It seems like this Flash movie has been in the news and/or talked about for the better part of 5 years. First, it was the development of the project, then the focus was on Ezra Miller and their wild antics, and then finally being called the greatest comic book movie of all time by none other than James Gunn. Does The Flash run circles around other comic book movies? I’m not so sure.
The DCEU never really hit the high notes the studio was hoping for. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some highlights, but DC’s “Elseworlds” films like The Joker & Robert Pattison’s The Batman have been the major success stories. One of the highlights in the 2017 DCEU film Justice League was The Flash played by Ezra Miller. 6 years later we finally get a stand-alone film for his character Barry Allen. The plot sees Barry use his speed to go back in time to change an event that has haunted him his whole life. The problem with messing with things in the past? They change future events in ways you cannot foresee. The net result is another trip into the multiverse with various characters from past comic book films coming back to the big screen. While watching this film I felt a little “multiverse fatigue” setting in. This film comes after two outstanding multiverse movies: Everything Everywhere All At Once & Spiderman Across the Spiderverse. One might say the Flash is running a little behind.
I’m not going to spoil all the surprises, but one that I can talk about is Michael Keaton’s Batman. He appears as an older Batman in Barry’s alternate future. Seeing Keaton as Batman one more time made me smile. However, that smile turned to disgust when I saw some very poor CGI effects used during Batman’s main action set piece. One of the things I love about the Batman series, especially the Tim Burton films, was the use of practical effects. Seeing a CGI Batman move ultra-fast as he discards enemies made little sense considering this is supposed to be an older version of Batman.
Another highlight for me was Sasha Calle as Supergirl. She dominates every scene she is in. Ezra Miller meanwhile pulls of a double role with ease. Their able to give both Barry Allens distinct personalities. This leads to some very funny moments in the film. The script actually has plenty of humor throughout and the main plot point packs some heavy of emotion. Yet The Flash feels like it is coming into theaters a little late for us to appreciate it.
Judging this against other DCEU films I would put it on the upper tier.
