The Flash movie tagline reads ‘Worlds collide’. And believe it, they quite literally do in the film’s climax since this is where DCEU’s multiverse storylines really begin. But there’s a different kind of collision of worlds happening too, at all times, when you feel sad for Barry Allen’s tragic story on screen while managing complicated feelings towards the controversial shenanigans off-screen of the actor that plays him, Ezra Miller. Mainly because Miller is excellent here, portraying two different versions of Flash and their relationship brilliantly. And the film, directed by Andy Muschietti, is funny, with lots of inside jokes and fan service, the biggest being Michael Keaton as Batman “going nuts” with his role.
The film brings to the screen one of the universe-altering Flash storylines, Flashpoint, in which Barry Allen runs fast enough to go back in time and save his mother, Nora Allen (Maribel Verdú), from being killed, and thereby his father, Henry Allen (Ron Livingston taking over from Justice League’s Billy Crudup), from spending his life incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit. However, in the process of changing one single event, he alters not just the future, as you’d expect, but also the past. Barry finds himself, powerless, stuck in a world with mom but without metahumans. And guess which of the two is more helpful when General Zod (Michael Shannon), the Kryptonian General arrives to terraform your planet?
And so, with the help of his younger self, and the Batman of that world, Barry sets out to right his boo-boos, and find Superman. What he finds instead are a few surprises (like Sasha Calle’s Supergirl) an epiphany and the Chronobowl (an amphitheatre-like-vacuum-bubble in the Speed Force) where he can see everything everywhere all at once and realise what it means to be a hero and the price that superheroes must pay when they make mistakes.
The first thing you notice about The Flash is just how unlike the usual DCEU fare it is. It’s hilarious, its tone a mere extension of the decision to let Ezra Miller play Barry Allen like a nervous, jerky, nerd/fanboy who won’t be taken seriously at his job as a junior forensic investigator with the Central City police. We get a thoroughly entertaining, break-neck sequence early on of The Flash being summoned to help out Batfleck at Gotham and Barry has to save a bunch of newborns flying out of a collapsing wing of Gotham General, which he aptly calls a ‘Baby shower’. I was in stitches over this sequence, a portion of which makes for hilarious end-credits.
See, this is Miller’s forte, and we’ve seen him nail the humour often before. It’s in the emotional moments, when Barry interacts with his father and mother and struggles to mentor his sheltered younger self into becoming The Flash that doesn’t make the same mistakes that Miller shows us different shades of this hero. The two Barry Allens, and the scenes between Barry and his mom Nora are some of my favourite things about the film.
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Do I even need to say Michael Keaton’s Batman is a favourite too? It’s pure nostalgia oozing out as the Batcave is unveiled, and Keaton dons the suit, flies the plane, and mouths the lines that fans who love Batman will get thrilled about. The Flash serves up plenty of these fan service moments, which along with the cameos, and the action, are quite the treat for DC fans. In fact, its explanation of what the multiverse and branched timelines are is a clever jibe at the MCU, and perhaps a more accurate representation of just how messy playing with time can be.
The biggest complaints then are with the CGI, which is rather evidently spotty in some parts while brilliant in others, confusing you about where (and why) it all went downhill. The other matter is that of its emotionally heavy third act, which packs way too much after being all lightfooted and funny for the first two. For some, the shift might feel a bit jarring and overwhelming. Thankfully, not all its stakes are cosmic, and we’re pulled back to more manageable emotions when Barry’s personal tragedies take the lead.
All in all, the emotional payoff is satisfactory in the end. Since time travel is involved, we do return to certain scenes more than once, and each time, the emotions only heighten. The film even drops quite the shocking cliffhanger ending (not the post-credits scene, which is a bit of a letdown after THAT ending), which left me content but also excited to see what’s next.
That being said, The Flash movie has yeeted me into a Chronobowl of tangled feelings. For starters, it is the end of the Snyderverse and the beginning of new leadership that ushers the DCEU into a whole new era. Second, Flashpoint is one of my favourite Flash storylines, and yet the trigger for Barry to do what he did doesn’t feel strong enough in the film. It was much more organic and convincing with the other Flash, the TV version portrayed by Grant Gustin (and ended its nine-season run just last month), that offered a different, more emotional and richly layered take on this same story. His performance, and the timing of it, all added a different kind of gravitas that will always have me inclined towards The CW version of the scarlet speedster.
And finally, it’s the case of Ezra Miller as The Flash, a career-defining performance underscored heavily by the actor’s IRL shenanigans, that make it difficult to see him as the righteous, sweet, innocent, tragedy-struck Barry Allen. It might be a cop-out to dismiss the movie simply by citing the Art vs. Artist debate, but this is an inevitable intersection that will forever affect how we see Miller’s characters from here on out.
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Verdict
If you can put aside those feelings towards its lead actor, and some of that dodgy CGI in certain places, The Flash movie is a super fun, hilarious, yet sufficiently emotional superhero outing, powered by a doubly good, performance from Ezra Miller. It’s quite unlike the usual gloomy and dark DCEU vibe, with stakes that may are cosmic but grounded in the personal and emotional…. The ONLY way to make your multiverse story stand out these days.
It’ll be interesting to see the fallout from Flashpoint. Because while the infinite earths bring the possibility of multiple Batmans and Supermans, and thereby a return of familiar and integration of new faces, could it also be used to recast this Flash? Questions, questions, running in our minds.
The Flash is running in theatres from June 16, 2023.