Director: Andy Muschietti
Writers: Christina Hodson and Joby Harold
Stars: Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, Ben Affleck
Synopsis: 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.
Through the years, there was plenty of talk about bringing the Scarlet Speedster called The Flash to the big screen. If you know a little about the character and some of his storylines, crafting a film centered around him would be pretty complicated. His stories mostly revolved around the character’s manipulation of time and the effects it brings upon him and the people he cares about the most. How was a director going to shoot the numerous super-speed or time-traveling sequences? The only way to do so is by pigging out on CGI; there is no other option, for better or worse – even if we know it is mainly for the latter. In 2014, it was finally announced that a film about the famous comic-book hero would be released, slowly paving the way for the DCEU (DC Extended Universe) and uniting the famed Justice League once and for all. But, as we all know, things didn’t go as planned.
Directors arrived and departed the project left and right, with no one being at the helm. And amidst all that, the DCEU was getting even more fractured with each addition into that universe. Five years later, Argentine director Andy Muschietti, known for the modern adaptation of It, joined the project. Many things happened during those years of production – script (and narrative) changes, possibilities of its lead being recast, and the pandemic holding them back. Some of us even thought it would go down the dumper due to all of these issues. However, after all this waiting, The Flash has managed to get its big-screen premiere. Was it worth the nine-year wait from its announcement until its release? Some people (aka. superfans) call it one of the best comic-book movies of all time, depicting a rendition of the titular character’s classic storyline, ‘Flashpoint’. From my perspective, I call it a complete disappointment.
Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) is working hard, although without much progress, at a forensic lab in the city. The reason why he’s staying there and rolling with his co-worker’s punches is to finally get justice for his dad Henry (Ron Livingston), who was wrongly arrested for murdering his wife, Nora (Maribel Verdú). There’s one piece of evidence that might help his father’s case. But, the CCTV footage Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) provided is unclear, as Henry doesn’t look up, and his face can’t be seen. As his world collapses with the potential of being without someone who loves him, Barry ponders how he can use his super-speed abilities to go back in time and save his mother. Bruce warns him that manipulating time and events will lead to tremendous consequences via the butterfly effect. Of course, Barry is blinded by this possible resolution to his problems. So, he decides to do it anyway.
The Flash got what he wanted; his mother is now alive. But General Zod (Michael Shannon) is threatening Earth in search of a missing Kryptonian hidden on the planet. In addition, his younger immature self – also played by Miller in a Dumb and Dumber-like routine that works on some occasions and grows increasingly frustrating on others – has received the time-altering powers from the original timeline’s Barry. The two Barrys must now seek help from one of the few heroes in that universe, an old and bearded Batman (Michael Keaton), whose persona on-screen seemed like he was going to quote Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon: “I’m getting too old for this s***”. It was apparent that this casting, alongside plenty of decisions, was done just for the sake of fan service. And unlike many other films that rely on the multiverse, which is a very tired concept by now, it wasn’t that annoying or eye-rolling.
It was weird seeing Keaton back in the classic Tim Burton cowl. Yet, his action scenes were decently entertaining. Compared to Reeves or Nolan’s Batman action sequences, they were nothing to brag about. But, at the very least, it didn’t repeat what we have seen before with the character. Right until this point in the film, which is during its middle segments, I was surprisingly going with it. Some of the quips made me roll my eyes to the back of my head, including one where Barry saves a baby from a falling hospital by putting it in a microwave. At the same time, others made me chuckle due to their randomness. You got a quick glimpse of an emotional core in the film, an aspect that felt lacking in recent superhero pictures like Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania or Shazam: Fury of the Gods. The audience began to feel the original Barry’s frustration with his decision and actions. He wants to fix things yet ruins everything else in the process.
I know this narrative is present in all of the multiverse films. What The Flash wants to do isn’t original or even inventive. However, it felt easy-flowing and welcoming throughout this point in the movie. Right after the crew of two Barrys and Batman rescue Superman from this world, Kara Zor-El (a poorly used Sasha Calle), things get into very rocky territory. Andy Muschietti puts the film in a hole it can’t get out of, drowning it in its mediocre direction and messy structure. The Flash’s climax is a repetition of what we saw in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, although without the sense of logic or stylistic distinctiveness. The final explosive battle sets itself in a desert – one of the most boring locations for a grand finale – where Zod faces the Barry duo, Supergirl, and Batman.
Things don’t go as planned, so they retread their steps and try another way. And they try again… and again… and again once more, only to bore the audience into oblivion with a scratched record manufacture of horrid CGI, no surprise factor, or texture. After watching this fight sequence almost eight times, we are treated to one of the worst conclusions in recent superhero flicks. If you thought the visual effects and cameo spoilage were frustrating, it gets more shoddy by the minute. Think the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns and Henry Cavill’s digitally erased mustache in The Justice League-level bad. It is unacceptable that the film tries to blind the audience from its cop-out conclusion by manipulating them with cameos and appearances. This level of serving the fandom has reached a new low with The Flash. The heart that the first and half of the second one had was left aside to give audiences “what they wanted”.
Andy Muschietti has made a film showcasing comic-book movies’ worst tendencies. Glimpses of this were seen throughout its entire runtime, albeit exaggerating it on its curtain closer – personifying the feeling of a mega fan standing in a theater and pointing at the screen. I left the film disappointed and exhausted. The former is because of what the film began plotting and what it ended up being; the lifeless curation of superhero movies causes the latter. The Flash is not the worst of its kind, although it definitely is one of the most vacuous expeditions into the multiverse.
