'The Flash' Review: Despite its Nostalgia Cheese, DC Speedster's Solo Flick is a Sprinting Fun Time
The Flash
PG-13: For sequences of violence, partial nudity, action, and some strong language
Runtime: 2 Hours and 24 Minutes
Production Companies: DC Studios, Double Dream, The Disco Factory
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Andy Muschietti
Writer: Christina Hodson
Cast: Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue, Michael Keaton, Ben Affleck, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Rudy Mancuso
Release Date: June 16, 2023
In Theaters Only
For a film about the fastest DC superhero, Barry Allen’s race to the silver screen moved like molasses. By all accounts, it’s a miracle that The Flash exists, considering it went through *gasps* three waves of new company ownerships, a ton of creative leadership changes, and every criminal act star Ezra Miller has committed. I’m surprised an exec at Warner Bros. didn’t make his own Flash suit so he could run back in time to change this troubled production’s history and release this movie unscathed. Oh well. It’s here, right? At long last, Barry Allen’s finest hour has arrived, presented in Unreal Engine 5.
Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), the fastest man alive, is troubled in his double life as a Justice League member under Bruce Wayne/Batman’s (Ben Affleck) wing and a forensic scientist trying to get his wrongfully convicted dad Henry (Ron Livingston) out of prison for the death of his mother (Maribel Verdú). After revisiting his traumatizing childhood home, he runs so fast from his grief that he goes to the past. Learning that he can pass through space and time, Barry runs to 2013, an alternate timeline where his mom never dies and before General Zod (Michael Shannon) invaded Earth. Upon entering his home, Barry meets his younger, college freshman, pre-superpowered self. With the current Barry trapped in time, he and the younger Barry must find a retired Batman (Michael Keaton) and Kara/Supergirl (Sasha Calle) to save the world from Zod and get the original Barry back home.
Pretty bold for The Flash to show up right after Across the Spider-Verse upped the quality of multiverse superhero movies a few weeks prior. Though I'm starting to experience multiverse movie fatigue lately, The Flash surprised me with its poignant story about Barry Allen confronting his grief. And without being over-reliant on the studio-demanded nostalgia trip for at least four-fifths of the runtime.
Compared to recent, heck, most DC fare, director Andy Muschietti (It: Chapter One and Two) parts from the signature muted palette and personalizes this film with flashiness, no pun intended. The film starts with a highly energetic opening set piece straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon (and I'm not just talking about its CGI quality), with Muschietti boasting colorful pop and frenzied camera movements throughout. As if the viewer is inside Barry's mind, the film operates with the same speediness as his abilities. Most action sequences share a Joel-Schumacher-meets-Michel-Gondry zaniness, playing with scale and a campy tone that feels distinctive in the current landscape of superhero movies. Was Muschietti going to make a Flash movie as self-serious as the Snyderverse? Although it's another CGI fest, The Flash features picturesque imagery in the spirit of a pop-up book. It's light-hearted and silly, like Super Friends, during its action, but very visceral, like an inspired Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind during dramatic beats. Cinematographer Henry Braham's (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2-3, The Suicide Squad) adds to the comedy, incorporating quick zooms and whip pans that make several comedic slapstick gags pretty funny.
Dead-franchise-defibrillator screenwriter Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey, Bumblebee) pens a complex character-driven tale dissecting heroism and loss through a well-rounded Barry Allen. Hodson's screenplay admits Allen's immaturity when first introduced as the primary comic relief in the pick-your-poison version of Justice League and levels him with maturity. Barry retains his social awkwardness, but Hodson coats him with resounding empathy and charm, making his dilemma enticing. When the Young Barry and Current Barry collide, Hodson's script delivers a solid contrast between a person who never faced hardship (Y-Barry) and one stricken by grief (C-Barry). Seeing the personality differences in action is humorous as C-Barry instantly discovers how annoying he used to be (and sometimes is).
The jokes are often so damn funny. The most functioning humor source lies in Y-Barry and C-Barry's big-bro-little-bro relationship. Despite one racy joke about drugging someone that will make the entire audience share a unified awkward collar tug, the Barrys share playful, endlessly hilarious banter. Thankfully, the film knows when to stop the laughs and focus on Barry's character arc. The script also uses its new and old-school additions in Keaton’s Batman and Supergirl, packing the purpose of grief through them.
Hate them or not, Ezra Miller is the Flash, and damn it, they deliver a good performance. Miller, playing two variations of the same character, goes on two separate wavelengths of charisma and brings both characters to life. They share great chemistry with themself in their comedic banter and emotional beats, keeping the illusion that both Barrys are alive on screen together. They are as good as baby Lindsey Lohan was in The Parent Trap.
Michael Keaton is a great actor, though (personally) not my Batman. Those old ‘90s heads will lose their shit because they're nostalgia-pilled. He's just the right amount of good in The Flash. I'm a sucker for the former badass turned curmudgeon archetype, so having Barry get Keaton off his kiester was delightful, adding to the film's overall charming tone.
The film marks Kara/Supergirl’s big-screen debut, giving her the right amount of screen time. With every minute she gets, Sasha Calle swoops in and steals the show with a badass stoic presence, humanity, and fierceness that captures the definition of a Kryptonian hero. And faster than her cousin Kal-El/Superman's entire two-hour movie. Calle is so captivating that it will be a letdown if she doesn't survive the James Gunn reset and star in the upcoming Supergirl movie. And it better be written by Christina Hodson too!
The Flash is yet another victim of the Hollywood superhero fan-service pandering curse where you hear the loud screeches of a studio exec demanding the creative team to include old DC characters so it can elevate its rewatch value. For most of its runtime, and even during Keaton's Batman entrance, Flash delivers the iconic Flashpoint story with Barry in the spotlight. But when the second half starts, some of its thrills hinge on its audience reacting to fan service, and the novelty is gone now. Michael Keaton's Batman is innocent until he starts spewing the Tim Burton Batman film lines. When Keaton says, "You want to get nuts? Let's get nuts," line, you can see how dead he is inside. The longer the film progresses, the heavier it leans into the nostalgia. As it becomes more hollow by the minute, you can see the Flash logo fade away as the DC logo takes its place. If you're one of those people who screams over the nostalgia that panders to you during the climax, you are a sheep and part of the problem. My editor Myan will call me a hypocrite because I screamed over ONE cameo, but it was someone unexpected.
The Flash has been in the cooker for ages but would’ve benefited from one more pushback because the CGI quality is inconsistent. Sometimes it offers solid effect work during small-scale combat sequences. But when it goes big and bombastic, specifically when Barry runs into the multiverse, surrounded by a green-screen background, I couldn't help but wince at how unrendered and uncanny many facial features of human characters look. DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THE FINALE! The visual effects quality is so rough you'd assume it was created on Unreal Engine 5. Or at least during the PS3 era.
Flashy and fun whenever not adhering to nostalgia requirements and delivering uncanny PS3-era graphics, The Flash arrives as a dazzling delight. It's a visceral blast of summer fun held together by Andy Muschietti’s vibrant direction and Christina Hodson’s poignant script.
