beccaelizabeth's dreamwidth journal

I got bored and bought the Lego Flash movie and the Flashpoint Paradox movie, then watched them both tonight.

Flashpoint Paradox is boring, and far too dark. I thought there would be feelings but it's one giant fight sequence with everyone's worst selves, a ton of murder, and repeated child death, including murdered by the usually heroes.

The women are only there in relation to the men - wife, girlfriend, mother. Wonder Woman going to war turns out to be cause she shagged the wrong man ffs. She does that thing where Amazons decide to kill all the men, which I always hate. And just to underline how everything is awful now, she kills a child.

I do not find the causal turning points convincing, it just says everything turns out worst every time.

And a lot of the changes were from before the temporal intervention. Which lets Barry off the hook, except for that silly Time Boom explanation. Breaking the sound barrier makes a sonic boom that knocks things around in space, breaking the time barrier makes a time boom that knocks things around in time. Which would mean any time travel randomly changes all of history?

I mean do whatever, it's made up physics, it's no more silly than anything else, but the simplest explanation is that interfering in the lives of time travellers has effects before the causes because you've changed all the things they will have done. Or would have done. Or some tense, time travel tenses are annoying. Just saying that time travel itself causes a time boom undoes the cause and effect of things and puts random rolls in instead. Boring.

Only interesting through line in the whole thing was Eobard Thawne calling Barry selfish because he didn't fix any of the big time travel what ifs, he didn't stop assassinations or change Hitler, he just saved his mom, and look, now the world is ending. I mean, it doesn't logically follow, but it is a logical criticism in its way. Time travel for selfish reasons, gets told off. ... by Thawne, who does seem a teensy selfish. Except here he keeps on deciding that his death is a reasonable price for stopping the Flash, which is... weirdly self sacrificial.

Thawne is Professor Zoom from the 25th century in this one. There's a few versions in different canons. He always does things to stop the Flash before the Flash does anything as needs stopping. Seeing as the Flash did then do a thing that very nearly destroyed the world, he actually had a point? Just, you know, the blowing everyone up way. Not okay.

Darkest timelines where everyone ends up fighting each other are just... I don't see how this one had any salutary lessons really. Painting the Amazons as evil man haters isn't really a logical side effect of a man saving his mom. Just ends up looking like writers have issues.

Also the Flash saving his mom meant he lost his wife? Which makes it a choice between childish clinging to the past and actually moving on into the future, even without the apocalyptic stuff. Except, his wife had married someone else and had a kid, so along with saving the world, he erased a child. Which should matter? A lot? So the emotional setup and the superhero fights had nothing to do with each other.

I would only use this story for parts.

I wonder if the comics version makes any more sense than this animated version...




So that one was no fun.


But the Lego one was plenty fun!

Reverse Flash again, and he's decided to show the world the Flash is rubbish by trapping him in a time loop and replacing him to become World's Best Superhero, the Only Hero The World Needs!

Which the Justice League respond to by stalking him and being suspicious. Dude can't win.
... dude shouldn't win, as soon as he won he decided that he was boss of the world now, but that's the *facepalm* supervillain bit.

I liked the movie because it was like someone tried to think what kind of lessons a kid would need if their favourite hero was The Flash. So it was Slow Down, Be Aware Of Your Environment, and Have a Plan. Solid stuff. Plus you get to watch the Flash run into walls and get zapped a lot until he figures things out. And then he saves the day, as you do.

The Justice League wins by having friends, and demonstrating the problem with Reverse Flash being Only. At one point he divides himself up to be several places at once, as he does, but that just meant he couldn't concentrate enough on any of them, so, team beats lone. Happy little lessons all round really.

And lots of fun with lego and rebuilding buildings and stuff.

I don't know if I'll rewatch it, but I don't feel like I wasted my time watching it, so that's enough.

Fun movie.