Alright so though I enjoyed The Flash I think that there are definitely issues with the
movie as a whole.
Though I think that the second act works really really well, where things start to fall apart
is towards the films end.
Watching the battle against Zod should feel like it's a big moment but something about
it just seems to fall flat.
Michael Shannon has since come out and said that he didn't find the film that fullfilling
and I feel like this is something that we can feel as we watch the film too.
Now upon thinking about it I actually realised that Zods very similar to Thanos in Endgame,
but I think the latter works well whereas this one doesn't,
Throughout this video I'm gonna be going through all the similarities that the pair share story
wise and saying why one worked whilst the other one didn't.
I don't wanna rag on the movie cos that's been done quite a lot and this is more of
a comparison to show the pros and cons.
Full spoilers ahead so if you haven't checked it out then I highly recommend that you check
out now.
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With that out the way, huge thank you I'm your host Paul, now let's dive into it.
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Now as I touched upon before both actually share a lot of similarities and when I talk
about how the two final acts work I think you'll see them too.
Both films centre around people travelling back in time and this allows an old threat
to become a brand new one.
Both villains don't interact with the heroes until that final act and both at one point
beat the heroes that they're facing.
The heroes then have to do something crazy in order to beat the villain and two legacy
characters die as things are closing out.
Batman dies in The Flash whereas it's Tony out in Endgame and this is used to add some
emotion to the film.
Now Thanos in endgame works whereas I don't feel like Zod does and when we get into it
you'll hopefully see why that's the case.
Now the first criticism I have is that Zod doesnt really up the stakes and instead when
he comes back they simply stay the same.
In Endgame we watched as the heroes going back in time gave Thanos the new knowledge
that his prior plan had failed.
Thus when he came back to the future he'd up the stakes even more and was now going
to wipe out all earth entirely.
He'd destroyed the time machine, had planted his daughter in the group and also had the
potential to get the stones back.
On the opposite side of this Zods missions still the same and all he wants to do is terraform
the planet.
This is something that we've already seen in Man Of Steel and thus the threat theyre
facing feels like it's slightly lessened.
In the case of Thanos you feel the instant regret the heroes do cos in trying to save
the world they've created something worse.
Had they left things alone then things wouldn't be on the knifes edge like this whereas with
zod its something that we've already seen fail.
Now we don't know that it's a fixable point on a first watch but going into that battle
because of this makes it feel like its less threatening.
Now in The Flash what they do is reveal that he's killed Cal-El and thus the odds are slightly
against the heroes due to him no longer being there.
However Super girl has all the same powerset and there's two versions of the Flash running
around there as well.
Thus we don't really feel the danger that we should whereas with Thanos you get more
of the threat.
Having not experienced this before we don't know what to expect whereas the Man Of Steel
battles ten years old now.
Now the next plot point they share is that they both beat the heroes and at this point
the heroes have to step it up a notch.
Now in Endgame we get the big portal scene where everyone comes together and this is
probably one of the strongest scenes in the MCU.
It shows the heroes coming together as one united front and facing down against the biggest
villain that they've ever faced.
It really feels like a triumphant moment as these are people we watched die and thus them
coming back hits us on several levels for several different reasons.
Not only are we happy to see them back but we're excited to see whats next and they pay
it off with the Avengers assemble line.
Now what happens in the Flash is barry goes back in time and he tries to kill Zod by turning
back the clock.
Now this is slightly lessened as it takes away the stakes cos we start to feel like
Barry can just repeat this till he wins.
Now obviously in the movie we learn that this isn't the case and that Zods victory is seen
as a fixed point.
A version of Barry goes back until it destroys him as a person and thus he loses himself
in trying to change things in the past.
Now in these scenes we get the death of a beloved character which comes in the form
of Bruce and Tony Stark.
We watch Keaton die twice which I feel robs us of the emotion because we're watching something
happen that we know can just be changed.
Plus we have the weird emotion of Barry just saying 'No' and his sacrifice means nothing
the two times that he does it.
On the second one the giant Kryptonian is knocked down but he gets back up so again
it leads nowhere.
On the otherside of this Tony actually kills the bad guy and takes out all his forces which
costs the guy his life.
The sacrifice feels more impactful because it actually means something and thus this
final act has weight to it whereas The Flash doesn't.
Now beyond this there's also two ways that the scenes go which leaves one feeling meaningful
whereas the others not.
In Endgame we watch Thanos being defeated whereas in The Flash we don't.
His deaths never shown on screen, we never get a final fight and in the end he's simply
erased by the timeline changing.
It robs us of that pay off we should get in the third act and we never get that fist pump
moment when we see that he's brought down.
Now in Flashpoint they did something with a third act villain that took the opposite
approach and this allowed us to cheer and get the same pay off.
So in Flashpoint things descended into war that just like the movie was going to destroy
the planet.
When all hope seemed lost we learned what was going on and why the world itself had
ended up this way.
Now for better or worse Flashpoint didn't tell us Barry had travelled back in time and
instead he just woke up to find that the world had changed.
The mystery of the entire thing was what had made it alter and clues of the Reverse Flash
were seen throughout the work.
This made us think that it was him who'd changed thing and he showed up at the end to reveal
the actual truth.
Very much like a third act villain he kinda came out of nowhere and told Barry that he
was the one who'd actually changed the timeline.
Now The Flash lets us know from the off that it's Barry who altered things so this reval
that comes at the end can't be given how it is.
I don't think that the mystery would've worked all that well in general anyway cos we've
now had it in that and the tv show as well.
However what happens next is something that was missing from The Flash and The Reverse
Flash is shot in the head from behind by Batman.
It saves Barrys life and makes you feel like he's finally made it whereas we don't get
the moment happening with Zod.
Now I know that some of you probably think if he'd done that then they'd not need to
travel back back but even in defeating him the world still started ending.
The real moment that had broke everything was Barry saving his mother and thus either
way he had to go and change this back to normal.
They couldve still done this in the flash and had that being the breaking point whereas
instead it's something that doesn't feel that personal.
I think that having Zod die off screen does a real disservice and I have the same problem
with how Ben Afflecks taken too.
These characters don't really feel like they get any finality they're just wiped out with
Barry changing things in time.
Now like I said I like the flash but I think a couple of changes couldve made that final
act way much more impactful.
Like I said I gave the film a good review but comparing it to how Endgame handles it's
returning villain it fails in comparison.
Sure the focus is given to Barry more than the bad guy but just a couple of tweaks couldve
made Zod feel bigger as a threat.
Instead we have most of the complaints about that and even Michael Shannon saying he didn't
enjoy it.
So in summary yeah, if youre ever writing a movie and want to make it so your surprise
legacy villain here's what you need to do.
Firstly up the stakes so that they're the villain feels like even more dangerous that
what's come before.
Have them beat the heroes like both these characters do.
Been slagging em off but I like the flash did that and it takes us to the next step.
Next have the heroes have to step it up but keep the fight connected.
People are see the villain be defeated and thats where things should remain.
If youre sacrificing legacy characters then have them beat the villain so their death
feels meaningful instead of having it wiped to the sides by it not going anywhere.
Give us a moment in which the threats taken out and if you have to go beyond that at least
let us feel a victory.
Otherwise you might end up with a film that feels like it's a bit of a downer where good
people die for nothing and we get stuck with a George Clooney Batman.
I'm just kidding yeah, I liked it, I genuinely did I just think a couple of tweaks could've
made these moments go from good to great and give us a better film beyond what we got.
Anyway let us know your thoughts below and if you preferred the way they handled Zod
I'd love to hear that too.
Remember it's all comic book movies and we talk about this stuff cos we're passionate
and not cos we hate it.
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With that out the way, huge thank you for sitting through the video, I've been your
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