I went to this primarily to see Michael Keaton again as Batman, and Sasha Calle as a new version of Supergirl. Keaton was great as always -- he is such a skilful actor -- but the only problem was that he had less to do and say than I was expecting (having o/d'd on all those trailers that featured him so much). Could have used more of the best Batman ever, but obviously the scripting choices didn't go in that direction.
But now Sasha Calle's Supergirl? This Kara Zor-el is a strong, free character with her own agency who can and does stand independently of the others around her, and Calle plays her perfectly. In just a few scenes, Kara is developed as a character of depth and complexity that we end up caring about. She's the best takeway from this rather fractured movie. The Supergirl suit, adapted from the style of Henry Cavill's Superman version, is just great, and so are the renditions of her flying scenes, which I don't take for granted. For any superhero with flight as one of their powers, it's critical to get those right. Those scenes are smooth, powerful, as good or better than anything we've had before. Just the bits with her 'standing' in midair -- it all looks very natural. The battle scenes too. And it doesn't matter at all that she's not the blonde, blue-eyed version that every previous Supergirl has been as long as the nature of the character is honored. (but Nic Cage playing Superman? That's an issue.)
For the tital role, Ezra Miller is actually a capable actor, but he choice to play Barry Allen as a kind of a jittery young nerd is a big step away from the source material of the comics (or the CW TV series). That approach didn't really appeal to me in Justice League (2017) where Flash was introduced, and ultimately it' s not much better here. On the plus side, the best part of Miller's work is that the two Barry Allens from the two timelines are side by side for almost the whole thing, and it's surprisingly convincing. You forget that they are the same person. The CGI team came up with a depiction of the 'Speed Force' realm that looks different from anything on screen before, though it doesn't make sense that Flash can sort of stop and look around at different alternate timelines seen all around him while time-travelling. I see this effect is now called the 'chronobowl'. OK, whatever.
I think though there are two basic problems with the whole movie. One is just that it's coming late to the party. It's a kind of addendum to the Justice League world, but that was 6 years ago already and is now old news. By contrast, Aquaman (2018) followed JL almost immediately and benefitted from it. The second issue is just that Miller is really a character actor, not a lead-role actor. I constantly had the feeling that this was a misfit.
I've rarely felt this conflicted about a movie. For Sasha Calle's sake alone I'd like to rate this whole thing higher than I did, but the rest of it -- the details have a kind of patchwork feel which I'd guess may be the result of too many years in development and being passed around through too many hands. The bits of humor often fall flat, and the details of the plot weave their way into kind of a mess. And I have to say that I thought Kara's fate was was ugly and disturbing, suggesting that we weren't supposed to view these alternate-timeline characters as anything more than paper dolls to be thrown away whenever they liked. I felt like we'd been sucker-punched. They gave her a strong introduction, built her up into a character of real stature who we care about, then just tossed her away. That's a kind of betrayal of trust with the audience. Finally there's a riot of cameo overload and callbacks from previous DC players that puts it so far into the meta realm that there's no recovery. But that's the essential problem with the multiverse: if anything can happen, who cares what happens? (to quote Gene Siskel.) It puts emotional distance between the viewer and the characters that feels a bit unsatisfying.
Bottom line for me is, go to this to see Supergirl! Calle is the only one who comes out of this production with a well earned boost in profile, and I hope we get to see more of her, but I'm worried that we won't, unfortunately. DC has already walked away from Henry Cavill, maybe the best Superman ever. Now it feels like they're going to walk away from someone else who's also made a hit and would gladly continue if given the chance. I read that three different versions of the ending were filmed, with one of them where Kara and Keaton/Batman are alive and well back in Barry's 'original' timeline. That's the version I want to see.
But now Sasha Calle's Supergirl? This Kara Zor-el is a strong, free character with her own agency who can and does stand independently of the others around her, and Calle plays her perfectly. In just a few scenes, Kara is developed as a character of depth and complexity that we end up caring about. She's the best takeway from this rather fractured movie. The Supergirl suit, adapted from the style of Henry Cavill's Superman version, is just great, and so are the renditions of her flying scenes, which I don't take for granted. For any superhero with flight as one of their powers, it's critical to get those right. Those scenes are smooth, powerful, as good or better than anything we've had before. Just the bits with her 'standing' in midair -- it all looks very natural. The battle scenes too. And it doesn't matter at all that she's not the blonde, blue-eyed version that every previous Supergirl has been as long as the nature of the character is honored. (but Nic Cage playing Superman? That's an issue.)
For the tital role, Ezra Miller is actually a capable actor, but he choice to play Barry Allen as a kind of a jittery young nerd is a big step away from the source material of the comics (or the CW TV series). That approach didn't really appeal to me in Justice League (2017) where Flash was introduced, and ultimately it' s not much better here. On the plus side, the best part of Miller's work is that the two Barry Allens from the two timelines are side by side for almost the whole thing, and it's surprisingly convincing. You forget that they are the same person. The CGI team came up with a depiction of the 'Speed Force' realm that looks different from anything on screen before, though it doesn't make sense that Flash can sort of stop and look around at different alternate timelines seen all around him while time-travelling. I see this effect is now called the 'chronobowl'. OK, whatever.
I think though there are two basic problems with the whole movie. One is just that it's coming late to the party. It's a kind of addendum to the Justice League world, but that was 6 years ago already and is now old news. By contrast, Aquaman (2018) followed JL almost immediately and benefitted from it. The second issue is just that Miller is really a character actor, not a lead-role actor. I constantly had the feeling that this was a misfit.
I've rarely felt this conflicted about a movie. For Sasha Calle's sake alone I'd like to rate this whole thing higher than I did, but the rest of it -- the details have a kind of patchwork feel which I'd guess may be the result of too many years in development and being passed around through too many hands. The bits of humor often fall flat, and the details of the plot weave their way into kind of a mess. And I have to say that I thought Kara's fate was was ugly and disturbing, suggesting that we weren't supposed to view these alternate-timeline characters as anything more than paper dolls to be thrown away whenever they liked. I felt like we'd been sucker-punched. They gave her a strong introduction, built her up into a character of real stature who we care about, then just tossed her away. That's a kind of betrayal of trust with the audience. Finally there's a riot of cameo overload and callbacks from previous DC players that puts it so far into the meta realm that there's no recovery. But that's the essential problem with the multiverse: if anything can happen, who cares what happens? (to quote Gene Siskel.) It puts emotional distance between the viewer and the characters that feels a bit unsatisfying.
Bottom line for me is, go to this to see Supergirl! Calle is the only one who comes out of this production with a well earned boost in profile, and I hope we get to see more of her, but I'm worried that we won't, unfortunately. DC has already walked away from Henry Cavill, maybe the best Superman ever. Now it feels like they're going to walk away from someone else who's also made a hit and would gladly continue if given the chance. I read that three different versions of the ending were filmed, with one of them where Kara and Keaton/Batman are alive and well back in Barry's 'original' timeline. That's the version I want to see.