The Flash review: Pacing issues slow speedster’s standalone movie

❘ Updated: 2023-06-13T09:51:04

Ezra Miller and Sasha Calle in The Flash.

Warner Bros.

The Flash finally takes center stage in his own standalone movie, but while the film is fun for long periods, there are pacing issue, ironically, while it builds to an ugly computer-generated climax.

The Flash – aka Barry Allen – has been a bit-part player in the DCEU, making brief cameos and delivering comic relief while the rest of his team was getting their own spinoff movies.

Now he’s at the heart of a self-titled flick, one that’s been a long time coming, due to the global shutdown. And also because of star Ezra Miller’s much publicised run-ins with the law.

The film is a complex time-travel story, loosely based on the beloved Flashpoint saga in the comics. Which means frequent time-travel exposition slowing proceedings down. But when The Flash speeds up it’s a blast, director Andy Muschietti effortlessly combining action and comedy, and screenwriters Christina Hodson and Joby Harold crafting drama that will break your heart.

Beginning with a baby shower

The Flash kicks off with a superb sequence concerning a robbery gone wrong, and a deadly virus that could wipe out half of Gotham. With Superman otherwise engaged, Wonder Woman not picking up, and Batman tailing the thieves, Barry’s got to clean up the mess at Central City Hospital.

Literally, as pipes have ruptured in the basement, turning The Flash into the Justice League’s janitor. But then the building starts to collapse, a dozen new-borns fly out the top floor, and Barry races sky-ward to prevent that baby shower ending in disaster.

The effects are a bit ropey here, with the infants looking less like humans and more like creepy dolls. But the sequence is funny and exciting and unlike any you’ve ever seen in a comic-book movie. Even if it does owe a debt to Hong Kong classic Hard Boiled.

Time travel shenanigans

Cold open out the way, we’re into the story proper, with dad Henry Allen still in prison for the murder of Barry’s mom. With his appeal coming up, Barry visits the childhood home where that horror unfolded. A memory which sends him into a rage that has Barry running so fast he travels back in time via something called the Speed Force.

Barry discusses this new-found power with Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne, who’s essentially here to dispense wisdom, and deliver Doc Brown’s Back to the Future speech about how changing events in the past can have a devastating affect on the present. While he also preaches about how the loss of their parents made them who they are, meaning they need those scars.

Barry really misses his mom however, so he’s soon ignoring Bruce, and Speed Forcing back in time to save her. But something throws him off course, and Barry comes face-to-face with his college-age self.

Barry Allen x 2

What follow gives Ezra Miller a chance to act opposite Ezra Miller, with both Barry Allens occupying the same reality at the same time. Trouble is, younger Barry is so annoying that it’s a pain spending any time with him, both for older Barry, and the audience. Though it does afford mature Barry the opportunity to have something of an existential crisis when he realises just how annoying he is.

It also happens to be the day when Barry gets his powers, so there’s that to deal with, which turns into an unnecessary side mission. While General Zod also appears, with plans to conquer earth. Though he quickly becomes an unnecessary villain.

With the planet in trouble, and metahumans seemingly missing from this timeline, the Barrys go looking for Batman. And they find him at Wayne Manor. Though there’s a twist.

Batman returns

As this Batman is the Michael Keaton iteration from the Tim Burton movies. And if that has you scratching your head, don’t worry, as Keaton pulls an Affleck by delivering speeches about branched timelines and retro-causality and inevitable intersections.

Indeed, where Doc Brown needed a chalk-board to explain the science in Back to the Future Part II, here Bruce Wayne uses a bowl of spaghetti to explain the complicated machinations of the multiverse. Though like the Affleck variation, he too believes these time-travel shenanigans will end in disaster.

What follows is a film about The Flash, but one that turns into Justice League-lite, as both Barrys recruit Batman to their cause. Then go looking for Superman, but end up with Supergirl. Though it’s a pretty underwhelming debut for that character in DC’s Extended Universe.

Computer-generated mess

This all crescendos with a huge battle between super-powered heroes and Kryptonian villains in the middle of nowhere. Which is an ugly, computer-generated mess that’s frequently hard to look at.

Zod is the chief villain, but has none of the depth or nuance of the Man of Steel General. Rather, he’s just there as an obstacle for Barry and his super-friends to try and destroy.

Their conflict leads to more time-travel shenanigans, which in turn feature multiple DC cameos. Though in truth, they aren’t characters who progress the plot, but rather there in the name of fan-service. All of which distracts from what The Flash is really about, which is a son who wants his parents back.

Mercifully, after this lengthy digression, the movie reaches that very point, and the climax is an emotional one that likely won’t leave a dry eye in the house. It’s just frustrating that The Flash took so many detours and deviations to get there.

Is The Flash good?

The Flash is a film of ups and downs. That early action sequence is inspired, while the central storyline is deeply moving. Ezra Miller is excellent as main Barry Allen, particularly in those more dramatic scenes.

Michael Keaton remains the best Batman, and should this be the final time he dons the cowl, it’s a beautiful way for him to bow out.

But a pair of side-quests involving Barry’s powers feel like padding, a brief sub-plot involving Dark Flash fails to resonate, and the big battle at the end is an overlong, undercooked mess. And yet, it works, delivering enough thrills to paper over those cracks, and even featuring a few flashes of greatness.

The Flash score: 3/5

In spite of multiple flaws, The Flash is one of the strongest entries in the DCEU.

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