Well this felt like a mess.
I had lost most of my interest in seeing this thing. For one, I have no real interest in either Matt Reeves Batman movies or yet another reebot by James Gunn.
I really loved the DCEU trinity , and "Black Adam" gave me a little hope that they would bring Cavill back. Well that went away really fast .
Also, seeing videos of what Ezra Miller did at various nightclubs and while getting arrested + the list of accusations against the actor, I kind of had completely lost interest.
Well my GF wanted to see this, and I often get free movie tickets /half price deals etc from job related things, so we saw this yesterday.
There are things I like. I liked the Justice League styled intro. It was great to see them again. I love Ben Affleck in the role, and I like Jeremy Irons. I thought that gave the film a fun start. Even if the CGI was a bit iffy already early in the film.
I like the colors of the Affleck Batsuit here, even if it sits a bit awkward. Its like they never made the suit look any better than in BvS.
I liked that it was kind of implied that there might have been a relationship/some flirting between Batfleck and the female character that shows up to save the day in that sequence. Its something I liked from the comics and animated shows. The quite human interaction between Bruce and Barry was nice too.
All the time travel stuff felt like a mess. Even with their explanations with spagetti. Damn I hate food scenes and food humour in movies. This movie has plenty of it. Felt like that was a Christina Hodson thing, I can just imagine all the various food scenes in the cancelled Batgirl movie.
"Young Barry" is extremely punchable, I know that its the point, but its rather funny to see Young-Barry and his punchable friends. Everyone in that crew is so annoying that you kind of start to like
regular Barry more. That probably was the point.
Its also funny that for example none of the Batmen in the film dont even bring up anything about who actually might have killed Barrys mother. Thats kind of the issue that both the TV show and this movie deals with same stories and storylines, but it still comes across odd. They could even have made the films last surprise character they something like "Barry , get your head in gear, I have evidence of who killed your mother" instead of making the cameo just a useless visual gag.
The director can come out and say "Yes it will be adressed in the sequel" but that doesnt really cut it, and most likely there wont be a sequel.
Seeing Michael Keaton as Batman is fun nostalgia. I liked those movies as a kid, then started complaining about them as a teenager when I read the comics, later I loved the Nolan trilogy, and after those movies I can enjoy B89 as a cool elseworlds. So it was fun to see him, and Michael Keaton is good in this. The fact that they did not show any short clip/shot of how Gotham looked in this timeline was beyond lame. They got the other nostalgia stuff down nice, but it needed a cool clear shot of Gotham.
I didnt particulary care about him being a "old drunk hobo weirdo" since we have seen old male heroes comeback like that a million times in movies. even once in a Batman movie before. Also it feels lazy. It might have been too much fanservice if they had Michelle Pfeiffer in this film and had her to be married to Bruce Wayne. But at least that would have given it more stakes. Like Bruce risking his life to save the world, even if he is happily married.
Keatons suit looked better in the film than in stills. It still looks **** in the stills. Its funny how the mind works, the trailers just made it feel odd that he moved so fast, since you were used to how slow it looked in the old movies. I enjoyed seeing him here. I love the gadgets and how he weighs and measures things
.
Also extra points for the few times Keaton-Batman punches Ezra. That was a highlight.
Ezra's performances as Barry has always been a issue with me. This take on Barry can be OK when he is played more seriously. There are scenes that I really like here. But some of the awkward zany stuff just isnt funny. Its annoying.
I am fan of Supergirl in the comics. And this Sasha Calle version is obviously a different version. I dont like it as much as I like the version from the comics. Not her fault really, this character isnt bad, and I still managed to like her. But I would have wished for more scenes with her. Maybe a short but meaningfull scene between her and Batman for example?
I like Shannon as Zod. But here he is kind of tired hungover Zod who just repeats **** he has said before in different realities. I completely get what the actor said about "Actionfigures" etc.
Cinematography is ok for the most part. Yes the CGI at times is absolute dog ****. Again, I dont care if the director comes out and says it was on purpose, its for me just as annoying as **** to watch modern CG mixed with stuff that looks like Polar Express mixed with old videogames.
I am sure they asked the families of actors showed in the cameos, but man some of them look rough (yes yes on purpose) since their own timetravel rules are odd, it would have been cool if Barry going back in time, it would have altered the timeline for a second that these alternate versions would actually been fighting Zod for a second or something. But instead it was just these quick CGI cosmic **** things.
The fact that they changed the ending several times also gives this a unfocused feel at times. Its just a bit odd with the last of what you see of Keaton and Calle.
This probably wasnt a easy gig for Muschietti ,but I have a feeling that he might not direct either new DCU moveis or a Flash sequel...
Also WB and their own efforts to hype this was creative. Having people like Stephen King (who knows Muschietti well) and Tom Cruise quotes about how good the film is and stuff.
Anyway, wasnt a complete waste of time, but it wasnt good either.