Earlier today, the review embargo for The Flash finally lifted and the response from critics hasn't been what many of you might have expected.
Between glowing social media reactions and endorsements from James Gunn and Tom Cruise, you'd be forgiven for expecting this to be the best DC Comics movie since The Dark Knight. Well, the Rotten Tomatoes score is in and it suggests otherwise.
While by no means a disaster, the blockbuster Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav called "the best superhero movie I've ever seen" has hit the review aggregator with a respectable, if somewhat underwhelming, 72% score. Only 58 reviews have been counted as of now, so expect that number to change in the days ahead (The Flash doesn't open for over a week, so plenty more verdicts will be added during its first weekend in theaters).
It could go up and it may well drop significantly; it's too soon to say.
However, The Flash's Metacritic score might offer an idea of what's to come. On there, the movie has currently been given 55/100, a score which would translate to a "Rotten" 55% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Of the thirteen DCEU movies released, seven of them have been awarded the dreaded green splat and only Wonder Woman, Shazam!, The Suicide Squad, and Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey are "Certified Fresh" (which requires a score of 75% and above).
As things stand, The Flash sits in the same range as Zack Snyder's Justice League and Aquaman. The latter earned over $1 billion at the worldwide box office, so perhaps Barry Allen's first solo adventure on the big screen will exceed expectations. Ironically, only time will tell.
The movie stars Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdu, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue, and Michael Keaton.
The Flash races into theaters on June 16.