The Flash

Starring: Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Mribel Verdu, Kiersey Clemons, Ben Affleck, Nicolas Cage (cameo), George Clooney (cameo), Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa
Directed by: Andy Muschetti
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
2023

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) travels back in the past to change a family tragedy, but his actions have unintended consequences on the world.

Review:
Tim: The Flash is a difficult movie to review. There are some amazing aspects to this film, as well as some terrible ones. It features an incredible performance(s) from Ezra Miller, but it's also promoting a deeply troubled young man. It features a ton of cameos and famous faces, some amazing, some cringe-worthy. In the end, I'm going to rate this movie on the high end of where I was waffling. I'm not entirely convinced that is the right score, as I could talk myself into dropping it. However, I want to be fair to the movie and what director Andy Muschetti accomplished here. I'll plant my flag and say that The Flash is a success and one of the better movies of the soon-ending DCEU. But, I acknowledge the film has issues.

I have to say, I didn't love the story. I recognize it told a more personal story for Barry Allen, which is probably what was needed after his supporting role in big team-up movies. The idea of time travel to right past injustices isn't new, but the film did throw in some interesting twists. It's fascinating how DC chose to go into the "multiverse" concept at the same time as Marvel is floundering with the same conceit. I appreciate DC charted a different path, and there's an interesting moment where a character basically shuts down Marvel's approach to time travel. It was a nice Easter egg for comic book movie fans. The approach to the story here opened up the opportunity for DC to connect with previous films and casts, which is especially cool. However, it also all felt a bit pointless.

This brings us to the many faces that show up in the film, their quality all over the place. I know I've already spoiled some with the cast list above, but I'm hoping you're reading this many years from now. If you haven't seen this film and didn't see the cast list at the top, some SPOILERS follow. The big cast addition here is Michael Keaton. Keaton is a huge reason why I liked this movie so much. As a longtime movie watcher, what an absolute delight to get the opportunity to see Keaton play Batman again, after 30 years. That is a wonderful treat and Keaton is as good as he's ever been. If you think I've overrated this movie, you can blame it on Keaton. It was an absolute delight to see him step into this role again. The years have brought a tiredness and even more gravity to his role. Seeing him reprise this role was absolutely a highlight for me. It's always nice seeing Michael Shannon, although it felt like he must have spent a few minutes on this role. He has very little dialogue and his character looks unnecessarily CGI. I wasn't impressed. I always love getting to see Ben Affleck play Bruce Wayne. I know this will wrap his time in that role, but I've always been a big fan of how he played the part. It was nice getting to see him in this role again. Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa add next to nothing to the film, but sure, it's nice to see Flash's Justice League buddies.

Some of the cameos were less impressive. I thought it was a cool nod to Nicolas Cage's unmade movie to see him as Superman, but he looked CGI and fake. He doesn't even say anything and the cameo feels unnecessary and a letdown. Seeing the dead Christopher Reeve resurrected for this film was uncomfortable. The same can be said for George Reeves and Adam West, to an extent. I wish they'd actually brought Helen Slater in, verses using archival footage. That felt like a dumb decision. The film's most shocking cameo comes at the very end. I'd read about most of the others, but seeing George Clooney reprise his role was an absolute blast. He doesn't do anything important, but it was a nice nod to what was a challenging experience for him. It felt fitting to give him a few final seconds as Bruce Wayne.

For the main cast, Ezra Miller gives a tremendous performance. I personally find his Barry Allen to be a bit annoying, but he plays two roles that are quite unique and you feel like you're watching two different people. I don't know what is happening with Miller's personal life and I hope he gets help and turns things around. In the context of this film, though, you can't overstate how impressive he was. His performance as two versions of Barry are definitely a plus. I also liked Sasha Calle as Supergirl. I'm not sure her performance was always excellent, but she was memorable and had a few really nice moments. I would have liked to see more of her and I think she was good enough here to earn her own movie. Sadly, that'll likely never come to pass. I thought Ron Livingston was great as Barry's dad, but I like Livingston in almost everything. The cast here definitely makes the movie work.

I like Muschietti as a director. His work on the It movies was excellent. I wish he'd crafted an even better film, but I think it's impressive how much he had to juggle to bring this movie to life. There's a ton of characters, a twisting, complex plot, connections to half a dozen other movies. He handles it all better than I would have expected. The script did let him down in places- the infamous baby in a microwave was unbelievably stupid, especially that pointless and putrid final beep. The CGI often looked bad, despite his claims that the movie looked like that for a reason. Some of the speed scenes were generally cool. It was a weird mix of cringe-inducing scenes with some astonishing action sequences. It all kind of muddles up as the (long) movie proceeds.

I know many people had criticisms for this movie. It generally got positive reviews from critics, although it was more mixed than DC would like. As a regular fan, I acknowledge this is one of the better DCEU movies. I had a fun time watching it, despite its multiple flaws. A film of this scale and scope isn't easy to pull off and I think Muschietti deserves credit for delivering the film as well as he did. I've been a bit forgiving of Marvel in recent years and it's only fair to extend that same courtesy to DC. I obviously have no problem berating them for their failures, but I don't think The Flash is one of them. It's a messy movie, but an ambitious one. I ended up really liking it.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Man of Steel, Justice League, Batman (1989), Batman Returns