Posted in: Flash, Movies, Warner Bros | Tagged: dc, dc studios, spoilers, The Flash, the flash movie, Warner Bros

The Flash: Here's Why The "Missing Scenes" Ploy Backfired [SPOILERS]

Warner Bros. showed people incomplete versions of The Flash so they had to see the movie twice to get the full experience. Here's why that spectacularly backfired.

Warner Bros. went for an interesting route when marketing The Flash. The movie was first shown to the public in April at CinemaCon, but the audience was told footage would be missing from the film. The subsequent fan screenings through the week of June 4th showed that same "CinemaCon cut" of the film, with the final cut starting to be shown to the public with the world premiere. However, the choice of what footage to leave out and how Warner Bros. tried to convince people to anticipate something big upon a second viewing backfired. To get into all of this, we will throw up a massive SPOILER WARNING because we will be talking about the differences between the cuts and why the footage they chose to withhold made the film worse. So if you haven't seen The Flash yet and care about SPOILERS, don't look beyond this image.

To keep things simple, we will refer to the film's two cuts as the "CinemaCon cut" and the "final cut." While watching the movie in April, it looked like the VFX work wasn't complete because there were some really wonky-looking shots and several scenes that could have been shortened or cut entirely to make a tighter film. These are all sorts of things you might expect to get fixed over six weeks before the release. However, the only changes between the two cuts come at the very end of the film. All of the VFX work we saw in April that looked incomplete and weird still looks incomplete and weird, even as director Andy Muschietti throws the VFX artists under the bus by saying it was intentional. None of the scenes that easily could have shortened the film by 20 minutes were trimmed; the difference between the two cuts is a couple of minutes, including the post-credits teaser.

In the CinemaCon cut of The Flash, we see Barry on the phone talking to Bruce. He tells him about everything that just happened, and Bruce says he is on the way. We see the car pull up to the courthouse, and a pair of nice shoes emerges. We see Barry looking at Bruce, and he says, "Who the fuck is that?" and the movie cuts to black. It was probably one of the best scenes in the entire CinemaCon cut. It felt restrained compared to the rest of the film, keeping Warner Bros. from revealing who the new Bruce is. It's precisely the kind of worldbuilding you want because it shows that Barry changed something; we know that this Bruce isn't Ben Affleck or Michael Keaton, but it could be anyone. That opened up a world of possibilities and left the audience wondering what those possibilities might be. They didn't have to commit to anything then and there; it was legitimately funny and an excellent use of the PG-13 "fuck."

That is the cut that many people saw, and all knew they were seeing an incomplete movie. A critic who saw it at CinemaCon ethically had to see The Flash again because reviewing an incomplete film is just something you don't do. So for Warner Bros. and DC Studios to decide that the thing they were withholding was a George Clooney cameo, adding on more pointless fanboy stuff that adds nothing to the film. That cut to black was better, and the fact that Warner Bros. felt a minute-long cameo from Clooney that adds nothing and a post-credits scene that adds nothing and teases nothing was also worth withholding from the Fan First early screening audiences is infuriating.

This created unwarranted expectations in the run-up to the premiere as the film's die-hard core audience anticipated that seeing the movie a second time would reveal something so big that it was worth holding back.  Unfortunately, the missing scenes add nothing to the overall experience, and The Flash is not a film that holds up well on repeat viewings. This could be a reason why the audience score has been plummeting over the last couple of days.

If you are going to force your most diehard fans to see a movie twice to get the full experience, you need to have an excellent reason to do so, and you better be withholding something powerful. To make the thing they were withholding a cameo that adds nothing to the story or the universe is the worst possible way they could have approached this. It backfired, and the final cut is worse for it.

So, #ReleaseTheCinemaConCut, anyone?

The Flash: Summary, Cast List, Release Date

Warner Bros. Pictures presents The Flash, directed by Andy Muschietti (the IT films, Mama). Ezra Miller reprises their role as Barry Allen in the DC Super Hero's first-ever standalone feature film. Worlds collide in The Flash when Barry uses his superpowers to travel back in time in order to change the events of the past. But when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no Super Heroes to turn to. That is unless Barry can coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian… albeit not the one he's looking for. Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry's only hope is to race for his life. But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?

The Flash ensemble also includes rising star Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon (Bullet Train, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), Ron Livingston (Loudermilk, The Conjuring), Maribel Verdú (Elite, Y tu mamá también), Kiersey Clemons (Zack Snyder's Justice League, Sweetheart), Antje Traue (King of Ravens, Man of Steel) and Michael Keaton (Spider-Man: Homecoming, Batman). It's in theaters now.

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