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| Batman should be in the front! |
Anyways, I just saw "The Flash" last week and as usual, I have thoughts. When my friend, Jay, turned to me and asked me what I thought about it, my words were: "Well, I didn't hate it."
I think that is my general feeling of this movie. I'm sorry if I come off like I hate DC movies. They're just not good. And you may say, "But Kevin, you're such a Marvel zombie. You like anything they put out." You would be half right. I am a Marvel zombie. But as far as phase 4 and beyond has gone for Marvel, there were a lot of hits (Wakanda Forever, Shang-Chi, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) and misses (ETERNALS, Doctor Strange and Multitude of Madness, Ant-Man: Quantumania) for me. Black Widow and Thor: Love and Thunder are in the middle. So the luster is coming off that diamond too.
I digress. I don't like Ezra Miller. I didn't like them in Justice League and having to get so much of them here, was a mixed bag. At times, they were good and at times they were overly annoying. At least Barry Allen's neurosis was toned down a bit after Justice League, but then we get alternate universe Barry and now we get to deal with again.
Also, for a big budget movie, the special effects were not great. Average at best. They needed a few more passes, but the CG stuntman or shots of what were supposed to be real people looked real bad. That opening scene where The Flash is saving babies put me in a bad spot for this movie. That scene was too much. I'm glad we don't get really anything like that ever again. Incoming DC Hate alert. The X-Men movies displayed the powers of speedster better with Quicksilver.
I also think that they didn't do a good job initially explaining his time travel and how he was doing it. We get an exposition dump later, but I felt like if he had talked about it first, it would have made more sense. I can only imagine what the average viewer thought when he is running in place inside of a weird bubble. It's a weird visual choice.
In past reviews, I've stated how I like more personal stories that don't have world ending catastrophe. This movie started with that intention, but then it unravels to be something that is multi-verse ending and only one dude, in all the multi-verses can fix it. They explain it away by saying in THIS universe, these are the only heroes they had. It's just a tough pill to swallow.
I will be honest, I don't like multi-verse stuff in general. It's why I didn't like that last Doctor Strange movie either. I feel it is a lazy way for creators to come up with different takes of characters with no consequences. It can be fun, but also, they would never make those changes in the main line universe. The Spider-Man multiverse movies are my ONLY exceptions.
With that being said, let's get to the positives. Michael Keaton as Batman! Time has given me perspective on the Batman movies and he is far and away, my favorite live action Batman. I wish he had been in the whole movie and not the back half, but I will take what I can get. He just has an it factor with the role that is hard to really pin down. He elevates every scene he is in. Just seeing him in the costume, being a complete bad ass was an absolute delight. I was smiling anytime he was on screen. He was the best kind of comfort food. Despite what the DC brain trust says, he needs to be in another movie.
We also didn't get enough of Sasha Calle as Supergirl. She was pretty cool and we only get her for the back third of the movie. That didn't really give her much to do acting wise. Maybe it's enough to convince DC to let her have a full movie at some point.
Despite my complaints about the CG, it was cool to see the scene with all the multi-verse Supermen. There were a lot of easter eggs, especially a truly deep cut that delighted me. This movie also had a couple of Bruce Waynes, the last one being a huge surprise.
A quick side note to comic book movies. Not EVERY movie needs to be a two and a half hour epic. If you can't tell your story in two hours, you're doing it wrong. The pacing of this movie is just weird and could do with some edits.
I will say that there are some good comedic beats here, but the best one for me was when Barry Allen has lost his powers and he tries to run, THINKING he still has them. It showed how ridiculous his running style is when he's just a normal dude. I know it was played for laughs and it was successful, because while it makes sense the way he runs, it looks so silly.
In summary, this movie is what the kids would call, "Mid". See it if you want, but I can't really put my name on a recommendation for it. It took years to get this movie and I think it gets crushed under the weight of expectations. You want to like it more than you do.
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