The Flash is $200 million spent on lights and a pack of stars.

On June 14, the world premiere of The Flash took place.

It seems that even DC studio workers are confused about the reboots of their franchises. In just a few years, they have spawned several different Batmans, a couple of Harley Quinns, two Jokers and a bunch of obscure characters who simply have nowhere to shove.

The Flash, however, is a different story. Both hero and actor Ezra Miller were confirmed as part of an extended cinematic universe DC back in its early days. Then the concept of the universe was transformed depending on the success of individual films. Everything collapsed and changed, and Miller miraculously did not lose his role - despite the fact that he strangled a woman on video, brandished a gun in front of a child, robbed someone else's house.

Several times The Flash was on the verge of cancellation - fans demanded the removal of Ezra Miller. And perhaps the line could be crossed. DC already had a movieBatgirl”, which was put on the shelf after filming, although it cost $ 90 million. But apparently, The Flash was saved by too much budget - 200 million.

Directed by Andres Muschietti ("It"). The script was written by Christina Hodson (Batgirl, Bumblebee) and Joby Harold (King Arthur: The Sword). The film stars Ezra Miller, Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton, Gal Gadot and others.

Barry Allen, aka The Flash, finds himself in an alternate reality where his mother is alive. He comes to him, but from a different reality. Together they try to collect justice league, but they don't work out - the butterfly effect worked due to Barry's actions, so some heroes simply did not appear. At this moment, the Earth is threatened by General Zod. The two Flashes meet an aged, retired Batman and Supergirl. All together they try to fight the villain.

Depressing predictability

The Flash shows why today's mainstream cinema is so predictable. The plot of the film was leaked a year ago, then there were overly detailed trailers and posters destroying the whole mystery. Even before watching, the viewer knows about 99% of the events and 99% of the characters that will appear on the screen. It turns out that to advertise the film, the studio just throws in spoilers. In general, if you want to retell the final pictures to a friend who only saw the trailer, then you won't be able to surprise him - he already knows everything. Predictability in a movie that is built on plot is a judgment call.

If you isolate all the action from the film, it becomes clear how dependent on computer graphics the movie is. Interesting dialogues, camera decisions, interiors - everything is done so banal and boring that you want to scream. It was as if a team had gathered that filmed the wedding all night, worked at the graduation in the morning, at the birthday party in the afternoon, and in the evening, with the last of her strength, went to the Flash. It seems that on film set the mood “just take it off, then finish it” reigns.

This is not to say that the action is done skillfully. The first action scene shows what the battles will look like throughout the film. Slow motion, colored lights, the obligatory joke in the middle of a fight - no matter what happens and whoever the Flash fights, the scenes will be the same.

Lazy secondary

If you're looking for a movie that illustrates the superhero crisis, The Flash is perfect. He amazes with his lack of ideas. The writers delivered the standard set of hackneyed family drama, very, very, very global threat, and pointless, boring dialogue. Each element is terrible on its own, and their combination cannot work under any circumstances. With the same success, you can collect the word eternity from cubes with the letters "g", "o", "p" and "a".

By the way, sometimes The Flash gets lazy and just says, "Watch an old movie." For example, General Zod gets so little screen time that it's never clear what he wants. In fact, the answer is tucked away in Man of Steel, released in 2013 - like there, the villain was played by Michael Shannon. That is, the character is revealed in the film ten years ago. If you are not a rabid superhero fan, then you simply don’t remember Zod.

Secondary reaches its climax at the end of the picture. The whole third act is like cutting random moments from Justice League and Avengers. It's not just the banality of what is happening, but also the order of the scenes, or rather, their disorder. If the viewer becomes sad, then he is distracted by a fight, he focuses on the fight - they show a snotty dialogue. And a joke, of course - in Marvel are they joking, why are we worse?

Annoying fan service

DC's slogan should be "Wants but can't". The Flash features several Bruce Waynes: Michael Keaton, Ben Affleck, George Clooney (many don't remember, but he played Batman in 1997). But Christian Bale and Robert Pattinson are not in the film. Because of this, the whole concept of the multiverse is shaken - there are only 60% of the Batmans out of the last five.

With the help of deepfakes, they made several Supermen from the 60s and 70s. Nicolas Cage was invited, but Henry Cavill is not. Like the secondary characters from the trilogy Christopher Nolan. The principle “we will show those who agreed to act in film” works here.

For comparison, Marvel makes its stars sign wild contracts precisely so that the actors are available for all sequels, prequels, crossovers. DC doesn't have such a system, but for some reason they write scripts like they have one. The latest Spider-Man shows what you can do in such a situation - take scenes from old films and skillfully assemble them into a narrative. But DC has no desire to do anything interesting.

But there are deepfakes, that is, garbage. Does anyone really go to the movies to have an actor from a 60-year-old movie drawn for them? You might as well add captions like "And then Christian Bale came along and beat Joker».

But the problem is not only that DC is not able to fully fulfill its plans. People who nevertheless agreed to star in this dubious project are not really needed by him. Michael Keaton looks appropriate only once (when he says "I am Batman"), after which the scenes with him lose their meaning. Affleck as Batman is still fresh in memory, so it does not evoke any emotions at all (both in the viewer and in Affleck, who wanders around the set with a stone face). Wonder Woman appears only because teenagers love Gal Gadot, the plot does not need her.

The Flash was unlucky enough to release immediately after Spider-Man: Web of Universes. These are two different look at superheroes. In one case, people are trying to creatively rethink the format, in the other, they are trying to rebuild shabby tricks in the hope that they will work forever. But here's what's more interesting: if DC did release The Flash, then what does Batgirl look like?