Shazam! Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs
1. The Totally Unremarkable Visuals
To be completely fair to director David F. Sandberg, Shazam! was made for "only" about $90 million, a paltry budget compared to the $200+ million price tags of some DCEU movies.
And it certainly isn't a bad looking film, but it also doesn't look particularly interesting either.
You'd think that after all the criticism of Zack Snyder's movies being too drab and colourless, we'd see a ton of brightness and vibrancy here, but shockingly enough, far too much of the movie is grey and washed-out.
Snyder's films at least had memorable shot compositions despite their sloppiness, yet most of the on-the-ground scenes here wouldn't look out-of-place in a well-made TV film.
The superhero shenanigans are meanwhile fine if formulaic, typically devolving into the usual blurry, overdone VFX onslaught the DCEU has become known for.
Ultimately despite its charms, aesthetically-speaking Shazam! can rival Suicide Squad as the most tepid-looking DCEU film to date. But regardless of its faults, here's everything Shazam! gets on the money...