TAR : Monday 16th January 2023.

I saw the M rated 'TAR' at Sydney's Open Air Cinema at Mrs. Macquarie's Point overlooking the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge and the city skyline, on Monday evening this week, ten days ahead of its Australian release on 26th January. This psychological drama film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Todd Field whose previous two feature film making credits are his 2001 debut with 'In the Bedroom' and his 2006 'Little Children' which between them garnered the Writer/Director three Academy Award nominations, plus a further thirty award wins and another 108 nominations from around the awards and festival circuit for his complete body of work so far, including 'Tar'. This film saw its World Premier screening at the Venice International Film Festival in early September last year and its wide release in the US from the end of October, where it has so far recovered US$6.5M from its production budget of US$35M and has generated universal critical acclaim. 'Tar' has so far won fifty-six awards and another 200 nominations (some of which are still pending a final outcome).

The film opens up with 49 year-old celebrity virtuoso Lydia Tar (Cate Blanchett who also Co-Produces here) who is a multi award winning composer, only one of fifteen people to win the coveted EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) Awards and the first female chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, being interviewed by Adam Gopnik (Adam Gopnik) at The New Yorker Festival. During the course of the interview she promotes a number of upcoming new projects, including her pending live recording of Mahler's Fifth Symphony and her new autobiographical book 'Tar on Tar'. Lydia relies heavily on Francesca Lentini (Noemie Merlant) her Personal Assistant and former lover to manage her affairs, and Sharon Goodnow (Nina Hoss), her concertmaster violinist and wife. Later, Lydia has lunch with Eliot Kaplan (Mark Strong) an investment banker and conductor who with Lydia co-founded the Accordion Foundation to support and nurture aspiring female conductors. Amongst other things they discuss the interview, her technique, replacing Lydia's assistant conductor Sebastian Brix (Allan Corduner), and filling a vacant cello position in Berlin.

Lydia guest lectures a small graduate masterclass at the Juilliard School. She mocks the black indigenous person of colour and pangender student Max (Zethphan Smith-Gneist) for not taking interest in white composers like J. S. Bach, encouraging students to look past superficial differences and focus on the music itself. Max angrily storms out of the class. Before returning to Berlin, Lydia receives a package delivered to her at her hotel of a first edition of Vita Sackville-West's 1923 novel 'Challenge' from Krista Taylor (Sylvia Flote), a former Accordion fellow. 

Before a blind audition for the cello position, Lydia comes across young Russian hopeful Olga Metkina (Sophie Kauer) in the female toilets. Lydia is attracted to Olga and subsequently treats her favourably over others, including granting her a coveted soloist position in the companion piece to Mahler's Fifth, Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto. As Lydia intensively prepares for the recording, her relationships with Francesca and Sharon grows increasingly strained, as both can see her attraction to Olga. 

After increasingly frequent and desperate e-mails to Francesca, Krista commits suicide, and Lydia instructs Francesca to delete any and all text and e-mail correspondence from or about Krista and retains a lawyer, as Krista's parents plan to sue. Lydia informs Sebastian of his imminent replacement. He is naturally incensed, indicates that the orchestra is aware of her favouritism, and speculates that Francesca will be his replacement. Unperturbed by the accusations, Lydia remarks that she intends to replace Sebastian with a different candidate. Without advising Lydia, Francesca suddenly and without warning resigns upon learning that she will not be promoted. 

One day after rehearsing Olga's solo, Lydia drives her home, but Olga inadvertently leaves a small teddy bear behind in the car. Lydia calls after her but she does not hear so she follows her into an abandoned, dilapidated apartment building. Spooked by a dog in the basement, Lydia runs out of the building trips and injures herself on a set os stone steps that she was hurriedly climbing. She gets home where Sharon treats her facial wounds and lies to her wife and the orchestra the next day, claiming the injuries were from an assault by an unknown male assailant. 

An edited, out-of-context video of Lydia's earlier Juilliard class in which she admonishes Max goes viral, and an article with accusations against her appears in the New York Post. Lydia, accompanied by Olga, returns to New York to attend a deposition for Krista's lawsuit and to promote her book, where she is met by placard wielding angry protestors. During the deposition, it is implied that Francesca has shared damning e-mails with the plaintiffs. The Kaplan Foundation cuts its ties with Lydia. Olga declines Lydia's dinner invitation, saying that she is jet lagged and is going to sleep, but instead sneaks out dressed up to the nines for a night out on the town. 

Back in Berlin, Lydia is removed as conductor. Furious over the allegations, but more so at Lydia's lack of communication, Sharon bars Lydia from seeing their adopted six year old daughter Petra (Mila Bogojevic). Lydia retreats to her old studio and gradually becomes increasingly depressed. At the live recording of Mahler's Fifth Symphony she physically punches and kicks her replacement, before being restrained by two burly security guards and the sounds of disbelief coming from the packed concert hall. Lydia is told to lay low by her management company, and so she returns to her working-class childhood home on Staten Island, where it is revealed that her birth name is Linda Tarr by her brother Tony who chastises her for turning her back on her roots.

Sometime later, Lydia finds work conducting in the Philippines. Seeking a massage to ease her jet lag, she asks the concierge at the low-end hotel she is staying in for a recommendation. She is sent to a high-end brothel, where she is directed to select an escort from the 'fishbowl' where numerous young women are seated in a chamber orchestra-like formation, all with their eyes lowered towards the floor. One woman with the number five pinned to her chest stares into Lydia's eyes, her position the same as Olga's. Lydia rushes outside to vomit on the side of the street. With her new orchestra, Lydia conducts the score for the video game series 'Monster Hunter' before an audience of avid cosplayers. 

'Tar' is a very well made film and worthy of all the accolades bestowed up on it. Here Director, Writer and Producer Todd Field has crafted a film that takes us from the very pinnacle of Lydia's career when it appears she can do no wrong to the very depth's of her career when she is cast asunder and to all intents and purposes, cancelled! Cate Blanchett's performance is outstanding and rivetingly nuanced as she goes from the very highs of her conducting and musical scoring expertise to the depth's of despair having lost almost everything and starting over in the Philippines, all alone in the world. The energy, emotion and complexity with which she imbues her character, not to mention the 10% or so of her dialogue delivered in German, is exemplary and puts Blanchett firmly on a trajectory for Oscar glory later this year, having already won the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards for Best Actress earlier this month. My only criticism of the film is that at a two-and-a-half hour+ run time it does drag its heels in places and becomes just a tad repetitive. This film won't be for everyone, but for those more mature audience members looking for a break from the horror, action and Superhero fare offered up by studio's these days, you can't go far wrong with 'Tar'. 

'Tar' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

CRUELLA : Tuesday 15th June 2021.

'CRUELLA' which I saw at my local multiplex this week is a PG Rated American crime comedy-drama film Directed by Craig Gillespie whose previous film making outings include 'Lars and the Real Girl', 'Million Dollar Arm', 'The Finest Hours' and 'I, Tonya' most recently in 2017. This film is based on the character Cruella de Vil, introduced in Dodie Smith's 1956 novel 'The Hundred and One Dalmatians' and specifically on the version from the Walt Disney 1961 animated film 'One Hundred and One Dalmatians'. It is the third live-action film in the '101 Dalmatians' franchise which were '101 Dalmatians' released in 1996 and '102 Dalmatians' released in 2000 both with Glenn Close playing Cruella de Vil. Those first two instalments grossed a total US$505M off the back of production budgets amounting to a combined US$160M. This film was released theatrically and simultaneously available on Disney+ with Premier Access from the end of May, has generated mostly positive Critical Reviews aside from the screenplay, has so far taken US$132M off the back of a production budget of somewhere in the vicinity of US$150M, and Disney announced earlier this month that a sequel is officially in the early stages of development with both Emma's (Stone and Thompson, who play the leads here) having stated that they would like to make a second film. 

The film opens up sometime in the early 1960's and we are introduced to young five year old Estella Miller (Billie Gadsdon) and her mother Catherine (Emily Beecham) at home fashioning clothes out of scraps of material for Estella's dolls. Already it is clear that the young child has an eye for fashion but also a mean streak, so her mother coins the nickname 'Cruella' for her. We then fast forward to Estella aged twelve (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) and starting at a new school she is already out of sorts with her student cohort for her outlandish fashion sense, outspoken nature, rebellious streak and never say die attitude which gets her into all sorts of trouble with the Headmaster resulting in him blotting her record with black mark upon black mark. Ultimately Catherine is forced to pull Estella out of school before she is expelled, and the pair decide to travel to London to seek a fresh start there. En route, Catherine pulls over at the cliff top mansion of Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson) who is hosting a lavish ball. She asks the Baroness for financial assistance, at which Estella witnesses her mother being shoved over the edge of a cliff to her death by three of the Baroness' ferocious Dalmatian dogs. 

Needless to say the young Estella is mortified by what she witnessed and flees the scene, hitching a ride in the back of a garbage truck all the way to London. She gets out of the truck at a fountain at Regent's Park and is later the next morning greeted by two young street urchins - brothers Jasper and Horace Badun (Ziggy Gardner and Joseph MacDonald respectively). After being chased down by a Policeman on the beat the threesome all come together in an abandoned loft in what looks like a condemned building. In an attempt to go unnoticed she dies her unusual half black half white head of hair red. 

We then fast forward ten years and Estella (Emma Stone) remains with Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) and have become very adept grifters, so much so that they are able to eek out a reasonable standard of living for themselves by picking pockets, stealing wallets and sundry items of jewellery from unsuspecting members of the public and shops around the city. All the while Estella works on her fashion skills by designing their disguises. On the occasion of her birthday Jasper and Horace present Estella with a contract of employment at the Liberty department store (a store that she has always aspired to work at), albeit as an entry level cleaner. After numerous attempts to convince her boss that she is more talented than scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets, but failed, one night in a drunken stupor she changes the window dressing of a particular display much to the chagrin of her boss, but also and more importantly, much to the prise of the Baroness who happens to be the owner of the store. Estella as a result lands a much coveted job with the Baroness who is a famous highly regarded albeit very demanding and authoritarian fashion designer. 

In time Estella wins over the confidence of the Baroness, until one day Estella notices the Baroness wearing a necklace and pendant that previously belonged to her mother Catherine, and which she had given her daughter on the night on her death. In fleeing the scene of the crime, the young Estella had dropped the necklace in panic and only noticed she had lost it when she arrived in London. Estella makes a casual enquiry as to the origin of the distinctive necklace, and the Baroness responds that an employee has once stolen it. At that Estella asks Jasper and Horace to help her steal it back. 

Estella, under the auspices of Cruella and now donning her natural half black half white hair colour, crashes one of the Baroness' lavish parties to steal back the necklace. When the Baroness uses a whistle to command her Dalmatians, Estella comes to the realisation that she used the same whistle to direct her dogs to murder Catherine. 

Now fuelled by revenge for her mother's death, Estella taunts the Baroness by appearing at her parties and social gatherings and upstaging her as Cruella in ever increasingly flamboyant outfits, designed with the aid of vintage clothing store owner, Artie (John McCrea). 

Cruella's unpredictable and often outrageous appearances gain publicity through her childhood friend Anita Darling (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) a gossip columnist. However, meanwhile Cruella's egotistical and arrogant behaviour increasingly antagonises Jasper and Horace so much so that they consider going their separate ways. The Baroness in the meantime, fires her lawyer Roger (Kayvan Novak) for failing to stop Cruella. Estella also kidnaps the Baroness' three Dalmatians after one of them accidentally swallows her mother's necklace, then relies on Jasper and Horace to retrieve the necklace when it appears out of the other end of the dog that swallowed it. 

Cruella later on sabotages the latest Spring collection hosted by the Baroness and stages her own show in front of the fountain at Regents Park wearing an outfit supposedly made out of Dalmatian fur. The Baroness in the meantime has come to the conclusion that Estella and Cruella are in fact the same woman. With her heavies in tow, the Baroness infiltrates their loft and when Estella returns from her successful Regents Park gig she is confronted by a tied and bound Jasper and Horace. Estella is tied and bound, and petrol is doused all around the place, with Jasper and Horace both being framed for her untimely death. The Baroness in turn lights a flame and leaves Estella to die in the fire which quickly engulfs the building. Jasper and Horace are both arrested. 

Cruella while presumed dead and reported as such in the press, is in fact rescued by the Baroness' long serving and trusted valet John (Mark Strong). When she comes round in John's modest home he reveals that he found the necklace, cleaned it with bleach, and therein is a key to a box containing Estella's birth records. She discovers that the Baroness is in fact her biological mother, and ordered John to have the baby Estella killed so she could concentrate exclusively on her fashion career. John couldn't bring himself to commit such an act so instead gave the baby to Catherine, one of the Baroness' maids, who raised Estella in secret. Estella is initially angered by Catherine's deception but in time comes to terms with the truth in an effort to complete her vengeance, so taking on the name Cruella permanently.

Cruella breaks Jasper and Horace out of jail using a garbage truck to ram the front entrance to the Police Station where they are being held (straight out of 'The Terminator' 1984), recruiting them and Artie for her final scheme. They sneak into the Baroness' charity gala, where Cruella has previously sent out an identical costume and black and white wig for all female guests to wear on the night under the pretext that it was sent by the Baroness (straight out of 'V for Vendetta' 2005). Cruella (dressed as Estella) standing on the same spot as her mother was thrown over the cliff all those years before, reveals to the Baroness that she is her abandoned daughter. The Baroness feigns remorse for her actions and asks to hug her before pushing her over the cliff top into the raging sea below, unaware her guests had been led outside and had witnessed the whole thing. The Baroness claims that Estella jumped just as the Police arrive. Cruella survives the fall using a parachute built into her clothing and picked up in a row boat by Horace. She discards her Estella disguise before returning to witness the Baroness being arrested, as Cruella.

Having adopted the last name de Vil (inspired by her stolen Panther De Ville car), Cruella inherits Hellman Hall, shortening it to Hell Hall, as its rightful biological heir, and she, Jasper and Horace attend the funeral of Estella as the only mourners in attendance. Stay seated for the mid-credits sequence in which Cruella has delivered to Anita and Roger (now married since he got fired as the Baroness' lawyer) two Dalmatian puppies named Pongo and Perdita. Roger is now writing songs for a living and begins singing the lyrics to 'Cruella de Vil' while tapping away at his piano. 

I have to say that I enjoyed 'Cruella' a whole lot more than I was expecting. For a Disney film this is quite dark in places and wickedly entertaining in the process. Director Craig Gillespie has here fashioned a Disney origin story that we never knew we needed, and delivered the goods in spades. The production values are top notch; the set designs impressive; the make up artistry equally so; and as for the punk era costumes as worn by Cruella and the haute couture outfits as worn by the Baroness, well they are awards worthy in the own right and worth the price of your ticket alone. Both Emma's shine in their roles, underscored by a strong supporting cast and Paul Walter Hauser nails it with his London accent and is about as far removed from 'Richard Jewell' as you can get. For a live action remake of a beloved Disney animated classic this film is right up there with the best of them and as for the running time of two hours fourteen minutes - fear not, it flies by and never leaves you wanting.

'Cruella' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

1917 : Tuesday 14th January 2020.

'1917' which I saw this week is an MA15+ Rated First World War film Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written for the screen by Sam Mendes, based on a 'fragment' of an account told to Mendes by his paternal grandfather, Alfred Mendes, who was a Trinidad and Tobago novelist and short-story writer who lived from 1897 until 1991 and who served in the 1st Rifle Brigade during WWI and fought for two years in Flanders, along the Belgian Front. He was awarded a Military Medal for distinguishing himself on the battlefield. Sam Mendes is of course the highly acclaimed English Director of film and stage whose previous film making credits include 'American Beauty', 'Road to Perdition', 'Jarhead', 'Revolutionary Road', and the two most recent Bond releases 'Skyfall' and 'Spectre'. This film was released in the US on Christmas Day, and in Australia and the UK last week, has received widespread critical acclaim, and has so far raked up 72 awards wins and another 142 nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit, with many of those nominations still awaiting a final outcome. The film cost US$90M to make, and has so far grossed US$72M, and is lensed by the multi-award winning and nominated Roger Deakins and scored by the equally multi-award winning and nominated Thomas Newman.

It is 6th April 1917 - at the height of the First World War in northern France, and two young British soldiers, Lance Corporal Schofield (George MacKay) and Lance Corporal Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), are given a seemingly impossible mission by General Erinmore (Colin Firth) to personally deliver a hand written message to a Colonel Mackenzie (Benedict Cumberbatch) of the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment which will warn of an ambush of some sixteen hundred British troops at the hands of the German Army in a calculated attack soon after the German tactical retreat to the new Hindenburg Line during Operation Alberich. Included in those 1,600 men is Blake's older brother, Lieutenant Joseph Blake (Richard Madden).

The two young soldiers have no alternative but to accept their mission, which is expected to take them about eight hours on foot across enemy lines. And so Schofield and Blake cross no man's land and reach the now abandoned original German trenches. Scouring the bunkers for any signs of life, or food, it turns out that the myriad of underground tunnels contain tripwires, which a rat scavenging for scraps of food in the darkness, triggers. The ensuing explosion almost kills Schofield who is buried under rocks, rubble and dust, but Blake digs him out and leads him temporarily blinded out of the collapsing bunkers to safety.

The pair arrive at an abandoned destroyed farmhouse, where they witness a dogfight in the skies nearby involving two British aircraft and one German. The German plane plunges into the farm and explodes. Schofield and Blake attempt to save the partially burned pilot by pulling him out of the cockpit with his legs on fire. Schofield proposes they mercy kill him, but Blake has Schofield instead fetch water for the pilot to drink. Meanwhile, the pilot stabs Blake in the stomach, and is promptly shot dead by Schofield, who comforts Blake as he dies, promising to complete the mission, find his brother, and write to his mother saying he loves her.

Schofield is picked up by a passing British unit led by Captain Smith (Mark Strong) who lets him ride in the back of a troop carrier. A destroyed bridge near the bombed-out village, Ecoust-Saint-Mein, prevents the British lorries from crossing, meaning they must make a six mile detour. Schofield racing against the clock decides to go it alone and bids Captain Smith farewell. Smith offers some advice to Schofield that when he presents the letter to Mackenzie he does so in front of several witnesses, as some men just like to fight!

So Schofield crosses a canal alone by clinging on to the remnants of the bridge. He immediately comes under fire from a German sniper, but manages to get across the canal and returning fire takes out the sniper perched in the upper floor of a tall building, only to be knocked out by a ricocheting bullet and falling backwards down some steps.

Schofield comes round at night, with the back of his head all bloodied, but proceeds on. Fired upon by a chasing German soldier through the bombed out streets and buildings of Ecoust, Schofield stumbles into the dimly lit hiding place of a French woman Lauri (Claire Duburcq) with an infant. Recognising that they are both allies of each other, she tends to his head wound, and he leaves fresh cows milk he found at the abandoned farm earlier in the day for the infant and his own rations for her. Continuing his mission through the rubble and burning buildings all around him, Schofield is twice discovered by German soldiers. He strangles one of them and escapes under gunfire by jumping into a raging river of white water and fast flowing rapids. Eventually, rising to the surface, he is thrust over a waterfall into more steady flowing waters below where he clings to a log to catch his breath while he is carried down stream.

Schofield reaches an embankment of the river which is blocked by a fallen tree and numerous dead bodies floating in the river trapped in front of the downed tree trunk. He scrambles across the dead bodies to clamber up the shoreline, where he collapses sobbing and exhausted. In the distance he can hear the faint sound of someone singing. He ventures forth, and comes across a battalion of soldiers all sitting on the ground intently listening to a single fellow soldier singing a ballad.

After the singing stops, the soldiers all stand up and recognising that Schofield is not one of their own, asks him if he's alright, judging by his drenched uniform and decidedly dishevelled appearance. He responds by asking which regiment they are, and they reply the Devons . . . the ones he is looking for.

Failing to stop the start of the attack, he scours through the dug out trenches searching for Mackenzie's whereabouts. Told he is still 300 yards away along a two man wide at best trench, he climbs over the top of the trench and sprints across the battlefield as the charging British infantry are bombarded by a barrage of German artillery.

He ultimately forces his way into meeting the commander of the battalion, Colonel Mackenzie, and hands him the note from General Erinmore. After some bluster and initially being dismissed by the Colonel, Schofield says that the Germans have been planning this attack for months, at which point the attack is called off and the men are ordered to stand down.

Schofield then goes in search of Joseph and is directed to the infirmary tent, and who was among the first attack wave but is unhurt. He delivers the news of his younger brothers death. Joseph is saddened by the news, but thanks Schofield for his efforts. Schofield asks to write to Blake's mother to inform her about his heroism, to which Joseph agrees. Joseph tells him to go to the mess tent to get something to eat. Instead, Schofield walks away and sits under a nearby tree, able to rest at last after completing his mission. From his pocket he pulls several photographs revealing he has two young daughters and a wife at home waiting for him to return safely.

'1917' is a film that begs to be seen on the big screen. It is a truly immersive cinematic experience that lensman Roger Deakins delivers with his seemingly one take approach as the camera ducks, dives and weaves from open countryside, to the claustrophobia of underground bunkers, to the tight squeeze of the trenches, through bombed out towns and down raging torrents of rivers as our two heroes of this piece dodge bombs, mortars, bullets and human remains to realise their mission. As the first truly mechanised war in human history, this is a simple story, deftly and very impressively told by Sam Mendes that does not over complicate war but serves as a timely reminder of the horrors of war and the pain, suffering and devastation that man can inflict on his fellow man. Tense, emotional, moving and gripping all at once '1917' easily stands up there with Spielberg's 'Saving Private Ryan' for its set design, production values, focus on authenticity, visceral storytelling, action sequences and cinematography, not to mention the two relatively unknown lead Actors who won't be so unknown for much longer and the strong cast of support Actors in various cameo roles. Despite some flaws in its storytelling and a stretching of the imagination in a few places, '1917' is a must see at a movie theatre and for followers of the genre, as it redefines the scope and scale of the depiction of trench warfare and the realities of open armed combat in the last one hundred years for the 21st Century.

'1917' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard out of a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

SHAZAM! : Wednesday 10th April 2019.

'SHAZAM' which I saw earlier this week, is the seventh instalment in the DC Extended Universe based on the DC Comics of the same name, which first appeared in 1939 under his original name 'Captain Marvel' and subsequently changed to 'Shazam' in 1972 due to trademark conflicts over another character named 'Captain Marvel' owned by Marvel Comics. He is the alter ego of Billy Batson, a boy who, by speaking the magic word 'SHAZAM' (an acronym of six 'immortal elders', being Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury), can transform himself into a costumed adult with the powers of superhuman strength, speed, flight and various other abilities. The film cost in the region of US$100M to bring to the big screen, is Directed by David F. Sandberg, was released in the US last week too and has so far received generally favourable Reviews with some describing it as one of the best Superhero films. The film has so far taken US$194M at the Box Office. A sequel is already in the works and under redevelopment.

The film opens in 1974 with a car driving along a deserted highway late at night. Driving the car is Mr. Sivana (John Glover) father of teenager Sid (Landon Doak) sat in the passenger seat and in the back youngest son Thaddeus (Ethan Pugiotto). The two brothers are arguing over a toy game that Thaddeus is amusing himself with, when the car seems to take on a life of its own, gathers speed rapidly, the windows frost over and then comes to a grinding halt leaving Thaddeus alone in the now stationary vehicle. He ventures outside to see that he has somehow been magically transported to some kind of ancient looking temple. There he meets the equally ancient looking wizard 'Shazam' (Djimon Hounsou), the last surviving wizard of the Council of Seven Wizards. Shazam explains that he has spent these past centuries seeking out a new champion without success who is 'pure of heart' to whom the old wizard can pass on his magical and mystical powers before he finally departs this mortal coil. He further explains that after the previous champion went rogue, the Seven Deadly Sins were released by him upon the ancient world to wreak widespread havoc, death and destruction. The Sins, are now trapped in stone statues within the temple, yet they tempt Thaddeus with promises of power and riches. However, for succumbing to them so easily he is banished back to Earth as unworthy to be the champion. Upon returning, Thaddeus' car gets T-Boned by an oncoming pick-up truck from which Sid and Thaddeus survive but Mr. Sivana is lying in a crumpled heap on the ground having been thrown from the car. Sid blames his little brother for being the cause of his fathers injuries.

We then fast forward to the present day Philadelphia. Here we meet up with fourteen year old Billy Batson (Asher Angel) who frequently taunts the local Police force while searching for his birth mother whom he was separated from when he was just four years old. Billy has been in foster care ever since and repeatedly has run away from his foster carers for varying reasons. He is placed into a new group home run by Victor and Rosa Vazquez (Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans respectively), who have five other foster kids: Mary Bromfield (Grace Fulton), Pedro Peña (Jovan Armand), Eugene Choi (Ian Chen), Darla Dudley (Faithe Herman) and Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), his new roommate who is a budding and nerdy superhero enthusiast.

Meanwhile, a now adult Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong) who has spent his life's work in trying to discover a way back into the magical temple, discovers a way of re-entering it. Upon arrival, Sivana confronts the now older and more frail Shazam, steals the 'Eye of Sins' from the 'Rock of Eternity' so freeing the Seven Deadly Sins and in doing so becomes their collective vessel. He uses his new powers to attack the wizard, and later returns to Earth to kill his abusive father, now the CEO of Sivana Industries, his domineering older brother Sid (Wayne Ward) and the other members of the Sivana Industries Board all gathered for a meeting.

While at school, Billy saves Freddy from bullies and leads them on a chase into a subway. While travelling on the subway train Billy experiences the train gather rapid speed, the lights go out, the windows frost over and the train then comes to an abrupt halt with only him in the carriage. He gingerly ventures outside to reveal that he is in the same ancient temple having been summoned by Shazam who chooses Billy as the next champion. By touching the staff and repeating Shazam's name, Billy is transformed into an adult costumed superhero who takes on the wizard's name before the wizard turns to dust, leaving behind only his staff.

Shazam (Zachary Levi) returns home and, with Freddy's help, starts to learn the extent and test out his newly gifted powers : super strength, electricity manipulation, bulletproof skin, hyper speed and flight (which he hasn't quite got the hang of yet!). Freddy posts videos online of Shazam testing his powers, creating an overnight viral sensation. 

Freddy brags to their classmates about knowing Shazam. Billy meanwhile abandons him and skips school to entertain fans with his newfound super powers for money. After seeing Shazam save a bus on the news, Sivana attacks him demanding he give up his power to him. After all, Shazam is just a fourteen year old boy trapped inside the body of an adult, so what use does he have for the powers bestowed upon him. The untested Shazam is easily defeated in close quarter hand to hand combat staged in a shopping mall at Christmas time. Shazam transforms back into Billy to escape into the fleeing crowd trying to exit the mayhem going on all around them. 

Sivana sees news coverage of Shazam and Freddy following Shazam's saving of the bus load of passengers after it had careered off the side of the freeway. From this he deduces Billy's identity and captures Freddy forcing him to reveal where Billy lives. Back at the foster family home, the other kids learn of Billy's secret alter ego, and also tell him that the have been able to locate his birth mother (something Billy has spent years trying to do unsuccessfully) who lives just two blocks away. Billy goes to meet his mother for the first time in ten years, but she tells him that she intentionally abandoned him, believing she was unable to care for him as a teenage single mother. A few minutes later, Billy leaves feeling dejected and rejected saying that he needs to return to his real family.

Sivana calls Billy from the Vazquez home. Once there, Shazam agrees to give Sivana his powers in exchange for sparing his family's lives. Sivana and Shazam travel to the temple through a temporary doorway portal in the house, but the other kids follow and attack Sivana, giving them all time to escape, before Shazam gave up his powers.

Sivana follows Shazam and the kids to a Christmas carnival, where Sivana unleashes the Seven Deadly Sins. Wrath does battle with Shazam, leaving the other Sins free to capture his family, so coaxing him to give up his powers. As Sivana recalls the Sins, Shazam uses that moment to pull the old wizards staff from out of his hands and stun Sivana. Shazam remembers the wizard's wise words and shares his powers with his foster brothers and sisters, transforming them into adult superheroes with powers equal to his own. Shazam snaps the staff in two and as the family of newly formed caped superheroes are kept occupied by the other Deadly Sins, Shazam resumes his battle with Sivana. On a rooftop Shazam baits out Envy, who had remained housed in Sivana's body as the smallest and ugliest of the Seven Deadly Sins, so leaving Sivana powerless. Shazam defeats Envy and saves a falling Sivana who has plummeted off the rooftop. Dropping him in the rubble of the broken Christmas carnival ground, Shazam removes the Eye of Sin from Sivana, which seals away the Sins back into their stone tombs. The family return the Eye of Sin to its rightful place within the temple and the Rock of Eternity, and realise that they can use the temple now as their secret lair.

I would have to say that I was just a little reluctant going in to see 'Shazam!' based on the experiences of the previous DCEU offerings, and yet I was pleasantly surprised. The film glides along on a steady stream of humour, fast paced action and emotion, intertwined with family values, a coming of age story, and good overcoming evil. Finally it seems that the DCEU has overcome its earlier challenges and is now hitting its straps with 'Wonder Woman', then 'Aquaman' and now 'Shazam' perhaps the least known character in the ensemble. That said, it's not up there with the Marvel competition, but on the strength of this offering, the critical response generated so far, the accumulating Box Office take and the fact that a sequel is already in the works, then this lighthearted yet still dark and emotional enough new character offering may be around for long enough for us to become truly invested in him. 

'Shazam!' warrants three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard out of a possible five. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-