The Flash (2023)

The Flash

By Emily Hubbard and Calum Whitfield 

The Flash finally gets his day on the big screen, in an entertaining, if a little uninspired, solo adventure

• Directed by: Andy Muschietti
• Starring: Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, and Michael Keaton 
• 3.5/5 Cameras 🎥🎥🎥.5

No Copyright Infringement Intended 

The DCEU is awaiting a reset, but in the meantime, the last few stragglers from the old canon are still being released. Amongst these is The Flash, starring serial troublemaker Ezra Miller as the titular character (The Flash aka Barry Allen), reprising their role from previous films. The film takes another stab at the increasingly common multiverse trend that has been appearing in superhero titles as of late, but does it reach the heights of movies such as the recent Spider-Verse movies, or are we left with yet another messy, bloated flop?  

The film takes inspiration from the classic DC comic storyline, Flashpoint. We find Barry struggling to balance his life as a superhero and his day job in forensics. In addition to this, Barry is determined to prove the innocence of his father, Henry Allen (Ron Livingston), who is in prison for supposedly murdering Barry’s mother several years ago. In attempting to juggle all these things, Barry pushes himself and his powers to the limit, where he discovers he can move through time, which ultimately leads to some massive ramifications in the universe as he knows it. What transpires is an overloaded, scrappy film, but one with enough of a sense of fun that it can almost get away with it.

It's difficult to watch The Flash without thinking of Ezra Miller’s recent antics (if you don’t know google it) yet somehow, in spite of this, they manage to be charismatic and entertaining throughout, doing an admirable job of carrying the film. Another welcome treat is the return of Michael Keaton as Batman, who looks to be relishing in the opportunity to reprise the role that he made his own years ago. Elsewhere few characters are given time to shine. For example, the introduction of Supergirl (Sasha Calle), who was heavily featured in the marketing, falls a little flat as she is given little in the way of character development simply being used as a plot device with one or two fun action scenes. There is also a plethora of cameos sprinkled in throughout, and while many of these are fun, some feel a little forced and perhaps overly fan-servicey, drawing focus away from the main plot of the film.

The film moves at a fairly quick pace (as you would hope from a film about the fastest man alive), allowing for a wide variety of action scenes giving chance for The Flash and his friends to show off their abilities. Whilst these action scenes are enjoyable to watch, there is some criticism to be made about the quality of some of the visual effects, which at times, look more like a video game cut scene, than a $200 million blockbuster. However, personally, we didn’t find this too distracting. In terms of the plot, despite the convoluted nature of time travel stories, the film tells a reasonably straightforward tale of a man trying to reconnect with his family.  This allows some of the film’s more emotional moments, which while cliched balance nicely with the light-hearted and fun nature of the majority of the film. Ultimately it plays safe with the plot, yet the film’s tone is quite zany and chaotic resulting in a film that while not wholly inspired but is consistently entertaining.

In many ways, The Flash exceeds expectations just by being a coherent film, but it goes further by bringing a lot of fun, and despite being unlikely to set the world alight due to its fairly predictable plot and an overreliance on fan service, it’s a film that is well worth the watch for fans of the genre and should satisfy those who have been waiting for The Flash to have his spotlight moment on the big screen.