The Flash crumbles under the weight of its own tonal multiverse
Disclaimer: The arrests, allegations, and controversies surrounding Ezra Miller can’t be ignored. Many other actors, especially women and POC, have been punished for much less, their completed and upcoming work stripped away. My one sentence regarding Miller in The Flash is this: Their shtick is irritating in large quantities, having previously served in the DC Universe (DCU) as a quippy supporting character, and the film would be more successful (for many reasons) with a better leading actor. The rest of my review will ignore Miller, focusing instead on the merits and demerits of the film as a whole.
Since we last saw him in Justice League, Barry Allen, aka The Flash (Miller), has been serving as a one man clean up crew for the other League members, using his abilities to save lives from the aftermath of grand-scale criminality (aka crumbling buildings, a default DCU visual staple). Barry’s father (Ron Livingston) is currently in prison, charged with murdering Barry’s mother. On the eve of his last futile court appeal, Barry learns of his ability to travel back in time via Speed Force (quick research shows it could also be via the ‘cosmic treadmill’ device, but technical terms won’t be used much in this review, since the film isn’t concerned with identifying or explaining things, either). Despite being warned by Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), aka Batman, not to toy with the past, Barry travels back in time and saves his mother. In doing so, however, he enters a new timeline and begins to unravel the fabric of time itself, leading to alternate versions of superheroes and catastrophic events.
The Flash is at its strongest when the alternate timeline Batman arrives on screen (played by Michael Keaton, reprising his iconic role, who is all over the movie’s trailers so apologies if that’s a spoiler). Batman’s presence is just a reminder of how good we used to have it with DC films, before grand-scale devastation and character crossover events were premature priorities for the studio. Supergirl (Sasha Calle — again not a spoiler if you’ve seen any trailers), is another standout, and the eager anticipation for her standalone Supergirl movie is warranted. With an onslaught of other cameos, easter eggs, and industry meta jokes, figuring out The Flash’s target audience is an enigma. The fault isn’t with director Andy Muschietti (It; It: Chapter Two), who’s filmography proves he’s rather adept at pulling tension and emotional trauma from characters and settings to the forefront. With a messy backlog of DC films casting a shadow over every new release, and the production encountering numerous delays, The Flash suffered most from an unfocused objective. In a very comical opening ten minutes, The Flash feels more light-hearted and confident and available to all viewers. Quickly, the story flips to a handful of emotional beats and deep canonical storylines, sans explanation, so the casual viewer might be left baffled. The final third of the movie attempts light comedy mixed with deeply traumatic themes, interspersed with meta-DC references that only those who are over the age of thirty-five and have read the Hollywood trades would fully appreciate.
The movie is also filled with silly-looking CGI. Occasionally the visuals are impressive, but the CG humans are painfully obvious at other times, especially when there are two Barry Allens in a scene. Action set pieces contain scores of flimsy looking bystanders, and the characters depicted within the Speed Force/’cosmic treadmill’ venture dangerously close to Scorpion King territory. The final battle is a cascade of CG explosions, alien crossfire, and Speed Force altercations, most of which use flashy colors and inventive choreography to distract from any of the illogical storylines at play. As we’ve seen time and time again, these typical final battles lack the emotional punch needed to make us care about what’s truly at stake in the story.
Ultimately, The Flash is the franchise installment that rounds third base, heading home for a much-needed DCU reset. As the Marvel and Star Trek franchises have proved, introducing alternative timelines allows for fresh restarts without weakening or infringing upon previous installments. More importantly, these narrative devices reduce the risk of offending a rabid fanbase, which remains one of the biggest issues facing IP franchises today. With James Gunn now readying a DCU relaunch, and only Blue Beetle and Aquaman 2 left on the original film slate, seeing how the board can be reset for a new, more focused, and tonally consistent DCU will be interesting to watch. The Flash is the type of superhero film that can, and should, be left behind.
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The Flash opens in Bay Area theaters on Friday, June 16th.
