Released: June 2023
Director: Andy Muschietti
Rated PG-13
Run Time: 144 Minutes
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Genre: Action/Adventure
Cast:
Ezra Miller: Barry Allen/The Flash
Michael Keaton: Bruce Wayne/Batman
Ben Affleck: Bruce Wayne/Batman
Sasha Calle: Kara Zor-El/Supergirl
Kiersey Clemons: Iris West
Michael Shannon: General Zod
As I sit here, listening to Danny Elfman’s Batman soundtrack from 1989, I’m looking at the state of DC movies from Warner Bros. It’s not good. The last 5 movies set in DC’s Expanded Universe have flopped. Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, The Suicide Squad, Black Adam, and Shazam: Fury of the Gods have all flopped. Why? People have often suggested that it’s “superhero fatigue.” I disagree. It’s not “superhero fatigue,” it’s “mediocre movie fatigue.” The last really great superhero movie that we got was Matt Reeve’s The Batman which was released last year. It was a very successful film, despite it’s 3-hour runtime, and incredibly dark tone. People also flocked to go see The Joker with Joaquin Phoenix. But those two movies were not part of the DCEU. Well, we can now add The Flash to the list of box-office disasters that’s been plaguing DC for the last few years. The movie didn’t even break 140 million world-wide, and the movie is projected to earn less than Black Adam, which didn’t even bring home 400 million. Why? From a personal perspective, these movies aren’t very good. They’re not written very well, and the influence of the old WB regime can be felt on these movies.
The Flash follows Barry Allen as he tries his best to prove that his father didn’t murder his mother when he was a child. Disappointed at every turn, Barry decides that he can go fast enough to travel back in time to prevent the murder of his mother. By doing so, he inadvertantly changes history in which no meta-humans exist. Facing the invasion of General Zod, he, along with 18-year old Barry, decided to look up Bruce Wayne/Batman for help to set things right. They discover that a Kryptonian is being held prisoner in a Russian gulag, so they go there to free the Kryptonian, discovering that it’s not Kal-El, a.k.a Superman, but his cousin Kara Zor-El. Together, they try to fight off Zod while Barry tries to set the time-line right. The Flashpoint Paradox is one of the most iconic storylines in DC’s comic book history. It deals with the consequences of what happens when you try to change a single piece of history. It’s a fantastic story, but the execution in this film leaves a lot to be desired. It’s been adapted in an animated movie and the recent Flash TV show. Honestly, with MCU trying IT’S multiverse thing…and failing, The Flash strikes me as a last-ditch effort to try and reboot the entire DCEU, before it’s actually rebooted by James Gunn.
There’s stuff in this movie that I absolutely love. First of all, Michael Keaton returns as the best Batman ever. He’s always been great as Batman, even though he only had two Batman movies to his name. But he’s just so much fun to watch, and the character is very much like the one in Tim Burton’s movies. His Batman suit looks fantastic. Sasha Calle makes her feature-film debut as Kara Zor-El, or Supergirl. She’s not the bubbly blonde-haired Girl of Steel played by Helen Slater. No, she’s got more in common with Henry Cavill’s Superman. Honestly, I really hope that James Gunn gives Sasha a more meaty role to play in future DC movies, because she’s great. It’s just a shame that the film didn’t really use her very well. Ezra Miller’s performance is fine, especially as Barry Prime, the main one, but the younger Barry is incredibly irritating. I imagine that was on purpose, but it didn’t help matters any. Michael Shannon as Zod, is also wasted. Aside from the opening scenes in this film, what saves the movie is the final act. It’s absolutely bonkers. I loved it. Obviously, dealing with Zod is fun, but getting to see different universes collide is wild. It’s just a shame that the road leading to the good stuff is rough.
Everything else about the movie is a total mess. Narratively, it’s all over the place, and the visual effects are really bad. They’ve had five years to work on the effects of this movie, and this is the best they could do? There’s no excuse for a movie like this looking this bad. Andy Muschietti has come out in defense of the effects, saying they look that weird on purpose. I’ll be honest, it feels like this movie was unfinished when it was released. That’s what it feels like. The effects in Man of Steel were better and that movie’s ten years old. Honestly, the fact that when Michael Keaton shows up, he take command of the film. He’s the real star of the show. Nobody actually cares about the Flash. He’s a second-tier DC superhero. Always has been. There were decisions made with this movie that didn’t help it at all and it you can see it on screen.
The movie tanking over the holiday weekend sends a pretty strong message to WB/DC. It says that people aren’t really willing to settle for mediocre superhero movies anymore. Honestly, I don’t think that’s the only reason. I’m sure that the issues surrounding Ezra Miller’s legal problems aren’t helping, but I won’t get into those. People were still burned by WB canceling the Batgirl movie and using it as a tax write-off, which means we’ll never see that movie in ANY incarnation. People are NOT liking what David Zaslav is doing with WB, and that’s also keeping people away. There’s a lot of issues which led to The Flash bombing over the weekend. It’s a very clear indication that a hard reboot is necessary, which means that the movie is NOT getting a sequel, nor is Ezra Miller returning in ANY capacity. I didn’t really have high hopes for this movie, and that’s how it panned out. Again, I think there’s some really good stuff in here, but it’s hard to get to because the movie is badly-written. I almost walked out of the movie early on, because it was cringy. I’m glad I stuck with it, because I did have fun with it, and I think that’s what counts, but I can’t help but think this movie could’ve been so much better.