The Flash

[School of Movies 2023]

This one was a long time coming. There's a solid argument to be made that to set the tone for the planned DC Cinematic Universe all the way back in 2012, around the time Avengers was doing gangbusters by brazenly copying the Marvel formula by building up the characters the general public don't know yet *before* throwing Superman and Batman at us again.

But since Green Lantern was terrible in 2011 Warner Bros. clearly concluded they needed to establish a foundation of superheroes everybody knows *then* do a Justice League, THEN introduce us to those new superheroes in a way that feels more like a spinoff than a build-up. They did not have the faith that these costumed icons could carry a movie without Batman. So, accordingly this film that now seems to be closing out that first protracted attempt has (at least) two Batmans!

Against expectations, considering the nightmare production, the lead actor's disturbing real life crime spree and the extremely muddled tone and story, I actually enjoyed this well-intentioned mess. Full spoilers of course, but I feel like everyone's level of enjoyment on this movie is going to be the same whether they know what's coming or not.