If you are a fan of the podcast, Aaryn and I have spent a couple of episodes talking about the drama behind The Flash. We were surprised that this was even going to be released after everything involving Ezra Miller and the turnover behind the scenes of DC Studios. But we have finally made it to opening weekend and having seen it I can finally put a bow on this saga.
The Flash follows Barry Allen as he utilizes the Speed Force to go back in time and save his mom. By doing so, he ends up in an alternate dimension where his mother lives, but there are no other superheroes alive to protect the world.
I’m going to say this once and not again: Ezra Miller gave a really good, emotional performance as all the versions of The Flash. Alright, that’s it, no more praise for them. Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck were quite fun to see again as Batman. Affleck only had a couple of scenes of screen time, but it was a satisfying send-off for a character I’ve come around on. As for Keaton, he felt like he was ripped from his Batman timeline. He had some very comic-booky lines, but it never felt cringe. Sasha Calle as Super Girl was good as well.
The story was pretty interesting. It really differed from the animated Flashpoint Paradox movie, which was my only point of reference coming in. I don’t like time travel movies or multiverse stories but they handled it in a way that kind of made sense so I was fine with it. What I liked the most is that the story does not go where you expect it at all. The whole movie builds up to one point but it then pivots in a way that felt more important than where the scene could’ve gone.
While The Flash was entertaining to watch, this movie has some big issues with it, outside of its lead. The pacing is all over the place. We are immediately thrust into a conflict for the Flash and then the movie really slows down until we get introduced to Keaton’s Batman. While I liked that the climax was more personal to Barry, it is completely anticlimactic with how quickly it gets resolved. Like I had whiplash from thinking “Oh this is pretty cool” to “Oh it is over”.
If you’ve heard anything about this movie, it might be about the visual effects. Director Andy Muschietti came out recently and said that some of the effects that look weird are on purpose due to them being from Barry’s perspective. I believe he was referring to the effects of the Speed Force, which I can live with. But there are so many scenes of Barry running that looked so low-budget. I don’t really like Barry’s running style or the slow-motion style when it wasn’t needed. There was also the clip that was posted on Twitter of the Barry’s and Super Girl running to the big fight scene and it looked like the DVD loading screen for the movie.
This could just be me missing something, but this is The Flash’s second big-screen appearance after Justice League. Maybe watching CW’s Flash would help but it felt like a lot of lore about Barry Allen is just dumped without much explanation. Phasing and the Speed Force are just brought up with little explanation.
Final Thoughts
The Flash does what it sets out to be: the reset point for the next iteration of the DC universe under James Gunn. The Flash has some great highs of a comic book movie while coming with some low lows. It was a fun watch even if it’s not doing too hot at the box office. I still can’t believe this movie was made and released but it was. I hope that this ends the Ezra Miller saga and they recast the character. I’d recommend giving it a watch but maybe wait for it to be on streaming.
