The Flash Review

The Flash has had a long and troubled journey. It has had directional changes, suffered from Warner Brothers’ mismanagement of their DC properties, and a star facing many accusations against them. So, the question is could The Flash overcome these issues?

Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) is The Flash, a hero with the power of superspeed. He discovers he can travel through time, and he plans to use this ability to save his mother (Maribel Verdú). Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) advises against this, but Barry goes back in time anyway. Barry’s actions lead to him getting trapped in a dark, alternative timeline.

Since its inception, the DCEU was a mess. Man of Steel was a divisive film amongst critics and audiences. Warner Brothers tried to rush their shared cinematic universe with Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and tried to change the direction of films like Suicide Squad and Justice League during post-production. The tone has been all over the place and there’s no sense of a story or consistency like with their Marvel rivals.

The DCEU films have varied in quality. Some have been great, like Wonder Woman, Shazam, and The Suicide Squad. Aquaman and Black Adam were average, forgettable affairs. And films like the first Suicide Squad movie were genuinely bad. Whilst the Zack Snyder films were highly divisive.

Warner Brothers have tried many things to get people interested in the DCEU. They have lightened the tone with Aquaman and Shazam, allowed Zack Snyder to complete his cut of Justice League, and the studio even brought in Dwayne ”The Rock” Johnson as a Hail Mary. Even The Flash had this air of desperation because it brought back Michael Keaton as Batman and the marketing focused on his return. It was a film that aimed to push the nostalgia buttons.

The Flash itself had a troubled production. It had taken seven years from his cameo in Batman vs. Superman to get his solo movie. Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley were set to direct but ended up making Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves. The biggest problem was Ezra Miller since he made the headlines for the wrong reasons which made him radioactive. Warner Brothers had to pivot its marketing to Batman. A scene when a woman screams at the sight of The Flash and Barry advised her to get psychological therapy led to me thinking of the real issues involving Miller.

The Flash was structured like Black Panther and Aquaman by being a pseudo-origins story. Despite The Flash already being an active superhero, the film did a flashback to the day his mum died and when he travelled back in time he had to help his younger, alternative version get his speed force powers. The older Barry also had to act as a mentor to his younger self and teach the younger Barry how to use his powers. When Young Barry burns off all his clothes when running it felt like a gag in an origins story.

At times The Flash wanted to be DC’s version of Spider-Man. The tone of the film was lighter, and Barry was in hyper mode most of the time. The opening sequence where Barry had to go on a rescue mission to a hospital felt like something from the Sam Raimi films because of the light tone. When a nurse slides down a collapsing floor it felt like the crane rescue in Spider-Man 3.

Barry did stand in contrast to his Justice League companions because he was an everyman. He wasn’t rich like Bruce Wayne or born with his powers. He got his superpowers through a lab accident, his day job was in a forensic lab, and he lived alone in a small apartment. Barry’s love interest was his crush from college.

The Flash shared some ideas and themes with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Both films were set in the multiverse and had a theme that tragedy is meant to define a hero. Barry lost his mother, and his father was arrested for the crime, Bruce Wayne’s parents were murdered in an alley and all versions of Spider-Man had suffered a loss of a loved one. And like Miles Morales, Barry was trying to defy destiny.

There were also elements of Doctor Strange In the Multiverse in The Flash. Both films aimed to expand their cinematic universe and brought in different versions of popular characters, yet for a multiverse story, there were few alternative realities on display. The Flash was loosely based on the “Flashpoint” storyline, but the film was more like the DCEU version of Back to the Future Part II since it was recontextualising a previous entry: i.e. Man of Steel.

As a superhero film, The Flash was a middling offer. It suffered from some of the worst special effects in a major film in years. The effects in The Flash were so bad it made the effects in recent Marvel projects look like Avatar: The Way of Water. This was due to the CGI people during the sequences when time slowed down. They just looked plastic and uncanny. The baby rescue sequence looked more like a parody.

The issue with the effects was confounded by The Flash being an alternative take on the events in Man of Steel. Man of Steel looked great and had some terrific action sequences. The Flash’s sequences took place in silos and CGI backdrops. The Flash’s big battle took place in a featureless desert. Yet the effects showed the younger and older

Whilst The Flash had issues, the film did have some virtues. One of my favourite moments in the film was when a trio of heroes goes on a rescue and despite the event taking an unexpected turn, Older Barry still wanted to do the right thing. It was small but it showed Barry acting as a hero. It wasn’t just about punching bad guys.

Sasha Calle deserves a lot of praise for her performance as Supergirl. Calle played a darker version of the character since this Supergirl was captured and tortured, so didn’t have much affinity for humanity. Barry had to try and convince the Kryptonian to help them fight General Zod (Michael Shannon). Due to her backstory, this version of Supergirl was darker and more brutal, so was willing to kill and use violence. I would like to see more of Calle as the character, but that’s highly unlikely considering the film’s story and the wider issues with the DC films. Hopefully, she will get another big role.

The Flash did have similarities to films like Morbius and Love Again because they were American set films that were filmed in London. This was noticeable early in the film when one of the locations was Senate House Library and there were British actors like Sanjeev Bhaskar in small roles. At least The Flash was set in a fictional city, so the filmmakers had a bit more flexibility compared to the other films where they were trying to make London look like New York.

The Flash was a mid-ranking film for the DCEU. There were some great little moments, but it was weighted down by the lacklustre action and visual effects.