The best superhero movie that has "started up" so far in 2019 is "Thunder Shazan!" " , nothing else, because it won praise from countless audiences and media before its official release . Rotten Tomatoes and MetaCritc index are both very impressive, and even became the "Batman "Dark Knight" series" after the DC Super The highest rated work in a British movie.
I can’t wait to watch the film, I must admit that the film did not live up to everyone’s words of praise. Its "young attitude, youthful mind" and "emotional contradiction and resonance design" are its greatest magic weapon... However, this is also the film's failure in the country. The crux of gaining a good enough reputation.
As usual, this article will not fall out of the book bag. I don't know what black Adam and meditation mites are. I just talk about movies about movies.
[Friendly reminder: There will be spoilers below. 】
In my opinion, "Thunder Shazan! "The biggest advantage is divided into two, one bright and one dark. The most obvious and most popular one is the full of vitality "sense of youth": it can bring back all your teenage years and naive fantasies.
May I ask which young man has never imagined that he will become the "chosen man" and acquire magical superpowers?
The design of the film is quite "ordinary": Shazam, the wizard, is getting weaker and weaker, and he is about to find a young man to inherit the mantle. As a result, he is "eliminated" before the heir is found. Dr. Shivana found the Rock of Eternity to release the seven deadly sins, and the helpless wizard had to pass on his power to the young Billy Batson.
But ordinary does not mean mediocrity. In this film, this design is quite real. What's interesting is that when Billy came to accept the "interview", the wizard didn't even have the conditions to test him, so he could only close his eyes and force the inheritance... This invisibly also shows that there is no "inner pure and flawless" person.
Billy is indeed not a good boy in his ideals. He keeps getting into trouble and always runs away from the foster family. He only has himself and his lost mother in his heart... When such a 14-year-old suddenly has extraordinary abilities, we call it "Thunder Sand Sculpture". It appeared naturally.
Billy and his new brother Freddy "smell the same", skip class to verify the various superpowers that Shazan possesses, and have a great time.
This part of the film is very lively and interesting. It is fully in line with the youthful spirit of "Secondary 2" in real life. Discharge, extreme speed, and vigorous force... Any time they are discovered, they are extremely excited, especially when stopping the convenience store robbers -only no A child who knows the temperament of fear will let the other person shoot him on the head after he finds his body is "invulnerable", and 80% of adults dare not play like this.
Speaking of this, it involves another unobvious advantage of the film: emotional settings.
Billy, who had lost his mother since he was a child, has never trusted the foster family who took care of him. He will not hesitate to run away more than 20 times in order to find a mother who has been thinking about it for many years.
When he came to the "foster care home" Victor, Billy still did not change his mind. Peer Freddy seemed to have a lot of common language with him, but he still went his own way in his heart : stole Freddy's "Superman Bullet", but said no; when he went home to find Freddy to share secrets and skip class to play together, I also hoped that he would have a companion; when Freddy bragged about Shazan’s relationship, Billy felt that he again Is using oneself to abandon it...
Therefore, Billy and the villain Shivana are very similar (and understand each other very well) . The difference is that when the long-awaited mother and son reunion is not as good as he imagined, he chose to look down on it, but now it seems incomparable. Precious family affection.
We cannot choose our origin, but we can choose our attitude. This is the point of view embedded in the film that is of great universal value.
When Billy had an idea and let the other five brothers and sisters of different surnames become members of the "Shazam Family" at the same time, I decided "Thunder Shazam!" "Is a good movie, it tells an ordinary and extraordinary story with a seemingly magical setting.
So when Billy and others made Freddy show up in school at the end of the credits, it felt very refreshing-we are still children, and we enjoy the joy of this kind of person pretending to be B!
In addition to the above two advantages, the film seems a little lackluster in other aspects . For example, the setting and shaping of the villain Dr. Shiwana.
In fact, the movie took a lot of pen and ink to fill this role, but compared to the original uncle who "wants to save the terminally ill family and went astray", the film’s Dr. Shivana, who wants to get the strength to prove himself It looks flat and thinner.
Although such a "pure" villain is enough to deal with Billy who is only 14 years old in mind, it is always a bit unwilling to watch it in the entire movie, especially the DC Super British movie that has always been "very brilliant". Woolen cloth……
Another more serious problem is "Thunder Shazan! "There is no "sand sculpture" as expected. The audience who paid attention to this film in the early stage should not be difficult to find that most of the funny and entertaining segments in the film have appeared in the trailers and clips.
For example, accepting the inheritance of wizards, testing super powers for the first time, first accidentally harming people and then intentionally saving people, and even the last egg, etc., it is inevitable that everyone will feel "Thunder Shazan!" "It's an entertaining movie full of laughter...but the reality is that the movie hides its profound and contemplative side, but the actual temperament of the film is not like that. Although this is not a "fraud", it still makes some people feel " "Popcorn Index" is insufficient.
In addition, limited to the cost and production pattern of the film, the special effects scenes and action fights of the film are not so pleasing to the eye , and they have not become the extra points of the film.
Of course, these are just small questions, "Thunder Shazan! "It hasn't been as popular in China as in North America. I think the main reason is that the two biggest advantages of the film have not been able to achieve the same effect as in the United States.
The first is the true "juvenile spirit". Meiman has risen and been popular for more than half a century. It has accompanied generations of people in the United States to grow up. Countless teenagers, young people, middle-aged and even the elderly have a "superhero dream", "Thundershadow!" "Whether it is an original comic or a live-action movie, it is the closest to a dream.
There is always a sense of distance between “superheroes” and ordinary people. Even the most “people-friendly” characters such as Spider-Man cannot be compared with Shazam, who is completely taking the civilian route this time —detecting superpower types and pretending Adults go to buy beer, this kind of "mortal" to the extreme, is very in line with the appetite of the old beauty.
And when our generation wants to be a child, it should be Monkey King, Saint Seiya, Saiyan, Sailor Moon, or Little Devil... Although these fantasies are essentially the same as being superheroes, the "sense of substitution" is still There is a big gap.
In our “hero view”, encountering bad guys can’t escape, and it’s not what a hero does. Of course, we can understand that it’s normal for Billy to run away as a teenager under 15 years old. More empathy is difficult.
The most "unacceptable" point is that we lack the unique family environment soil in the film. I don't know how many years ago the data is. "The proportion of combined families in the United States has reached more than one-third." At the same time, the number of foster families is not too high (similar settings can be seen everywhere in movies and American TV series). "Thunder Shazan! Each of Billy’s siblings is an adopted child, and the parents Victor and Rosa also come from foster families. This seemingly peculiar family member structure has a solid foundation in the United States, so the audience It will generally resonate more.
On the other hand, most of the domestic audience of American comics and Super British movies grew up as only children. Even if there are brothers and sisters, there are not too many. As for the number of combined families and foster families, there are even fewer...
Although we can all understand and understand the complexes and feelings in the film, we are far from "empathy/resonance", without the blessing of feelings, "Thunder Shazan!" "In our eyes, the unique "halo" is naturally lacking.
Even so, I still think this is an excellent super-British movie. It is grounded and not only entertaining or deep -if the same type of movie in the future can be like "Thunder Shazan!" "I would like to see more exploration and development like this.
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