Enter the dome for news and discussion of DC Films and DC streaming shows, both past and future, animated and live-action alike. We welcome discussion of DC Elseworlds as well as the DCEU/DCU!
DISCUSSION
Sort by:
Best
Open comment sort options
Best
Top
New
Controversial
Old
Q&A
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Not to mention Matthew Vaughn coming out of his way to praise Muschietti's work on the film. Way after it came out and bombed. And he's not even involved in the DCU, even sounding a bit petty at times.
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
Yep. I throughly enjoyed it.
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
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.
Joker was like a brilliantly cast Gotham skinned remake though, I don't know how it's sequel will go being original instead of very inspired
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 genuinely found it one of my favorite super hero movies ever. Don't know why it gets the level of hate it does but maybe that's just me lol
Lyingggg
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
NAME A WOMAN?! ANY WOMAN.
Ha, got a link?
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.
“I’m Stephen King. I write horror. I think The Flash is great.”
“I’m Jaden Smith. I rap. My dad does movies. The Flash is awesome.”
Very random, not exactly ringing endorsements.
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.
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