The Watchmen Paradox

son_of_cheese_messiah

score 5/10

In some ways the Flashpoint Paradox is the exact opposite of that other JL film, The New Frontier. While TNF is light and optimistic (and more in keeping with the comic's origins, I would say) TFP is as dark as dark can be.

I greatly prefer TNF, which I have watched several times with enjoyment. TFP I have seen once, and though I found much of it impressive, I would not care to see it again.

The basic premise is fantastic. The Flash goes back in time to save his mother and in so doing sets in motion a chain of events which will have dire consequences. Much of the detail is intriguing. I particularly liked that it is Bruce Wayne who is killed by the mugger and that his father Thomas becomes Batman. Ingenious.

This is The Justice League influenced by Watchmen. The Thomas Wayne Batman is a MUCH darker version of that character, who uses a gun and is very much prepared to kill in cold blood. But as far as the "heroes" go, he's as good as it gets. Superman is literally an imbecile while Aquaman and Wonder Woman are two conscienceless murderers locked in an internecine war.

This is where I take issue with TFP, I cannot believe there are any circumstances in which Aquaman and Wonder Woman could become as evil as this, worse than most of the villains they have ever faced. No explanation for such a startling change in character is given, it is "just so", a consequence of Flash's tinkering with time, which has somehow caused ripples to spread out.

This is quite different to say the classic story of the JL TV series "A Better World" where the Justice League is turned into a controlling police force. There, the reason for such a change is given (once again The Flash is responsible) and the transformation is not so startling as to be unbelievable. The JL is still good, but has taken its role as law enforcers to the nth degree. But there are lines (such as murder) they will not cross. Here the heroes have become spiteful murderous brats.

No doubt some people will think that showing once great heroes as homicidal sadistic is in some way profound. But its not. To be so radically different, one would have to have had wildly different (and much more cruel) experiences in childhood, and a different underlying temperament. In other words, be entirely different characters, not the Aquaman and Wonder Woman we all know and love.

Would it not have been better to have Ocean Master and Aresia be the ones locked in war? It would seem more in keeping with their characters.

Overall the quality of the art is spectacularly high but the levels of sadistic violence are maintained to the end.

son_of_cheese_messiah 31 May 2014

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3025927/