Talking about super British movies, how can we not talk about Easter eggs. However, in the film, Freddy changes a set of superhero T-shirts in each scene. Let's take it slow and enjoy the fun. It is not the scope of discussion.
Eternal Rock
Forged over 5,000 years ago, the Rock of Eternity comes from the level between heaven and hell, while the Rock of Eternity is the place of an old hero episode to hold back the ancient seven deadly sins, but with the Sorcerer Sands Zan's siblings have all died or left, and his power is getting weaker, so he needs to find an heir.
At the end of the film, the Eternal Rock has also become Shazam's secret base. Just like Batman, there is a huge equipment base under the castle. It is also mentioned in the film that Shazam initially wanted to buy a house as a secret base, preferably close to a cliff, with cars coming in and out under a waterfall, etc.
In the comics, the main entrance and exit of the Eternal Rock and the earth is Fawcett City. The origin of the name of Fawcett City is actually the Fawcett comics created by the character Shazam. But in the film, it was changed to Philadelphia.
It is worth noting that at the end of the film, 6 superheroes were assembled to form the Shazam family, just as the Eternal Rock is their secret base, but there are 7 seats in the Eternal Rock, called the Eternal Council, which is also known as the Eternal Council. Description, the Shazam family will be in the sequel, it is possible to add a new family member to make up 7 members.
shazam family
There are a total of 6 Shazam family members in the film. Except for Shazam, the other five briefly introduced their superpowers. They are Freddy, Mary, Pedro, Dara, and Eugene.
In addition to these members, in the comics, Shazam finally fell in love with a tiger at the zoo as the guardian of magic, so the seven thrones of the Eternal Stone may be seated by them, which also corresponds to the seven deadly sins of the seven evil spirits.
Perhaps because of the limited budget of the film, Tiger needs a lot of special effects as a superhero, so the seventh member of the Shazam family was postponed to the sequel. . . Bar.
seven deadly sins
The Seven Deadly Sins are Shazam's old enemies, and each evil spirit corresponds to it, which is consistent with David Fincher's "The Seven Deadly Sins".
In the comics, the Seven Deadly Sins are separate villains and will not merge with Dr. Shivana. Dr. Shivana also has his own magic and superpowers.
Dr. Shivana
In the film, Dr. Shivana, without the help of the Seven Deadly Sins, is just an ordinary bald uncle. This uncle was selected by the wizard Shazam when he was a child, and finally he embarked on the study of black magic spells because of his wrong mind. no return.
However, in the comics, Dr. Shivana is the other way around. In order to save his terminally ill family members, he studied black magic and learned various spells when modern medical techniques could not be cured.
Personally, I think this version of Dr. Shivana's personality should be more able to impress the audience. I don't know why the film was changed to Dr. Shivana. Just because the wizard Shazam said he was not good, he turned into a villain.
In the comics, one day Dr. Shivana went to an ancient tomb, and suddenly a bolt of lightning hit him in the right eye, giving him an upgrade to see through all black magic and use it for it. So he used this skill to release Black Adam, who was sealed by the wizard Shazam in the ancient tomb.
Wizard Shazam
The sorcerer Shazam didn't have this name originally, his name was Mamaragon, and he was born in Canaan 9,000 years ago (after NEW52).
Shazam, the wizard who has fought evil for thousands of years, is finally exhausted and wants to find a successor, the kind of recruiting system in the film.
In the time of the Egyptian pharaohs, the wizard Shazam chose Tes Adam. Later, Tes Adam turned black, took the ability of Shazam and harmed human beings everywhere, and changed his name to Black Adam. Black Adam is also Shazam's strongest enemy.
Later, the wizard Shazam sealed Black Adam, but his power became weaker and weaker, and he had to continue to find an heir, so he found Billy.
As early as 2017, Dwayne Johnson became the actor of Black Adam. Originally, I thought that according to the character setting of the comics, I could see the appearance of Black Adam, but this should wait until the sequel of Shazam.
Even in the planning process of DC's extended universe, the independent film of "Black Adam" is also included, and the screenwriter and director have been selected.
ending egg
In the end, Superman came to make a cameo appearance, but because the actors of the DC Extended Universe are somewhat fragmented, so far, the candidates for Superman and Batman have not been determined who will play the role, so the film uses a clever way to let Superman Don't show your face, just show your superman clothes.
End credit egg 1: Meditation Mite
The first easter egg is Dr. Shivana writing a black magic spell in prison, and the last one is similar to a caterpillar coming in and talking to him. It is Mr Mind, the super villain of DC Comics, from Venus, with a high Wisdom, and can control the brains of others, is also an old opponent of Shazam.
In the new 52, Meditation Mite and Dr. Shivana, and Black Adam teamed up to fight against Shazam. In the comics, Meditation Mite is also the voice that tempts Shivana to learn black magic. Meditation Mite also formed the Monster Society of Evil, bringing together many of DC's villains, including Dr. Shivana and Black Adam.
In the film, Meditation Mite has a close-up at the beginning of the film, which actually implies that when Shyvana entered the Eternal Rock as a child, it was arranged by Meditation Mite with magic, not the wizard Shazam. There was a problem with the spell.
The appearance of meditating mite, the sequel is expected to unite Dr. Shivana and Black Adam to fight against Shazam.
End credits 2
This is purely an entertainment egg. Freddy is testing and developing Shazam's new skills to see if Shazam can talk to the fish, but this skill is better left to Aquaman.
video analysis
The characters and settings of "Thunder Shazam", and even the structure of the plot, are basically adapted from DC Comics NEW 52.
The film sets Billy as a child who has been lost since childhood. He has been fostered in various families and escaped 23 times, because he never recognized the foster family, and at the same time, he could not recognize who he was. to your own home.
Growing up became an internal conflict for Billy, and becoming Shazam became an external conflict. The two go hand in hand to shape Billy's transformation from boy to man.
Under the cave of the Eternal Rock, the wizard Shazam sticks to the demon who controls the seven deadly sins. He is looking for the next heir, but due to the inaccurate calculation of mana, he first found the childhood Dr. Shivana and planted the root of the curse.
In the end, the wizard Shazam found Billy and made a 15-year-old boy the heir to protect the peace of mankind. As long as Billy shouted SHAZAM, Billy would be transformed into Shazam by a flash of lightning.
The interesting part of the film is this, a 15-year-old boy has superpowers by accident, but Billy doesn't know how to release and use these superpowers, because the wizard Shazam is turning Billy into sand. After liking it, he didn't give him a manual.
So Billy was in the process of digging out superpowers, and Shazam's agent (little follower) Freddy appeared. Freddy was definitely the best supporting role, not inferior to the protagonist. Freddy used his familiarity with the DC universe. The knowledge of Chaoying has slowly expanded and tapped Shazam's superpowers. The most interesting part of the film lies in this part.
It can even be said that without the role of Freddy, the rating of "Shazam of Thunder" may be a notch lower.
The fun of Shazam's age reversal is similar to Tom Hanks' "Growing Up" and 2017's "Jumanji: Jungle Battle."
Among them, when Shazam and Dr. Shivana were fighting in the mall, the two stepped on the floor piano, which is a tribute to Tom Hanks' "Growing Up".
These two works are from a teenage child to an adult, but the mind is still a child. In the process of transforming into Shazam, Billy satisfies all the children want to do when they become adults. Desires can also satisfy everyone's imagination of wanting to have superpowers.
But after Shazam met Dr. Shivana, Shazam (Billy) chose to run away and turned back to Billy, we are not surprised by Billy's escape, because he is only 15 years old after all, he I didn't even think about being a superhero.
This is also what I think the film is most worth thinking about. When we were children, we all looked forward to one day growing up, but of course, when we all became adults, we missed the unscrupulous youth.
The film uses such a plot to insinuate a metaphor of our dislocation of growth, which is very interesting.
Later, with the help of his foster family siblings, Billy found his biological mother, only to find that his biological mother could actually find him back then, but he did not have the ability and courage to continue to take Big Billy.
We often say that getting mature is a momentary thing. Billy, who knows the truth, finally understands that the home he has been looking for has already been found. The love given by the foster family makes him ignite the fighting spirit to protect them. responsibility.
This passage also illustrates from the side that the rebellious and correct beliefs we once believed in when we were young, in fact, only after we grew up overnight did we realize that the world is more complicated than we imagined.
Billy gained superpowers and became Shazam, but he didn't really use his superpowers to take the corresponding responsibilities. This has also become an attempt to change the values of DC superhero theme.
In the final duel of the film, Shazam was unable to face the Seven Evil Spirits and Dr. Shivana, so Shazam assigned his superpowers to other siblings, thus forming the "Shazam Family" in the comics (originally called the "Amazing Family"). ”). It's also a good representation of the traditional concerted film theme.
Therefore, another outstanding point of the film is also the foster family that has spent a lot of space in the front, including a warm-hearted father, a well-cared-for mother, and five united brothers and sisters.
This foster family made Billy truly feel the warmth, and at the same time found the love he wanted to place on.
Of course, after saying so many words of praise, it does not mean that "Shazam of Thunder" is a fully rated superhero movie. I have found that DC has been very careless in shaping the villains in recent years, starting from "Justice League", The villain began as a fighting symbol in the film, without any character progression and three-dimensional shaping.
"Thunder Shazam" also has such a problem. Although Dr. Shivana's shaping has a beginning and motivation, it is extremely difficult to convince people. Fortunately, the center of the film is not focused on major events and conflicts to save the world. Instead, it was placed on Sha Zanchang.
However, I don’t know if the DC universe is afraid of the dark style. This time, the change in the style of “Shazam of Thunder” makes people feel that, at least it makes me think that “Shazam of Thunder” does not need to set the threshold for watching movies, or It is said that the viewing age group has been lowered to such a low level.
This point can explain a lot of problems in the shaping of the villain Dr. Shivana. The film actually wants to show the tragic life background of Dr. Shivana, but in the end, the film needs to be more public and more entertaining, so it is only Can make the villain into a big bad guy who wants to be a bad guy.
Really, when I watched this movie, I once thought that the foster father would have a reversal, just like Miles' uncle in "Spider-Man Parallel Universe", but unfortunately I thought too much.
As for the fights and special effects in the film, obviously the layout is relatively small, and some visual parties may not be able to watch it, but if you know that the cost of the film is only 90 million, you can understand why, after all, the economic foundation Decide on the superstructure.
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