tony is frustrated, guilty, and takes it all out on Cap as anger.  Rocket has noticed a power surge on a distant planet similar to the one that caused the dusting, so they head out after Thanos to get the stones and undo the snap.  The issues is that when they get to him, he has just used the stones to destroy the stones, and there is nothing left: no plan, no options, and no hope.  This is literally only the first ten to fifteen minutes of a three hour movie. 

Major spoilers from here down –

From that point on, there’s a five year time jump, and the characters are attempting to move on.  Ant-Man gets pulled from the quantum realm, and from there, they plan a time heist.  I won’t say anything else - just that you really do need to see this.  Similarly to Infinity War, this movie rewards fans. If you have seen and loved the others in the MCU, you will love this.  If you go into this cold, there are parts you will enjoy, but you will mostly be confused and overwhelmed.  Each character gets some love, but the stars here are the original six Avengers. It’s a beautiful sign-off for them as they shift into semi-retirement, and let new heroes set up for the future.

Directed once again by the Russo Brothers (Joe and Anthony) and written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the movie is exceptional. It manages to honor all the movies that came before it – especially the Avengers team-ups.  Yes, it has a definite ending, and it is perfect and satisfying – in my opinion.  Yes, I cried multiple times, but I needed a handful of tissues, not the entire box.  Mostly I was cheering with absolute joy.  The cast seems to love and appreciate this opportunity, doing their best for the fans. Every Avenger is there (apparently there’s a Howard the Duck appearance, but I missed it), but again, the six originals really get to shine.

• Jeremy Renner as Clint “Hawkeye” Barton gets to do some emotional heavy lifting all the way through this. He starts with the dusting of his family, and then shifts into Ronin anger-killing, then has to go after the Soul Stone with a friend, and you know how that goes, because you know what it takes to get the Soul Stone.

• Scarlet Johansson plays Natasha “Black Widow” Romanoff.  She’s keeping it together, running what’s left of the Avengers in the post-snap world.  When an opportunity arises, she doesn’t hesitate to do what needs to be done.  Black Widow has never been one of my favorite characters, but Johansson shines here, and I am definitely looking forward to her rumored stand-alone origin movie.

• Mark Ruffalo plays Bruce Banner and the Hulk, and in this movie, they are closer than ever before.  Ruffalo is just so charming and fun, he really makes Banner relatable and genuine.  Thank goodness for his big brain when Scott comes back out of the quantum realm.

• Chris Hemsworth plays Thor, and while I thought he was at his lowest in the last movie, he somehow goes even lower here. After Thanos told him he should have gone for the head, he is undone by guilt and a level of trauma where he seems to be blaming himself for everything that went wrong. He gets some absolutely hilarious scenes, and some even more appreciated lovely scenes as he attempts to prove his own worth to himself.

• Chris Evans as Steve Rogers – Captain America – is once again the heart and soul of the team and the movie.  He is doing what he can post-snap, helping others attempt to move on, and checking in with his friends, trying to make sure everyone is okay.  His pep talk when they head out on mission is just so Cap, to the point that Scott and Rocket mention it.  There is a scene where he goes out alone to face Thanos, the Black Order, and their entire army without any hesitation.  It’s epically beautiful.  And yes, the scene I have wanted for a year is in this movie - *sniffle*.

• Robert Downey Jr., who at this point is indistinguishable from Tony Stark, is exceptional in this movie.  He starts off angry, then settled and resolved, and then hopeful and determined.  His performance is fantastic, and his support of the team is epic.  His interaction with Pepper is beautiful and lovely.  And yes, I thought this movie was a fitting ‘retirement’ for his character.

Everyone does an amazing job, and the giant action battle set piece at the end is everything you want it to be.  Yes, it’s moving and sad in parts, but it is also really hilarious and fun in parts.  There are plenty of moments that elicited loud cheering from my audience – definitely see it in a full theater if possible.  For a three hour movie, I didn’t feel the length, and I can’t really think of anything I would have removed. 

12 out of 10 – yes, I know that’s not how math works. I don’t care. I really loved it.  

There’s a moment where all the female heroes lined up to help Captain Marvel, and I ugly cried in the theater.  I never thought I would ever see an entire movie screen filled with female superheroes.  It’s a bit of an acknowledgement that they dropped the ball slightly on that front in the beginning, that they are taking steps to rectify it, and a promise that the future will be fantastic.

What a close to the first few phases of the MCU - I can’t wait for what’s next.

Movie Review: Shazam! (PG13 – 132 minutes)

The character now known as Shazam debuted in 1940 as Captain Marvel in Fawcett comics.  A boy named Billy Batson is given the powers of the ‘immortal elders’: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury.  He can transform himself into an adult hero by yelling the acronym of their names – Shazam!  His most notable villains included Black Adam, Dr. Sivana, and Mister Mind.  The character was incredibly popular in the 1940s, and the franchise was expanded to include the ‘Marvel Family’, other heroes with similar powers.  In 1953, DC Comics launched a copyright lawsuit, claiming that Captain Marvel was a Superman rip-off.  Fawcett sold the rights to DC in 1972, and DC integrated and reintroduced Captain Marvel, who now mainly goes by Shazam, on account of the “Captain Marvel” name being owned by Marvel comics.

In this movie, years ago, we are introduced to a young Thaddeus Sivana who is driving with his horrible Lionel Luthor-like father and older brother when he is transported by a wizard to the Rock of Eternity.  The wizard is tasked with keeping the seven deadly sins at bay, but his siblings have passed on and he is growing weak.  He is seeking a champion who is pure of heart.  Sivana is not that, and is swiftly tempted by the sins demons.  The wizard boots him out, telling him he is not good enough, causing a car crash when he reappears back in the car. 

In present day, we are introduced to Billy Batson, who lost his mother as a toddler at a carnival.  He has bounced from foster family to foster family because he continues to run away in a search for his birth mother.  Eventually, he lands in Philadelpha, and is brought into a foster group home run by Victor and Rosa Vazquez.  Here, he meets his new foster siblings, Mary Bromfield, Pedro Pena, Eugene Choi, Darla Dudley and Freddy Freeman.  The kids seem to have that power ranger tendency to only wear one color each, which comes into play later.  Freddy has a vast knowledge of superheroes and their powers.  After saving Freddy from some bullies, Billy is transported to the Rock of Eternity and meets the wizard who now really needs help as the adult Sivana has come by and taken the sins demons to gain great power and do great harm.  Billy is granted the powers by the wizard, and transforms into the adult hero Shazam. He goes back to Freddy for advice and guidance.  While training, Billy gets better, not just as a hero, but as a person, eventually realizing that his foster family is his true family and strength as he battles with Sivana.

The movie is directed by David F. Sandberg, who directed Annabelle Creation and Lights Out.  It does feel a little long in the beginning, but once it gets going, the action is great, the lessons are well-earned, and the comedy is funny.  Sandberg has managed to finally make a DC movie that maintains a single tone throughout, and while it’s darker here and there than I expected, it is consistent all the way through. It takes the lighthearted tone that was experimented with in Wonder Woman and overdone in Aquaman to completely nail it here.  The story is great, and when Billy finally realizes he is with his true family, it was touching and genuine. Also, the final big fight was absolutely exuberant.

Slight Spoilers here in the cast – you definitely should see this one, so if you haven’t yet, skip the below.

• Zachary Levi plays Shazam and this is clearly the role he was born to play. He was great as Chuck, and fine in Thor, but here, he shines.  He does a fantastic job of portraying a kid suddenly given the opportunity of an adult hero’s body, and makes all the mistakes that would come with that change.  He also manages to portray the joy and confusion equally as believably.

• Mark Strong plays Dr. Sivana, and he seems to be having absolutely the best time. He’s very serious about using the seven deadly sins to first get revenge on his family, and second take over the world. Standard bad guy stuff.  Side Note – he would have made an exceptional Lex Luthor, but hey, I’m happy he’s in this.

• Asher Angel plays Billy Batson, and does a great job of portraying a kid who is struggling with the guilt of believing his birth mother thought he ran away.  His transition to acceptance of the foster family he is blessed with is subtle and lovely.

• Djimon Hounsou plays the Wizard Shazam, who is stuck in his cave, and slowly losing control over the sins demons.  He is searching for a champion, and finally finds Billy. 

• Jack Dylan Grazer plays Freddy Freeman, who is fast talking and crippled. He’s the perfect sidekick for Billy, keeping him entertained and pulling him out of his ongoing guilt.

• Here’s where the spoilers kick in – During the finale, Shazam realizes that the wizard told him he and his siblings ruled, and they were all gone. He passes his powers to his foster siblings, and they each get adult super hero versions too! Adam Brody plays the adult version of Freddy in flawless casting.
• Faithe Herman plays Darla, who is tiny, hilarious, and determined to be the best foster sister to Billy as possible.  Meagan Good plays Super Darla, who is super fast, but still young enough to now know what a ‘lair’ is. Grace Fulton plays Mary, who is worried about getting into a college on the west coast, and sad that it might mean leaving her foster family.  Michelle Borth plays Super Mary.  Ian Chen plays Eugene, who spends most of his time play video games. Ross Butler plays Super Eugene, and does a bit with his electrical powers. Jovan Armand plays Pedro, who is very quiet, but supportive of his siblings. D.J. Cotrona plays Super Pedro – this is significant because years ago, he was going to play Superman with Adam Brody as the Flash in a Justice League movie that never took off.

• Marta Milans and Cooper Andrews play the foster parents Rosa and Victor who now unwittingly are raising an entire troupe of superheroes.

Overall, the movie is charming, fun, and action packed. It is definitely too long at two hours and twelve minutes.  There are some excessive training bits that definitely could have been cut.  There are also some genuinely scary bits, but the kids in my screening loved it, so what do I know.  The design of the sins demons is fantastic, you can basically determine which is which based on the design.  Definitely go see this, it’s very fun! 

Extra Spoiler alert here: there are two post credits sequences, so stay all the way through.  There are no cameos from any other DC heroes, despite clear space for both Superman and Aquaman.  I suppose that’s fine, but a little disappointing.  There are also no appearances by any potential villains except Mister Mind, even though the Rock is a producer of this and is already cast as Black Adam.  I believe he’s getting his stand alone Black Adam movie before he meets up with Shazam. 

8 out of 10 – I really enjoyed it!  Too long, and a little too heavy here and there, but overall, super fun.