"Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" A Good Enough, Faithful Adaptation

 

    I remember reading The Flashpoint Paradox, reading about The New 52 and the new universe it created. I'm going to be honest, I don't know if the DCAMU really needs a review, but as someone who always thought they were cool as hell and never got around to them, I figured now was the time. Even still, I think this movie is overrated at least Letterboxd-wise. Like don't get me wrong, I think this film is good, and I also think that the comic it's based on is good. But personally? I think I prefer other comic events. Let's talk about it.

    In terms of this movie, it is hilariously ugly. You know how in some comics you'll read it and just be absolutely enchanted by the highly stylized art style? This movie is like the exact opposite. I mean even ignoring the mix of both CGI and traditional animation, these designs are all ugly sans Flashpoint Batman. I mean even the Flash's suit when he comes back looks hideous. It's not the costumes I'm concerned about though, it's the facial structures. I mean sometimes they'll look like odd, almost amorphous anime blobs, like they're missing some details? This is especially true at the beginning, particularly with the noses on Iris and Barry.

    I don't hate anime, but the designs can be anime-like and not in the best way. Also every character is like overly muscular? From some of the first scenes with Flash, to well Aquaman's entire design. Just stare at Aquaman's face and body throughout this entire film. Like why did he become fat in this new universe? Is this what waging a war does to someone? Oh and the animation. Every time it turns to CGI you'd think it'd be to make the movie look nicer, but nope it's just Barry doing a basic running animation. It's really funny every time it decides to switch to it.

    That's pretty much my only complaint though. It's not like the movie runs particularly long, I never quite thought it dragged on. It's hard for me to say character assassination happens when this is an else-worlds tale in which everyone but Barry is supposed to be different. I would even go as far to say that it's kind of interesting seeing these new iterations of characters like Superman, Batman and Cyborg. Do I think the Aquaman-Wonder Woman conflict is a little weak? Yeah, but they needed something that would force the hand of everyone else and it makes for a pretty entertaining conflict regardless.

Final Score: 70/100

    Maybe it's because I've read this story before, and it's pretty well-ingrained in my head. Maybe I just prefer other superhero events. I think part of the issue is that it's a very by-the-books comic book adaptation. It's not like they did particularly anything new or interesting to this story. It's not like it even really leads to a new universe. So this movie is almost a referendum on the comic itself since I would say other than looking pretty ugly it's a faithful adaptation. I'm tempted to give it a higher score because it's not like I lost attention despite it being my second watch and being well-versed with the story. Something's stopping me from bumping it up though. I suppose we'll see if I go through with watching every story in this series then.