After being stuck in production hell for almost ten years, The Flash has finally seen the light of day and come out. Of course, that omits many other things, mainly how problematic (and fighty) Ezra Miller has gotten in the last couple of years. If you don’t know what I am talking about, you are lucky if you want to know more; Google is your friend. But we are here to talk about the movie, not them (Ezra is non-binary) being “a bit” of a nuisance. And after the epic trailers and all the talks about how this is one of the best superhero movies ever made, it was… ok.
Look, you definitely won’t have a bad time with The Flash. If you can separate the art from the artist, get past some PlayStation 2 level of CGI and make peace with the fact that nothing you see in this movie matters because the DCEU is being rebooted under James Gunn‘s supervision. And I think all of these factors combined have contributed to my enjoyment of this movie, respectively, the issues I had with it. When I was in the cinema, I laughed a few times, but never too loud. When some of those emotional scenes came about, I was touched (luckily not by Ezra), but nothing that would ever stick with me long-term. And when the movie tries to end by teasing us: “Hey, there could have been a sequel!” and you remember that there is no chance in hell that will happen, you get… not underwhelmed, more like whelmed.
That’s why I stand by my title and will say the biggest issue this movie has is being the fast food equivalent of a film. It does the job and will “fill you up” when you need it, but it doesn’t give you anything nutritious or anything that will stick with you for a long time. When I got home from the cinema, not even an hour after the movie’s ended, and I reflected back on it, I discovered this feeling of “meh”. I mostly enjoyed myself at the moment, but even those cool moments didn’t stay with me for too long after it.
What also didn’t help was the trailers gave away too much. I have seen many scenes frequently in front of other movies (like the shot of Supergirl punching through the missile) and therefore lost all the impact they could have had. For example, imagine for a moment a world where you would sit down, not knowing Michael Keaton was back as Batman in this movie. Imagine how awesome that would be, and I know I would have enjoyed myself more. But the marketing campaign was built on that, and with that, I’ve also seen many of his scenes/lines that could have been much better had they been left out of those trailers. I understand why the studios felt like they “must” market this movie like this; after all, he is the biggest star in this movie, but still…
The movie plays with the idea of time travel, multiverses and how changing one tiny thing in the past changes everything. I imagine when they started the development of this movie, it would have been a pretty rad and new concept, but when there is still a movie in the cinemas playing alongside The Flash that takes this concept and talks about it in a more nuanced way (yes, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023, my review here)), it’s difficult for this movie. And let’s not even talk about the Oscar-winning movie Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022, my review here) that quickly made its way into my top five movies of all time. That’s the thing The Flash was stuck in this development hell where the idea that was once new and fresh now feels stale and done much better by other movies.
I enjoyed the others, not advertised cameos, but even those felt like: “Hey, look here, you like this actor/character, so here they are!” without having any meaningful impact on the movie. You could argue the last cameo at the very end should have been impactful, but again, knowing we will never get a sequel that would expand on it, it feels pointless and falls flat.
I have enjoyed Sasha Calle (Supergirl), even though her character had to have the “development speed run”, so she could stand with our protagonists in the final battle. I wouldn’t mind having a movie with her, and it seems there is one in development already, but honestly, with the state of DCEU… I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t happen for another decade. I thought she did a great job with the relatively little she was given.
Also, let’s talk quickly about CGI. Yes, I understand that (apparently) it was a choice to have the movie look like it, but… That’s like me saying: “I choose to paint horribly.” when in fact, I don’t know how to paint. Somebody pointed out that (especially in the scenes where Flash travels back in time) the characters look like from PlayStation 2 era, and that comparison is spot on. And I say this as someone who has never owned a PS2 but has seen many games from that era. Intentional or not, it was a questionable, “rubbery” choice.
Overall, The Flash was over-hyped, and that’s saying it mildly. The movie is not bad by any measure. Well, except for the CGI, the cameo fest that didn’t matter, and the fact the entire film doesn’t matter… ok; actually, it might be bad. But I had a good enough time in the cinemas and some moments worked for me that I will be “nice”. Had this movie come out 5/6 years ago, it might have been an event. Now it feels stale, awkward (because of Ezra), and the brief flashes (some pun intended) of greatness remind us what could have been. The Flash is truly the McDonald’s of films, it does the job for 140 minutes, and you will forget about it the next day.
That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke