1 00:00:00,930 --> 00:00:02,957 This is a Dynamike Network podcast. 2 00:00:24,202 --> 00:00:29,805 Hi, welcome to the Dynamic Duel Podcast, a weekly show where we review superhero films and debate 3 00:00:29,845 --> 00:00:35,968 the superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters in stat-based battle simulations. 4 00:00:36,428 --> 00:00:42,031 I'm Johnny DC. And I'm his twin brother, Marvelous Joe. And in this episode, we are reviewing 5 00:00:42,071 --> 00:00:47,894 the latest DC animated film set in the Tomorrow Verse Justice League, Crisis on Infinite Earths 6 00:00:47,974 --> 00:00:54,566 Part 1, the first part of a trilogy of films that will end out this universe. Yeah, part 7 00:00:54,666 --> 00:00:57,948 one came out about a week ago, the other two parts are going to come out later this year. 8 00:00:58,448 --> 00:01:02,030 I was really surprised by this film. There's a lot of films in the Tomorrowverse that I 9 00:01:02,070 --> 00:01:07,794 haven't liked. It's been pretty much hit or miss. But Crisis part one is really unique 10 00:01:08,254 --> 00:01:11,956 and I'm really looking forward to talking about it. Before that, we're going to break down 11 00:01:11,996 --> 00:01:16,819 the comic movie news from the past week, of which there was just one news item and that 12 00:01:16,839 --> 00:01:21,854 was the teaser trailer for Justice League Crisis on Infinite Earths part- 2. So this is a full 13 00:01:21,954 --> 00:01:26,616 on Crisis on Infinite Earths episode, apparently. As always, we list our segment times in our 14 00:01:26,656 --> 00:01:30,958 episode description, so feel free to check out the show notes if you want to skip ahead to 15 00:01:30,978 --> 00:01:37,020 a particular topic. Our artificially intelligent dual simulator, AJ9K, has a quick message for 16 00:01:37,060 --> 00:01:43,563 our listeners, so listen up. Why, hello there. Do you love listening and chatting about Marvel 17 00:01:43,583 --> 00:01:48,805 and DC? Then become a part of the dynamic dual community on Patreon where you can choose from 18 00:01:48,885 --> 00:01:54,655 three tiers. The Dynamic 2.0 tier lets you listen to this podcast without ads, and gives you 19 00:01:54,715 --> 00:01:59,697 access to its Discord chat group where you can chat with Johnny DC and Marvelous Joe. The 20 00:01:59,737 --> 00:02:04,920 Fantastic 4 tier gives you that and more with two bonus episodes each month, including bloopers 21 00:02:04,940 --> 00:02:09,061 and top 10 shows where Johnny and Joe count down your favourite Marvel and DC subjects. 22 00:02:09,538 --> 00:02:14,280 The X-Force tier makes you an executive producer of Dynamic Duel, where every month you help 23 00:02:14,300 --> 00:02:19,262 the host choose what to review and who to fight against each other. And finally, the Dynamite 24 00:02:19,282 --> 00:02:25,005 Podcast Network tier allows aspiring podcasters to create their own battle-focused show using 25 00:02:25,045 --> 00:02:29,747 this Monte Carlo simulator. Johnny and Joe will help you develop your show, provide graphic 26 00:02:29,767 --> 00:02:34,589 support and consultation, and get you simulation results to announce on your show. Pitch the 27 00:02:34,629 --> 00:02:40,112 twins your show via email at dyna or by reaching out to the Dynamite Podcast them on social 28 00:02:40,152 --> 00:02:47,015 media. Check it out at patreon.com slash dynamic duel. Pip pip cheerio. Thanks AJ and IK and 29 00:02:47,035 --> 00:02:51,357 thanks to everyone who supports the podcast. Be sure to tune into the Max Destruction podcast, 30 00:02:51,397 --> 00:02:55,659 part of the Dynamike Podcast Network, which last week found out who would win between Batman 31 00:02:55,700 --> 00:03:01,462 from the 1989 Batman film and Captain America from the 1990 Captain America film. This week, 32 00:03:01,803 --> 00:03:05,985 I believe hosts Ken and Scotty are going to find out who would win between Steven Seagal's 33 00:03:06,045 --> 00:03:11,311 Casey Ryback from Under Siege. versus Chuck Norris' major Scott McCoy from Delta Force. 34 00:03:11,832 --> 00:03:17,875 Nice! On the Sinjoworld podcast, host Zachary Hepburn speculates on fights between your favorite 35 00:03:18,075 --> 00:03:23,078 anime characters. This week, we're gonna find out who would win between Black Clover's Luck 36 00:03:23,158 --> 00:03:29,281 Vultia versus Hunter Hunter's Killua. And on the Console Combat podcast, host John and Dean 37 00:03:29,301 --> 00:03:33,263 find out who would win in fights between your favorite video game characters. In yesterday's 38 00:03:33,303 --> 00:03:37,974 episode, they ventured into round two of their tournament, speculating on who would win. not 39 00:03:38,054 --> 00:03:43,179 only between Tomb Raider's Lara Croft and Assassin's Creed's Ezio Auditore, but also Super Mario 40 00:03:43,259 --> 00:03:49,866 RPG's Gino vs Sonic the Hedgehog's pal Tails. Visit dynamicpodcast.com or click the link 41 00:03:49,886 --> 00:03:54,331 in our show notes to listen to all the shows in the Dynamike Podcast Network. But with that 42 00:03:54,371 --> 00:04:00,763 out of the way, quick to the no prize! A No Prize is an award Marvel used to give out to 43 00:04:00,803 --> 00:04:05,826 fans. Our version, the Dynamic Dual No Prize, is a digital award we post on Instagram and 44 00:04:05,846 --> 00:04:10,329 in our email newsletter for the person that we feel gave the best answer to our question 45 00:04:10,369 --> 00:04:15,552 of the week. Last week, we asked, what other character from the Daredevil Netflix series 46 00:04:15,572 --> 00:04:20,415 do you most hope returns for the Disney Plus Daredevil born-again show and why? And this 47 00:04:20,455 --> 00:04:24,910 is coming off of the news that Deborah Anwalt and Elden Henson will be... reprising their 48 00:04:24,950 --> 00:04:30,212 roles as Karen Page and Foggy Nelson in the Daredevil Born Again series. We got literally 49 00:04:30,252 --> 00:04:34,234 two answers for this question of the week, which is not surprising because we only gave you 50 00:04:34,254 --> 00:04:39,076 guys about two days to do it. So let's run down our honorable mention as well as our no prize 51 00:04:39,096 --> 00:04:45,158 winner. Our first honorable mention goes to Lizzie Dyer Arnie, who said, Hey, it's Lizzie. 52 00:04:45,278 --> 00:04:49,860 So I really want to see Marcy Stahl return to the new Daredevil series on Disney. If you 53 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:54,206 don't remember who she is, she's Foggy's on again, off again girlfriend. who helped them 54 00:04:54,226 --> 00:04:59,208 take down Landman and Zack from the inside. She provides much needed comic relief to the 55 00:04:59,228 --> 00:05:05,631 show. And I think we are long overdue to see Marcy and Foggy's wedding. Have a great day. 56 00:05:05,711 --> 00:05:11,914 Now, I'm not going to lie. I barely remember this character, but I do agree that Daredevil 57 00:05:12,014 --> 00:05:18,157 needed comic relief and she was great in the role. Well, I thought Foggy himself provided 58 00:05:18,217 --> 00:05:22,532 comic relief for the show. but it was nice that they gave him a love interest because otherwise 59 00:05:22,612 --> 00:05:27,416 he was just kind of like the, you know, the tag along sidekick character to Matt Murdock. 60 00:05:27,576 --> 00:05:31,940 I liked actress Amy Ruppberg in the role as Marcy. I always thought she was like way too 61 00:05:31,980 --> 00:05:37,284 hot for Foggy Nelson, but that was kind of like the appeal of it, I think. It was nice to see 62 00:05:37,785 --> 00:05:41,728 this bumbling character get a girl who's way out of his league. Yeah, that's true. Plus 63 00:05:41,788 --> 00:05:47,293 I also don't hate the idea that Lizzie gave of Foggy finally getting married. Like the 64 00:05:47,313 --> 00:05:51,138 guy deserves it. Yeah, it literally rains shit on Foggy Nelson a lot, so it's nice to see 65 00:05:51,158 --> 00:05:55,600 that he has this one consistent good thing in his life. Great answer Lizzy! But the winner 66 00:05:55,640 --> 00:06:01,621 of this week's No Prize is Judson Baddie. And I hope I'm pronouncing that right. But he said, 67 00:06:02,242 --> 00:06:06,883 Hi guys, Judson Baddie here. Long time listener, first time responder. I think the character 68 00:06:07,003 --> 00:06:11,764 and actor I'd like to see return for Dead Ever Born again the most is Father Paul Langton 69 00:06:11,784 --> 00:06:17,491 played by Peter McRobbie. I feel like he had some interesting dynamics. with Charlie Cox 70 00:06:17,551 --> 00:06:24,516 as Daredevil and provided and understated the very important role in the spiritual side of 71 00:06:24,716 --> 00:06:28,599 the Daredevil character and the show wouldn't be the same without him. Well, you guys went 72 00:06:28,699 --> 00:06:33,342 with some pretty deep dives for your answers for this question of the week. Father Lantern, 73 00:06:33,783 --> 00:06:39,387 played by Peter McRobbie on the Daredevil Netflix show, was very much the soul of the show. He 74 00:06:39,427 --> 00:06:45,867 was essentially Matt Murdock's spiritual guide, given that... Matt Murdock is a very religious 75 00:06:45,887 --> 00:06:50,449 character in the comic books and in the show. He's a devout Catholic. And I thought the actor 76 00:06:50,489 --> 00:06:56,512 Peter McRobbie did a great job and was an interesting character in guiding Matt Murdock and discussing 77 00:06:56,552 --> 00:07:02,875 the ethics of his actions as both a Catholic and a vigilante. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. This 78 00:07:02,915 --> 00:07:08,877 is another character I barely remember, but I like this as the win for this week's question. 79 00:07:09,334 --> 00:07:15,039 because of how religious a character Daredevil is. And it's pretty unique in comics that a 80 00:07:15,099 --> 00:07:21,364 character is so heavily involved in his spirituality. Yeah, I mean, it makes sense for a character 81 00:07:21,544 --> 00:07:26,249 named Daredevil, right? It kind of adds to the intrigue given that, you know, he dresses up 82 00:07:26,289 --> 00:07:31,313 like the devil and beats the shit out of people. It's really interesting that dichotomy of Daredevil. 83 00:07:31,753 --> 00:07:36,938 Honestly, I thought we were going to get answers like Electra and Bullseye. Right. Yeah. Bullseye 84 00:07:37,038 --> 00:07:42,842 was in fact the correct answer played by Wilson Bethel. He was incredible in season three and 85 00:07:43,002 --> 00:07:47,425 the dude needs to come back as Bullseye. He was fantastic. Yeah, 100 percent. But great 86 00:07:47,465 --> 00:07:51,447 answer Jetson, you win this week's No Prize. If you're the listener, want a shot at winning 87 00:07:51,467 --> 00:07:56,631 your own No Prize, stay tuned to later on in this episode when we'll be asking another question 88 00:07:56,671 --> 00:08:00,033 of the week. And now that that's done, on to the news. 89 00:08:05,582 --> 00:08:11,123 Okay, so we recently got the official teaser trailer for Justice League Crisis on Infinite 90 00:08:11,183 --> 00:08:17,125 Earths Part 2, the sequel to the film we're about to review later in this episode, Crisis 91 00:08:17,165 --> 00:08:25,387 on Infinite Earths Part 1. Now, in Part 1, there's quite a bit of time jumping, and it looks like 92 00:08:25,467 --> 00:08:32,529 that may be the case for Part 2 as well. We learned in Part 1 that Monitor's assistant 93 00:08:32,609 --> 00:08:39,197 of sorts, Harbinger, is actually Supergirl from the Legion of Superheroes film, and it looks 94 00:08:39,217 --> 00:08:44,361 like in part two we're going to find out exactly how she became Harbinger. It kind of looks 95 00:08:44,401 --> 00:08:48,885 like she's going to be the main character of part two, honestly, in the same way that Flash 96 00:08:48,905 --> 00:08:54,409 was the main character of part one. Which is not a big surprise of the two major sacrifices 97 00:08:54,429 --> 00:09:00,954 that happened in the comic book. Flash and Supergirl were probably the most impactful. My guess 98 00:09:01,094 --> 00:09:05,996 is Supergirl does not make it to the end of the film. That's just a guess. Sorry if that's 99 00:09:06,036 --> 00:09:10,478 a spoiler. Well, I mean, if you look at the cover to the crisis on Infinite Earth's trade 100 00:09:10,518 --> 00:09:15,920 paperback, you'll see Superman holding a dead Supergirl. So I don't know how much of a spoiler 101 00:09:15,940 --> 00:09:19,841 that actually is. True. That's fair. Yeah. I thought it was really cool to see the Bat family 102 00:09:19,861 --> 00:09:25,984 at the beginning of this trailer, which seems to include Batman Beyond and Batwing. Yeah, 103 00:09:26,004 --> 00:09:30,238 honestly, that was pretty shocking seeing Batman Beyond, who's from the future. considering 104 00:09:30,298 --> 00:09:35,762 the end of part one. Not gonna give away any spoilers, but if you know, you know. It really 105 00:09:35,782 --> 00:09:41,186 looks like this film picks up right after the events of part one, as we still see the frequency 106 00:09:41,286 --> 00:09:45,609 tuning fork tower in the background in the opening shots. It looks like the main thread of this 107 00:09:45,649 --> 00:09:50,152 movie though are these like shadow creatures. Shadow demons, yes, they're from the comics. 108 00:09:50,292 --> 00:09:55,596 They're like the soldiers of the anti-monitor. Interesting. We also get a shot of Psycho Pirate. 109 00:09:55,936 --> 00:09:59,830 It's not too clear what he's doing. but the character is pretty interesting from the comics 110 00:09:59,850 --> 00:10:03,811 so I'm looking forward to seeing what's going on there. All in all there's really not too 111 00:10:03,851 --> 00:10:08,012 much more to talk about. It's a really short teaser, it's less than 45 seconds. I thought 112 00:10:08,032 --> 00:10:11,833 we were going to get a release date with it, but at the very end it just says coming soon. 113 00:10:12,013 --> 00:10:16,715 So when we do get that release date, we'll make sure to let you guys know. Because I'm looking 114 00:10:16,735 --> 00:10:21,996 forward to it for sure. Yeah, I think in total this trilogy is going to be quite an epic series 115 00:10:22,016 --> 00:10:27,237 of films. But speaking of epic animated trilogies, that brings us to our question of the week. 116 00:10:31,650 --> 00:10:38,134 What comics storyline for Marvel or DC would you want to see adapted as an animated film 117 00:10:38,174 --> 00:10:43,738 trilogy and why? Record your answer at dynamicduel.com by clicking on the red microphone button in 118 00:10:43,758 --> 00:10:47,840 the bottom right hand corner of the screen which will prompt you to leave us a voicemail. Your 119 00:10:47,860 --> 00:10:51,343 message could be up to 30 seconds long and don't forget to leave your name in case we include 120 00:10:51,363 --> 00:10:55,466 you on the podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer and award that person a Dynamic Duel 121 00:10:55,506 --> 00:10:59,949 No Prize that we'll post to Instagram and our email newsletter. Be sure to answer before 122 00:11:00,349 --> 00:11:01,309 January 27th. 123 00:11:08,718 --> 00:11:13,060 That does it for all the news for this episode, now let's move on to the main event, where 124 00:11:13,141 --> 00:11:20,205 we review the latest DC animated film, Justice League, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Part 1. 125 00:11:35,342 --> 00:11:41,625 Alright, Justice League Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 1 is the latest in Warner Bros. Animation's 126 00:11:41,685 --> 00:11:49,470 Tomorrowverse world of direct-to-video DC animated films, which is the follow-up universe to the 127 00:11:49,570 --> 00:11:56,054 DC animated movie universe that ended with the phenomenal film Justice League Dark Apocalypse 128 00:11:56,094 --> 00:12:02,890 War. Comparisons between the animated universes have been inevitable. Most fans, I would say, 129 00:12:03,010 --> 00:12:08,432 have been pining for a return to the DC AMU, which had its critics, but has been widely 130 00:12:08,472 --> 00:12:15,574 accepted as being superior to the Tomorrowverse. I personally have praised the Tomorrowverse's 131 00:12:15,614 --> 00:12:20,875 character designs and premises, but with the exception of the two-part Batman the Long Halloween 132 00:12:20,895 --> 00:12:27,937 films, the overall execution of the Tomorrowverse has ranged from fairly decent to borderline 133 00:12:28,077 --> 00:12:32,837 unwatchable. So how does Crisis on Infinite Earths, the first part of a trilogy that's 134 00:12:32,877 --> 00:12:38,643 being released throughout this year, compare to the other Tomorrowverse films? I'm relieved 135 00:12:38,703 --> 00:12:43,868 to say it's one of the best. If you haven't seen it yet, maybe because you've given up 136 00:12:43,928 --> 00:12:49,012 on the Tomorrowverse? I definitely recommend watching it and it makes me want to recommend 137 00:12:49,052 --> 00:12:54,476 watching the entirety of the Tomorrowverse beforehand because it really makes you appreciate little 138 00:12:54,516 --> 00:12:58,819 hints and Easter eggs they've sprinkled throughout the other films to show that they've been building 139 00:12:58,939 --> 00:13:04,643 up to this concluding trilogy in order to successfully capture the emotional impact that long time 140 00:13:04,683 --> 00:13:10,186 DC fans had while first reading the Crisis on Infinite Earths comic that this film is based 141 00:13:10,286 --> 00:13:16,647 on. I don't know that's a lot to ask audiences, especially our listeners. Like putting them 142 00:13:16,687 --> 00:13:21,992 through the likes of Justice Society World War II or Legion of Superheroes or Justice League 143 00:13:22,032 --> 00:13:27,096 War World. Like, there's a lot of duds that I just would not recommend watching just to 144 00:13:27,136 --> 00:13:32,361 better enjoy this film. It's surprising to me that you said that Crisis on Infinite Earths 145 00:13:32,401 --> 00:13:39,007 Part 1 is one of the better entries in the tomorrowverse because you're right. But also, this movie 146 00:13:39,047 --> 00:13:44,142 was mostly okay. So just... thinking that it was actually still one of the best makes me 147 00:13:44,202 --> 00:13:49,524 kind of sad about the whole Tomorrowverse in general. Well, I mean, the number one film 148 00:13:49,564 --> 00:13:54,946 in the Tomorrowverse was absolutely the two part long Halloween, probably followed by Green 149 00:13:54,986 --> 00:14:00,067 Lantern Beware My Power. And I'm not sure if I like this as much as Beware My Power. It 150 00:14:00,107 --> 00:14:05,209 might be just underneath that, but I still liked this film. Crisis on Infinite Earths is an 151 00:14:05,329 --> 00:14:10,527 adaptation of the comic of the same name. Now if you're not familiar with Crisis on Infinite 152 00:14:10,587 --> 00:14:16,791 Earths, it was the first major universe-spanning blockbuster event in comics that drastically 153 00:14:16,831 --> 00:14:23,575 changed DC's continuity and delivered explosive stakes for long-time comic readers, going all 154 00:14:23,615 --> 00:14:29,338 the way back to 1956 when the introduction of Barry Allen, the Flash, kicked off the Silver 155 00:14:29,418 --> 00:14:35,902 Age of comics. The stories in the comics released prior to that, during the Golden Age, were 156 00:14:35,942 --> 00:14:41,144 eventually revealed to have taken place in a parallel universe that Barry Allen learned 157 00:14:41,164 --> 00:14:48,266 he could travel to. This set up the first-ever multiverse, which became threatened in 1985 158 00:14:49,146 --> 00:14:55,629 by the Crisis on Infinite Earth storyline, where we saw characters like Barry Allen die or sacrifice 159 00:14:55,649 --> 00:15:02,133 themselves during the event. Now to successfully adapt a story like Crisis on Infinite Earths 160 00:15:02,274 --> 00:15:07,178 in animation, you have to try and match what comic book writers had decades to accomplish, 161 00:15:07,298 --> 00:15:12,583 creating long-standing relationships between fictional characters and invested audiences 162 00:15:12,683 --> 00:15:18,369 through serialized adventure stories. It's a lot easier to create a comic book than it is 163 00:15:18,409 --> 00:15:24,270 to create an animated film though. Literally, one or two guys can create a comic. compared 164 00:15:24,310 --> 00:15:31,156 to sizable budgets and teams of animators needed to create a future film. The Tomorrow vs Producers, 165 00:15:31,556 --> 00:15:36,841 Jim Krieg and Kimberly Moreau, who wanted to do a Crisis on Infinite Earths adaptation, 166 00:15:37,001 --> 00:15:43,766 were allowed to create a 10-film universe, which they used to lead up to this major trilogy 167 00:15:43,867 --> 00:15:49,970 event that begins with Crisis on Infinite Earths Part 1. This was only recently revealed, but 168 00:15:50,010 --> 00:15:55,332 going back to early films in the Tomorrowverse, it's now apparent that not only have the filmmakers 169 00:15:55,372 --> 00:16:00,674 been planning their way to a crisis story, but also that they've planned on involving prior 170 00:16:00,754 --> 00:16:08,616 animated universes such as the DC AMU and several DC Showcase animated shorts, including Constantine, 171 00:16:08,736 --> 00:16:15,735 House of Mystery, Adam Strange, and Commandie. The connect- The connectivity blows my mind 172 00:16:15,815 --> 00:16:22,561 and makes me unbelievably excited for the releases of part 2 and 3 later this year. Well, I remember 173 00:16:22,581 --> 00:16:29,186 that the Adam Strange short was a direct prequel to Green Lantern Beware My Power. But I'm having 174 00:16:29,246 --> 00:16:34,530 trouble remembering exactly how the House of Mystery and Command D were referenced in this 175 00:16:34,570 --> 00:16:38,973 Crisis on Infinite Earths part 1 movie. Well, Constantine House of Mystery is a pretty obvious 176 00:16:39,113 --> 00:16:45,692 one. It's the connective tissue between the DC AMU and the tomorrow verse. At the end, 177 00:16:45,872 --> 00:16:50,053 I believe he was punished by the specter, but I forgot what the punishment was. I guess we 178 00:16:50,093 --> 00:16:55,435 see the results of that in this movie when we see Constantine as an old guy. Yeah, he's forced 179 00:16:55,535 --> 00:17:01,857 to live through the ends of universes. Interesting. And Comedie has been confirmed to be a part 180 00:17:01,877 --> 00:17:07,514 of this universe as well by the producers. Now, I wasn't always excited for the Crisis films 181 00:17:07,574 --> 00:17:12,316 this year. In fact, I'd say they were the DC projects I was looking forward to the least, 182 00:17:12,356 --> 00:17:18,818 hands down. Just like as of last week, basically. But after seeing the bold risk they took with 183 00:17:18,898 --> 00:17:26,020 Part 1 in terms of its unconventional narrative structure and having it pay off so spectacularly 184 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:32,774 well, I feel like I've glimpsed a genius adaptation of the source material. Like, I've never seen 185 00:17:32,834 --> 00:17:39,061 a superhero film be so hyper-focused on a single character's perspective of a story. You could 186 00:17:39,101 --> 00:17:45,728 say Crisis Part 1 is like the Groundhog Day or memento of superhero films in that regard, 187 00:17:46,128 --> 00:17:51,493 but the story borrows most heavily from The Time Traveler's Wife, a book that's been adapted 188 00:17:51,533 --> 00:17:56,934 to both a film and television series if you're not familiar with it. Yeah, as a narrative 189 00:17:56,974 --> 00:18:01,818 device, the time jumping thing got a little bit grating after a while because it was kind 190 00:18:01,838 --> 00:18:06,122 of hard to tell the overall structure of the film. Like it didn't have like a clear three 191 00:18:06,282 --> 00:18:11,847 act breakdown. And that can sometimes be a frustrating experience as a viewer. It did actually have 192 00:18:11,887 --> 00:18:17,171 three acts. Well, that was not easy for me to tell. Well, apparently you're stupid then. 193 00:18:17,732 --> 00:18:23,603 I don't know what else to say. I'll be honest, when I first got done watching this film, I 194 00:18:23,643 --> 00:18:27,766 couldn't tell you if it was good or not. I knew that it was interesting, and I do think that 195 00:18:27,806 --> 00:18:33,389 it sets up tremendous potential for the overall trilogy of films. I get the impression that 196 00:18:33,429 --> 00:18:38,151 when all is said and done, the story is going to be massive and epic in a way that puts even 197 00:18:38,191 --> 00:18:42,674 Apocalypse War to shame. But I just think we haven't gotten there yet. There was a lot of 198 00:18:42,734 --> 00:18:47,096 like missing context to a lot of what we were watching, and it sometimes felt confusing in 199 00:18:47,136 --> 00:18:52,987 that regard. But I will admit. that your comparisons to stories like Memento and The Time Traveler's 200 00:18:53,027 --> 00:18:58,749 Wife have me a little bit more intrigued. Yeah, honestly, Crisis Part 1 is going to be a film 201 00:18:58,769 --> 00:19:05,171 that you either love or you hate, kind of like films like Groundhog Day. I think everyone 202 00:19:05,211 --> 00:19:10,353 loves The Time Traveler's Wife. It's a love story, so it may be outside the interest of 203 00:19:10,393 --> 00:19:15,155 our podcast's audience demographics. But if you're not familiar with it, the time traveler's 204 00:19:15,195 --> 00:19:21,321 wife follows a man cursed with a time traveling condition that causes him to live his life 205 00:19:21,601 --> 00:19:28,747 out of linear time. Like he experiences events in his life in a nonlinear random order, while 206 00:19:28,767 --> 00:19:33,691 the woman he loves struggles to live life with someone with this condition. In Crisis Part 207 00:19:33,931 --> 00:19:39,942 1, about three quarters of the way through the film, The Flash absorbs the entire speed force 208 00:19:40,082 --> 00:19:45,264 of a universe that was just destroyed by an antimatter wave traveling through the multiverse, 209 00:19:45,564 --> 00:19:52,166 which causes him to experience time non-linearly, and we as an audience are along for the ride. 210 00:19:52,566 --> 00:19:59,228 The film constantly jumps, or time trips, throughout its story, and it's not until a decent ways 211 00:19:59,268 --> 00:20:05,523 into the film that we begin to grasp what's going on. Story-wise, the film jumps back in 212 00:20:05,583 --> 00:20:10,826 time to tell the story of how the Justice League first formed. A story we didn't get the chance 213 00:20:10,866 --> 00:20:16,549 to see in earlier Tomorrowverse films, which is something fans had complained about, including 214 00:20:16,589 --> 00:20:21,211 myself. Oh yeah, I remember we brought that up as a criticism of the Tomorrowverse during 215 00:20:21,251 --> 00:20:26,414 the Beware My Power review. Yes. Because the League was already formed by that movie, but 216 00:20:26,554 --> 00:20:32,097 the only reference we got to the League prior to that was in Justice Society World War II. 217 00:20:32,746 --> 00:20:35,348 where they're like, oh, maybe we should form a team or something like that. And then all 218 00:20:35,368 --> 00:20:39,851 of a sudden we see it fully formed without any kind of glimpse into how or why these characters 219 00:20:39,891 --> 00:20:45,075 got together. I was surprised when I saw that this was, in fact, a Justice League origin 220 00:20:45,215 --> 00:20:49,899 story. Yeah, that was a huge surprise to me as well. The formation of the Justice League 221 00:20:49,919 --> 00:20:55,723 has never been particularly profound, in my opinion. Basically, a group of heroes get together 222 00:20:55,923 --> 00:21:01,703 to battle a major threat like Starro or Darkseid. But in this film, the team's formation is a 223 00:21:01,843 --> 00:21:09,108 ruse to draw out a life-stealing android named Amazo, whose own story is more existential 224 00:21:09,168 --> 00:21:15,532 and emotional than it needed to be. Like, it did not need to go that hard. As we learn that 225 00:21:15,572 --> 00:21:21,515 story, we also visit the Earth-3 universe ruled by an evil version of the Justice League, known 226 00:21:21,555 --> 00:21:27,423 as the Crime Syndicate, and witness that universe's destruction. which sets up the stakes for the 227 00:21:27,463 --> 00:21:34,408 film's central and final threat. That the multiverse is being destroyed, universe by universe, and 228 00:21:34,508 --> 00:21:39,852 it being outside of space and time, the monitor has brought heroes from across the multiverse 229 00:21:39,952 --> 00:21:45,136 to save it. The true heart of the film, though, comes from the story between Barry and his 230 00:21:45,176 --> 00:21:50,440 wife, Iris, as we see them meet for the first time shortly after Barry received his powers, 231 00:21:50,941 --> 00:21:56,223 and eventually get married, despite Barry's inability to experience his life linearly. 232 00:21:56,763 --> 00:22:02,266 In one moment, he's at his wedding, the next he's on Earth 3, the next he and Iris are old. 233 00:22:02,626 --> 00:22:09,248 The dedication and love that Barry and Iris have to each other despite their crazy lives 234 00:22:09,709 --> 00:22:15,551 makes Crisis Part 1 arguably one of the most romantic superhero projects that I've ever 235 00:22:15,611 --> 00:22:19,573 seen. Yeah, at first part of me was like, out of all the people the Flash could have gotten 236 00:22:19,593 --> 00:22:25,820 to help him build these towers, Why did he go with someone that's not super powered or like 237 00:22:25,900 --> 00:22:30,542 a super genius or something like that? So the decision was entirely made out of the desire 238 00:22:30,562 --> 00:22:35,785 to spend the rest of his life with this woman He loves and uh, you know, I could appreciate 239 00:22:35,805 --> 00:22:41,388 that too. Definitely made for a touching twist on the narrative at the end Absolutely, like 240 00:22:41,629 --> 00:22:46,191 it just made me want to go like hug my wife You know, hey cool it with the romance man 241 00:22:46,431 --> 00:22:52,783 This podcast has a limit on the number of lovey-dovey things that can be said Alright, there's just 242 00:22:53,263 --> 00:22:58,627 so much that I love about this film, but I can also see where a lot of people would maybe 243 00:22:58,667 --> 00:23:03,611 be turned off by its haphazard time-jumping, like you mentioned. It's not exactly the best 244 00:23:03,711 --> 00:23:09,815 plot structure to explain an event as complicated in itself as the destruction of the multiverse, 245 00:23:10,376 --> 00:23:15,559 so there are multiple barriers to entry for audiences on top of the barrier that exists 246 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:21,331 naturally in a cinematic universe. Basically, if you don't watch everything that came before, 247 00:23:21,691 --> 00:23:26,894 there's a chance you'll be missing important information needed to truly understand or appreciate 248 00:23:26,934 --> 00:23:31,637 the current story that you're watching. Marvel runs into that sometimes. Yeah, more often 249 00:23:31,657 --> 00:23:36,000 than not, the longer your cinematic universe goes, the more of a chilling effect audiences 250 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:40,822 are going to have going into it. Exactly. And the only other gripe that I have about the 251 00:23:40,862 --> 00:23:46,654 film is the animation. Again, the character designs are great for the most part. Although 252 00:23:46,714 --> 00:23:51,435 actually there were a few I was really unhappy with in this film. But the animation leaves 253 00:23:51,475 --> 00:23:56,856 a lot to be desired. Like there are some scenes that felt like old school super friends cartoons, 254 00:23:56,976 --> 00:24:02,498 where the entire frame is still except for characters' mouths moving. Yeah, the tomorrowverse is largely 255 00:24:02,538 --> 00:24:07,119 computer animated and sometimes it can be done to great effect like in the Batman the Long 256 00:24:07,139 --> 00:24:12,621 Halloween films. This was nothing like that. Like, sometimes these characters would not 257 00:24:12,681 --> 00:24:17,163 blink and they were just staring. like not even making direct eye contact with who they were 258 00:24:17,183 --> 00:24:22,167 talking to, and they look like soulless abominations. But I just think it's probably an issue of 259 00:24:22,247 --> 00:24:27,452 timing with the animators. They probably didn't have enough time to actually add all the subtle 260 00:24:27,512 --> 00:24:32,976 quirks and eye movements and things like that when producing this film. Maybe, yeah, maybe 261 00:24:33,036 --> 00:24:38,200 for certain characters over others, that's probably true. Now the film is nowhere near as dynamic 262 00:24:38,260 --> 00:24:44,285 as it needs to be. But at least for me personally, the story made up for a lot of the film's drawbacks. 263 00:24:44,870 --> 00:24:50,833 Though the film features a large cast of DC characters, it focuses solely on the experiences 264 00:24:51,013 --> 00:24:56,597 of one. So there's not many characters to really dive into for our character breakdown, but 265 00:24:56,617 --> 00:25:02,841 let's start with The Flash. Now The Flash, aka Barry Allen, was voiced by Matt Bomer. Now 266 00:25:02,881 --> 00:25:08,344 Matt isn't just a fantastic voice actor, but a great actor in his own right. And as such, 267 00:25:08,504 --> 00:25:13,676 he is fantastic at capturing emotion. I have to give major credit to the filmmakers for 268 00:25:13,716 --> 00:25:18,980 making the decision to get an actor as talented as Matt Bomer to successfully kick off this 269 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:25,466 three film conclusion to a cinematic universe. The end of a story should be bittersweet, and 270 00:25:25,546 --> 00:25:30,951 Matt Bomer definitely helped make The Flash's ending bittersweet and heartfelt. Yeah, I mean, 271 00:25:31,231 --> 00:25:37,137 we saw him portray the character of the Negative Man largely in voice alone for the Doom Patrol 272 00:25:37,157 --> 00:25:42,460 television series. It does amaze me how different his voice acting is here for the character 273 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:47,643 of Barry Allen. The guy is super talented. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, his negative man was so like 274 00:25:47,743 --> 00:25:54,387 melancholic, whereas his Barry is much more bright. Now for a film in which so many things 275 00:25:54,447 --> 00:26:00,371 happen, the character of Barry Allen is relatively static. And that's in part because everything 276 00:26:00,411 --> 00:26:06,427 he experiences, whether it be the first time he met his wife or his wedding, He's experiencing 277 00:26:06,507 --> 00:26:11,611 as someone who already knows what's going to happen because he's been to the future. What 278 00:26:11,631 --> 00:26:16,575 makes him interesting in this film is when he is put in situations that we don't yet know 279 00:26:16,675 --> 00:26:21,379 how he's going to get out of it. Whether it's going up against a mezzo or escaping Earth 280 00:26:21,479 --> 00:26:28,264 3 or preventing the destruction of his universe. In the comics, the Flash sacrificed his life 281 00:26:28,344 --> 00:26:34,448 to help save the multiverse. And while he does the same in this film, it's incredibly touching 282 00:26:34,569 --> 00:26:39,792 that they still found a way for him to live out an entire lifetime with his wife Iris happily 283 00:26:39,972 --> 00:26:47,097 and with no regrets. And the fact that his last moments existing in time in his universe was 284 00:26:47,197 --> 00:26:53,222 at his wedding reception celebrating with the rest of Earth's heroes is like the greatest 285 00:26:53,302 --> 00:26:59,838 of honors. It literally brought tears to my eyes and I can think of no ending greater for 286 00:26:59,858 --> 00:27:05,599 a hero as important to the comics as The Flash. Yeah, the narrative approach that he took with 287 00:27:05,619 --> 00:27:10,641 The Flash does make me question some things, particularly when we've seen the character 288 00:27:10,681 --> 00:27:16,483 in previous movies such as Justice Society World War II, where we know that he still experienced 289 00:27:16,523 --> 00:27:21,004 time linearly throughout the course of that entire adventure, the time traveling notwithstanding. 290 00:27:21,184 --> 00:27:26,805 Yeah, that's a good question. Like at what point in his life did he start time tripping? And 291 00:27:26,885 --> 00:27:31,099 it- seems like it really kicks in around the time of the formation of the Justice League. 292 00:27:31,499 --> 00:27:35,620 Though honestly, parts of it go back to even before that to, you know, when he first gets 293 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:40,802 his powers. Exactly. So that's a little bit strange. I do think that they could have effectively 294 00:27:40,842 --> 00:27:46,263 told the same story with about 25% less time jumping because at some point I got really 295 00:27:46,323 --> 00:27:50,665 sick and tired of seeing that graphic of the Speed Force tunnel thing. I'm like, oh my God, 296 00:27:50,685 --> 00:27:57,092 just stop. Just little touches, like what you mentioned about him spending some of his last 297 00:27:57,152 --> 00:28:02,115 moments dancing with his wife at his wedding. That's just poetry. So there's a lot of kind 298 00:28:02,135 --> 00:28:06,377 of like back and forth, the things that I really like and things that I don't really care for. 299 00:28:06,577 --> 00:28:11,080 But overall, as a concept, I really appreciate where they were trying to go with it. Yeah, 300 00:28:11,260 --> 00:28:16,363 it's ambitious for sure. Now the only other character I have anything to dive into with 301 00:28:16,903 --> 00:28:22,930 is Amazo. He was voiced by Nolan North, who also did the voice. for John Constantine and 302 00:28:22,970 --> 00:28:28,992 Hal Jordan in this movie. He's a voice actor and a damn good one. No, Amazo was created 303 00:28:29,032 --> 00:28:36,455 by Dr. Anthony Ivo for the sole purpose of extending human life. Ivo was a scientist for LexCorp 304 00:28:36,635 --> 00:28:43,846 and when Lex purposefully gave Ivo Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome, causing him to age rapidly. Ivo created 305 00:28:43,886 --> 00:28:50,308 Imezo with the ability to absorb, store, and redirect energy in order to restore vitality 306 00:28:50,348 --> 00:28:56,551 to the dying and the sick. Lex, however, corrupted Imezo's programming so that he was capable 307 00:28:56,591 --> 00:29:02,673 of absorbing and using metahuman energy, granting him the powers of Superman and the Flash, among 308 00:29:02,814 --> 00:29:08,856 others. Imezo's always been a considerable threat for the Justice League, so I thought having 309 00:29:08,896 --> 00:29:14,498 him be the catalyst for the formation of the League was a good choice. But the heroes initially 310 00:29:14,598 --> 00:29:20,160 formed the Justice League during a public address as a way to draw out a mezzo to them, though 311 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:26,063 it also brought Lex Luthor in an awfully designed mech suit. Yeah, that was horrible looking. 312 00:29:27,083 --> 00:29:32,045 It was cool to see Lex continue his journey from the Man of Tomorrow movie, but it was 313 00:29:32,085 --> 00:29:37,448 also a little bit convoluted considering he had this scientist who he gave this really 314 00:29:37,508 --> 00:29:42,698 rare disease to and he probably could have just given him cancer or something like that. and 315 00:29:42,738 --> 00:29:48,219 he had him build a benevolent android who really struggled with Lex's commands. You would think 316 00:29:48,239 --> 00:29:51,380 that Lex could almost just build this thing himself. I don't know. It was a little bit 317 00:29:51,420 --> 00:29:55,181 strange there, but it was cool to see Zachary Quinto in the role again. Yeah, he's great 318 00:29:55,221 --> 00:30:01,563 as Lex. I think it was implied that Ivo was a prodigy and that the creation of an AI as 319 00:30:01,663 --> 00:30:08,865 evolved as Amazo was, was outside of Lex's abilities. But that's just a guess. Yeah, this was a much 320 00:30:08,925 --> 00:30:13,080 different- version of a Mazer than the one that we saw in Batman under the Red Hood, right? 321 00:30:13,540 --> 00:30:18,103 Yes. Yeah, very much so. Because in that movie, Batman was able to defeat the Mazer with some 322 00:30:18,163 --> 00:30:25,348 explosives, if I recall correctly. Which is bullcrap. But yeah, I loved how they used parasite 323 00:30:25,468 --> 00:30:30,772 alien technology to give a Mazer his like absorbing powers. I thought that was smart. That makes 324 00:30:30,792 --> 00:30:37,376 sense. Yeah, that tighted well. I do have to wonder, though, as well, like Lex's mech suit 325 00:30:37,657 --> 00:30:44,251 almost looks like a metallo. Like, if they were selling that as a prototype for maybe a later 326 00:30:44,371 --> 00:30:48,532 version of Botelo, I could totally buy that. That's really the only reasoning I'll accept 327 00:30:48,572 --> 00:30:53,894 for why his suit looked so damn bad. Now when The Flash realizes that Amazo's been corrupted 328 00:30:53,954 --> 00:31:01,416 by Lex and he brings Dr. Ivo to him, Amazo attempts to heal Ivo using the metahuman energy that 329 00:31:01,456 --> 00:31:09,031 he had absorbed. When that ended up killing the frail Ivo instead, the subtle acting quote-unquote 330 00:31:09,051 --> 00:31:15,615 by Amazo was incredible. Like the android was so profoundly shocked by betraying the very 331 00:31:15,715 --> 00:31:21,339 reason for his existence and accidentally killing his creator, he could barely complete a sentence. 332 00:31:21,359 --> 00:31:27,804 It just broke him. The fact that Amazo was brought back online by the Flash to help him and Iris 333 00:31:27,824 --> 00:31:34,088 complete the frequency tower and save the multiverse at the end, allowing Amazo to fulfill his programming 334 00:31:34,148 --> 00:31:40,721 before being destroyed, also cut me super deep to my core. Like for a character to go from 335 00:31:40,781 --> 00:31:47,726 the deepest valley of regret to the utmost peak of fulfillment in his last moment was surprisingly 336 00:31:47,886 --> 00:31:53,918 more cathartic than I thought it'd be. And this is just part one. Yeah, as the story was going 337 00:31:54,018 --> 00:31:59,740 on, I wasn't quite sure why they felt the need to include Amazo in this particular story, 338 00:31:59,900 --> 00:32:06,862 because I wasn't sure it made sense thematically with the idea of the multiverse ending. By 339 00:32:06,902 --> 00:32:11,603 the end it was clear that they included Amazo because they wanted to tell the story of him 340 00:32:11,724 --> 00:32:17,125 fulfilling his programming. I'm not entirely sure it was necessary though. Why did they 341 00:32:17,165 --> 00:32:22,661 need Amazo? who I wasn't even aware was filled in on the frequency tower schematics or anything 342 00:32:22,701 --> 00:32:26,243 like that or what he had to do with that. Like, Iris and Flash could have built that tower 343 00:32:26,263 --> 00:32:31,267 themselves. Probably, it probably would have taken them a lot longer to do it without Amazo, 344 00:32:31,307 --> 00:32:37,351 considering they're not engineers and Amazo is a super intelligent AI. You could argue 345 00:32:37,391 --> 00:32:41,874 that he wasn't necessary to the story, but I actually really like that they were able to 346 00:32:41,954 --> 00:32:47,795 introduce him again as the threat that resulted in the formation of the League. but also coming 347 00:32:47,835 --> 00:32:52,983 full circle to have him be the one that helps save humanity at the end of the movie. It's 348 00:32:53,023 --> 00:32:57,289 just good writing. And with that said, let's move on to our story highlights. 349 00:33:04,494 --> 00:33:08,977 The film begins with Barry Allen, the Flash, running through the time stream, observing 350 00:33:09,017 --> 00:33:14,202 himself on the night he got his powers in a lab accident and met his future wife, Iris 351 00:33:14,262 --> 00:33:19,887 West. Barry time trips farther along the time stream to when he and Superman first encountered 352 00:33:20,007 --> 00:33:26,573 the energy-stealing android villain, Amazo, created by Dr. Anthony Ivo for LexCorp. When 353 00:33:26,633 --> 00:33:32,326 Flash and Superman become too weak to face Amazo, Green Arrow comes to their rescue. and he and 354 00:33:32,366 --> 00:33:37,731 Flash take Superman to the home of Bruce Wayne on Halloween night to recover. Now remember 355 00:33:37,771 --> 00:33:42,035 when we were talking about the post credits scene of Batman the Long Halloween Part 2 and 356 00:33:42,075 --> 00:33:46,119 we were like, what? Flash and Green Arrow? What does that mean? That was a horrible ending. 357 00:33:46,499 --> 00:33:51,944 Well now we see how that scene came about. Barry time trips to when he and Iris meet a destitute 358 00:33:51,964 --> 00:33:57,822 John Constantine who is responsible for some of Flash's time trips. Barry then travels to 359 00:33:57,842 --> 00:34:03,764 when he first meets Dick Grayson and encourages Bruce Wayne to foster him. We then jump back 360 00:34:03,804 --> 00:34:08,926 in time to when Superman is recovering in the Batcave before Flash, Superman, Batman, and 361 00:34:08,966 --> 00:34:14,648 Green Arrow decide to form a team to face a mezzo that includes Vixen and Martian Manhunter. 362 00:34:14,808 --> 00:34:19,891 When they try to recruit the Green Lantern Hale Jordan, Hale rejects the team and Constantine 363 00:34:19,911 --> 00:34:25,313 appears again telling the Flash that he must bear witness before sending him to the parallel 364 00:34:25,453 --> 00:34:30,247 universe of Earth 3. Hal Jordan was kind of a dick throughout the entire tomorrow verse, 365 00:34:30,467 --> 00:34:36,430 right? Even in the Green Lantern Beware My Power movie, he became Parallax and was evil and 366 00:34:36,490 --> 00:34:41,152 shit, you know? And here he was just like, I'm already part of a team, screw you guys. It 367 00:34:41,172 --> 00:34:46,514 was nice to see Jon Stewart get his due as a character though, within this universe. I like 368 00:34:46,534 --> 00:34:51,597 that the focus was on him as the resident Green Lantern. Yeah, I'm sure a lot of fans also 369 00:34:51,657 --> 00:34:57,179 liked at the very end of the film. during Barry and Iris' wedding when Jon Stewart and Hawke 370 00:34:57,219 --> 00:35:01,561 Girl ended up dancing together. Because that of course goes back to the Bruce Tim verse, 371 00:35:01,701 --> 00:35:06,043 or whatever that's called. That's called the DCAU, which incorporates Batman the Animated 372 00:35:06,083 --> 00:35:11,325 Series, Superman the Animated Series, and Justice League. And Justice League Unlimited. Now after 373 00:35:11,385 --> 00:35:16,907 encountering Johnny Quick and the Crime Syndicate, Flash realizes that he's in a new universe 374 00:35:17,187 --> 00:35:22,489 before getting pummeled by its evil doppelganger version of the Justice League, the Crime Syndicate. 375 00:35:22,978 --> 00:35:28,019 Flash trips back to his universe when he and his allies announce the Justice League team 376 00:35:28,059 --> 00:35:33,420 to the world, just before they're attacked by Amazo and Lex Luthor, the latter of whom is 377 00:35:33,460 --> 00:35:39,242 wearing a mech suit. During the battle, Amazo uses the speed he's absorbed from the Flash 378 00:35:39,542 --> 00:35:44,643 to have a conversation with the speedster with time at a near standstill, explaining that 379 00:35:44,663 --> 00:35:49,945 he was programmed to extend human life, but that Lex Luthor had corrupted his programming. 380 00:35:52,886 --> 00:35:58,487 but accidentally time trips back to Earth 3 instead. While on Earth 3, Flash discovers 381 00:35:58,527 --> 00:36:03,148 that it's ruled by evil counterparts to the heroes of his world, and the Crime Syndicate 382 00:36:03,188 --> 00:36:08,810 learns of the potential for other Earths and parallel universes that they can conquer. Flash 383 00:36:08,930 --> 00:36:13,911 also learns that sharing the Speed Force with the evil Speedster Johnny Quick prevents him 384 00:36:13,951 --> 00:36:20,113 from gaining enough speed to return to his universe. However, the decrepit Constantine appears and 385 00:36:20,173 --> 00:36:25,616 warns the Syndicate, that their universe is about to be destroyed. Flash time trips back 386 00:36:25,656 --> 00:36:30,560 to his universe on the day of his wedding when he warns Iris that something major is going 387 00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:36,224 to happen but also promises that no matter what they will grow old together. Time tripping 388 00:36:36,364 --> 00:36:42,589 back to the past, the Flash finds Dr. Ivo at LexCorp learning that Ivo created a mezzo using 389 00:36:42,729 --> 00:36:47,852 alien technology with the intention of curing Kiss Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome which caused 390 00:36:47,992 --> 00:36:53,853 Ivo to age rapidly. As the Flash races Ivo back to the Justice League's battle with the Meizou, 391 00:36:54,333 --> 00:37:00,197 Flash time trips back to his time on Earth 3. At this point in the story, I'm wondering what 392 00:37:00,237 --> 00:37:05,081 the point of everything is, because it's just the nature of the narrative device of time 393 00:37:05,121 --> 00:37:09,985 skipping. It's really hard to make heads or tails of not just what's going on, but why 394 00:37:10,025 --> 00:37:14,155 things are happening. You know, it's easy to assume in films like these that it's all going 395 00:37:14,175 --> 00:37:18,518 to come together at the end, like the movie Memento. But it definitely feels like the movie 396 00:37:18,558 --> 00:37:23,401 starts to drag at some points because you don't quite know where it's going. Actually, when 397 00:37:23,481 --> 00:37:29,104 I was watching this film for the first time, the whole movie felt very quick to me. Like 398 00:37:29,184 --> 00:37:33,227 everything was happening at such a rapid pace that by the time the movie was over, I was 399 00:37:33,267 --> 00:37:38,129 like, really? That was 90 minutes? But yeah, it was. I had the opposite experience. Really? 400 00:37:38,710 --> 00:37:41,992 Yeah, but halfway through the movie, I was like, shouldn't this thing be over by now? And then 401 00:37:42,052 --> 00:37:47,616 I checked the time code and realized it was only halfway done. Geez. It's strange that 402 00:37:47,676 --> 00:37:52,319 we experience time differently while watching this movie. Honestly, I don't think you could 403 00:37:52,359 --> 00:37:57,422 think this movie was slow. Like, I can get like being confused by what's going on, because 404 00:37:57,582 --> 00:38:02,125 there certainly was a time towards the beginning of the film where I didn't realize what was 405 00:38:02,145 --> 00:38:06,909 going on either. But I caught on pretty quick and it was, you know, just enjoying the ride. 406 00:38:07,169 --> 00:38:12,743 Maybe that's the difference. I enjoy rides. You don't apparently. Yeah, you get motion 407 00:38:12,763 --> 00:38:20,026 sick. There you go. Now on Earth 3, Flash watches as the crime syndicate proves to be incapable 408 00:38:20,067 --> 00:38:26,569 of managing the turmoil caused by violent storms across the planet. When Flash asks how Constantine 409 00:38:26,609 --> 00:38:31,591 is appearing in different universes, Constantine explains that he and Flash are guilty of a 410 00:38:31,652 --> 00:38:36,514 heinous act. We time trip back in time to the Justice League's battle with the Mezzo. and 411 00:38:36,554 --> 00:38:42,836 the League members fall one by one. With Amazo and Lex nearly victorious, Flash arrives with 412 00:38:43,036 --> 00:38:49,840 Ivo, who asks Amazo to use the metahuman energy he absorbed to cure him. Amazo's attempt to 413 00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:56,623 do so fails, and Ivo dies. With his primary objective made obsolete, the shocked Amazo 414 00:38:56,683 --> 00:39:02,805 deduces that Lex is the one who inflicted Ivo with the disease. Amazo destroys Lex's mech 415 00:39:02,865 --> 00:39:08,878 suit. though Flash stops Amazo before he can kill his former ally. Once Lex is apprehended 416 00:39:08,958 --> 00:39:14,462 by the authorities, it's revealed that the formation of the Justice League was a ruse to draw out 417 00:39:14,542 --> 00:39:20,307 Amazo, but the heroes decide to make the League a reality after all. Am I the only one that 418 00:39:20,367 --> 00:39:25,291 thought that Batman maybe had a point in his approach? You know, clear all the innocent 419 00:39:25,311 --> 00:39:30,859 civilians out, but then just bomb the hell out of Lex Luthor. Everybody was like, no, you 420 00:39:30,879 --> 00:39:36,783 can't do it. You can't bomb the city. But it's like this guy's super powerful. You clearly 421 00:39:36,823 --> 00:39:42,807 can't let a mezzo steal Superman's powers because that's worse than a bomb. So I don't know why 422 00:39:43,027 --> 00:39:47,510 they were getting all up. Batman's asked for. Well, I mean, Flash ultimately proved that 423 00:39:47,530 --> 00:39:52,013 he had a better solution. Yeah. But like, I don't know, the other heroes were just annoying 424 00:39:52,053 --> 00:39:57,897 me. You're on the wrong side of history there. Literally. Yeah. Time tripping ahead in the 425 00:39:57,957 --> 00:40:03,212 timeline. We see an older Barry and Iris wake up to celebrate the anniversary of the first 426 00:40:03,232 --> 00:40:09,135 day they met, before we trip back to the day of their wedding, which is interrupted by Harbinger, 427 00:40:09,455 --> 00:40:14,718 who is recruiting heroes for the Monitor to save the multiverse. On the Monitor's ship 428 00:40:14,818 --> 00:40:20,302 outside of space-time, heroes from across the multiverse and time begin appearing, including 429 00:40:20,442 --> 00:40:27,405 Wonder Woman, Robin, Huntress, Dr. Light, and Psycho Pirates, among others. Harbinger reveals, 430 00:40:27,638 --> 00:40:32,880 that she is actually Supergirl to the future hero Dawnstar of the Legion of Superheroes. 431 00:40:33,380 --> 00:40:38,742 The Monitor arrives and reveals to the heroes that a wave of antimatter is ripping through 432 00:40:38,762 --> 00:40:43,585 the multiverse, destroying entire universes, and that they have been brought together to 433 00:40:43,645 --> 00:40:49,867 stop it. Barry time trips to the future when an elderly version of himself and Iris continue 434 00:40:49,887 --> 00:40:56,026 to work on a mysterious project. Before Barry trips again to Earth 3, where he witnesses 435 00:40:56,046 --> 00:41:02,209 the antimatter wave begin to erase that universe. Tripping back to the monitor ship, the flash 436 00:41:02,249 --> 00:41:07,011 reveals that the monitor is telling the truth and that the threat of the antimatter wave 437 00:41:07,151 --> 00:41:11,653 is real. Did you get the feeling when Harbinger showed up in the movie that finally they're 438 00:41:11,673 --> 00:41:16,395 getting to the story of Crisis on Infinite Earths? Like, it seemed a little bit late within the 439 00:41:16,455 --> 00:41:22,178 runtime to start introducing those elements, right? Honestly, I wasn't sure how- the formation 440 00:41:22,218 --> 00:41:29,180 of the League was going to tie into the crisis. So I actually wasn't thinking that. As I mentioned 441 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:33,882 earlier, there are like three distinct sort of conflicts going on throughout the course 442 00:41:33,902 --> 00:41:40,024 of this movie. One is a mezzo, one is the crime syndicate, and one is the antimatter wave. 443 00:41:40,444 --> 00:41:45,365 It's true that the antimatter wave storyline doesn't really begin until halfway through 444 00:41:45,385 --> 00:41:50,663 the film. But again, everything was just moving so fast that it didn't feel like the halfway 445 00:41:50,703 --> 00:41:54,365 point to me. This is the first part of a trilogy. It's not like they were going to go through 446 00:41:54,405 --> 00:41:59,447 the entire crisis storyline just in this movie. I figured it was going to be delayed. I figured 447 00:41:59,487 --> 00:42:06,930 there was going to be some setup. Well, fine. As Earth 3 is entirely destroyed by the wave, 448 00:42:07,271 --> 00:42:12,653 the death of Johnny Quick allows Flash to gain enough speed force to return to his universe. 449 00:42:13,213 --> 00:42:19,433 In the future, It's revealed that Amazo is helping the elderly Barry and Iris on their project. 450 00:42:19,994 --> 00:42:25,838 On the monitor ship, the heroes decide to split into two teams. One to determine a solution 451 00:42:26,078 --> 00:42:31,281 and one to build it. During their brainstorm session, Flash reveals that absorbing the entirety 452 00:42:31,321 --> 00:42:37,246 of the speed force of the Earth 3 universe upon its demise knocked him out of his linear time 453 00:42:37,286 --> 00:42:43,822 experience. When the heroes learn that the Flash is able to traverse the multiverse, by vibrating 454 00:42:43,962 --> 00:42:50,165 into different planes of existence, they determine that colossal tuning fork towers built on their 455 00:42:50,305 --> 00:42:56,627 earths could vibrate their universes to a state of intangibility when the wave strikes. As 456 00:42:56,647 --> 00:43:03,210 the heroes begin building the towers, it's revealed that the elderly Barry, Iris, and Amazo are 457 00:43:03,250 --> 00:43:08,112 working on building one of those towers. Now the reason they have to do that is because 458 00:43:08,292 --> 00:43:13,354 the flash needs to slow down time due to the wave moving quicker. which was not foreseen 459 00:43:13,574 --> 00:43:18,798 by the heroes when they were building the towers. But the story never reveals why the wave moved 460 00:43:18,858 --> 00:43:23,500 quicker all of a sudden. I'm assuming that they're going to touch on that in later films. Yes, 461 00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:30,404 I got the implication that this whole thing is a product of the monitor based on his conversation 462 00:43:30,424 --> 00:43:34,687 with the specter that we'll talk about later on. But I could be wrong. There still could 463 00:43:34,727 --> 00:43:40,378 be an anti-monitor. Who was the villain of the crisis story in the comics? Yes, exactly. As 464 00:43:40,418 --> 00:43:45,361 the heroes build, they're shocked to discover the wave has arrived ahead of schedule. The 465 00:43:45,401 --> 00:43:51,644 Flash encounters Constantine, who tells him to run to Iris. With Iris in his arms, the 466 00:43:51,685 --> 00:43:57,588 Flash imbues her with enough speed force energy that the two are able to move with time essentially 467 00:43:57,648 --> 00:44:03,151 at a standstill, allowing them to complete the construction of the tower over the span of 468 00:44:03,231 --> 00:44:10,568 relative decades. As the anti-manager wave slowly approaches, The elderly Iris dies from old 469 00:44:10,768 --> 00:44:16,553 age, just as they finish work on the tower. As the elderly Barry charges up the tower by 470 00:44:16,613 --> 00:44:23,198 running on a power generating turbine, the heroes experiencing time normally watch as the tower 471 00:44:23,278 --> 00:44:30,144 is constructed at rapid speed before them just as the wave hits. Though the tower is destroyed 472 00:44:30,224 --> 00:44:35,689 as the wave passes over, the tower's frequency was successfully transmitted throughout the 473 00:44:35,729 --> 00:44:42,115 multiverse. saving countless Earths. Infinite Earths? Maybe not infinite, but a whole hell 474 00:44:42,155 --> 00:44:48,037 of a lot. I'm calling bullshit on the marketing. Ha ha ha. The Spectre meets with the Monitor, 475 00:44:48,137 --> 00:44:53,578 who has determined that his experiment was a success, though he was doubtful it would be. 476 00:44:53,999 --> 00:44:59,960 The Spectre then visits the elderly Barry and reveals that a mezzo now destroyed knew he 477 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:05,710 had succeeded in his mission to extend human life in his last moment. The specter also reveals 478 00:45:05,770 --> 00:45:11,413 that though he is an agent of God's wrath, Barry has atoned for his responsibility in helping 479 00:45:11,573 --> 00:45:18,236 cause the events that had transpired. As the Speed Force absorbs Barry into it, in his final 480 00:45:18,276 --> 00:45:24,078 moments he's able to warn his younger self the day of his accident and Bruce Wayne and Warlord 481 00:45:24,179 --> 00:45:30,201 that they must go back to before the beginning. We see that on the day of Barry's and Iris's 482 00:45:30,261 --> 00:45:35,535 wedding, Harbinger brought all of the heroes of this world to celebrate together with them 483 00:45:35,935 --> 00:45:41,437 before embarking on the monitor's mission to save the multiverse. In the final scene, as 484 00:45:41,477 --> 00:45:46,338 the heroes celebrate on the monitor's ship, we see that their actions have affected the 485 00:45:46,398 --> 00:45:52,400 timeline and characters from the future such as Don Star and Brainiac 5 begin to disappear. 486 00:45:52,860 --> 00:45:57,301 And that's why it's interesting that Batman Beyond is in the trailer for the next film. 487 00:45:57,810 --> 00:46:01,933 I didn't make the connection that it was just characters from the future that were blipping, 488 00:46:02,434 --> 00:46:05,957 and it looked like they were being blipped. I thought it was just like random characters. 489 00:46:06,037 --> 00:46:11,522 Oh really? You probably were like, what an Infinity War ripoff. Right. But I guess it was made 490 00:46:11,622 --> 00:46:17,019 clear by what Brainiac 5 told Supergirl at the very end. I thought it was a very strange ending 491 00:46:17,079 --> 00:46:20,501 though. Considering that the main character for the whole film was the Flash, we didn't 492 00:46:20,621 --> 00:46:24,783 end with the Flash. The story seemed to kick over to Supergirl at that point, which makes 493 00:46:24,823 --> 00:46:30,287 me feel like this scene is also going to be the beginning to part 2. We did end with the 494 00:46:30,307 --> 00:46:35,029 Flash though. He died. He merged with the Speed Force. No, the very last shot of this movie 495 00:46:35,510 --> 00:46:39,632 was Brainiac 5 disappearing. Right, I know, but that's just set up for the next film. You 496 00:46:39,652 --> 00:46:42,934 were saying that you were surprised it didn't end with the Flash. And I'm saying, what the 497 00:46:43,014 --> 00:46:48,157 fuck, of course they would set up the next movie, it's a fucking trilogy. But they didn't need 498 00:46:48,197 --> 00:46:52,339 to. These final moments seem to stem more out of their need to set up a cliffhanger than 499 00:46:52,399 --> 00:46:56,801 anything else. It just didn't feel as satisfying an ending as if they had just chose to end 500 00:46:56,862 --> 00:47:02,445 with The Flash. It's part one of a fucking trilogy, it doesn't need to be satisfying. It should 501 00:47:02,785 --> 00:47:07,827 set up the next film, it should make you eager for the continued storyline. I don't think 502 00:47:07,847 --> 00:47:12,578 they needed to end it with just The Flash. I'm actually pretty intrigued. by how they ended 503 00:47:12,618 --> 00:47:18,443 it because it continues the conflict, right? There's more story to be told. What threw me 504 00:47:18,543 --> 00:47:24,608 at the end of this, actually, was the whole Bruce Wayne on Skartaris scene, because I was 505 00:47:24,648 --> 00:47:32,254 under the impression that was just a hallucination induced by War World. And I'm wondering if 506 00:47:32,274 --> 00:47:38,019 they're implying that, actually, that was a real universe. That wouldn't make sense, because 507 00:47:38,159 --> 00:47:45,208 War World doesn't have time travel. portal capabilities. No, it did. Actually, they said in the Warworld 508 00:47:45,248 --> 00:47:50,691 film that Mongol had been scouring the multiverse on Warworld. So, you're saying that Wonder 509 00:47:50,731 --> 00:47:55,894 Woman actually went to the Wild West and Superman actually went to the 1950s. I mean, I think 510 00:47:55,934 --> 00:48:03,098 that's what this implies. No, I don't think so. Okay, I mean, why not? Why not? I guess 511 00:48:03,118 --> 00:48:08,481 we'll find out in future films. Again, we have no idea when they're coming, but I'm looking 512 00:48:08,501 --> 00:48:14,392 forward to them. because this film was really good in my opinion. Its unconventional narrative 513 00:48:14,432 --> 00:48:20,474 structure ultimately pays off as its emotional ending sets up the promise of a fascinating 514 00:48:20,514 --> 00:48:25,676 conclusion to this animated universe. The film wasn't perfect and I know it's going to put 515 00:48:25,776 --> 00:48:34,280 off a lot of people, so I'm giving it 3.5 out of 5 stars. A fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 516 00:48:34,340 --> 00:48:39,318 And actually to your credit Joseph, you had to talk me down from giving it 4 stars. It's 517 00:48:39,358 --> 00:48:43,521 definitely not a four star film. It's going to be divisive. I think it raises a lot of 518 00:48:43,561 --> 00:48:48,285 questions while you're watching it and can be frustrating, which is not a great movie going 519 00:48:48,346 --> 00:48:53,610 experience. I think what it tried to do is better in concept than what it did in practice. As 520 00:48:53,630 --> 00:48:59,695 can be said for the rest of the Tomorrowverse. Oh, for sure. Yeah, I think at least each concept 521 00:48:59,715 --> 00:49:03,999 that each movie set up in the Tomorrowverse had potential. And honestly, the best thing 522 00:49:04,019 --> 00:49:09,558 that you can say about Crisis Part One is that the potential stories that it has set up for 523 00:49:09,598 --> 00:49:14,720 parts two and part three look to be epic as hell. And I really hope that the tomorrow verse 524 00:49:14,760 --> 00:49:19,741 is able to stick this landing and end in a great way. Yeah, I hope they will. You know, honestly, 525 00:49:19,781 --> 00:49:25,763 if they take more bold swings like what they did here, I'm all for it, honestly. And I just 526 00:49:25,783 --> 00:49:31,005 have to appreciate the ambition it took to do something like crisis part one, because not 527 00:49:31,105 --> 00:49:36,899 only did it tell a really good story. unconventional as it was. They also showed a little bit of 528 00:49:36,919 --> 00:49:41,702 genius when it came to how they're adapting this crisis story. But that does it for this 529 00:49:41,742 --> 00:49:46,825 review. Let us know what you thought about the movie by writing to us at dynamicduelpodcast 530 00:49:47,085 --> 00:49:53,328 at gmail.com or by visiting us on Instagram, which you can find a link to in our show notes 531 00:49:53,488 --> 00:49:58,191 or by visiting our website dynamicduel.com. And on our site, you could also find a link 532 00:49:58,211 --> 00:50:02,233 to our Patreon page where you can join our dynamic two O tier and chat with us and fellow listeners. 533 00:50:02,646 --> 00:50:06,929 our Fantastic Four tier, which gets you bonus content each month, our X-Force tier that makes 534 00:50:06,949 --> 00:50:11,653 you an executive producer of this podcast, or our newest tier that lets you join our Dynamike 535 00:50:11,713 --> 00:50:17,598 Podcast Network. Please don't forget to rate the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser, 536 00:50:18,018 --> 00:50:22,903 or on our website. Our next episode is going to be another review. We're going to discuss 537 00:50:22,963 --> 00:50:29,748 season one of the Disney Plus Marvel television series Echo. Also a divisive series, but you'll 538 00:50:29,768 --> 00:50:33,643 get our thoughts on it next week. But that does it for this episode, we want to give a big 539 00:50:33,663 --> 00:50:38,968 thanks to our executive producers Ken Johnson, John Storosky, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Balcom, 540 00:50:39,208 --> 00:50:44,812 Miggy Mathengian, Brandon Estregard, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Yeaton, Nick Abonto, Austin Wiselowski, 541 00:50:45,053 --> 00:50:51,218 AJ Dunkerley, Scott Camacho, Adam Spies, Andrew Shunk, and Dean Mielewski for helping make 542 00:50:51,258 --> 00:50:56,622 this podcast possible. And we'll talk to you guys next week. Up up and away, true believers. 543 00:50:57,202 --> 00:50:59,484 More like Crisis of Infinite Girth, Amorite.