Film Preview: The Flash (2023)

Film Poster

Page Revisions:

(April 30, 2023) Original
(May 28, 2023) New Trailer (#2) — New Posters (#8-#15)
(June 11, 2023) New Posters (#16-#17)

Release Date:

June 16, 2023

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “Barry Allen uses his super speed to change the past, but his attempt to save his family creates a world without super heroes, forcing him to race for his life in order to save the future.”

Poster Rating: C+ / C+ / C (3) / C / C+ / C (3) / B- (4) / B- / B- / C

SEE ALL POSTERS BELOW
Review: (#1) Once again, DC is trying to capture the essence of the well received series of Disney posters for Asian markets, but without succeeding in creating something compelling or visually striking. (#2) The looming bat symbol is a nice thematic touch, but there’s a lot of empty spacing here that sets the figure in a location, but doesn’t set a feeling of excitement. (#3-#5) These three character posters have some variance, but they also feel like someone spent too little time crafting them and the end result is something rather tepid. (#6) If the upper half of the design were more interesting with details and flash, then the bottom portion wouldn’t look so vacant. The empty space just emphasizes that. (#7) Less wasted space in this design, but there’s also a genuine lack of details, which should make the viewer question how much faith the studio has in the film.

(#8-#10) This trio of character posters has too much empty space, though they at least try to do something less common to the trend of character designs. (#11-#14) While the poster designs for the various viewing and sound formats are often duller than normal designs, this grouping is solidly constructed and unique. That said, once again, the IMAX effort is the weakest. (#15) An interesting array of visual details here, none of them particularly identifiable, but at least visually striking.

(#16) The duality of the poster is a bit lost on the viewer. While it matches the two Flashes, that’s not a compelling mechanic. With the Bat vehicles as well, something feels a bit off. Everything’s a little too balanced on each side. (#17) A lackluster vertical effort that ha a lot of motion elements, but feels unnecessarily staid.

Trailer Rating: C+ / C

SEE ALL TRAILERS BELOW
Review: (#1) It’s rather surprising that a trailer for this film is releasing so late in the process of building hype for the film. The end result is less than spectacular. While it does promise a return of the Keaton Batman (as well as the Affleck), it doesn’t do anything to tell the viewer why this would be more than an exciting trifle. That might be ok for some, but it could very well signal the end of the DCEU (had James Gunn not already vowed to rebuild it).

(#2) The plot is revealed and it feels very familiar, especially when the television version has already taken a similar plot line and deployed it. Those who haven’t seen that show might be a little more enthused, especially seeing Michael Keaton back, but the effort just doesn’t feel worth it.