DC has recently been struggling with attempting to salvage their latest films. Shazam! Fury of the Gods wasn’t a success and the upcoming Aquaman sequel has the whole Amber Heard situation following it, so there is a lot of pressure on The Flash to distract us and entertain us. Unfortunately, the closely guarded cameos of the film have been leaked, and Ezra Miller’s private life has also affected the performance of this film at the box office, and that’s before the whole intended DC reboot that is coming in a few years' time. So the result, sadly, is another mess of a film that spins a lot of ideas, but the film itself is rather enjoyable at the very least.
We have had a lot of speedsters on the screen recently, from Quicksilver in the X-Men films, Makkari in Marvel’s The Eternals and even with Man of Steel we had some Kryptons use their super speed ability too. Each speedster has been brought to life with insane visual effects, and sadly the visual effects in The Flash are not as great as these other examples. Ezra Miller’s character Barry Allen even runs faster than the speed of light and enters the “Speedforce” which is almost like a dimension between space and time, and it is through the Speedforce that Barry realises he can change the past and that turn creates a ripple effect of consequences. Some of those include the replacement of Ben Affleck with Michael Keaton as Batman, and the introduction of Supergirl instead of Superman, who is played by Sasha Calle. Calle and Keaton are fantastic as these characters.
The human element and character development are the best aspects of the film. From Barry’s childish alternate version of himself to his more serious and brooding mournful version, the film manages to deal with grief and the loss of a Mother to great effect, showing how Barry’s life would’ve been if his Mother didn’t die when he was a kid - this is the very catalyst that springs the story into motion. Calle’s Supergirl is equally as brooding as she doesn’t share her cousin Superman’s same opinion on humanity, instead seeing the worst in us. Keaton’s Batman is reluctant to don the cape again and deals with living in a world that doesn’t need superheroes. Seeing all these characters battle Man of Steel’s villain General Zod, played again by Michael Shannon, in the climactic battle at the end of the film was super entertaining. Each character has a role to play and serves the story very well.
For a film with strong themes, there is a lot of comedy. The comedy in this film is very distracting, especially at the beginning of the film where Barry saves a bunch of babies and even Affleck’s Batman has a comedy moment in there too. I understand you need to balance the levity with some light-heartedness, but the film does feel silly at moments and it creates an uneven tone where the film can’t decide whether it is a comedy or a drama. Then there is the fan service, there are a lot of cameos in this film, some of which did feel surprising and some others were not needed. With this being a Multiverse film, with every superhero film being a Multiverse film at the moment too, there are a lot of excuses to bring old characters back, but it does come with a price as it affects the story a lot. The Flash is unique in a lot of ways, but in other ways, it fails to achieve what it sets out to do.
★★★☆☆
3/5
Final Verdict:
The Flash is the culmination of the past 10 years at DC. By honouring films such as Man of Steel and Ben Affleck’s turn as Batman, we are treated to what is essentially the end of an era, and the start of a new one. It is just a shame that the film is a little messy, with questionable CGI and a lot of fan service. Michael Keaton and Sasha Calle steal the film, and I did find The Flash enjoyable but it is by no means the best of the DCEU films.
Thanks for reading today’s blog!
Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions
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