The Flash (1990 TV pilot movie)

I hadn't seen this since watching it on VHS as a standalone movie. It holds up pretty well, due in no small part to John Wesley Shipp's likeability as Barry Allen. He might not be a dead ringer for comics Barry, but he's credible as both superhero and general day-to-day good guy. Michael Nader (he would have made a great Batman; the look, voice, everything) on the other hand hams it up for all he's worth as main baddie Nicholas Pike, whilst Amanda Pays is solid as Star Labs techie Christina McGee, Paula Marshall makes a good (and extremely hot!) Iris West, and the always great Tim Thomerson is watchable as ever as Barry's older brother, Jay.

Tonally, The Flash is often compared to Tim Burton's Batman '89 (I half expected to see the Bat-signal in the opening shot of Central City); certainly, scenes at the jailhouse shootout reminded me of the Axis Chemicals firefight (including the police's first glimpse of the hero), and some later "You made me!" dialogue sounded familiar, all reinforced by Danny Elfman's main theme, and incidental music by Shirley Walker (a collaborator of Elfman's on Batman '89, and who would go on to score Batman: The Animated Series two years later). But watching it now I can also see a connection between some scenes (the villain's lair) and the Batman '66 show (as well as Joel Schumacher's subsequent Batman Forever). Some of the VFX understandably look crude by today's standards - but not all of them. And the suit still impresses (again, very Batman '89 influenced). At times the 'TV budget' is painfully obvious, but you can't really hold that against it.

I know Shipp reprised the role in recent years in the Arrowverse, but I would love to see a quick scene of Shipp's Flash, face-to-face with Keaton's Batman in the new Flash movie. Guess that's too much to hope for! 7/10