[psmith2.0]

I hear it's another one of those time-bending "multi-verse" offerings like that recent Spider-Man which brought back all the live-action actors (Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield) to team up with the current guy (Tom Holland).

My most-hated trope in movies has always been time travel/time-bending. That both Marvel and DC have jumped on that train within a year or so of each other pretty much means "I'm out". I hate that stuff!

In-universe/movie, it just seems to complicate things to a ridiculous degree. Standing back, real world, it just strikes me as a lazy fall-back to pretty much allow for any and all possibilities for stories/plots, when everything can be undone or "never happened" or otherwise altered from another point in time. Just seems like a cheap "out" (or cheat) for writers/filmmakers. And, from a more cynical standpoint, it's a fan-service jizz-fest, with said writers/filmmakers knowing they can pluck this character/actor from this era and *gasp* put them together with characters/actors from that era and have it all "make sense" within the time travel/multi-verse framing.

Naah. You can't write a good enough movie about a top-tier(?) superhero/comic book figure who's been around since the 1940's and obviously has fans (there's an entire TV show about him, and he's always in every version/take on the Justice League...the animated stuff, the movies, etc.)? That's weird. In everyone's minds, he's probably fourth behind Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Then again, DC/WB have kinda botched Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman to such mind-blowing degrees in recent years, I can't really blame audiences for taking a cautious, wary stance..."how are they gonna monkey with this character? I don't think I wanna find out."

I've read some spoiler reviews of this new Flash movie and that seems to be much of the foundation for this thing, including a few surprises and "no way, not that!" moves that are surely funny/interesting to someone. When you've got 30+ years to play with (real world) + the biggest superheroes, why not have a little fun? Can't believe they pulled some of it off, honestly. Now that it's in theaters, the leaks/spoilers (and in-theater footage) is coming fast and heavy to YouTube, the past 36 hours.

It's no secret that Michael Keaton is in this thing. He's in all the trailers and marketing/promo stuff, but there's far more going on. Whatever money this thing makes, or whatever records it may (accidentally) set or break, you know that's due to the involvement/presence of Keaton's Bruce Wayne/Batman. Nobody is standing in line at their local Cinepalooza 22 to see goofy, annoying Ezra Miller wisecracking for two hours. I think the filmmakers realized this early on and thought "we need something to get butts in seats...hell, Harrison Ford, Stallone and others are revisiting their glory days lately, give Michael Keaton a call and see if he'd be game to do the same and maybe help us out? Otherwise, we've got a certifiable turd on our hands. A character most people don't think about, played by an actor nobody's really that big a fan of. We need a co-lead who can maybe override all that"

Hey, it was Michael Keaton or Dean Cain. Or Burt Ward. I'm sure those two were considered and factored in the earlier drafts.

Anyone who's a fan of that story Kevin Smith tells on YouTube about his involvement in an aborted Superman movie - the involved actor and requested villain/monster - back in the 90's should get a kick out it. Yeah, they went there. Somewhere out there, that universe exists where that movie was made and that actor as Superman is canon. And, somehow, so is the worst Batman!

I've got a few comic book/superhero movie friends in my orbit, but, oddly enough, I've not heard a peep from them about this movie. And they're usually all over this stuff, months out (they do tend to lean more Marvel, so that might be part of it). I know they've seen it, but they're not being their usual gush-y/hyperventilating selves, so maybe it was a bit of a let down? I'll hear from them tonight or tomorrow and will get the story.

Anyway, it looks good/interesting (the outdoor, daytime fights and action sequences, which I do prefer over the incoherent nighttime, rainy ones these movies often lean on. But I know enough about the plot/outcomes that I don't think I'd enjoy sitting through all the wankery involved. The director of this thing is the same guy who did the two recent It movies, which I really liked. So I know it's competently made. I just despise time-travel and alternate reality/universes framings and plot lines, so it'll have to be a "no-go" for me.

Those who've seen it, what did you think? I like the way they depict his fast running, the lines behind him and the lightning(?) bolts left in his wake. It's usually shown in slo-mo, otherwise we'd never see/notice anything, so it's a neat way of conveying that level of speed, and a good visual idea, whoever came up with it. I'd love to be able to run that fast! I'd go to a ballgame in St. Louis or Colorado this afternoon, and be back home in time for dinner here this evening!