After years of delays and behind-the-scenes controversies, The Flash, the “final” film of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), is finally here. Fortunately, despite its flaws and the real-life, alleged criminal actions of its star Ezra Miller, the film was worth the wait.
The Flash is a very loose adaptation of the Flashpoint DC Comics mini-series where time-travel actions by the Flash disrupt his timeline. The film takes place during a day-in-the-life of the titular character, Barry Allen aka the Flash (Miller), who performs his superspeed heroics while carrying on in his lonely civilian life. He is trying to find evidence to prove that his father, Henry (Ron Livingston) is innocent of killing Barry’s mother, Nora (Maribel Verdú), when Barry was a child. During a moment of grief, Barry runs so fast he momentarily time travels. This gives him the idea to use his abilities to go further back in time to save his mother. Even though his friend Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) warns him of the dangers with tampering with time, Barry decides to go through his plan anyway and succeeds.
During his journey back to his own time, Barry becomes stranded ten years in his past. After reuniting with his mother and father, Barry soon encounters his younger self and realizes he arrived at the day when he got his superspeed powers. The attempt to ensure that the younger Barry gets his powers succeeds, but the present-day Barry loses his powers. What’s worse is that a short while later, the Kryptonian warlord Zod (Michael Shannon) arrives with his army on Earth to conquer the planet. Barry learns that in this world Superman, who defeated Zod in Man of Steel, does not exist and the only existing superhero is a retired Batman (Michael Keaton). It is up to the three to find a way to defeat Zod and recreate Barry’s powers.
There is so much to enjoy in The Flash, which is one of the best DCEU films. Let’s start with Miller’s performance as both Barrys. Yes, the DCEU version may be too strange and quirky, but Miller is able to create two distinct versions of the same character. One who is immature and very obnoxious, while the slightly older version is more mature, sensible and even sympathetic, although his brash actions created the temporal crisis. The way the film had the actor interact with his film was flawless thanks to clever editing and effects.
Speaking of effects, they are the one major flaw of The Flash. Several sequences are masterful and eye-popping, especially whenever the Flash travels through the speed force, or when our heroes and Supergirl (Sasha Calle) battle Zod and his forces. But other times it is painfully obvious that bad CG is being used. This happens in the film’s opening scenes when the Flash tries to save a bunch of fake-looking infants who are falling from a high-rise hospital and at one point later in the film when several characters are showcased in other universes. It’s not clear what happened, perhaps the producers ran out of money and the film studio Warner Bros. refused to provide more funds. Director Andy Muschietti offered a nonsensical explanation that this was intentional so we could see how the Flash sees the world around him while he is traveling at hyper speeds. Bullshit!
We’ll probably get the real story years from now. But seriously, it would have been better if stock footage from other films and TV shows were used during the scenes where the Flash views other universes. This worked in the recent episode of Titans when Beast Boy glimpsed other universes including the DCEU. What was surprising was that we did not see the CW/Arrowverse version of the Flash played by Grant Gustin. This was unusual since Miller made a brief cameo as the Flash during the Arrowverse’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event a few years ago. The other cameos seen are fun especially for DC fans.
Uneven special effects aside, The Flash is a fun, surprisingly humorous and spirited superhero film that has a lot of heart. Its last merit is rather surprising and credit goes to Miller and Muschietti. The emotional beats are very aching during the film’s final act when Barry has to acknowledge some painful truths about life. There was one scene near the very end that was so heart wrenching even though it was inevitable.
As well as Miller was in both roles, the other performers like Keaton and Calle also turn in fine performances. Obviously, it was great seeing Keaton reprise his iconic role as he found a new spark and purpose in his life, which was to help Barry. The relationship between the two was the heart of Flashpoint and was essentially recreated in this film, although the film has little to do with the comic book storyline. It was also a treat to see Affleck reprising his role as Batman, as well, even though this will be the actor’s final performance as the superhero. The one brief moment we see his version of Bruce interacting with Barry showed the two have a natural chemistry and it will be missed.
Without going into spoilers it is not clear where the film leaves off in terms of the disrupted timeline. There was an original ending that was nixed in favor of what turns out to be a joke, and a bad one at that for those who loathe some of the older Batman films. Given its dismal box office performance and Miller’s situation it is doubtful this version of the Flash will return as this is the end of the DCEU. Still, The Flash is an enjoyable time-travel/superhero yarn that sends off the DCEU on a high note.
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