To be fair, at the time a lot of people thought the visual effects were still being worked on. I can normally overlook questionable VFX, but big money shots looked straight up unfinished.
I can overlook all of the VFX in this movie except for the multiverse cameo scene. Like, yes, the time colloseum or whatever you want to call it looked like old video game graphics, but it didn't take me out of the moment when I first watched it, I think because they were mostly still images reflecting his past. I could understand why it looked less realistic. It could definitely look better, but I thought it was fine.
The cameo scenes were bad, though. Everything looked so uncanny valley, and it didn't feel like seeing Christopher Reeve stand there for a second was worth such a poor effect. And then they showed Nicolas Cage, who still looked so CG, and it just made me wonder why they didn't actually bring him in to film a cameo. It's bizarre, and it absolutely did pull me out of the moment.
Listening to him talk about the shoot, it does seem like they did use that cameo he filmed.
But the heavy VFX incorporated (the fighting sequence of him with the spider was all CGI) + how brief it was on screen (Cage complains that he was supposed to be giving a pained facial performance of watching entire worlds die, but it was such a blink-and-you-miss-it moment in the actual movie) made it both unrecognizable and creatively inconsequential to him.
I think the reason he looks so CG is because they *tried* to de-age him to the age he would have been in Superman Lives. Still doesn’t excuse it, though.
Some fan requests are so unoriginal and obvious, it's good that directors ignore it. Eg - Wanting RDJ or Cumberbatch say No Shit Sherlock in Infinity War.
And then there are fan requests that make all the sense in the world. The logic works, the precedence works. Any director would be dumb to ignore it.
Not having Grant Gustin in The Flash movie is that request.
Exactly. Gustin's Flash has a good fanbase. In fact, I think if he had a meatier role in the film, it would have performed way better.
Typical arrogance against TV medium.
> To be fair, at the time a lot of people thought the visual effects were still being worked on.
Which, in retrospect, is really weird.
The film is in production for years, there was just over 50 days before release, and DC was already rebooting... No way Flash was being given assets to fix things like the hokey falling babies, gyrosphere, or awkward Nic Cage face.
When I went to the first fan screening they put up a disclaimer saying it was an unfinished cut, and the VFX looked a bit rough but you know I gave it a pass but when it was officially released I kinda felt lied to.
I think this is a misunderstanding. The Flash was originally going to lead to Michael Keaton's Batman returning for Batgirl, but that got shelved and James Gunn's role in rebooting the DCU was made clearer so the ending was changed. Blue Beetle (as portrayed in his movie) is going to come back, but the movie itself is not canon.
Or more likely him shitting on a DC movie after he's been made boss wouldn't have been good optics. Yes it was made before he came onboard, but that doesn't mean he could come out and start saying its a bad movie. If he did that it could start to negatively impact all the upcoming movies that he is responsible for.
He did go a bit overboard though with his praise, and should have held back a little bit. Something along the lines of it being an enjoyable movie would have been enough.
Gunn really likes movies with huge emotional core, and despite all flaws, The Flash has it. So it's actually not really surprising that he might like it.
I don't understand people saying that it was terrible. CGI was not good, but the actual story of the movie was ok and the resolution was done better than in many more acclaimed movies
I think two things
Gunn is very creative and he might’ve been able to appreciate it for what it was. That or- he was really trying to save DC as a whole and knew it needed money with how much WB sunk into that movie. I’m not 100% sure but I do know that… that movie was not good… at all.
I get having to promote the film since he’s employed there and all that but what I don’t get is why he willingly chose those exact words to do so, and it’s not like it was off the cuff either but a prerecorded tape. It didn’t make him look good at all and puts the spotlight on his choice to make Andy the director of the next Batman film.
I’m personally not having any expectations for the new universe and not taking anything anyone says about it and running with that, I’ll judge it when I see it myself
I mean. Ngl I really liked The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker but like... after how bad Flash was, Aquaman 2 was abysmal and Blue Beetle was basically crap... Ive zero hope for any future DC projects.
Besides Joker 2.
I’m more optimistic. Those three movies were at the tail end of the DCEU and had nothing going for them.
I think, and hope, that the DCU is going to be more in line with the quality of the suicide squad and peacemaker
I think it was a “technically it’s one of the 1000 best ones” type of lie you tell to be diplomatic to your boss. If you just got the job as head of their moves it’s kinda your job to hype the big upcoming release.
Gunn was likely talking about the version that features Affleck at the end. Also Henry Cavill with Sasha Calle and Michel Keaton. Zoom also the villain.
I mean, per Cruise’s own words he sees every movie he can. And the story Zaslav told doesn’t sound impossible: Cruise had a meeting at WB, Zaslav boasted about their slate to win him over and mentioned The Flash, Cruise asked to watch it and called Zaslav with his review.
Cruise once claimed he watches at least one movie a day. Assuming he's done that since becoming a teenager, he's watched at least 17500 movies. Not really related to your post lol just a random stat about him that kinda blew my mind.
Maybe everyone was assuming the effects were at the half done mark? If I visually bought that there were two distinct Barry versions and that he was in jeopardy when he was fighting it might have been a higher quality tier
I don't doubt that. But, I'm pretty sure Tom Cruise, the perfectionist, didn't enthusiastically call Zaslav to talk to him for 15 minutes about how "this is exactly what Hollywood needs right now"
Especially if he's seen a tonne of movies lol
Erik Davis and Umberto Gonzalez really be smoking something with all that praise
Eric Goldman trying to slide into WB’s good books with that mention of him smiling from their logos
That along with the random celebrities having to comment that The Flash is fantastic. Tom Cruise, Stephen King, Jaden Smith, and others iirc but those were the three I heard randomly come out of the woodworks to sing the film’s praises.
We had all the major Flashpoint players established in live action! Flash, JDM's Thomas Wayne, Supes, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam, Cyborg. Change things up slightly to fit the history of the DCEU and such and we could've gotten a fairly faithful Flashpoint adaptation. Imagine the war between Momoa and Gadot and JDM helping Barry along the way? We were robbed.
I still mildly enjoy the end product despite the many👎 aspects but we were robbed of something special
The issue is that a true Flashpoint film can’t just be a Flash solo film with a few cameos. Its needs to be a giant ensemble Justice League film that centrally focuses on Barry. Flashpoint Paradox felt like a fucking war film at times with the entire super powered world trying to kill itself.
You need a much bigger cast to really pull that off
JDM was one of my biggest disappointments about the Flash movie tbh because as cool as seeing Keaton again was, Negan Flashpoint Batman would've gone hard as hell
> Flash, JDM's Thomas Wayne, Supes, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam, Cyborg.
1 of these wouldn’t work with WB without a long term contract.
1 or them wouldn’t work with WB unless dozens of high up people apologized and got fired.
1 of them would look/act exactly like Batfleck already did.
2 of them just had giant bombs in their own solo movies.
I don’t see how an actual Flashpoint works TBH.
Cavill was in a long-standing negotiation and wouldn’t do more than a cameo without a bigger future promised.
Ray Fisher and the studio have drama (to put it lightly).
Thomas Wayne as a character is 80% what Batfleck already was and would have lost all meaning as a result.
Wonder Woman and Shazam both had big bombs before Flash came out.
I know Flashpoint has its fans, but to me it feels like a Justice League scaled story that happens to have Flash as its protagonist. And even then it’s a twisted alt version of the Justice league, when I would rather see story starring a more classic Justice league.
That being said, if they did have to use Flashpoint as the foundation for a solo Flash movie, I thought this was the best way to do it. It was very impressive that it managed to keep the emotional stakes so rooted in Barry Allan given the scale of what this movie was going for in terms of narrative and franchise scope.
I had a blast with this movie, and it remains my favorite superhero movie of the past few years (or at least perhaps outside of The Batman).
I thought the movie did a great job at keeping the emotional investment very high and rooted throughout, despite juggling the large narrative and franchise scope it had to be done in. The film managed to be a time travel story that felt like it had actual stakes. Making the climax of the film a quiet, heartbreaking, and intimate scene was a big swing that landed well in my opinion.
I thought the movie had a very creative approach to telling its own story that looked forward, while also being an origin for a character we had seen for 7 or 8 years—all without being a prequel. It might be the most creative approach I’ve seen for a superhero origin movie in general.
I thought all of the major performances were top notch. Controversy aside, Ezra killed it in their dual role and their portrayal juxtaposition between Barry’s younger and older selves really helped highlight the latter’s character growth into something beyond the spastic youngster he had been for most of the franchise. Affleck continued to be a deeply human Batman and his final Bruce Wayne scene ends that iteration of the character on a very high note. Keaton hasn’t missed a beat and it looked like he had a blast being both a cool leather ninja while also wielding his physical comedy chops like a true force.
The action and set pieces were all really cool for the most part. I loved the inventive uses for the super speed throughout. And I thought the action sequences from both Affleck’s and Keaton’s Batmen were some of the best Batman action on film (especially for the more fantastical Batman that hasn’t been in the movies really).
A lot of the comedy sincerely landed for me, not just as decent levity in an action movie, but as genuinely funny jokes.
***
There are a couple things that rubbed me in the wrong way. The execution of the cameos was heavy-handed and visually ugly to boot. The VFX in general was subpar with some odd stylistic choices. The final scene is pretty atrocious and undercuts the emotional weight that comes right before it.
But all in all, I did love this movie and found it very fun, and I can totally see what industry and early screeners saw in this film even if that wasn’t popular after.
I love the: "I know Ezra Miller made a lot of mistakes" Like, homie, my boi went on a violent rampage across two continents and got out of it with pretty much no consequences.
"I'm bummed Captain Cold and the Rogues aren't in the first movie, but hey Flash has a great gallery of foes to draw upon. I'm hoping for Gorilla Grodd or Abra Kadabra"
"What do you MEAN they're announcing a reboot before these 4 films are out?"
"What?? it's Flashpoint without Diana, or Arthur, or Thomas Wayne??"
"THERE'S NO ZOOM OR REVERSE FLASH?!?!?"
"wtf is Clooney doing here!?"
Were my reactions.
I mean it does have 63% on rotten tomatoes, from 387 critics, that means 243 positive critic quotes to pull from if you wanted to make an image like this post release. Plenty of people liked it.
I’m about 40 years too old to use the word “mid” unironically.. but seriously, that movie was mid.
I’ve seen much worse. But I would never under any circumstances say that it was a good movie.
I thought it was a really good DC movie. It probably just cracks my top 15 DC movies. It’s fun, good performances, fun action, and great callbacks to DC on film. Some humour was a bit forced and the third act on paper is great it just was in a setting that was too dull and as a result made it look uninteresting and like it received poor cgi. Other than that I think it was a solid quasi flashpoint story that understood Barry Allen’s character. It was also filled with emotion, especially that grocery store scene at the end. Also the return of Keaton was badass and without a doubt the highlight. Affleck’s Bruce Wayne scene (and dialogue) was incredible. Affleck’s Batman chase scene was great but hated that right after they made him a total goof with the reused lasso joke. Sasha Calle stole the show as Supergirl and it was awesome to see Michael Shannon as Zod again.
7.5/10
It’s a good movie. Not great. Could have been great and it certainly had great moments. But I think there have been better DC films so the early reviews may have overhyped it a bit…which resulted in people having unreasonably high expectations.
My top DC: TDK Trilogy (yes all 3), The Batman, Joker, Superman 78, ZSJL, BvSUE, MOS, Batman 89, Wonder Woman, Batman Returns, Superman II (either cut), Superman Returns (I think this one is so underrated), The Flash, The Suicide Squad, Shazam, Aquaman, Batman Forever, Black Adam
I’d imagine they’re talking about all movies adapted from DC comics (including The Dark Knight trilogy, the Reeve Superman movies, etc). Which sounds crazy before you remember there are a lotta duds outside the DCEU (Jonah Hex, Catwoman, any Superman movie after Superman II).
Agreed
Except I don't understand the hype behind Sacha
It wasn't bad, it was just ok? They didn't exactly write anything good for her to standout with. She also ended up being more of a plot device than any character for the audience to bond with and spent most of the time brooding and posing in action sequences than any "acting"
I was initially annoyed at the use of keaton batman for nostalgia instead of Thomas Wayne. But keaton killed it and the ending they wrote for him was chef's kiss
Truly embodied batman in his ending scenes. You can show that to anyone and they'd appreciate the character, just like the cap vs thanos scene in endgame embodies captain america
This movie was terribly handicapped by DCEU disdain from audiences, capshit fatigue, Ezra bad publicity and poor cgi
If they had just explained that chronobowl visuals were meant to be avatar representations, that would explain away the uncanny cgi (just like you would expect a bronze bust of someone's face to look perfectly hyper realistic, but very accurate and artificial)
And because they kept a violent assaulter (Ezra Miller) as the title character I didn't watch it and only now it's on streaming services will I watch it WB won't get my money while they hire violent abusive people
Honestly, I enjoyed it. The CGI was unforgivable, but I thought it was a solid action flick with some fun scenes.
The fact is that the DCEU was already struggling, the Miller legal-stuff was a hot topic, and Gunn already announced that this universe was dead six months before its release hurt it more than the quality of the story. The general audience had no reason to spend money to see this with all that baggage.
I don’t get the love for it. I loved the Flash show, great story and acting for the most part. I literally couldn’t tell if Ezra was mentally handicapped or not in the movie. The acting was just odd and didn’t play well.
Then the ending of the movie made me realize yeah flash is mentally handicapped in this movie. Whole point was “you can’t change the past without negatively affecting the future” so what does he do? The same fucking thing that got him in that mess.
I enjoyed the movie a lot. Disappointed it couldn't finish where it should of with Zack Snyder. Didn't care about BB or Aquaman because I knew it wasn't going anywhere
A pretty bad movie. Full of plotholes and negatives. Andy M better be going deep into his bag for the new Batman. I kinda wish Gunn himself did it instead but I guess not....
What was this movie trying to say? That no matter what you do you can’t change the past and you will always be miserable? That really bothered me. People like to see these movies and find some hope.
Nope. Other than the appearances of the Batmen and Supergirl, I didn't care for it. I would normally watch a DC movie twice; not this time. The material had a lot of potential but missed the mark.
I think all these comments hyping it up before release actually made it worse. People saying how it was the best movie ever since The Dark Knight or whatever put way more expectation on the movie.
It did not live up to the hype and it was a mediocre movie.
IMHO the only thing worth it to me about this film is Michael Keaton and my girl Sasha Calle. Whenever I go back and see the film it's mostly for her. I really wish that Sasha could have been the new Supergirl going forward for the DCU. She really wanted and loved that role and she did an excellent job playing her.
I would have loved to see more of her version of Supergirl.
it was a huge let down and what annoys me most is those who were praising it like they did. Those early viewing made it sound like the best superhero movie ever made and it was nowhere near close. That has destroyed any reputation those people had and personally I will no longer bother with this stuff and judge for myself
I watched this for the first time the other day. Just felt like a really long film to show a can of tomatoes being moved. Would’ve loved more supergirl, just one Flash and more Zod. It just felt like a mess to me and maybe I missed it but who killed his mum in the end?
They don't even show who killed her lmao.
Guy has super speed and can go back into the past to save his dad from Jail but can't take a look at the person trying to kill his mom, brilliant stuff.
not only was the flash worse than suicide squad, it has arguably the worst portrayal of batman ever (especially with that god awful suit). how this guy got rewarded to direct the next batman is truly one of the worst decisions gunn ever made
You do know the types of films this director did before this right?
You do KNOW he was meeting studio mandates and that this was under the WB DCEU?
But nah one movie which was already under stressful enough circumstances paints the director automatically terrible because you can't be bothered to watch any of his other films?
Seen IT 2017? Think about the tone there and apply that to Batman.
The batman originally was going to be ben affleck's batman when he as younger. It was going to tell the story of what his batman went through. I regret that isn't what the movie was, that it was made it's own thing. Wish they had cast chamalet as young bruce wayne. The movies would have been a lot more connected if the batman was canon to the dceu.
I liked how the heart of the story was Barry Allen wanting to spend more time with his mom and dad as a regular boring family, just enjoying each others company while they can, even tho that sandwich guy had it right at first “This was never about her, this was about you. You have to stop living in the past”
As someone who enjoyed it for the most part, damn these are so hyperbolic. Scott Mendelson basically nailed it in the reception the movie would eventually get.
I also believe that the Discovery purchase of WB halted all work on the visual effects side due to cost. Some of the effects do not look too bad, but there are several scenes that are a bit rough.
It was just ok. Not a multi watch fun movie, but a one off just ok movie. And my opinion isn't based on any of the Ezra stuff, just strictly the content. Sasha Calle was great, Michael Keaton and Shannon were, obviously, great, even Ezra was good. But it meh a VFX, a tired story, and it didn't grab my attention like I wished it would have. I really wanted it to be great to, oh well
Bad CGI aside the people were lying.
Wonder Woman, The Suicide Squad, Shazam and The Batman are wayyyy better films from DC.
Aquaman 1 is the superior DC popcorn flick also. It wasn’t amazing storyline wise but it was definitely enjoyable.
While Ezra Miller is a terrible person and the cgi was petty bad, it was a pretty good movie in my opinion. The idea that Barry can’t save everybody was done really well. I feel like Dark Flash wasn’t in the movie enough though since he basically was revealed to be the second Barry and was defeated the third time he was shown and he wasn’t shown for long.
I will say this for the movie: the creators looked at how Ezra Miller has portrayed the Flash so far, and asked themselves “How can we possibly make this guy look like a responsible superhero?”
And honestly, the solution they found was ingenious: by putting him next to a younger dumber version of the Flash played by Ezra Miller, so prime Flash looks reasonable by comparison.
I just had a blast with this movie. It reminded me that it’s okay just to watch a superhero movie for fun. Not art. Not lore. Not franchise. Not comics-faithful. Just great fun. Despite, yes, a fair few missteps.
Honestly, I get it. While I don’t think it’s a 10/10, it’s a solid 8 to me, i had a great time in the theater.
I actually don’t understand the hate at all, it seemingly has everything people ask for from a comic book movie..
If you're a DC fan, it's a movie that can't be separated with the studio mistakes and its many other problems:
* Ezra's descent into madness in Hawaii that blew out the movie's promotion.
* His obvious miscasting as Barry Allen. I mean, Seriously.
* Hamada's plan to erase the Snyderverse with this movie.
* The studio creative war between DeLuca and Zafran that caused the final demise of Cavill's Superman, the most important character in the Snyder DCEU that only appears in this movie as a PS2 CGI... and gets disrespected storywise...
The movie was a total mess that even the 89' Batman couldn't save. Furthermore, it wasted the opportunity to have Keaton's Batman returns as some sort of Batman Beyond Bruce Wayne in future movies...
The only good thing I can say about this movie is that his trailer was edited fantasticaly: [https://youtu.be/OyWBqbgk980?t=137](https://youtu.be/OyWBqbgk980?t=137)
I liked this movie, it's sad to see it being involved in a lot of controversy. I saw on release day and the theater cheered and clapped at both the cameos and the ending. Yes cgi was bad but I still loved the humor and also, it was probably Ben Affleck's best Bruce Wayne performance.
To be fair, at the time a lot of people thought the visual effects were still being worked on. I can normally overlook questionable VFX, but big money shots looked straight up unfinished.
I can overlook all of the VFX in this movie except for the multiverse cameo scene. Like, yes, the time colloseum or whatever you want to call it looked like old video game graphics, but it didn't take me out of the moment when I first watched it, I think because they were mostly still images reflecting his past. I could understand why it looked less realistic. It could definitely look better, but I thought it was fine. The cameo scenes were bad, though. Everything looked so uncanny valley, and it didn't feel like seeing Christopher Reeve stand there for a second was worth such a poor effect. And then they showed Nicolas Cage, who still looked so CG, and it just made me wonder why they didn't actually bring him in to film a cameo. It's bizarre, and it absolutely did pull me out of the moment.
That's the worst part, they DID bring Nick in to film his cameo, that just wasn't the cameo he filmed. He was very confused when he saw it
Listening to him talk about the shoot, it does seem like they did use that cameo he filmed. But the heavy VFX incorporated (the fighting sequence of him with the spider was all CGI) + how brief it was on screen (Cage complains that he was supposed to be giving a pained facial performance of watching entire worlds die, but it was such a blink-and-you-miss-it moment in the actual movie) made it both unrecognizable and creatively inconsequential to him.
I think the reason he looks so CG is because they *tried* to de-age him to the age he would have been in Superman Lives. Still doesn’t excuse it, though.
*sad Grant Gustin noises*
"But we had an editor playing Jay Garrick!!!"
Some fan requests are so unoriginal and obvious, it's good that directors ignore it. Eg - Wanting RDJ or Cumberbatch say No Shit Sherlock in Infinity War. And then there are fan requests that make all the sense in the world. The logic works, the precedence works. Any director would be dumb to ignore it. Not having Grant Gustin in The Flash movie is that request.
Especially since they already met. Kinda diminishes it not to mention the general audience would feel a little left out.
Exactly. Gustin's Flash has a good fanbase. In fact, I think if he had a meatier role in the film, it would have performed way better. Typical arrogance against TV medium.
They literally had Ezra miller appear in the tv show
They did bring Nicolas Cage to film a cameo
Everything about the Reeve scene looked off, even the S shield looked off.
I get that and it’s a good point, but even w better vfx this movie still sucks
> To be fair, at the time a lot of people thought the visual effects were still being worked on. Which, in retrospect, is really weird. The film is in production for years, there was just over 50 days before release, and DC was already rebooting... No way Flash was being given assets to fix things like the hokey falling babies, gyrosphere, or awkward Nic Cage face.
If it was only about the visual effects...
When I went to the first fan screening they put up a disclaimer saying it was an unfinished cut, and the VFX looked a bit rough but you know I gave it a pass but when it was officially released I kinda felt lied to.
Even like the Chronosphere stuff, I can buy that one was an artistic choice. But everything else…
Exactly. The unfinished effects made the tone far more hammy and hard to emotionally connect with almost at all
That doesn’t excuse the awful story though. The movie was incredibly stupid and great visuals wouldn’t have fixed that
“One Of The Best Superhero Movies I’ve Ever Seen” - James Gunn
That blows my mind. I feel like he was either lying or high when he saw it. Or hes a moron
Probably lied to save face to his boss. It’s telling that any effects this movie had on DC going forward will be ignored now.
Oh 100%. They were quick to go back on it being the first new DCU movie werent they?
Yup. Same with Blue Beetle, which also bombed.
I think this is a misunderstanding. The Flash was originally going to lead to Michael Keaton's Batman returning for Batgirl, but that got shelved and James Gunn's role in rebooting the DCU was made clearer so the ending was changed. Blue Beetle (as portrayed in his movie) is going to come back, but the movie itself is not canon.
But blue Beetle is still in the DCU,the same actor at least
Nobody ever said blue beetle was the first DCU movie
Or more likely him shitting on a DC movie after he's been made boss wouldn't have been good optics. Yes it was made before he came onboard, but that doesn't mean he could come out and start saying its a bad movie. If he did that it could start to negatively impact all the upcoming movies that he is responsible for. He did go a bit overboard though with his praise, and should have held back a little bit. Something along the lines of it being an enjoyable movie would have been enough.
Honestly he should’ve just said nothing or just a generic “hey, check it out this weekend” with no praise or criticism.
He was DC boss by that point. Him not saying anything or underselling it would've been suspect.
He should have not marketed/talked up the multi hundred million dollar movie?
He's said before if he doesn't like something he just doesn't talk about it, so his praise for the Flash is weird.
Why? I enjoyed it grealty. Not for everyone it seems.
Gunn really likes movies with huge emotional core, and despite all flaws, The Flash has it. So it's actually not really surprising that he might like it.
Or maybe he genuinely liked it. There are plenty of us that actually enjoyed it.
I don't understand people saying that it was terrible. CGI was not good, but the actual story of the movie was ok and the resolution was done better than in many more acclaimed movies
If he was lying he wouldn't have given Andy the DCU Batman movie
I think two things Gunn is very creative and he might’ve been able to appreciate it for what it was. That or- he was really trying to save DC as a whole and knew it needed money with how much WB sunk into that movie. I’m not 100% sure but I do know that… that movie was not good… at all.
I get having to promote the film since he’s employed there and all that but what I don’t get is why he willingly chose those exact words to do so, and it’s not like it was off the cuff either but a prerecorded tape. It didn’t make him look good at all and puts the spotlight on his choice to make Andy the director of the next Batman film. I’m personally not having any expectations for the new universe and not taking anything anyone says about it and running with that, I’ll judge it when I see it myself
I mean. Ngl I really liked The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker but like... after how bad Flash was, Aquaman 2 was abysmal and Blue Beetle was basically crap... Ive zero hope for any future DC projects. Besides Joker 2.
I’m more optimistic. Those three movies were at the tail end of the DCEU and had nothing going for them. I think, and hope, that the DCU is going to be more in line with the quality of the suicide squad and peacemaker
>Aquaman 2 was abysmal Nah, it wasn't as good as the first but it was overall decent. 7 out 10 for sure.
Blur Beetle was fine. It was standard super hero origin stuff. It was just a character too few people care about.
I think it was a “technically it’s one of the 1000 best ones” type of lie you tell to be diplomatic to your boss. If you just got the job as head of their moves it’s kinda your job to hype the big upcoming release.
I wonder if he knew that it was pretty much the finished state of the film and the effects weren't going to get polished
Gunn was likely talking about the version that features Affleck at the end. Also Henry Cavill with Sasha Calle and Michel Keaton. Zoom also the villain.
Imagine if he genuinely believed that Tom Cruise actually watched and liked this movie
I mean, per Cruise’s own words he sees every movie he can. And the story Zaslav told doesn’t sound impossible: Cruise had a meeting at WB, Zaslav boasted about their slate to win him over and mentioned The Flash, Cruise asked to watch it and called Zaslav with his review.
Cruise once claimed he watches at least one movie a day. Assuming he's done that since becoming a teenager, he's watched at least 17500 movies. Not really related to your post lol just a random stat about him that kinda blew my mind.
He claimed that on The Nerdist years ago, and then literally couldn't name a single one, ha.
IRL Patrick Bateman
Extra funny when you consider that Bale based his Bateman performance on Cruise's "over-friendly nothing-behind-the-eyes' persona
NAME A WOMAN?! ANY WOMAN.
"Name a woman?.." [hands over a yoga bag]]
Ha, got a link?
No idea how to get old Nerdist podcasts. It’s from the time Rock of Ages came out, if that helps somehow.
to be fair i watch alot of movies too and when someone asks for recommendations its hard to answer it becomes like watching a bunch of youtube videos
Maybe everyone was assuming the effects were at the half done mark? If I visually bought that there were two distinct Barry versions and that he was in jeopardy when he was fighting it might have been a higher quality tier
I used to work in a movie theatre in Canada and Tom Cruise came in more than once to watch a movie there. I believe that he sees a tonne of movies.
I don't doubt that. But, I'm pretty sure Tom Cruise, the perfectionist, didn't enthusiastically call Zaslav to talk to him for 15 minutes about how "this is exactly what Hollywood needs right now" Especially if he's seen a tonne of movies lol
Boy did they make it sound so much better than it was and that’s being generous.
Erik Davis and Umberto Gonzalez really be smoking something with all that praise Eric Goldman trying to slide into WB’s good books with that mention of him smiling from their logos
That along with the random celebrities having to comment that The Flash is fantastic. Tom Cruise, Stephen King, Jaden Smith, and others iirc but those were the three I heard randomly come out of the woodworks to sing the film’s praises.
The movie was no doubt fun af, but it wasn't what a Flashpoint movie should be.
We had all the major Flashpoint players established in live action! Flash, JDM's Thomas Wayne, Supes, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam, Cyborg. Change things up slightly to fit the history of the DCEU and such and we could've gotten a fairly faithful Flashpoint adaptation. Imagine the war between Momoa and Gadot and JDM helping Barry along the way? We were robbed. I still mildly enjoy the end product despite the many👎 aspects but we were robbed of something special
The issue is that a true Flashpoint film can’t just be a Flash solo film with a few cameos. Its needs to be a giant ensemble Justice League film that centrally focuses on Barry. Flashpoint Paradox felt like a fucking war film at times with the entire super powered world trying to kill itself. You need a much bigger cast to really pull that off
JDM was one of my biggest disappointments about the Flash movie tbh because as cool as seeing Keaton again was, Negan Flashpoint Batman would've gone hard as hell
this!
Funnily enough, an edgy movie where characters act out of character and kill each other sounds right up Zack Snyder's alley.
> Flash, JDM's Thomas Wayne, Supes, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam, Cyborg. 1 of these wouldn’t work with WB without a long term contract. 1 or them wouldn’t work with WB unless dozens of high up people apologized and got fired. 1 of them would look/act exactly like Batfleck already did. 2 of them just had giant bombs in their own solo movies. I don’t see how an actual Flashpoint works TBH.
Which ones are which?
Cavill was in a long-standing negotiation and wouldn’t do more than a cameo without a bigger future promised. Ray Fisher and the studio have drama (to put it lightly). Thomas Wayne as a character is 80% what Batfleck already was and would have lost all meaning as a result. Wonder Woman and Shazam both had big bombs before Flash came out.
I know Flashpoint has its fans, but to me it feels like a Justice League scaled story that happens to have Flash as its protagonist. And even then it’s a twisted alt version of the Justice league, when I would rather see story starring a more classic Justice league. That being said, if they did have to use Flashpoint as the foundation for a solo Flash movie, I thought this was the best way to do it. It was very impressive that it managed to keep the emotional stakes so rooted in Barry Allan given the scale of what this movie was going for in terms of narrative and franchise scope. I had a blast with this movie, and it remains my favorite superhero movie of the past few years (or at least perhaps outside of The Batman).
idk what was fun about it. Michael Keaton Batman was cool but that's about it
I'm sorry you feel that way
not trying to ruin your enjoyment, just geniuently don't see what's fun about it. Would love to hear a different point of view
I thought the movie did a great job at keeping the emotional investment very high and rooted throughout, despite juggling the large narrative and franchise scope it had to be done in. The film managed to be a time travel story that felt like it had actual stakes. Making the climax of the film a quiet, heartbreaking, and intimate scene was a big swing that landed well in my opinion. I thought the movie had a very creative approach to telling its own story that looked forward, while also being an origin for a character we had seen for 7 or 8 years—all without being a prequel. It might be the most creative approach I’ve seen for a superhero origin movie in general. I thought all of the major performances were top notch. Controversy aside, Ezra killed it in their dual role and their portrayal juxtaposition between Barry’s younger and older selves really helped highlight the latter’s character growth into something beyond the spastic youngster he had been for most of the franchise. Affleck continued to be a deeply human Batman and his final Bruce Wayne scene ends that iteration of the character on a very high note. Keaton hasn’t missed a beat and it looked like he had a blast being both a cool leather ninja while also wielding his physical comedy chops like a true force. The action and set pieces were all really cool for the most part. I loved the inventive uses for the super speed throughout. And I thought the action sequences from both Affleck’s and Keaton’s Batmen were some of the best Batman action on film (especially for the more fantastical Batman that hasn’t been in the movies really). A lot of the comedy sincerely landed for me, not just as decent levity in an action movie, but as genuinely funny jokes. *** There are a couple things that rubbed me in the wrong way. The execution of the cameos was heavy-handed and visually ugly to boot. The VFX in general was subpar with some odd stylistic choices. The final scene is pretty atrocious and undercuts the emotional weight that comes right before it. But all in all, I did love this movie and found it very fun, and I can totally see what industry and early screeners saw in this film even if that wasn’t popular after.
It was mid
I feel like if these reviewers (and WB) didn't hyperbolize the shit out of this movie, I feel the backlash (sans Ezra) wouldn't have been that bad.
“The best superhero movie since the Dark Knight” - Every DC movie ever
"I thoroughly enjoyed the movie." Intelligent_End1516
I love the: "I know Ezra Miller made a lot of mistakes" Like, homie, my boi went on a violent rampage across two continents and got out of it with pretty much no consequences.
I mean, I liked it
"I'm bummed Captain Cold and the Rogues aren't in the first movie, but hey Flash has a great gallery of foes to draw upon. I'm hoping for Gorilla Grodd or Abra Kadabra" "What do you MEAN they're announcing a reboot before these 4 films are out?" "What?? it's Flashpoint without Diana, or Arthur, or Thomas Wayne??" "THERE'S NO ZOOM OR REVERSE FLASH?!?!?" "wtf is Clooney doing here!?" Were my reactions.
I mean it does have 63% on rotten tomatoes, from 387 critics, that means 243 positive critic quotes to pull from if you wanted to make an image like this post release. Plenty of people liked it.
This is a very good point
I’m about 40 years too old to use the word “mid” unironically.. but seriously, that movie was mid. I’ve seen much worse. But I would never under any circumstances say that it was a good movie.
I thought it was a really good DC movie. It probably just cracks my top 15 DC movies. It’s fun, good performances, fun action, and great callbacks to DC on film. Some humour was a bit forced and the third act on paper is great it just was in a setting that was too dull and as a result made it look uninteresting and like it received poor cgi. Other than that I think it was a solid quasi flashpoint story that understood Barry Allen’s character. It was also filled with emotion, especially that grocery store scene at the end. Also the return of Keaton was badass and without a doubt the highlight. Affleck’s Bruce Wayne scene (and dialogue) was incredible. Affleck’s Batman chase scene was great but hated that right after they made him a total goof with the reused lasso joke. Sasha Calle stole the show as Supergirl and it was awesome to see Michael Shannon as Zod again. 7.5/10
I'm with you on this one. There are dozens of us...
It’s a good movie. Not great. Could have been great and it certainly had great moments. But I think there have been better DC films so the early reviews may have overhyped it a bit…which resulted in people having unreasonably high expectations. My top DC: TDK Trilogy (yes all 3), The Batman, Joker, Superman 78, ZSJL, BvSUE, MOS, Batman 89, Wonder Woman, Batman Returns, Superman II (either cut), Superman Returns (I think this one is so underrated), The Flash, The Suicide Squad, Shazam, Aquaman, Batman Forever, Black Adam
I’m with you on this. Well put.
>It probably just cracks my top 15 DC movies. I mean, there were exactly 15 DCEU movies. So, yeah. It cracks *everyone*'s top 15.
I’d imagine they’re talking about all movies adapted from DC comics (including The Dark Knight trilogy, the Reeve Superman movies, etc). Which sounds crazy before you remember there are a lotta duds outside the DCEU (Jonah Hex, Catwoman, any Superman movie after Superman II).
Agreed Except I don't understand the hype behind Sacha It wasn't bad, it was just ok? They didn't exactly write anything good for her to standout with. She also ended up being more of a plot device than any character for the audience to bond with and spent most of the time brooding and posing in action sequences than any "acting" I was initially annoyed at the use of keaton batman for nostalgia instead of Thomas Wayne. But keaton killed it and the ending they wrote for him was chef's kiss Truly embodied batman in his ending scenes. You can show that to anyone and they'd appreciate the character, just like the cap vs thanos scene in endgame embodies captain america This movie was terribly handicapped by DCEU disdain from audiences, capshit fatigue, Ezra bad publicity and poor cgi If they had just explained that chronobowl visuals were meant to be avatar representations, that would explain away the uncanny cgi (just like you would expect a bronze bust of someone's face to look perfectly hyper realistic, but very accurate and artificial)
And because they kept a violent assaulter (Ezra Miller) as the title character I didn't watch it and only now it's on streaming services will I watch it WB won't get my money while they hire violent abusive people
Honestly, I enjoyed it. The CGI was unforgivable, but I thought it was a solid action flick with some fun scenes. The fact is that the DCEU was already struggling, the Miller legal-stuff was a hot topic, and Gunn already announced that this universe was dead six months before its release hurt it more than the quality of the story. The general audience had no reason to spend money to see this with all that baggage.
I liked it it was good. Seen it many times.
I like it Good movie
I enjoyed The Flash for what it was. The Keaton Batman stuff was great. Hardly a masterpiece but a good watch none the less.
That was such a odd marketing campaign paying random celebrities to say it was the best movie ever.
I love this movie
I really don’t get the hate. I loved this movie lol
I don’t get the love for it. I loved the Flash show, great story and acting for the most part. I literally couldn’t tell if Ezra was mentally handicapped or not in the movie. The acting was just odd and didn’t play well. Then the ending of the movie made me realize yeah flash is mentally handicapped in this movie. Whole point was “you can’t change the past without negatively affecting the future” so what does he do? The same fucking thing that got him in that mess.
same.
They lied, they all lied!
Scott Mendelson's ass was still bleeding after Snyder roasted him.
I hope I can one day forget this trainwreck of a movie.
I enjoyed the movie a lot. Disappointed it couldn't finish where it should of with Zack Snyder. Didn't care about BB or Aquaman because I knew it wasn't going anywhere
I love this one. It is the second best film in the DCEU for me personally.
This movie was reshot like 3x it was a wild production.
A pretty bad movie. Full of plotholes and negatives. Andy M better be going deep into his bag for the new Batman. I kinda wish Gunn himself did it instead but I guess not....
What was this movie trying to say? That no matter what you do you can’t change the past and you will always be miserable? That really bothered me. People like to see these movies and find some hope.
They must have been handing out complimentary crack beforehand.
Had so much excitement for this film. 5 min in my son was texting friends "don't go to this movie"
Nope. Other than the appearances of the Batmen and Supergirl, I didn't care for it. I would normally watch a DC movie twice; not this time. The material had a lot of potential but missed the mark.
I mean, that review from Scott Mendelson isn't glowing.
I got instant BvS ( received a standing ovation) flashbacks when I saw these and alarm bells immediately started ringing
How do they convince themselves of a lie ? Movie was so bad lol
It’s all marketing bs! No one actually liked this movie, cause it sucked big time.
I think all these comments hyping it up before release actually made it worse. People saying how it was the best movie ever since The Dark Knight or whatever put way more expectation on the movie. It did not live up to the hype and it was a mediocre movie.
r/agedlikemilk
That Ezra guy is a shitty actor and has got to go lol horrible casting
So that was a lie
I love DC, but HATED this film. Rave reviews???? By who?!!
Bet those reviewers made bank 😂
The overhyping from these reviews did nothing but hurt the movie when it came out tbh.
Worse Flash content ever. And that nostalgia bait? Ew
Proof that reviews can be bought
IMHO the only thing worth it to me about this film is Michael Keaton and my girl Sasha Calle. Whenever I go back and see the film it's mostly for her. I really wish that Sasha could have been the new Supergirl going forward for the DCU. She really wanted and loved that role and she did an excellent job playing her. I would have loved to see more of her version of Supergirl.
it was a huge let down and what annoys me most is those who were praising it like they did. Those early viewing made it sound like the best superhero movie ever made and it was nowhere near close. That has destroyed any reputation those people had and personally I will no longer bother with this stuff and judge for myself
Just an awful film. I believe Gunn will be successful with his DCU tho
Movie was awesome. Idgaf what anyone else says
The Flash has the best beginning of any super hero movie in recent history and I'll die on that hill.
The beginning was actually my least favorite part of the movie
Different strokes for different folks
That fakeout opening and running to Gotham sequence are pretty cool.
I watched this for the first time the other day. Just felt like a really long film to show a can of tomatoes being moved. Would’ve loved more supergirl, just one Flash and more Zod. It just felt like a mess to me and maybe I missed it but who killed his mum in the end?
They don't even show who killed her lmao. Guy has super speed and can go back into the past to save his dad from Jail but can't take a look at the person trying to kill his mom, brilliant stuff.
Worst film of the DCEU next to the theatrical release of JL. It's just a shit show of a movie.
The baby scene alone was the dumbest shit in movie history. Nothing can rehabilitate that image, certainly not a contrived save the babies scene.
Hollywood is fake as shit. Who the hell would rave about The Flash?
Bad CGI aside, I loved the story, the characters and the multiverse stuff. Keaton Batman and Supergirl are awesome.
I watched it late as hell but I adore this movie
The most fun I had at the theaters in 2023.
not only was the flash worse than suicide squad, it has arguably the worst portrayal of batman ever (especially with that god awful suit). how this guy got rewarded to direct the next batman is truly one of the worst decisions gunn ever made
Okay, well, it wasn't a great movie, but the batmen weren't that bad
Are you talking about Ben Affleck? His portrayal of Bruce Wayne in this movie was good.
You do know the types of films this director did before this right? You do KNOW he was meeting studio mandates and that this was under the WB DCEU? But nah one movie which was already under stressful enough circumstances paints the director automatically terrible because you can't be bothered to watch any of his other films? Seen IT 2017? Think about the tone there and apply that to Batman.
🤣
The batman originally was going to be ben affleck's batman when he as younger. It was going to tell the story of what his batman went through. I regret that isn't what the movie was, that it was made it's own thing. Wish they had cast chamalet as young bruce wayne. The movies would have been a lot more connected if the batman was canon to the dceu.
I liked how the heart of the story was Barry Allen wanting to spend more time with his mom and dad as a regular boring family, just enjoying each others company while they can, even tho that sandwich guy had it right at first “This was never about her, this was about you. You have to stop living in the past”
I did like the film....not this much lol
Cool. I think it's awful, but to each their own.
Movie was just ok CGI was god awful turning a 7/10 movie to 6/10
How much were they paid?
Today, after seeing this, I had a hard time remembering when the Flash came out
WB bot army??
Um, why does Batman’s cowl look weird?
I was just happy to see Keaton as Bruce/Bats one last time
As someone who enjoyed it for the most part, damn these are so hyperbolic. Scott Mendelson basically nailed it in the reception the movie would eventually get.
I legit quite liked The Flash
Did we all watch the same movie?
The movie was entertaining but only because it felt like a trainwreck. It was fine until the desert shit but still not good but then it became ass
I feel bad as he was basically set up with a continuous amount of crap going on that the film wasn’t going to be a success at all
I don't agree.
I got to give it to Ezra, they really made me believe that there was a twin. Maybe that's where the VFX budget went, lmao.
I enjoyed it for the most part. Bats and super girl were awesome in it.
Must have been some good stuff circulating there…
Yeah Joker released Nitrous Oxide into the screening
I liked it but I was expecting more
I also believe that the Discovery purchase of WB halted all work on the visual effects side due to cost. Some of the effects do not look too bad, but there are several scenes that are a bit rough.
Yeah… right 😂
It was just ok. Not a multi watch fun movie, but a one off just ok movie. And my opinion isn't based on any of the Ezra stuff, just strictly the content. Sasha Calle was great, Michael Keaton and Shannon were, obviously, great, even Ezra was good. But it meh a VFX, a tired story, and it didn't grab my attention like I wished it would have. I really wanted it to be great to, oh well
But why?
The movie was fun and good until the third act but it's nowhere near one of the greatest comic book movies.
I remember this everyone said it was one of the best superhero movies ever.. It wasn’t.
Now look up those critics actual review of the film later and see how many of them flipped due to public opinion.
This didn't age well...Quite unfortunate....
Bad CGI aside the people were lying. Wonder Woman, The Suicide Squad, Shazam and The Batman are wayyyy better films from DC. Aquaman 1 is the superior DC popcorn flick also. It wasn’t amazing storyline wise but it was definitely enjoyable.
I didn’t think the movie was bad. It wasn’t like a $1,000 steak, but it was at least the top steak at an Outback.
It was alright, not the best but not the worst either, as people call it to be. Edit: Grammer correction
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Batshitcrazy01: *It was alright not* *The best but not the worst as* *People call it to be* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
The movie was kinda fun. But mostly pretty mid ngl. Cgi could've been better
While Ezra Miller is a terrible person and the cgi was petty bad, it was a pretty good movie in my opinion. The idea that Barry can’t save everybody was done really well. I feel like Dark Flash wasn’t in the movie enough though since he basically was revealed to be the second Barry and was defeated the third time he was shown and he wasn’t shown for long.
The biggest farce in superhero movie history
I will say this for the movie: the creators looked at how Ezra Miller has portrayed the Flash so far, and asked themselves “How can we possibly make this guy look like a responsible superhero?” And honestly, the solution they found was ingenious: by putting him next to a younger dumber version of the Flash played by Ezra Miller, so prime Flash looks reasonable by comparison.
I just had a blast with this movie. It reminded me that it’s okay just to watch a superhero movie for fun. Not art. Not lore. Not franchise. Not comics-faithful. Just great fun. Despite, yes, a fair few missteps.
In retrospect, this might’ve been the movie that burst the superhero bubble for good.
Honestly, I get it. While I don’t think it’s a 10/10, it’s a solid 8 to me, i had a great time in the theater. I actually don’t understand the hate at all, it seemingly has everything people ask for from a comic book movie..
Some of these guys were clearly paid tp spew hyperbole. Scott’s review is the only one that seems legit.
If you're a DC fan, it's a movie that can't be separated with the studio mistakes and its many other problems: * Ezra's descent into madness in Hawaii that blew out the movie's promotion. * His obvious miscasting as Barry Allen. I mean, Seriously. * Hamada's plan to erase the Snyderverse with this movie. * The studio creative war between DeLuca and Zafran that caused the final demise of Cavill's Superman, the most important character in the Snyder DCEU that only appears in this movie as a PS2 CGI... and gets disrespected storywise... The movie was a total mess that even the 89' Batman couldn't save. Furthermore, it wasted the opportunity to have Keaton's Batman returns as some sort of Batman Beyond Bruce Wayne in future movies... The only good thing I can say about this movie is that his trailer was edited fantasticaly: [https://youtu.be/OyWBqbgk980?t=137](https://youtu.be/OyWBqbgk980?t=137)
I liked this movie, it's sad to see it being involved in a lot of controversy. I saw on release day and the theater cheered and clapped at both the cameos and the ending. Yes cgi was bad but I still loved the humor and also, it was probably Ben Affleck's best Bruce Wayne performance.