Why I'm Not Reviewing Shazam! (2019)

I’m not reviewing this movie. I’m not watching this movie at the cinema. I’m likely to never go near this movie at all. Yep, for the first time in this blog’s history, I’m instating an official boycott for a movie. Wonder Wheel and Underworld: Blood Wars may have gotten me in the mindset of boycotting whatever came next, but this is the first time I’ve actively done so. The reason why is both complicated and rather depressing, so let’s try and go into this as even-handedly as possible.

Is it because it’s a DC movie? Hell no. I may have problems with some recent DC films, but between Wonder Woman, Aquaman and even Suicide Squad, I have enough reason to stop being instantly sceptical of these productions like I used to be. So for those who want to turn this into some kind of petty DC vs. Marvel thing, no, it’s not because of that.

Is it because it’s about DC’s Captain Marvel? Again, absolutely not. The hero now known as Shazam is a seriously good character, one worth bringing to the big screen, and from the offset, it looks like he’s being treated in the right light with this production. Hell, for as lambasted as it is, Captain Marvel’s death in The Dark Knight Strikes Again is one of my favourite moments in any comic book; I would love to see that kind of shit at the cinema. So, no, it’s not that either.

Is there some kind of scandal to do with this movie? As far as I know, no one involved in the film has been brought up on some Weinstein activity or anything like that. So, no, this isn’t that kind of boycott… but it is because of someone who worked on it. Not Zachary Levi, or any of the other actors, or even any of the writers or producers. Rather, it’s because it’s directed by David F. Sandberg, a filmmaker I have… history with.

When I reviewed Sandberg’s feature-length debut Lights Out, I was frankly disgusted by how the film ended. I go into proper detail in my review for it, but suffice to say, that ending for that specific story might be the single worst filmmaking decision of the decade. And yes, I’m including the decision to release The Emoji Movie to paying customers in that assessment, so please know that I’m not messing around.

Essentially, Lights Out is a horror movie where the monster of the film is an allegory for suicidal depression, and a damn good one at that. However, when test audiences rejected the original ending, what Sandberg delivered instead is a denouement that basically makes suicide look like the most reasonable thing to do in a depressed situation. As someone who knows how media can affect people and as a suicide survivor myself, I can’t even begin to explain how much I detest that notion.

Now, those who have been following my reviews for the long haul might be confused by this since, when I reviewed Sandberg’s follow-up Annabelle: Creation, I said that I believed that Sandberg could redeem himself for that ending. Well, my opinion has drastically changed since then. When I was preparing my movie lists for 2018, and found the deleted scenes from Show Dogs just so I could confirm for myself how awful that movie initially was, I got curious and tried to find the cut ending to Lights Out. And I found it. Copyright, shloppyright, I’m sharing it here to prove a point.

Well… that was a fucking great ending! Seriously, as a conclusion to a story about overcoming depression, if this was the ending I got, I’d be praising Sandberg’s name to this day. I love films that are able to really get into the emotional reality of mental health, and quite frankly, that original ending gets it better than most. But unfortunately, test audiences didn’t like the idea of someone sacrificing their life for nothing, a sentiment Sandberg himself agreed with, and he decided to trim it down to what we got theatrically. He admitted as such in an interview with the A.V. Club after people brought up the same thing I just did.

Now, Sandberg admits to suffering from depression himself, so I don’t want this to come across like I think he knows nothing about the realities of the condition; that’s not my intention here. However, him explaining that the test audiences may have had a point in how the character’s sacrifice was in vain… yeah, that’s a pretty major misstep. One of the most tragic things about suicide as a result of depression is that it is exactly that: A sacrifice made in vain. It’s an all-too-common thought pattern in those moments of ideation where the person thinks that, if they do end their own life, they’ll be doing everyone else a favour because they won’t have to put up with them anymore. A notion that the trimmed ending reinforces by showing a woman killing herself and the others indeed being free from the monster.

He has since said that he would like to make a sequel to address this very issue, but there’s a few problems with that. For a start, since he’s gotten to the point of helming a blockbuster superhero flick, I’m not so confident that he’s gonna get around to that sequel any time soon. For another, while that follow-up remains in limbo, all we have left over is this still-broken piece of trash that makes for one of the most unintentionally unpleasant things I’ve ever sat through. And finally, Shazam is apparently taking place in the same artistic canon as Lights Out, with an actor/character from it appearing in a cameo. This goes beyond admitting mistakes right into parading them around and reminding me that, yes, he did get his big break with a help of a seriously vile creative decision.

I do not feel comfortable putting my money towards something like that. Hell, since finding that original ending, I retroactively regret seeing Annabelle: Creation as well. If it gets to the point where that sequel comes out (with Sandberg’s direct involvement, because otherwise it’s just someone else cleaning up his mess) or even if the original film gets re-released in a Director’s Cut with the proper ending, I’ll ease back on the boycott and check the movie out.

But until that happens, I cannot in good conscience put more money into the career of a director who struck a nerve no other director has yet managed to hit. Instead, I’m going to put that money somewhere else. When this article goes up on the blog, I’ll also be making a donation to BeyondBlue, a mental health and depression non-profit here in Australia. I’ll donate the combined ticket prices for Lights Out, Annabelle: Creation and what I would’ve paid to see Shazam.

So, yeah, for the first time, I’m outright refusing to see a movie… but that doesn’t mean that I’m asking anyone else to follow suit. If you are at all interesting in seeing Shazam, please don’t let any of this dissuade you from doing so. I actively hope that you have a good time with it, and it seems like a lot of people already have. Just know that, for the time being, I won’t be joining you.