The Official Flash Thread - Part 2

[Kokomo29]

I honestly wonder what effect GL's reviews will have on the probability of a FLASH movie getting made. I mean, the movie could have horrible reviews but make a TON of cash (i.e. Spider-Man 3). I bet it would just make WB more cautious on their next superhero venture - which would most likely be THE FLASH.

 

[Airwings]

Of course the cash is more important than the reviews. Cash is king and the future of DC will be based on how successful GL is. Regarding the reviews; they will try to make the upcoming films better. But that's just a bonus, the films will still be made.

And I agree very much. Warner should not by any means go safe when picking directors. The films needs to be more and more unique for every year.
I'm not saying they should take Dario Argento or Lars von Trier, that would be too strange. But some could be interesting: Wes Craven, George A Romero (very unlikely, I admit - but still), Coen Bros, Jean Pierre Jeunet etc

 

[Octoberist]

How about Charlie Day as Barry?

 

[HighFivingMF]

I don't know. He's such a tiny guy. I could be down with the possibility of Rob or Glenn though.

 

[Octoberist]

I feel like if green Lantern isn't what should have been, DC needs to learn from it and move on.

I have a feeling that if we do get a Flash or Wonder Woman film, they will be full of quality. It just sucks that Green Lantern had to be the causalty if that's the case.

 

[Timstuff]

The weird thing is, Green Lantern would have been better if they'd taken the source material more seriously and did it as an epic Space Opera rather than a traditional SH flick, while Flash won't work unless they play up some of the campiness of it and poke fun at some of the tropes it invokes.

Looking at Flash's villains, most of them are at least a little outrageous in terms of their costumes and powers. That's probably part of why Wally was so great as the modern-day Flash, because he was capable of mocking and drawing attention to the goofiness of some of the stuff that happens in the pages of Flash comics. He's a funny superhero, and I have long contended that he is indeed the DC universe's equivalent of Spider-Man.

I would hope that if they do another Green Lantern movie they try to feature the sci-fi aspect of it more prominently and take the story a bit more seriously, and that if they do a Flash movie they let it be what it is-- a fun Superhero movie that isn't afraid to poke fun at genre conventions. It would be a sad day if they took Green Lantern and turned it into a movie series that can't take itself seriously, and then made a Flash series where Barry Allen is his usual boring plank self and it tries so hard to be serious that it sucks the fun out of the source material.

Also, I have no idea how much Green Lantern cost to make-- I've heard figures anywhere from $150 million to ones as outlandish as $300 million. There is no way Flash would need a budget of 200 million or more unless they were SERIOUSLY overproducing it. As has been stated, super speed is not an expensive effect to achieve on film, and a good Flash movie could be done on a budget of around 100 million. If Weather Wizard is the main villain then you will need a budget for some good disaster effects which would probably place the budget closer to 150 million, but even that is not too big for a summer blockbuster by today's standards.

Flash does not have to be the next "The Dark Knight." Greg Berlanti's treatment was described as "Silence of the Lambs meets The Matrix," and that bothered me immensely. I'm not sure if DCE will be keeping Berlanti around after the heavy criticisms the script for Green Lantern has gotten, and at any rate, I am worried that he has the tone of Green Lantern and Flash backwards. Green Lantern should be serious, and Flash should be funny, and yet from the sounds of it we are headed towards getting it the other way around. I someone at WB got excited about him before thy really had a good sense of what he was going to bring to their comic adaptations, and I don't think it was a smart idea to attach him to Flash before seeing what kind of reactions Green Lantern gets.

 

[Blader5489]

The weird thing is, Green Lantern would have been better if they'd taken the source material more seriously and did it as an epic Space Opera rather than a traditional SH flick, while Flash won't work unless they play up some of the campiness of it and poke fun at some of the tropes it invokes.

Looking at Flash's villains, most of them are at least a little outrageous in terms of their costumes and powers. That's probably part of why Wally was so great as the modern-day Flash, because he was capable of mocking and drawing attention to the goofiness of some of the stuff that happens in the pages of Flash comics. He's a funny superhero, and I have long contended that he is indeed the DC universe's equivalent of Spider-Man.

I would hope that if they do another Green Lantern movie they try to feature the sci-fi aspect of it more prominently and take the story a bit more seriously, and that if they do a Flash movie they let it be what it is-- a fun Superhero movie that isn't afraid to poke fun at genre conventions. It would be a sad day if they took Green Lantern and turned it into a movie series that can't take itself seriously, and then made a Flash series where Barry Allen is his usual boring plank self and it tries so hard to be serious that it sucks the fun out of the source material.

Also, I have no idea how much Green Lantern cost to make-- I've heard figures anywhere from $150 million to ones as outlandish as $300 million. There is no way Flash would need a budget of 200 million or more unless they were SERIOUSLY overproducing it. As has been stated, super speed is not an expensive effect to achieve on film, and a good Flash movie could be done on a budget of around 100 million. If Weather Wizard is the main villain then you will need a budget for some good disaster effects which would probably place the budget closer to 150 million, but even that is not too big for a summer blockbuster by today's standards.

Flash does not have to be the next "The Dark Knight." Greg Berlanti's treatment was described as "Silence of the Lambs meets The Matrix," and that bothered me immensely. I'm not sure if DCE will be keeping Berlanti around after the heavy criticisms the script for Green Lantern has gotten, and at any rate, I am worried that he has the tone of Green Lantern and Flash backwards. Green Lantern should be serious, and Flash should be funny, and yet from the sounds of it we are headed towards getting it the other way around. I someone at WB got excited about him before thy really had a good sense of what he was going to bring to their comic adaptations, and I don't think it was a smart idea to attach him to Flash before seeing what kind of reactions Green Lantern gets.

Well if GL bombs, the silver lining would be in that WB would likely not go along with Berlanti's Flash treatment.

Of course, it could also probably mean they wouldn't do a Flash movie, period.

 

[Timstuff]

Even if GL doesn't bomb (which I truly hope it doesn't), I would hope that DCE and Warner Bros. would take the hint from GL's reviews that Berlanti isn't their guy. Surviving bad reviews is what happens when you get lucky. Green Lantern may have such a massive marketing blitzkrieg and enough appeal to the mainstream to avoid getting sunk by critics, but Warner Bros. cannot count on being so lucky next time, whether it's with Green Lantern 2 or Flash. Sooner or later they will need better writing in these movies, and if the reviews for GL weren't enough for them to get that hint that they need better writers, then they'd be charging head-first towards a high-profile flop next time.

Look at Paramount with G.I. Joe-- they had the option of upping the ante with the sequel in terms of who is behind the camera, but instead Paramount decided that they were content with mediocrity and actually downgraded. I don't think anyone is expecting GI Joe 2 to be a success at this point from either a critical or economical rubric, and the G.I. Joe franchise is pretty much going to be cinematically dead by the time the sulfur clears the air from GI Joe 2. Warner Bros. should be aiming a lot higher than to follow Paramount's example on how to follow up a critically unpopular but financially successful movie.

 

[The Morningstar]

Well GI Joe has better writers this time. Didn't Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick do it's script?

 

[Airwings]

Timstuff: Green Lantern should be serious, The Flash should be serious, all DC Comics superheroes should be serious. The thing with this kind of heroes is that they should all be treated as grander-scale characters. They all have a campiness about them, and we have to get rid of that campiness when we translate them to the big screen, and we do that by making them larger than life, making them over-the-top.
I wonder if also Green Arrow should have a little element of this to him. He hasn't got any powers, I know, but they could make it overblown and fantastical in other ways.

The point is that when we get a Flash movie, it should be a breathtaking experience for the audience. The Flash should take the superhero genre to another level, as should the rest of the DC Comics heroes.

 

[Timstuff]

Well GI Joe has better writers this time. Didn't Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick do it's script?

They turned in a script several months ago, but who knows whether or not Paramount has revised it by now or not. Most of the first film's characters are not returning, and I am not sure if this was the original plan for the sequel or if it was decided after Paramount decided they were going in a thriftier direction with the movie (just look at who they installed as the director), and they wanted a smaller, cheaper cast. Whatever the case, GI Joe 2 looks like a trainwreck, and even people who supported and enjoyed the first movie (like me) are now condemning it across the internets. It does not matter whether or not the script is good at this point, because Paramount isn't taking the project even slightly seriously anymore.

Green Lantern's sequel could potentially have the opposite problem if Berlanti is kept on the bus-- competent direction and a good budget, but weak writing. If Warner Bros. manages to come out on top with the first GL in spite of the writing problems they will be lucky, but it would be stupid if they gave the sequel to the exact same writer, and THEN gave him the responsibility to bring another iconic DC character to the big screen. This guy has done nothing to earn the amount of responsibility Warner Bros. has been giving him, and not re-considering that is a great way to derail their efforts to bring DC's comics to the movies.

 

[MadVillainy]

Flash should be fun. Like Star Trek in tone

 

[Eddie Dean]

What about Aaron Paul as Barry?

 

[Timstuff]

Timstuff: Green Lantern should be serious, The Flash should be serious, all DC Comics superheroes should be serious. The thing with this kind of heroes is that they should all be treated as grander-scale characters. They all have a campiness about them, and we have to get rid of that campiness when we translate them to the big screen, and we do that by making them larger than life, making them over-the-top.
I wonder if also Green Arrow should have a little element of this to him. He hasn't got any powers, I know, but they could make it overblown and fantastical in other ways.

The point is that when we get a Flash movie, it should be a breathtaking experience for the audience. The Flash should take the superhero genre to another level, as should the rest of the DC Comics heroes.

That's the Geoff Johns school of thought, and it does work on every character. Fans have been quite torn on his treatment of the Flash franchise, not only because he brought back Barry and shoved Wally off the stage but also because using Barry ties in with his notion of "All DC superheros must be serious" attitude. Barry is a boring plank of a character, where as Wally is a fun, hip character who brought a lot of needed energy and personality to the Flash franchise. There is no way someone called "Captain Boomerang" is going to be taken as seriously as Two-Face, which is why you need a superhero who can poke a bit of fun like that. It was the same thing with Spider-Man-- he's a superhero with fairly outrageous villains, and it works because you've got a main character who can hang a lampshade on that fact.

There's not really any getting around that Flash is not as "serious" as the rest of DC's big 5 (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Flash). He wears a red costume and fights guys with names like "Weather Wizard" and "Captain Cold," and treating Flash like a serious epic is not going to make people take it more seriously. The movie's best bet is to have a good sense of humor-- not to the point of becoming self-parody, but it has to at least acknowledge that there are some inherently camp qualities about the kinds of villains Flash usually fights.

 

[Octoberist]

Flash should be fun. Like Star Trek in tone

exactly

 

[solidsnake86]

It will be interesting to see what happens next, in all fairness to berlanti, guggenhiem and green, the draft they handed in was different and had some scenes that weren't present in GL. It curious as to who is going to take the hit for GL. If its them though I think we can assume that flash will not be moving forward anytime soon since they wrote the script for that already, which means 2013 may be a long shot for this film.

 

[Airwings]

But The Flash won't be fun and light. It will be a serious crime story from what I have heard. And that's how the movie Flash will be, just accept it. It's a difference between comics and films, and the tone for a live action Flash is serious.

Now I wonder if it's a comic book you wanna see, or if it's an actual movie adaption of the hero. In the latter case, it will be serious.
And don't give me that "campy names on villains". I mean, The Joker just comes off as a very funny name, but what about The Dark Knight? It was mostly gritty. The name itself doesn't set the tone, it's the actual movie that does. Captain Cold, Boomerang, Trickster, Gorilla Grodd, Weather Wizard etc can all be handled seriously.

 

[terry78]

They will try to make this their Spider-Man, as they tried to make GL their Iron Man.

 

[JAK®]

The Flash is not a dark character. He is a fun character. People should stop being ashamed of these characters the way they are.

"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

 

[Lord Valumart]

How about Charlie Day as Barry?

Me and a friend the other week decided to cast the charcters from It's Always Sunny as the Justice League and we got Charlie as Flash. Also got Dennis as Batman, Mac as Superman, Dee and Wonder Woman and Frank as Aquaman.

We thought it was funny...

 

[HighFivingMF]

Me and a friend the other week decided to cast the charcters from It's Always Sunny as the Justice League and we got Charlie as Flash. Also got Dennis as Batman, Mac as Superman, Dee and Wonder Woman and Frank as Aquaman.

We thought it was funny...

You stole that from the Always Sunny Fantastic Four Fancast in my sig. I demand the royalties, or at least an order of fries.

I noticed people said ditch the writers of the Green Lantern script. But people loved the original script for Green Lantern, so I think it was the studio that altered it. Now, I thought the movie was amazing, but I don't think Berlanti & Co. should be blamed.

 

[Airwings]

The Flash is not a dark character. He is a fun character. People should stop being ashamed of these characters the way they are.

Once again, that's how The Flash is in the comic books. Live action is different, but people just don't get it.

I remember when the first teaser from Green Lantern was released. It was too light with the jokes and everything. I said Green Lantern should be a more serious character, almost everybody disagreed with me. "Green Lantern is fun", they said. "He should be like Iron Man".

And now we have Timstuff going like this:

I am worried that he has the tone of Green Lantern and Flash backwards. Green Lantern should be serious, and Flash should be funny, and yet from the sounds of it we are headed towards getting it the other way around.

It's time for people to make their mind about what they actually want. Should the DC heroes be lots on fun with bright colourful heroes who cracks jokes everytime the heat turns up? Or should they be put in situations where they need to be 100% serious and use all of their abilities just to save the day? None of them should come out with any smile on their lips afterwards, but be exhausted or shaken because of the effort they had to put into it.

 

[Lord Valumart]

You stole that from the Always Sunny Fantastic Four Fancast in my sig. I demand the royalties, or at least an order of fries.

I stole nothing. I can't even remember the sig you speak of...

Once again, that's how The Flash is in the comic books. Live action is different, but people just don't get it.

I remember when the first teaser from Green lantern was released. It was too light with the jokes and everything. I said Green Lantern should be a more serious character, almost everybody disagreed with me. "Green Lantern is fun", they said. "He should be like Iron Man".

There's no way the the Flash could have a deadly serious film without being laughed at. You NEED to make the Flash have those little knowingly self mocking moments so that they laugh with it, not at it.

 

[Airwings]

There's no way the the Flash could have a deadly serious film without being laughed at. You NEED to make the Flash have those little knowingly self mocking moments so that they laugh with it, not at it.

Only if these moments are just a few and doesn't set the tone for the whole film. I believe they will succeed with making Flash as "deadly serious" as the character allows. Not Nolan Batman, but not Tim Story's Fantastic Four either.
I think these two are the opposite of each other.

If Batman is 1 and FF is 5, then Flash should be between 2 and 3.

 

[Lord Valumart]

Only if these moments are just a few and doesn't set the tone for the whole film. I believe they will succeed with making Flash as "deadly serious" as the character allows. Not Nolan Batman, but not Tim Story's Fantastic Four either.
I think these two are the opposite of each other.

If Batman is 1 and FF is 5, then Flash should be between 2 and 3.

They should play up the crime lab part of Barry. That way you have it grounded and real and it'll, hopefully, allow for the fantastical and goofy aspects of Flash to be ballence out.

I'd also they skip the orgin story with Flash and just go right into him in operation.