When it comes to
famous superheroes, I’d say that the Flash is definitely up there, even if a
lot of people don't know anything about him beyond the fact that he runs really
fast. It is therefore kind of surprising that the Scarlet Speedster hasn’t had
a movie of his own before now, and it is very unfortunate that when it finally
did arrive it had to do so with as much baggage as it does. But despite the
numbered days of its parent franchise (DC plans on rebooting their shared movie
universe in 2025) and its star that should probably should have gone to prison
once or twice, The Flash is still much better than I was
expecting, dodgy CGI, sloppy cameos, and messy third act aside.
As a fan of the character, Ezra Miller’s
casting as the Flash/Barry Allen has always been questionable to me, and that
opinion has not changed. The Barry of the DCEU (DC Extended Universe) might as
well be called something else for all the similarity he has with his comic
counterpart, but I guess that’s a niche complaint coming from a comic
enthusiast, because the reality is that Ezra Miller pulls off a super solid
performance here, annoying laugh, goofy-looking run, and criminal history
aside. The marketing may have leaned heavily into the return of Michael Keaton
as Batman, but Barry is still very much the heart and focus of the story, a
testament to Miller’s acting and comedic abilities as well as Christina
Hodson's enjoyable script. And yes, it is just as fun to see Keaton's Batman
back in action after all of these years as you’d expect, and the addition of
Sasha Calle as Supergirl is also quite welcome, even if the character is
undercooked and mostly goes unexplored.
The Flash's CGI, on the other
hand, is very hard to look at. There were a couple of instances where I thought
the horrid computer imagery had to be an odd intentional choice, but I think
that was just me trying to justify the video game-looking nonsense I was
beholden to for an entire third act that dragged on for far too long. The story
kind of falls apart by that point, and the film’s overall lesson of learning to
let things go is undermined completely by a certain questionable choice at the
end as the filmmakers try to have their cake and eat it too, but the solid
emotional core of the movie makes me much more forgiving of these missteps than
I would have been otherwise. Equally as messy is the fanservice-y cameos, which
range from genuinely exciting to cringingly cheesy to hilariously contrived.
Why would that particular character show up? Because people want to see that
person in that costume, that’s why. No other reason is given or needed.
In short, The Flash may not
be the best superhero movie of the year, or even the season, but if you’re
looking for a good time at the movies this summer you can do much, much worse.
The Flash is now playing in
theaters.
This review was first published in the
Keizertimes on June 30th, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/
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