Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013)

The Flash finds himself in a war torn alternate timeline and teams up with alternate versions of his fellow heroes to return home and restore the timeline.

Director:

Jay Oliva

Writers:

James Krieg (as Jim Krieg), Geoff Johns (based on the graphic novel "Flashpoint" by)

Stars:

Justin Chambers, C. Thomas Howell, Michael B. Jordan

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Justin Chambers	...	The Flash / Barry Allen (voice)
C. Thomas Howell	...	Professor Zoom / Eobard Thawne (voice)
Michael B. Jordan	...	Cyborg / Victor Stone (voice)
Kevin McKidd	...	Batman / Thomas Wayne (voice)
Dee Bradley Baker	...	Etrigan the Demon / Top / Canterbury Cricket (voice)
Steve Blum	...	Lex Luthor / Captain Thunder (voice)
Kevin Conroy	...	Batman / Bruce Wayne (voice)
Sam Daly	...	Superman (voice)
Dana Delany	...	Lois Lane (voice)
Grey Griffin	...	Nora Allen / Young Barry Allen / Martha Wayne (voice) (as Grey DeLisle Griffin)
Cary Elwes	...	Aquaman (voice)
Nathan Fillion	...	Green Lantern / Hal Jordan (voice)
Jennifer Hale	...	Iris West / Billy Batson (voice)
Danny Huston	...	General Lane (voice)
Danny Jacobs	...	Grifter / Captain Cold (voice)

Storyline

An alteration of the timeline for the superhero, The Flash. The Flash must team with other heroes to restore the timeline while the Earth is ravaged by a war between Aquaman's Atlantis and Wonder Woman's Amazons.

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Plot Keywords:

barry allen character | justice league | five word title | metahuman | superhuman speed | 

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Taglines:

Fight the Future

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action throughout

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 July 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox

Box Office

Budget:

$3,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation, DC Comics

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min 89 min (director's cut) 81 min (dvd)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Both Kevin McKidd and Justin Chambers have starring roles on Grey's Anatomy.

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Goofs

As Barry is in the Batcave, he looks at a gun in a case and says "What happened to you, Bruce? You were the James Bond of superheroes." The camera pans over to a picture frame and you can see behind it there is a beer bottle. But a couple shots later from a different angle, the beer bottle suddenly changes positions behind the photo.

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Quotes

Batman: You should've let her hit the pavement.
Cyborg: You shouldn't have thrown her.
Batman: She slipped.

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Crazy Credits

SPOILER: After the end of the credits, a Boom Tube opens and a horde of Parademons comes out foreshadowing Justice League: War.

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Connections

Version of Legion of Super Heroes (2006)

User Reviews

Pime Taradox

The Flash is the fastest man in the DC comic universe and also, apparently, has an origin story copied from Peter Parker. His heroic motivations stemming from one fateful night where he returned home to discover his mother murdered. Then as an adult, A freak science accident grants Barry Allen the ability to tap into the mysterious Speed Force. With his super speed, Barry fights injustice as The Flash along side the worlds greatest Superheroes in the Justice League. But one day, Barry unknowingly changed the past, and rewrote time. Now, Bruce Wayne does not exist, WonderWoman and Aquaman are in the middle of world war three, and Cyborg is America's greatest law enforcer. The only way to put things right is to track down the evil Professor Zoom aka Reverse Flash, a fellow speedster from the future.

Though tagged as a Justice League movie, The Flashpoint Paradox is a Flash movie with the Justice League in supporting roles. Barry Allen is the main character and we really go into his head, deconstruct his personality, and see this twisted new world through his eyes. The writers and talent voice cast lend a good deal of realism to the characters, never over-acting but always keeping it real. They speak like how they would in a live action movie. And personally, I would have liked to see this as one. Sadly, no matter how well the voice cast do, they are hampered by th writers turning all the other heroes into one-note supporting characters. Then again, this was a flaw of the original source material.

The story gets an immediate "A". Like "The Dark Knight Returns" that came before this, It is a faithful adaptation of the hit miniseries that forever changed the status quo of the DC universe. The scope is epic, the scale is grand and the death toll is catastrophic. The Flashpoint Paradox gets Credit for being the darkest, bleakest DC tale ever seen in animation. Fans of the video game "Injustice: Gods Among Us" will definitely be pleased. Familiar heroes are recast in unfamiliar roles.

They clash and a lot of people die in rather gruesome ways. Some lose their arms, others lose their heads, heroes are burnt, gutted and skewered in ways that would make Mortal Kombat proud. Now, Dc Animated movies has a reputation of having good stories and looking good at the same time.

But The artwork here comes across like a tribute to everything 1990s; in particular, that era of anime and Rob Liefeld. Elongated torsos, exaggerated expressions, and "bishonen" looking character designs are spliced with bulging anatomically impossible musculature, tree trunk think necks and over the too violence. Seriously, Wonder Woman looks like a CLAMP manga character, Superman and Aquaman look like they stepped out of dragonball z or Fist of the North Star, skinny characters look like Aeon Flux and Batman looks like some bad cosplay.

The animation itself is good but could be better. Japanese anime studio 4C animated this piece and while action scenes are dynamic and a thrill to watch, there is a certain feel of "cheapness" to the animation. We have creative shot angles that mimic the best of anime action yet the actual animation lacks the smooth fluid character movements that previous studio Moi Animation did. Here the characters seem stiff, art tends to go off-model, movements seem unnatural and motion blur is used to hide animation short cuts.

A huge pity though. If DC had allowed Moi Animation to do this movie, better quality control and perhaps character designs that were not so hilariously wonky, this movie would have been perfect. Accepting it for what it is, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is a solid entry in DC's animated movie library. This show also hints at the start of a shared DC animated movie universe. For those who read the comics, we all know where this would be heading.

Even if DC cannot get their shared live action movie continuity going, I'd settle for animation