Oh, this movie. This movie is finally out. I know Warner Brothers and DC Comics haven’t had the best of luck getting their superhero movies made for one reason or another, but it does seem as if The Flash in particular was cursed. I’m a little amazed it came out at all given every weird thing that has happened to push it back, starting with multiple directors signing on and then leaving before finally settling on IT‘s Andy Muschietti. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly didn’t help much there either. And then there’s lead actor Ezra Miller’s off-camera problems. Their many, many problems, causing at least one friend of mine to repeatedly post reminders to social media on how many legal problems Miller has been involved in in the run-up to the movie’s release, was enough to make me pause a bit.
I’m a big believer in separating the art from the artist, so I did have time to go see The Flash opening night. Will it live up to the hype it was generating, calling it one of the best superhero movies of all time?
Barry Allen (Miller) is trying to get his life in order. Working for a crime lab, he’s chronically late and mostly trying to exonerate his father (Ron Livingston), in prison following the murder of Barry’s mother (Maribel Verdú), something Barry believes his father didn’t do, but the alibi that would get his father out of prison after 18 years just hasn’t materialized yet. He’s also the Flash, a member of the Justice League, and when Batman (Ben Affleck) calls, you come running to Gotham City. However, during one of these missions, Barry realizes he can time travel. Maybe he can go back in time, make a minor change, and prevent his mother’s murder. Sure, Bruce advises against that, but Barry decides to do it anyway.
As it is, he’s successful, but there’s another problem: Barry has completely reset time. It’s not a matter of changing the past only affected him personally. It changed both the future and the past. No other superheroes seem to exist, at least none with superpowers. There’s also a slightly younger and much more irresponsible version of himself without powers. As it is, no Superman means there’s no one to stop General Zod (Michael Shannon), and that means Barry may need to find the missing Man of Steel. Good news on one end: Batman still exists. But this Batman is not the Batman Barry knows. He’s Michael Keaton’s Batman, an older man who has been out of the tights for a long time. With his obnoxious other self and a cynical, semi-retired Dark Knight, can Barry save the world just as he’s gotten his mother back?
To be honest, I am not sure I would have gone to this one if I wasn’t both the type of person who sees as much as I can even though I also really wanted to see Keaton’s Batman again. Ezra Miller, legal problems notwithstanding, does not strike me as lead actor material. They’re not bad as an actor. I just think they work better in supporting roles. Plus, I was never sure why the Flash was suddenly the immature, inexperienced, funny guy on the Justice League. Now, the Barry in this movie, at least the older one, is a much more experienced guy who knows how to do things. But what follows is, in reality, a superhero movie without a Big Bad in it. Yes, Zod is out to destroy the Earth, but he’s not Barry’s nemesis or anything. Barry needs to experience personal growth in this one, something that makes The Flash a movie where a climactic battle at the end is not going to solve the hero’s problems or save the world. To be clear, there is a big battle and a special effects extravaganza at the end of the movie, but the thing that saves the day is not whether or not Barry Allen can beat the snot out of a villain. Instead, it’s more of a movie where a hero makes a mistake and has to find a way to fix things that involves more personal growth and less punching. Keaton’s presence makes for a nice touch, a Bruce Wayne who is inspired to come out of a self-imposed retirement to help out while actress Sasha Calle’s Supergirl, though not given as much to do as I would have liked, makes a promising debut. Factor in as well a number of connections to other DC movies and a story that takes some unexpected twists to the normal superhero narrative, and I was largely impressed.
That said, there are still some flaws here. Miller is still not, in my mind, a good choice to carry a movie, and the younger Barry is mostly obnoxious (though that may have been intentional), and something about the special effects made everything look very uncanny valley fake. Apparently, that was an intentional choice to add to the movie’s overall aesthetic as it is supposed to be how Barry sees the world when he’s moving at high speeds, but it was a bit distracting. However, I still had a good time with this movie, and I barely noticed the nearly two and a half hour runtime. I’m not going to be a big Ezra Miller fan anytime soon, but all things being equal, this was a fun movie.
Grade: B
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