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Flashpoint Paradox: A Very Violent Action Fantasy – In the Best Possible Taste (SPOILERS!)

By Nikolai Fomich

Flashpoint Paradox is a very, very violent action fantasy – and that's a good thing.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

I cringed as I watched Wonder Woman stab Billy Batson, a child, killing him. I knew it was an alternate timeline Wonder Woman, but it was still such a jarring, such an unbelievable thing for me to see. And that sequence epitomizes Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox in many ways – unbelievable, visceral violence featuring characters we love dearly but know no longer.

But that's not a bad thing. Flashpoint Paradox, which I saw during its premiere last Friday, is a movie that knows it's an action movie, one in a superhero/fantasy setting, and it's that very self-awareness that gives the film strong momentum. And with the exception of that single Wonder Woman scene, which troubled me, if you know what you're in for, it's a hell of fun ride.

Unlike some previous direct-to-DVD films by DC, this is movie doesn't get lost in explaining things to its audience or suffer from poor pacing. In fact, Jay Oliva does a fantastic job directing, playing up the fight sequences with a brutality that I've never seen before in a superhero animated feature. The film's creators wisely allowed the action scenes to determine the film's pacing, though not at the loss of characterization. The attack on Flash, Batman, Superman, and Cyborg by government forces, for example, an incredible action sequence showcasing Flash's super-speed, also contains Superman's first attempt to follow Cyborg's heroic example, leading him to discover his powers in a devastating way.

This film also marks another effort by American animators towards an anime-influenced style. Character designer Phil Bourassa takes Andy Kubert's Flashpoint designs and settings and makes them his own, the designs reminiscent of or even identical to his Young Justice designs. With the exception of Aquaman's face, which looked a little pudgy for my taste, I found all the designs wonderfully rendered. These designs were a perfect match for Oliva's action directing. Screenwriter Jim Krieg does a good job of streamlining Geoff Johns' original story, while also including key moments – the introduction sequence establishing Thawne and the Aquaman/Wonder Woman montage – found outside of the original five-issue mini-series. This film also marks the first feature from James Tucker as Supervising Producer of DC Animation, and the genius behind Batman: The Brave and the Bold, proves he can do violence as well as he does comedy. To have someone so versatile at the helm of DC Animation is definitely a good sign.

The voice-acting, too, is superb, especially Justin Chambers as Barry Allen/the Flash, who makes for a sympathetic leading man, as well chosen a voice as the Flash is a character to ground us in this alternate dystopia. Kevin McKidd as Thomas Wayne, Michael B. Jordan as Cyborg, Cary Elwes as Aquaman, and Vanessa Marshall as Wonder Woman round out the main cast and do great work, but the other standout is C. Thomas Howell as the deliciously malicious Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash. You can hear the petty but deep hatred Thawne has for Allen and his joy at taunting him. The great Andrea Romano has struck gold again.

In the film, Barry's new memories he gains of the Flashpoint timeline cleverly serve to explain to viewers the events that created that universe, including two sequences of particular importance – the Aquaman/Wonder Woman and Thomas Wayne Batman sequences. Yet in viewing these scenes, I began to think that I would have loved to have seen a whole film devoted either to the Aquaman/Wonder Woman intrigue or to the transformation of Thomas Wayne into Batman and Martha Wayne into the Joker. Flashpoint Paradox only allows ample character time for the Flash and Thomas Wayne, while the villains – Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Reverse-Flash – are presented to us as already fully formed, though all three are given a good amount of screen time. We see in those scenes two inventive and extraordinarily intriguing stories, both worthy of full films themselves, but presented to us in brief montages.

But this is a different kind of movie. This is a movie where James Tucker, Alan Burnett, Jay Oliva, and Jim Krieg where allowed to cut loose and give us a brutal and desperate world already dead. This is a film where we see Barry Allen learn to accept what he can't change but still change what he can for the better.

Flashpoint Paradox also contains a plethora of cameos. Fans of Young Justice are in for a pleasant surprise. The scene where Aquaman's forces' attack Deathstroke's pirate ship (another incredible action sequence) yields some surprising guest stars. Garth, Tula, and Kaldur appear, battling alongside Aquaman's  (normally) two arch-foes, Orm and Black Manta. There's a lot of fan service in this film – cameos of characters we know and love (Etrigan, Luthor, Lois Lane, Hal Jordan) coming and going – usually going by means of death. Some might argue that the film's cameos crowd space in the film that could have been used for deeper characterization or drama, but I'd say that it's simply a different kind of movie, and it accepts what it is and runs with it.

From haunting Wayne Manor, where Barry regains his super-speed in a scene recalling classic Universal Horror, to a Europe transformed into a battlefield, where our characters epically battle for a shell of a world, to the ending, where Barry has to stop himself from causing the Flashpoint universe, Flashpoint Paradox does not disappoint. Earlier at SDCC, I saw Joss Whedon speak about the lingering feeling in America that animation was still for only children, and that he thought we were ready for animation made for adults. This is a step in the right direction, a step towards a more diversified world of animated fare.

But when all is said and done, this movie's worth its price for Zoom's death alone.

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