Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox – 4 out of 5
The first thing that came to my mind when I heard Flashpoint was the latest animated film from DC was, “I haven’t read those issues in awhile…did my buddy ever return them?” After that thought, I was all like, “Hell yeah, I can’t wait to watch it because I love DC’s animated movies.” Then I thought, “What time is it? I’m kinda hungry.” Anyway, a lot was going through my mind when I thought about this movie.
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Do you ever wonder if a bug hits The Flash while he's running if the bug instantly travels through time? |
Based on the Flashpoint series, The Flashpoint Paradox tells the tale where Barry Allen (a.k.a. The Flash—voiced by Justin Chambers) wakes up in a foreign world where his life isn’t what he knows it to be. He never became The Flash, Batman is a gun-toting vigilante, Superman is nowhere to be seen, the Justice League doesn’t exist and the world is on the verge of Armageddon due to a war between Atlantis and the Amazons. Now Barry must reclaim his powers and try and stop his arch nemesis; The Reverse-Flash (a.k.a Professor Zoom, a.k.a Eobard Thawne—voiced by C. Thomas Howell) and get the timeline back to the way it's suppose to be.
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With sights like these when he runs, I'm sure Pink Floyd is on repeat on The Flash's iPod. |
And then a pair of ducks comes into play.
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"Yes, Flash, my plan is evil...but just wait till the ducks get here." |
I really dug the issues this story comes from because I love the idea of playing “What if…” with established heroes and universes I love, so I was a little excited to see this become adapted and even more excited that very little was changed from the pages. Seriously, how fun is it to see Aquaman as a villain or seeing Batman as a gun-loving psychopath who sees killing a perp with a sense of “whatevs.” Also, I finally got to see Grifter from Jim Lee’s WildC.A.T.S get the animated treatment.
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This is Grifter...Grifter is awesome! |
The story, like the comic, is awesome and fun and getting to see it put into animated form (and in animated form that does it justice) is pretty damn sweet. Not to mention that a great cast of voice actors (both new and returning favorites) come in to bring life to these iconic heroes. While Chambers doesn’t capture the wit and humor that, say, Michael Rosenbaum brought to the role of the faster than light hero, he does his job adequately. This feature also gets to see the man who is the one true Batman; Kevin Conroy, come in to once again be The Dark Knight. The point I’m making is that the voice acting in this film really captures the heart of the story from the pages.
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Is seeing Batman with guns suppose to make my cry fear-tears? |
The film also does a great job of bringing great action to the screen and really gives a feel for the real power of all the heroes and villains. Like the comics, the action gets really dark and, often, gory so it tends to be a little shocking to someone who may not have seen or read the comic but, like I said before, I really like when comics do alternate timelines and/or realities because it allows the freedom to see the establish characters take on different roles and, sometimes, meet their grisly end in ways we never really get to see in the proper timeline.
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For example, in the proper timeline, you don't get to see Superman look like a person who is legally required to stay away from playgrounds. |
My only real complaint I had about this adaptation is I didn’t dig some of the character designs. For example, Aquaman looked ridiculous as he was clearly made entirely of shoulders but this complaint is minor and didn’t really toss me out of the film and leave me only wanted to enjoy the story in comic form.
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"Somebody help me! I can't scratch my back because of these shoulders!" |
Since I was a fan of the Flashpoint comics, I was really pleased with this animated version. Sure, there were a couple of minor problems I had with it but they were never one of those deal-breakers that kills all entertainment value. Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox was a nice, faithful adaptation that was incredibly entertaining and a nice opportunity to see The Flash star in his own animated film.