Synopsis:
Worlds collide in “The Flash,” the DC Super Hero’s first ever standalone feature film that’s full of action, humor and heart. In his attempt to save his family and fix the past, Barry Allen uses his superpowers to travel back in time. Once there, he’s trapped in an alternate universe with another version of himself… along with a new Batman and Supergirl. Soon, General Zod arrives, threatening to destroy the planet. Will Barry be the Super Hero he needs to be? Can he reset the universe?
What We Thought:
The Flash is probably the best DC film since Christian Bale was Batman. It’s a better Justice League film than the actual Justice League film. It’s also going to give James Gunn headaches because he wanted to reboot all the DC films now that he’s in charge and with the success this movie is going to have, walking away from Ezra Miller as Barry Allen might not be possible. Ezra Miller deserves to play the Scarlet Speedster as long as the off-the-screen antics have stopped and their life straightens out. But this is about the movie, not any personal problems.
I’ve always like The Flash as a comic book character so I’m familiar with the Flashpoint storyline. It’s been animated before and the CW live-action series also covered it. If you aren’t familiar with it, the basis is that Barry becomes fast enough to time travel, goes back in time to stop his mother from being murdered and his father going to jail for her murder despite being innocent. By stopping her death, a new universe is created and causes big problems around the timeline.
That’s this movie’s plot, Barry goes back in time, stops his mother from dying, but gets stuck in a timeline with his 18 year old self whose life is much different than his. But that’s not the only change, Bruce Wayne is older and a different version. Superman never made it to Earth. Cyborg isn’t Cyborg, etc. Like in his timeline General Zod comes down to take over the planet, but without his Clark Kent/Superman to stop him, Barry needs to put together his own team of super friends (pun intended).
This is where the film shines. Miller is fantastic in the double role of his current Barry and 18 year old Barry who’s still learning his powers. It’s a great dynamic on screen because the current Barry isn’t that old in the first place, but is much more experienced and responsible compared to the younger version who like any of us, wants to explore what he’s capable of. If you’ve seen the trailer you know that Michael Keaton returns as an older Bruce Wayne/Batman. Is it fan service bringing back Keaton? 100%. Do I care? Not in the slightest. I sat there cheering when he gets into the Batman costume and says “I’m Batman” and “Let’s get nuts”. As the generation that grew up with Keaton as our Batman, it was amazing seeing him fighting the bad guys again. Then there’s Sasha Calle as Kara Zor-El / Supergirl. Calle starred in The Young and the Restless, but this is her feature film debut. And it’s quite a debut. If I’m James Gunn I want her in the DCU going forward as well.
The film has a flew small flaws, but nothing that would stop me from seeing it again. General Zod as the villain really isn’t that necessary. It should have been a Flash villain like Zoom or Reverse-Flash, but using Zod brings in Supergirl I guess. The musical score isn’t that great either. It needed someone like a Hans Zimmer who did Man of Steel and Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy to really amp up the backing score. Will the average movie goer notice it? No. I also don’t really buy into the “Spaghetti Theory” of time travel/parallel universes, but at least they made an attempt at how different versions can be different ages/backstories.
The Flash will be compared to the MCU’s Spider-Man: No Way Home because each film brought back previous versions of movie characters. I’m not even hinting at ALL the characters that make appearances in this, but if you are a DC comic/movie fan, you’ll love it. There’s even a nice surprise one that if you know about its history/rumor, it’s absolutely hilarious. Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen/The Flash needs to stay in the DCU. This film proves it. It also proves Miller is very capable of opening blockbusters and being part of blockbusters if personal demons are handled. I really, really liked The Flash which is shocking because I haven’t liked much of what DC has done in the past ten plus years. If this is the DCU going forward then I support it. It’s as fun as any good Marvel flick and Miller is fantastic on screen. Nothing else to say besides…
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
The Nerds Templar 