The Flash - Dumpster Fire
The Flash is one of the biggest insults to comic fans in the history of comic book movies. From the absolute lack of respect to the source material, to the lazy early 90’s era of VFX, to the ridiculous portrayal of both version of Barry by Ezra Miller, this film is virtually irredeemable.
Barry #2 is quite possibly the most obnoxious on screen character in the history of cinema. And I don’t believe that was how it was written or intended.
Director Andy Muschietti has this film all over the place and covers up the lack of vision with silly and non-sensical antics. He completely missed an opportunity to make it an engaging experience by having no interaction with “Reverse Flash/Evil Barry” until the final scene. Some of the scenes even early on in the film left me quite uncomfortable and just plain creeped out.
Not to mention, the introduction of the different universes felt like an after thought. A last minute rush job thrown in to capitalize off of the monumental success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, albeit, a lazy and unsuccessful attempt. The celebrated and beloved actors of DC past were brought back to the screen in the creepiest and strangest way possible. An eerie uncanny valley of childhoods’ past. It did not feel like a tribute to these treasured portrayals at all. It felt like an insulting and lazy cash grab. Insulting in the respect that we would take whatever we could get despite the lack of effort.
With the long awaited return of Michael Keaton as Batman, this should have been an easy grand slam. However, with the lack of respect and attention paid to even his character, this debacle is a swing and a miss. Sloppy and clunky writing hampered our treasured Batman. As well as a complete lack of attention paid to the most obvious of things. For instance, Keaton’s hair piece. It is clearly, blaringly visible that some poor hair/makeup artist didn’t quite get the lace from of the piece glued down properly and the director, editor, EVERYONE completely missed this fact and it ended up in the final cut of the film.
Sacha Calle is absolutely wasted in this. Her version of Kara deserved better than what this film offered her. I hope for her sake she gets another opportunity to shine as Kara Zor-El/Supergirl.
Flashpoint Paradox is one of the most celebrated storylines and books for The Flash and in comics in general. This should have been easy work translating that to film. The plot and storyboarding has already been mapped out since the book published in 2011.
This entire film reeks of missed opportunities, lack of respect for the source material, character creators, and writers. What could have been a slam dunk for the newly forged DC Studios and DCU, has been an egregious and obscene waste of time and money.
Watch for yourselves to form your own opinion. Mine are mine alone. However, that opinion is call the fire department. This is flaming bag of poo on our doorsteps.
The Flash
Now Streaming on MAX
