I've been blowing through the DC Universe movies on Netflix recently (JL: Doom, All Star Superman, Superman/Shazam, a few others) and I figured I might as well carry on and pick up Flashpoint Paradox, based on the mini-series which I love/hate in various degrees. Love it because of the brilliant 100 Bullets version of Batman that Azzarello & Rizzo came up with and the Kubert artwork in general, hate it because of Geoff Johns' fanwanking of Flash into THE GREATEST HERO THE UNIVERSE EVER KNEW. Plus they totally didn't stick the landing, as we kind of discussed two years ago when the New 52 launched. So I'm happy to say that the movie version is kind of friggin' awesome, taking all the good points and junking most of the bad. They even came up with an ending that makes way more sense than whatever bullshit nonsense with Pandora and the Wildstorm universe that the original series put out there. As with the comic, the movie mainly makes me want to see a whole movie about Thomas Wayne: Asskicking Batman and that whole backstory. As with the comic, it still bugs that someone as versed in Barry Allen's history as Johns is would just suddenly decide that Nora Allen, who was very much alive in 1986 when we last saw Barry in continuity, was now dead years before Barry even became the Flash. But at least given that she's dead, Barry's motivations kinda sorta make sense here. That being said, this is a VIOLENT movie, with the writers exacting wholesale slaughter that wasn't even done to this degree in the original books, which themselves were pretty violent for the sake of. I will say, unless you're a big DC geek, you're gonna be sitting there glassy-eyed wondering what the fuck is going on for a lot of it, because big chunks of it rely on knowing that someone in the Flashpoint Earth was someone else in the "real" Earth, and if you don't know who that person is then it's pretty meaningless to you. Like really, does anyone give a fuck about Grifter? His New 52 book only ran like 8 issues!
Anyway, it's very faithful to the original source (the electric chair scene is almost beat-for-beat from the book), and that's both good and bad, because there's a lot about the original I wish they would have changed. But I liked it a lot and it's worth the $12 or so for the DVD. Plus then you won't have to go back and read the original series.
I think Johns has been creatively done since Blackest Night.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, the Flashpoint movie was so much better than the story, it is not even funny.
I thought the feature couldn't shake the central problem with the original series: Barry Allen is the Shia LaBouf of superheroes. This version didn't give us any more reason to care about him as a protagonist than the comic did. But I do agree with wanting to see more of Thomas Wayne's Batman.
ReplyDeleteA week with both Forever Evil and Infinty puts it to rest how much better the DC crossover is. Great writing, great art. Infinity would be much better served to just deal with the Thanos stuff and leave out the weird builders stuff. It's not working. At all.
ReplyDeleteHow was Trinity Wars? Worth picking up? The introduction to the Crime Syndicate sounds pretty good though.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you've pretty everything you've said about it, and if anything they seriously underschmaltzed the ending (it was BEGGING for Thomas Wayne's poignant voice over). Here, I thought, the violence was justified because it shows just how heroic the "real" counterparts are by not caving to their baser urges.
ReplyDeleteNo that I ever really want to defend Geoff Johns, but the Nora Allen being dead and then alive thing was actually one of those Christopher Nolan-style tip-offs to people who were paying attention and knew that she had been alive in the older mainstream continuity. Spoiler for people who didn't read it: it was to set up the reveal that Zoom had gone back in time to kill her and altered Barry's history himself, which was the impetus for Barry causing Flashpoint. Unfortunately, they leave that out in the movie so that it makes Barry's motivation little more than "I want my mommy."
Honestly, the first 5 issues are kind of muddled and unfocused. But its all prolugue for part 6 which is absolutely phenomenal.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Scott, the series was pretty gory at times. Unless you're just referring to the main mini and not the tie ins. I actually stopped buying the tie ins based on how violent the Legion of Doom got. I can accept a man dressing up as a bat and fighting crime but I will never buy Heat Wave: Flash Rogue as any kind of badass who would just be killing guys left and right. Plus, overall, the whole Flashpoint thing felt like the writers saying "hey, none of this is continuity, let's kill everyone!", like when *spoiler* Billy Batson gets stabbed to death.
ReplyDeleteForever Evil begs to differ.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't really even understand what's happening in Infinity outside of "Aliens invading Earth again."
ReplyDeleteThe Thanos stuff, while his new minions are unknown to me, seems to make sense. The internal illuminati stuff I find intriguing. The builders/gardeners mess and random new characters is the whole reason I punched out of Avengers after six issues and switched to New Avengers. So it's 2/3 good anyway.
ReplyDeleteI read 4 of the Forever Evil tie-ins also and they were pretty uninteresting. Seems like just a way to give the regular teams a month off.
In regards to Flashpoint, taking all the periphery stuff along with the main storyline and condensing it down to a 70-something minute feature did wonders for the flow of the story. Perhaps DC should consider doing this for all of its big events... I'm already concerned the seven-month long Forever Evil story will feel like it could have been finished in three, and I haven't even read the first issue yet.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of, anyone picking up stuff? I downloaded the main book, plus Bizarro, Cyborg Superman, Darkseid, Count Vertigo, Creeper and Deadshot. We'll see how I feel after this week, if I take the rest of the month off from DC Comics.
The final issue, again for me, would have been much better if DC didn't give away the ending two weeks before the issue came out. I kept waiting for something more to happen, so I was a little disappointed...
ReplyDeleteI read two-face, joker, dead shot and I'm halfway through desaad. Nothing above average so far.
ReplyDeleteSide note: Have you seen any of the Superior Spiderman stuff with Spiderman 2099 yet? I saw it and screamed like a 12 year-old chick at a Justin Bieber concert.
ReplyDeleteI got the Relic/Green Lantern one and the Ventriloquist/Batman: The Dark Knight because it's basically an issue of Gail's Batgirl. Also picked up the Flash/Grodd one for a friend. All were decent, nothing spectacular.
ReplyDeleteShock yeah!
ReplyDeleteCreeper is dogshit, Joker was a huge letdown despite jetpack flying primates, I didn't understand Desaad, and Cyborg was a huge change to the character but not a great story or anything.
ReplyDeleteI forgot about Relic... I picked that one up, too.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Creeper story is the only one I've read so far (along with Masters vs. DC Universe, which was kind of fun), and it really soured me on the books before I've even dug into them.
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming Forever Evil stands alone from the one-shots, yeah? I was saving that for last.
I see what the shock you did there.
ReplyDeleteForever Evil is standalone and AWESOME.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I thought Nora was killed off with the history changes of Crisis on Infinite Earths when DC was pushing Wally as the new Flash. But as pointed out below, Johns had her murdered by Zoom to alter time which was a great touch, Zoom needling Barry on how he had an entire life with his mother and father but he ruined it and Barry doesn't even realize it.
ReplyDeleteStill convinced DC was planning this as a fun Flash thing when WB execs ordered the New 52 so they had to use it as the excuse, marring the whole thing.
Great movie, easily one of the top DC Universe films.
ReplyDeleteScott, have I seen the darl knight returns part 1&2???
ReplyDeleteThomas Wayne is the shit! He manages to outgrim Bruce at every turn and his motivation is much stronger than Bruce's! I still love the original comic series, but I am a huge Kubert mark.
ReplyDelete