Awesome / The Flash (2023)

• Barry's run to Gotham City is a visual feast from the very first minutes of the movie. When the camera pans to his foot, he raises his heel, stretching the entire world forward like a slingshot being pulled back. He then sprints so fast that the entire world is nothing but a blur to him. The camera captures this entire experience, making us feel like we're running alongside him. And all this is set to The Cult's "Bad Fun"!
• Ben Affleck's Batsuit finally has the much anticipated comic-accurate blue cape and cowl, and it is beautiful. His chase scene is also amazing, since he stops the many obstacles that Falcone's crew keep creating, thanks to his Batcycle. To list:
  • He uses a metal battering ram on the front to smash through two cars acting as a wall.
  • Shoots an extendable spike strip to divert Falcone's vehicle away from schoolkids crossing the road
  • Raises metal plates on the Batcycle to block gunfire and uses machine guns on the Batcycle to return fire.
  • Unflinchingly drives past a police car falling from the air
  • Leaps through an entire petrol truck explosion to shoot a grappling hook into Falcone's vehicle and skid across a freeway, making it into Falcone's vehicle despite hitting other vehicles and being scraped onto the road several times.
  • And to top off all that, when Falcone tries to make a run for it, Batman casually throws a Batarang behind him that arches like a boomerang and knocks Falcone out.
• The opening as Barry sees a hospital collapsing and babies, along with a nurse, falling out. What follows is a gloriously done sequence of Barry racing up the building, pausing to break into a vending machine and binge on snacks to up his energy. Then, as everything is in slow motion, Barry proceeds to pull off a glorious sequence protecting each child (a toilet bowl blocking acid, one in an empty microwave to protect from fire, knocking away another from knives) while managing to set up a sofa bed to catch every one of them and the nurse, all in what, to everyone else is about three seconds.
• Michael Keaton's return as Batman is glorious.
  • When introduced, Keaton looks to the side and mutters, "Yeah," as if he knows full well what he's about to say will sound corny... only for him to look dead on at the camera without a trace of irony to finish the line: "...I'm Batman."
  • His fight against the Siberian prison soldiers proves that this Batman is no slouch, despite being an Old Superhero. The speed at which he throws his Batarangs, swings his grappling hook and delivers barrages of kicks, blocks and punches is fast.
• When Batman and the Flash are cornered by guards, he simply says they should try not to die. Cue Kara Zor-El, now recharged by the sun's energy, coming to the team's rescue.
• Barry creating a "cyclonic diversion" by spinning in super-speed to generate a vortex which he holds his palm and letting it loose on the ground.
• Keaton's Batman vs. the Kryptonian mook. After the Kryptonian staggers out of his crashed Batwing, Batman swoops into the Kryptonian, using his dexterity and grenades in repeated succession to evade and to continue staggering him. Even if Batman was only capable of holding him for seconds and he's stomped soon after, the fact that he's capable of doing that and making a defiant stand one last time speaks volumes of Batman's peak human conditioning.
• During Kara's fight against Zod, Alternate Barry runs around Zod repeatedly to create a sandstorm that distracts him long enough for Kara to sock him in the face several times. And how does Zod counter this? He closes his eyes, concentrates until time slows down for him and then counters Kara's next punch by slamming her to the ground with both fists. And he times this correctly, because she crashes into Alternate Barry, taking both of his opponents out!
• Barry himself struggled just to stay alive against a resurrected Superman, but here he easily incapacitates numerous Kryptonian soldiers, demonstrating how advanced his mastery of his abilities has become.
• The final confrontation between the two Barrys and the mysterious evil speedster, Dark Flash, who is revealed to be a much older version of 2013 Barry.
• Barry figuring out a way to at least save his father from life in prison without disrupting the whole fabric of spacetime: By using his final minute in the past to re-arrange the grocery shelves so that his dad has to look up towards the security camera and allowing the future Waynetech repair of the security tape prove his father couldn't have killed his mom.
• Michael Keaton's Bruce Wayne mentions in passing that Gotham is now one of the safest cities in the world. Meaning that in this universe, Batman achieved his goal of helping to create a city where few, if any, people lose their loved ones to violence.

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