So just watched The Flash and its actually really really good. I was surprised as the reviews were just OK. At the very least its definitely better than anything from the MCU post Endgame. Its a really good superhero movie, and a good, funny movie period. And the allusions to the past DC movies (and the Kevin Smith superman anecdote) are very well done. I’d say its better than Endgame: true, you could argue it borrows a little from Endgame but its not like Endgame invented all those time travel/timeline/changing-the-past themes, and it does a better job of telling an interesting story with those themes than Endgame.
The one thing Endgame (and all the movies that led up to it) has over The Flash is they manage to tell tell and epic story arc over many movies, and feel like they were bringing it to close (even if the actual climax was a bit of a let down). Where as the movies leading up to The Flash, errrr, lets just charitably say they didn’t manage that (though that’s hardly the fault of The Flash movie)
The first three quarters of the movie are not quite Suicide Squad quality (which was really really good, easily as good anything the MCU has done since Thor Ragnarok), but unlike Suicide Squad I thought it nailed the ending whereas Suicide Squad seemed to call in their final act a little.
What say the assembled dopers?
Edit: I just googled what was going on with Ezra Miller, and that doesn’t seem good. It seems like he’s facing some serious mental health issues not just substance abuse issues (not that those are to be taken lightly). Its sucks for all sort of more important reasons, but also doesn’t bode well for the franchise.
I started watching The Flash on MAX and, despite the imaginative baby catching scene, I just lost interest as soon as the time travel stuff started. To be fair, the last few Marvel offerings featuring time travel and multiverses have also kind of left me flat. Poke me again when DC comes out with a Metal Men or Silver Age Lois Lane film.
I was really hoping for a Grant Gustin FLASH movie. And that would’ve come with a much more personable Supergirl.
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Now you’re talking. CGI makes a film like Metal Men feasible, but the unique personalities would take some nuanced writing, and good casting (pun intended).
Oh, can Metamorpho drop in, too? The film could be a chemistry education, as well.
And Lois could be an Agent Carter-type character, a hard-hitting journalist…who gets in a wee bit of trouble on occasion.
I watched it on Max a couple days ago, and I’m not a big superhero movie guy, but I lowered my expectations and just enjoyed it for what it was-- a fun romp that did not take itself seriously at all.
Fro those who don’t feel like watching an almost 10 minute video of Kevin Smith talking, as I did not, it’s a reference to my favorite meta-joke of the movie (spoiler + link describing the story behind the joke in an article):
Doom Patrol was very good, from what I’ve heard and the first episode (had to pay for the rest). And I’d have liked to see Batgirl.
As far as The Flash-I read the plot and it sounded clunky, and Miller’s troubles soured my interest. Sasha Calle as Supergirl seemed very enthused and did a lot of the publicity (because they were keeping Miller away from the press, I’d suspect), and I hope her small part and the generally iffy reviews don’t harm her career.
The Suicide Squad was excellent and I’d agree better than most of the Marvel TV shows and a few of the movies like Wakanda Forever and Captain Marvel. Though I’ll still go see The Marvels and do want to catch Blue Beetle either online or in theaters.
Thank you for including “The” as I was really confused how any one could think Suicide Squad (2016) was any good and then I saw that there is another movie called “The Suicide Squad” (2021), which I haven’t watched yet, but it looks like I should.
I have started watching Flash and I have mostly enjoyed it so far, but it did not draw me in. I will finish watching it by this weekend. I had heard about the troubles with Ezra Miller and unfortunately that is coloring my impression of the film somewhat.
As to Blue Beetle, I did see that in the theater and quite enjoyed it. I am not ready to declare DC pulling away from Marvel especially given their track record, but maybe they will. Guardians 3 was very good, and that was also this year.
I guess it is proceed with cautious optimism for me (though really, I like both DC and Marvel comics and story lines).
I haven’t seen Black Adam, however, and don’t really want to do so. Similar (though obviously much less terrible) to Miller, the off-screen reports of Dwayne Johnson demanding that Superman show up in his movie irked me. And the movie itself didn’t look great, though I am interested in seeing the JSA.
Black Adam was a pretty crappy movie overall. I hate to say it, but Dwayne Johnson needs his plucky comic relief sidekick. He probably should stick to having Kevin Hart in all his movies.
But hey, MarvelDisney hasn’t had many great movies of late either. Guardians of the Galaxy III is probably the best. The Spiderman movies have been excellent, but that is a joint Disney/Sony project. Dr Strange was overall a bad movie. Last Ant-Man was dumbish, Wakanda Forever not good. Last Thor was a big let down. Eternals was epically bad, Shang-Chi bleh, Black Widow was an enjoyable movie at least.
Ezra Miller was ruined for me for his role in Train Wreck. When I saw Justice League (or whatever movie he was already in as the Flash), I couldn’t get past that. I guess I’ll give the Flash movie a try anyway.
Agreed, though I’d add this is actually a hard trick to pull of with a movie. Most of the time when someone says a movie “doesn’t take itself too seriously” it just means its a crappy movie, its rare that a movie like The Flash manages to pull it off and still be a good movie.
Yeah I should have clarified I meant James Gunn’s Sucide Squad not the previous garbage version. I would heartily recommend it, its a really really good movie.
Yeah I’m not including the animated Spider Man movies when I say “Better than any MCU movie since Endgame”. The Spiderverse movies are as good anything from either DC or Marvel, including the Dark Knight trilogy.
Despite their offscreen issues, I thought Ezra Miller did a good job in the role. As for Black Adam, I think the mistake was to cast Dwayne Johnson as a villain. The actor is basically likeable so he would have better as a heroic character.
BTW, in case you’re not aware, James Gunn (the Kevin Feige of the DC Universe) cast David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan as Superman and Lois Lane in the next Superman movie. (She is best known for starring in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. He’s less well known but was in a couple of Ryan Murphy miniseries on Netflix.) Warner Bros obviously wants to emulate the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they’ve not gotten far.
(though that’s hardly the fault of The Flash movie)