At this point, it’s like clockwork that a new superhero movie will be criticized for its CGI. The Flash is no different, with the latest DCU adventure getting a pasting online – especially for an early scene in which one of the best DC characters has to rescue babies falling from the upper levels of a crumbling building.
As with many meme-worthy CGI moments from new movies in the superhero world, the scene has got a battering ever since The Flash release date, with viewers on Twitter describing the baby scene as “traumatizing”, “outrageous”, and “scary”. It was even compared to the infamous CGI baby in Twilight.
Andy Muschietti, director of The Flash, was asked specifically about the baby scene and told io9 that the uncanny valley feeling you got was entirely intentional.
“The idea, of course, is we are in the perspective of the Flash. Everything is distorted in terms of lights and textures. We enter this ‘waterworld’ which is basically being in Barry’s POV. It was part of the design, so if it looks a little weird to you, that was intended.”
It’s certainly true that there’s plenty of reality-bending and time travel in The Flash, which comes with CGI spectacle. And, for the most part, it looks decent. We’ve certainly seen considerably worse CGI in MCU movies and other uber-pricey blockbusters in recent years.
We enjoyed The Flash on the whole, as we explained in our The Flash review, even if early reports calling it one of the best superhero movies of all time were definitely overblown. There are even suggestions that The Flash 2 release date could be on the way.
As for the baby scene, it’s so over-cranked and unhinged that it actually emerges as one of the more absurdly enjoyable set pieces in the whole movie. They saved the truly terrible CGI for some of the surprise cameos.
For more on The Flash, find out how to watch The Flash and take a look at our guides to Dark Flash, Reverse Flash, and everyone who dies in The Flash. We also ate The Flash’s sandwich, so you don’t have to.
You can also look ahead to the best movies coming to the DC world with our guides to the Aquaman 2 release date, the Superman Legacy release date, and The Batman 2 release date. Meanwhile, you can read about five things we want to see from James Gunn’s new DCU.