One night while visiting his mother's grave, Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash, is alerted to a break-in at the Flash Museum, led by his arch-nemesis Professor Zoom. With the aid of his fellow Justice League members, the villain's plans are thwarted, but not before Zoom taunts the hero about the flaws of his past mistakes, causing The Flash to retreat in frustration. The next morning, Allen wakes up in his office, and finds himself in a new, unfamiliar world, where his mother is alive, his powers are gone, the Justice League never existed, and the world is being torn apart by an Atlantean/Amazonian war. With the help of a newer, darker Batman, Barry attempts to fix and reconstruct his own timeline.
It is rather hard to believe that we are now into the seventeenth entry of movies within the DC Animated Universe . Releasing seventeen films in only six years must certainly be a time-consuming task, as is adapting many of the company's more popular works into feature-length motion pictures. Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is based on a 2011 storyline by renowned comic book author Geoff Johns, which was DC's final event leading into their New 52 reboot. This massive crossover relaunched every ongoing title at the time and, in some cases, even rewrote popular history with particular fan favorites. It is also the first starring vehicle for the fastest man in their world, The Flash, though it isn't the first time the character has been in an animated film, and one could argue that is the most mature and darkest entry in this expansive list of animated features.
Right off the bat, the voice work for Flashpoint is anything but common. Andrea Romano has been a voice director for nearly every entry in the DCAU, be it television or movie, and she gets great performances out of nearly everyone involved in this project. Savvy veterans and fans will immediately recognize fan favorites such as Dana Delany, Kevin Conroy, and Nathon Fillion returning to the roles that made them famous among us comic book fans and 90s cartoon kids, and newer participants such as C. Thomas Howell, Michael B. Jordan, and Cary Elwes absolutely knock it out of the park with the roles they've been given. While I'm always going to believe that Susan Eisenberg is the definitive Wonder Woman, I am starting to get around to Vanessa Marshall's portrayal as the princess of Themyscira, who is absolutely ruthless and cold-blooded here, with very few traits of compassion to show for it. Kevin McKidd plays his incarnation of Batman rather well, but you end up wishing he had brought down the "gruff" aspects just a tad. Not everyone with a five o'clock shadow needs to sound like they've been smoking constantly.
There are also a great amount of cameos scattered throughout the film, which too feature some notable and distinguishable actors and actresses. Some end up advancing the story forward, while some feel like distractions meant to appeal to those who are wondering where their number ones are. Personally, I would have liked to see more come about from these with a longer running time, as it gives the viewer only a few minutes to attach themselves to any of them before they either return to their respective cities/armies, or are just plain offed. I do understand that Flashpoint is a condensed version of a rather large story, but I would have been willing to wait a few more months for a release if these steps had been taken.
Alas, the overabundance of characters, be it negative or positive, is but a small gripe in the end, as Flashpoint's main issue comes from one striking, and very hard-to-miss flaw: the art style is really, really unpleasant to view. Compared to previous efforts, the way these characters are drawn looks incredibly flat or even disproportionate at times, especially in the first fifteen minutes. Designs on the faces in particular almost appear to have been shrunken down to parody-levels of oddness. If you are reading this and thinking that it can't be that noticeable, I may remind you that your eyes are working perfectly fine, and disregarding this can be a truly difficult task. Barry Allen's perceived "mommy issues" may also grind the gears of less tolerant comic book fans (to which even Professor Zoom points out), but hey, people put up with it when Bruce Wayne's the one pouring it out, so why not someone else this time?
Despite my problems mentioned above, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is still a good amount of fun, at times emotionally resonating and arguably better than its source material. Speaking of emotion, I myself didn't have any problems with the levels of violence here, but it will be quite a shock to more sensitive parents who may be skimming over this in a store and thinking it is "just another comic book movie." The film's official rating is PG-13, and they certainly take advantage of this. Characters die rather memorably, there is some mild swearing here and there, and the overall tone may be too dark for any younger children to take. If this doesn't bother you, however, then you're in for a heck of a ride. I recommend a Blu-Ray purchase if you have the money and capability, as the plentiful amount of extras will enhance the overall fun factor as well.
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