Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Because we sometimes have to cram in movies when our babysitters are available, we saw Shazam! and Captain Marvel back-to-back. This is fitting since both characters were at one pointed named "Marvel." But the two couldn't be further apart, and watching them one after another illustrates the differences between a mature and somewhat sober look at a woman coming into her own power and a teenage boy flaunting his. Let's start with Shazam! The original comic, which was captured so well in a recent Teen Titans Go! cartoon, was that of a preteen named Billy Batson who can transform into the adult Captain Marvel (later named Shazam for copyright reasons). The wizard responsible for creating Shazam was looking for someone pure of heart, and Teen Titans Go! implies part of Billy's purity is because he hasn't hit puberty yet. It's an important part of the character, implying that traditional paths to masculinity are fraught with a lot of toxicity (a battle that continues to rage on the Internet today) and by skipping that path Billy's heart remains pure. In addition to the fact that he was essentially "magic Superman," Shazam was distinguished by his purity. The fact that Superman snapped a bad guy's neck in one of the movies shows you how much a character's adherence to their own moral code matters. The fact that producer Peter Safran has casually discarded all of Shazam's ideology without a whimper from fans demonstrates how out of touch Shazam now seems in modern day pop culture. Central to Shazam is a Christ allegory, and it's not lost on director David F. Sanberg. He sets it during Christmas, and Shazam's costume of of red and white is sharply and repeatedly contrasted with Santa. Shazam is also the central foil to the seven deadly sins (wrath, gluttony, pride, envy, greed, lust, and sloth), who are literal CGI demons imprisoned by the same wizard who gives Shazam his powers. The wizard (also known as Shazam, played by Djimon Houns), the last of seven, realizes magic is fading in the world and looks relentlessly for a successor, summoning them in a series of alien-abduction style scenarios before deeming them not worthy over-and-over-and-over. This is psychologically damaging to those who aren't chosen, and the child who grows up to be Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), dedicates his life to finding the wizard again and exacting his revenge for not being good enough. Sivana is outraged to discover the wizard picked someone else and is eager to take him down -- if only to see for himself what was "pure enough" for the wizard. Powered by the Sins, he finally has the power to do so. Who did the wizard pick? Billy Batson (Ashe Angel), a 14-year-old kid who will stop at nothing to track down his missing mother. Billy has been in the foster system for years and he is determined to find his mother at any cost, including running away from loving foster families, hijacking police cars, and stealing from his roommates. In short, Billy's a selfish jerk that we're supposed to feel sorry for because he's an orphan. Once he gets the power of Shazam (Zachary Levi, having the time of his life), he turns Shazam into a Times Square Elmo, busking for change and skipping school. The director takes pain to show that Billy succumbs to all of the seven deadly sins, including visiting a strip club, stealing from a cash machine, and drinking beer. The core of Shazam is that his magic comes from his purity, not just his superpowers. Shazam may have been a product of the 1940s, but his lessons on being a good person are still relevant. Sandberg's jaded take on the character turns him into someone who only abandons his quest to find his mother when the physical evidence is before him; who only steps up to embrace his foster family when they're in mortal peril; who is only a hero when he has to be because the plot gives him no other choice. This is the kind of movie where Santa is set on fire and swears on television. It's a movie that flips the middle finger at youthful innocence because we have the Internet now and kids are just mini-adults, right? Here's the thing: Sivana isn't wrong. The wizard didn't choose Billy because he was any morally better than anyone else, he chose him because he was his last chance to pass on his power before he expired. Sure, Sivana is at turns murderous and coldly calculating, but it's hard to argue with the fact that the wizard ruined his life. This movie is an open rejection of faith in a higher calling. It argues for a humanist embrace of family over faith, of things you can see over things that might be. When Billy is asked to say the wizard's name, he laughs. He's laughing at the very concept of faith in something that might seem silly or different or magical. It's a deeply cynical take on a superhero who is supposed to be better than that.