Synopsis:

Starring:
Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle, Ben Affleck, Ron Livingston, Michael Shannon

Written by:
Christina Hodson (screenplay) and Joby Harold (screen story)

Directed by:
Andy Muschietti

Running Time:
2 hours, 24 minutes

Rated:
PG-13

RT Score:
67% as of 6/15/23

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_flash_2023


Final Trailer



Opens this afternoon. I will be seeing it at 6pm.

Not sure how many of you will be seeing it today or tomorrow, but be warned there are a lot of spoilers. One was already leaked by the director.

If you don't want to be spoiled until you have time to see this, I suggest hold off on reading or contributing to this thread and talk your generalities in the preview thread:
https://forum.dvdtalk.com/movie-talk...n-affleck.html

I've avoided all spoilers so far (well except for one...) Seeing it at 7:05p tonight.

I'll have to reflect on it a bit more, but other than the Batman stuff and the all the meta-appearances, I didn't really care for this one. The saving the babies at the beginning was really dumb, I didn't see any point in that. They made Flash really annoying, and then even more annoying in the alternate timeline. It took about 45 minutes in before I started caring about any of the movie. The effects in the scenes with Kara felt off, almost unfinished or something.

There was 1 post credits scene, which really didn't add anything either, unless I missed something (very possible). Seemed like it was just trying to squeeze in yet another cameo.

Worth a watch for the all the nostalgia, but not much else for me.

Yeah, I feel like this was release a couple of years too late for it to have a real impact.

Keaton kicked major ass and was great. I really liked this version of Supergirl and she was pretty cool. I hope she gets her own thing.

Had an absolute blast with this. The kind of movie DCU should have been doing years ago. Tons of fun.

The whole theater was into it from the start. Loved it. Really well done.

I liked it quite a bit. Not perfect but decent as a semi-interpretation of the Flashpoint story. I liked Ezra Miller as the two versions of Barry/The Flash.

Keaton was also good as Bruce/Batman and gave that nostalgia blast I was hoping for. Supergirl wasn’t bad but underutilized for sure. I liked seeing a bit more of the Batcave in that universe. I was a bit bummed the Batmobile didn’t see any action.

I will say the special effects were shoddy as has been mentioned.



Overall I’m fairly satisfied. Not a perfect movie by any means and who knows if we’ll see more of this version of The Flash but it was good as a wrap for the DCEU if nothing else.

I liked it, but didn't love it. I did think it was surprisingly very funny in spots. I thought it got a little messy and there were some special effects that didn't look great. The rescue of the babies was a very weird looking scene and it kind of dragged with hungry Barry needing food.

The Wonder Woman cameo in the beginning was cute. The highlight for me was Sasha Calle. I thought she was really good as Supergirl, but felt underused. Keaton was also solid as old Batman. I enjoyed his interactions with the 2 Barry's

The other "cameos" were interesting. George Reeves, Christopher Reeve, Helen Slater, Adam West and then the one that got the theater laughing was Nic Cage as Superman. It looked really obvious the Cage cameo was a digital recreation.

Loved the Clooney Bruce Wayne cameo. Everyone cracked up.

Barry: "Who the fuck are you?"

So I assume Batfleck got wiped out in this new universe then? But, it's weird that Arthur is still around when he popped up in the post credit scene.

I would love to see Sasha Calle again and I know she wants to play Supergirl again, but I'm not counting on it. There were some production photos with her and Keaton at that final courthouse scene and it looks like that was deleted in favor of the Clooney cameo.

I liked the cameos for what they were. I’m curious as to why we didn’t really see Adam West closely as Batman. It was hard to make him out but you could hear his voice.

That version of Nora wouldn’t have recognized grown up Barry because her death happens when he’s still a young kid.

Oh Okay, he went back to the timeline when he was a boy, not when he was the annoying teen. Thanks

Gripes and Questions:







More thoughts later..

My honest thoughts after having just watched it:

I had seen reviews prior to going that stated it had similarities to Spider-Man: No Way Home, with some even saying they liked this better. I didn't quite feel that way, but I did enjoy this movie for what it was...

Having Michael Keaton return as the same iteration from Batman 1989 was the selling point for me on this film and he gave a great performance, even if it did seem sad what became of him after Batman Returns. He even still had his "King of the Wicker People" statues around. The story itself was good, but choosing to feature Teddy Sears as Jay Garrick rather than Grant Gustin's Flash is kind of inexcusable. Sasha Calle was ok as Supergirl, but still isn't my preferred version. I prefer a blonde Supergirl, but her Michelle Rodriguez-lite performance was decent enough. The CGI was horrible, though. The CW show does a better job with the speed effects than this movie did. For those wondering about cameos, here is a list of them:



I thought Reeve and Slater looked especially weird, given how Reeve is dead and Slater was de-aged for the movie, but I still appreciated the effort. I really hope that Clooney being Bruce Wayne when Barry returned from the alt universe doesn't mean he will be Batman going forward. The emotional impact of Barry saying goodbye and having to sacrifice his mom was well done. Overall, I enjoyed the movie and felt like it was god. But I still enjoyed Spider-Man: No Way Home more.

Thought it was cool how the alternate (younger) Barry found the pouch with the laughing box from Nicholson’s Joker. Guessing Batman retrieved it at the end of the first film or maybe Gordon gave it to him?

The more I sit with this, the more I think I like it in a more serious way.

The first aspect that really stood out to me was... Keaton Batman did it. He fixed his city and more or less solved the crime problem that took the lives of his parents. That was a nice touch that really gives the character just the biggest win, possibly in the history of the Batman franchise.

And I really appreciated the themes of really... you have no idea who you'd be, given different circumstances. And sometimes the best outcome you can hope for when trying to do the right thing is harm reduction.

When Flash was running at the beginning of the movie my 8-year-old leaned over and said “These are really bad special effects.” And he’s watching a Dreamworks Netflix series at the moment.

I enjoyed it, but I wanted more. Something like the multiverses uniting to assist Barry, rather than just providing some neat cameos.

Miller was really good, and I’m curious how the dual-role filming was worked out. Like was he filming as Prime Barry, then inserted as you Barry, or vice versa? It almost made me forget that Miller is a huge slime ball. Making young Barry the “wacky” one let Prime Barry come off as a little less annoying.

I suppose who really killed Barry’s mom might have been something they were saving for a sequel, setting up Zoom or something.

Good point. So I wonder if in the Burton universe Keaton’s Batman essentially was done being Batman after Batman Returns or if he was still active for a while in other stories we never got to see play out (other than in comic book form).

Yeah, there were some good emotional beats with that aspect. As much as you would try to fix things if you could your past traumas and experiences are what make you the person you are. Changing things might not always be for the best even though it might seem that way.

The big thing I realized watching this movie is- damn I wish we would have gotten more of Michael Keaton in his prime as Batman. I loved what we got here but I wanted more of him. He still has the touch to play the character.

I take this as Earth-89A, in a lot of ways: just one of the universes where Keaton is Batman. In another, maybe he and Catwoman are making babies. In another, Forever and & Robin are canon. In another, Burton's Batman 3 occurs. In another, the Proto-Justice League go take out the World Engine, instead of a direct confrontation with Zod. The Batman '89 comic could takes place in any/all of those branches, I suppose. Ad infinitum.

I thought it was like creative wikipedia trolling but today is really the anniversary of George Reeve's death?

Just got back - 3 PM showing was all but abandoned but I was originally going to go to the 6:30 and that was more full. I’m assuming it will do well this weekend.

Some thoughts:

• It’s the best DCEU movie after Wonder Woman (though Momoa alone puts Aquaman in third.)
• This is the first time I liked Miller as the Flash. Too bad this timeline is over though. I’m assuming Gunn is gonna do a complete reboot
• LOVED the cameos - super fun (especially Nic Cage - the general public is not gonna get that one )
• Speaking of fun - look at that DCEU, you can make a movie that isn’t grimdark but still has some emotional heft. This thing was a blast from start to finish. The Flash is one of my least favorite major comic book characters but they did something great here.
• Supergirl was awesome - loved this take on her.
• it goes without saying that Keaton crushed it. Such a shame we didn’t get a modern Batman with him.
• This is the one and only DCEU that actually had emotional stakes - I genuinely felt bad for Barry and sad for his loss. They sold that emotion VERY well.
• It wasn’t crazy long either, which is a nice change of pace.
  

I’ll definitely get it digitally when it comes out - it’ll be a fun one to revisit.

Fair point. Like I said at first it really pissed me off that they killed off Keaton’s Batman. I was kind of ready to hate the movie from there but the more I thought about it I realized that what happened isn’t necessarily what happened to him and just a possible outcome that was later undone.

For what this story offered him to do I was happy seeing Keaton back. I wish he could have done more and I wish we was going to be doing more as seemingly was the original plan.

It's a shame the Batman Beyond movie he was supposedly signed up for got cancelled.

It’s also a shame that Batgirl is being locked away and that his cameo in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom reportedly has been cut. I’m curious what the original plans for him were supposed to be. I’m pretty sure I recall him signing a multi film deal.

I would think a Batman Beyond movie with him as old Bruce Wayne would be such an easy sell to audiences. Surprised that isn’t moving forward even if it was an Elseworlds tale and not considered part of the DCU.

The original plan was for Keaton to help set-up a Crisis storyline with Calle and Caville, which Keaton would’ve eventually appeared in. That was what the original ending to this film was going to allude to.

The “DCEU” will forever go down in history as the All-Time Most Failed Cinema Clusterfuck.

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Loved it. This is the best of the DCU. If the other movies had been this light and fun, maybe they wouldn't be in the mess they're in.