Okay, full disclosure first. While I knew the basis of the series FLASHPOINT, and I knew, for the most part, all that had happened, I had never read the series prior to seeing this animated movie. I can't stress that enough as it may lead to me slightly misjudging this movie based on the source material. So please keep that in mind when I acknowledge that "the book may be better than the movie". Now, with that out of the way, let me say ... this is a fantastic animated movie.
From start to finish I was just enthralled in the events transpiring in front of me. Yes, it had a scary moment at the beginning. One of those moments where my eyes see something that irks the living hell out of me and I immediately curse the writers. It was a small thing, but again, you guys know how certain things can just ruin a show for me, so I was scared. Luckily, after that small ... misstep ... this movie was nothing short of spectacular.
As for that small thing that bothered me at the beginning? Not a real spoiler at all, but just in-case ...
After that, this damn movie was a non-stop thrill ride of entertainment.
The animation may bother some people. It is an Asian style that I enjoy, not Manga'esque, but more of the "STARBLAZERS" style (sorry I can't remember that form). It really fits the tone, though still, some may not enjoy Barry's face at times. The art style leads to great use of shadows and dim lighting when the scene requires it, and that is the main reason I like it, and it is not distracting as the other, more manga style. Visually, this movie rocks. Action scenes are well done, explosions look explosive and characters pop into your eyeballs.
This movie does a great job of scraping the surface of some of the stories involved with Flashpoint, while not bogging the movie down. In fact, they do a wonderful job of including just enough of all the side events of Flashpoint to make them impelling and have you wanting to see more, but doesn't leave you feeling like you needed more.
The only true drawback for me was the voice acting of Cyborg. While the character was shown in the best light since New Teen Titans, the actor seemed to struggle with being natural. The flow was not there in his dialog and it was slightly distracting.
The other voice actors did their usual A+ job however and worked to pull you into this world.
DC has a great history of putting out good animated movies (and I only hope that one day Marvel will follow suit) and some have been better than others, but this, without pause from me, is easily the best animated movie they have done. This was as close to adult animated perfection as you can reach. This movie left me not only wanting this to be in my movie library ASAP, but also left me wanting to go back and buy the entire FLASHPOINT event as well as John's run on Flash. It is THAT DAMN GOOD.
If it was't for Cyborg's voice acting ...
9.5 outta 10 damn Vic StonesBUY THIS DAMN THING !!!!!!
