Kinda Spoiler Free

This movie needed another draft. It was very clear from the opening scene that the writers were looking for cool vs. logical. In the movie’s first few minutes, Batman is pursuing an armored truck. He starts in the Bat-Plane and then jumps out on a motorcycle. The chase results in property damage, bullets fly, and everything looks cool, but why use the motorcycle? Wouldn’t it make more sense to stop the truck from the air? Then we find out the truck is carrying a virus that can wipe out many of the city in a few minutes. Soooooooo, why shoot bullets at the truck? Why not deploy the Bat-Net from the plane and pick the truck up? This sets the tone for the movie that prioritizes big action scenes instead of a logical way of solving problems.

This may not have been the right time for a Flash movie regarding Barry Allen’s progression. Yes, the Flash is goofy, especially in the Justice League TV show, but there was a sense of seriousness to the animated Flash. Episodes centered around the Flash were not just seeing how many jokes he could tell in the blink of an eye. The same thing can be said about the CW Flash. The phrase “Writing for Children vs. Childish Writing” sums up many of Barry’s lines.

This movie would have made more sense after Justice League 2. Obviously, that will not happen but have Barry have some more superhero battles under his belt, realize the seriousness of his choices and then have this movie where he meets the more immature Barry to have that mentor relationship. Yes, there were moments of that, but it felt forced, especially when the original Barry dealt with the bulk of the physical comedy and cringy jokes.

SPOILERS

There are no big stakes because Barry does have the “reverse time” card that he can use at any time. Obviously, that becomes a problem, and the slight spoiler is that New Barry wants to keep changing the timeline to where he gets a happy ending, and everyone lives, but Original Barry understands now that he cannot change the past without consequences, but a lot of that is not portrayed in the movie. In Flashpoint Paradox, that message was revealed in the world being destroyed by the timeline Barry created, but all these issues looked like they could have been reversed.

Overall, the movie was ok. It was fun at times. The nostalgia with Michael Keaton was fun. Supergirl was a lot better than expected. Seeing Zod again was cool, but it felt almost lifeless. What DC is looking to accomplish needs to be clarified. DC movies have to be looked at as a whole series vs. a self-contained movie. For now, all we can do is watch this movie bomb at the box office and see how DC tries to recover after the dust settles.

World War Joe