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06/21/2023

The Flash Movie Review: A Fun and Flawed Multiverse Adventure


By: Juan Camilo Ardila Durante (Twitter: @juanardila87)

* This review contains spoilers.

"The Flash" is a fun movie that is better when it stops than when it runs.

After "Black Adam" and "Shazam 2," the DC Universe continues on the big screen with the recent release of The Flash. The solo film about the character Barry Allen, portrayed by the controversial Ezra Miller, is directed by Andy Muschietti and serves as a closure to the old universe of these DC Comics characters, with a new cinematic cycle set to begin in 2025 under the direction of James Gunn, the creator of the highly successful Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy.

First of all, I must say that Ezra Miller, despite being on the verge of cancellation in Hollywood due to multiple offenses, does a very good job playing the Barry Allen of two different timelines. Maribel Verdú, who portrays his mother, carries the dramatic weight of the film on her shoulders. The return of the iconic Batman played by Michael Keaton is impeccable and undoubtedly reigns over the best action scenes in the movie. Colombian actress Sasha Calle, who dons the Supergirl suit, delivers a very good performance as Superman's cousin.

"The Flash" delves into the already saturated theme of the multiverse, which has been explored by Marvel Studios series and films in recent years, as well as the Oscar-winning film "Everything Everywhere All at Once" and the masterpiece that is "Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse," an animated film currently sharing the box office with the DC movie. However, unlike these products, in "The Flash," the concept of the multiverse is introduced when the protagonist travels to the past to prevent an intruder from killing his mother, a death that also unjustly condemns his father. His plan is to create a new branching timeline in which Verdú's character survives, but what he will discover later is that by doing so, he will alter the different timelines and endanger the entire multiverse.

To face a powerful enemy, Barry seeks the Batman of that universe, who is none other than Tim Burton's Batman. Spending time with Michael Keaton in the Batcave, watching him climb into the Batwing and then fight villains while the exciting music of Danny Elfman plays, shameless fanservice scenes, indeed work to inject adrenaline into the movie and make it a great experience, especially if you are a fan of that legendary Batman from 1989, just like the person writing these lines.

After that thrilling introduction, Flash and Batman travel to Russia to rescue Supergirl and then embark on the final battle against General Zod, played by a very underutilized Michael Shannon. The film at this point spirals into a whirlwind of nonsensical and PlayStation 2-level special effects that lead to its climax, which ends with a bad joke sponsored by a version of Batman that we all wanted to forget.

This summer blockbuster could be better if its creators hadn't unintentionally turned it into an excessive mishmash, a product of the numerous rewrites and reshoots it went through due to the internal chaos that DC Studios and Warner Bros have experienced in recent years, leading to a disconnect with the general audience, as evidenced by the box office performance of their most recent films. "The Flash" is a good version of "Back to the Future" in the context of superheroes, but many of its sequences seem disjointed, and the development of its supporting characters is lacking, turning the movie in its third act into a feast of cameos rather than a cohesive event.

On the other hand, the comedy in the film is very well handled, especially in its first two parts, with the exception of the initial 'baby shower' sequence in the hospital, which features the most disastrous CGI ever seen in a Hollywood production, likely since the memorable effects of the sadly infamous "Cats."

As I write this review about a movie I had high expectations for this year due to my special connection with Keaton's Batman, I reaffirm that this feature film is much better when it abandons the multiversal fanfare and focuses on the dramatic heart, starting from the beautiful but very brief scenes in which Barry interacts with his mother and also when that sort of buddy movie emerges with the two Barrys conversing and traveling the world to assemble the team that will fight against evil.

Undoubtedly, "The Flash" is a movie that, when its protagonist wears the suit and speeds through with low-level special effects, veers towards the darker side of the multiverse, while when Barry stops to show his fears, his love for his mother, and becomes a kind of mentor to his younger and more immature self, it shines remarkably and proves to the viewer that there are glimpses of a good feature film here.

The emotional and comedic scenes in the movie, along with some good moments of fanservice, make this new Muschietti product, despite its inconsistency and disastrous climax, a worthwhile choice to go watch in the theaters this holiday season.

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