Barry Allen (the Flash) and the Justice League have just handily defeated the Flash's arch-nemesis Professor Zoom and the rest of the rogue's gallery. Before being taken away, Professor Zoom gets in one last verbal jab at the Flash about his failure to save his murdered mother. Cut to Barry Allen waking up at his desk in a world without the Flash or the Justice League and that hinges on the brink of destruction thanks to a world war between Wonder Woman's Amazons and Aquaman's Atlanteans. Now Barry, with no powers, has to find out how things got so screwy and how to set them right again. Sounds intense; but does it make for a good movie?
The Good
I've always thought the Flash was an underrated superhero. He has plenty of die hard fans, but as a mainstream DC icon, he doesn't seem to have much drawing power. This animated feature puts the Scarlet Speedster front and center and really puts to rest any claim that his powers are limited or lame compared to the other big DC names.
I did enjoy the film's look at what the DC Universe would look like if certain landmark events happened just a little differently. Tiny variations in when, where and how certain events transpire (like Superman's ship landing on earth, the Green Lantern Abin Sur's ship crash landing, and a certain billionaire playboy's childhood encounter with a mugger) all have major implications that lead the Flashpoint world to the point of Armageddon. All of this provides a promising setup.
The Bad
Visually, I could not stand this movie. The animation reminded me of some cheap Japanese anime on Cartoon Network at 3:00 AM. Everyone looked deformed and just plain strange. Bulgy is also a word I would use. I'm not sure if this is the artists trying to show muscle, but when Superman looks like he has cheeseburgers stuffed in each cheek, something is not right. The action would have been decent were it not for the jerky animation. Whether it was intentional or just lazy, I think we can do much better than this.
The voice acting was nothing special despite numerous big names being on board including Justin Chambers and Kevin McKidd (both from Grey's Anatomy), C. Thomas Howell, Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle, Fruitvale Station), Dana Delany, Danny Huston, and Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle). Most of these huge (and most likely expensive) names are in the film for a couple minutes at the most, with the exception of Chambers and McKidd who voice the Flash and Thomas Wayne respectively. A lot of the money paid to these other guys could have been used elsewhere. Maybe on that animation?
As I said before, the setup for this movie was decent and promised a climax that could have been genuinely awesome. Instead, we get a final battle between all the superheroes that might have been okay but that crappy animation struck again.
(Warning: Spoilers are ahead. Don't read if you want to be surprised)
One of the main reasons I was interested in this movie is the fact that the comic books of the same name kicked off the New 52, the relaunch of all DC comics titles starting with Issue #1. The Flashpoint series explained, within the story, the events that led to the old timeline being erased and the new one established. I was excited to see this take place in the world of DC's animated features, erasing the old (previous DC animated features, the Bruce Timm shows, etc.) and establishing a new unified animated universe. with future projects. Instead, when the Flash saves the day, everything is returned to normal, which is to say nothing is changed. What confuses me is that the next DC animated feature is going to be based on the origin story of the Justice League as told in the new 52. Missed opportunity? I think so.
The Verdict
While the story is an adaptation of a comic series I enjoy and the movie sets up the scene very well, the lazy and/or misguided animation, lack of fidelity to the source material and wasted voice talent really made this movie a 75 minute waste. Just pick up the Flashpoint trade paper back at your local bookstore or comic book store. You'll get a better story and it might make you wanna read a few other titles as well.
Dusty's Score: 4 out of 10
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