The Flash Review

 

The Flash is a comic book movie based on the DC Comics' character of the same name, as well as being influenced by the storyline Flashpoint. The movie serves as the 13th installment to the DC Extended Universe. It's produced by DC Studios, Double Dream, and The Disco Factory and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The Flash is written by Christina Hodson and directed by Andy Muschietti.

The story is Barry Allen has traveled back in time to prevent his mother's death, it seems like a normal world, however, this actually has grave consequences. Not only on there no metahumans, but a newly restored General Zod has come to Earth. Barry enlist a younger verison of himself, an older Batman, and a castaway Supergirl to stop Zod and return him to his universe.

Initial Reaction

Now at first, I was fully excited about this movie. But then...I saw leaks on Twitter. Seeing those really brought my excitement down, and I went to my theater with very, very, VERY low expectations.

Cons

If there's one thing I'll never defend about this movie, it's the cameos. I'm not talking about the one where it's based on a famously canceled Superman movie, I'm talking about the ones based on deceased actors. Those two cameos were just in bad taste. Especially since not only did they use horrible A.I. and deepfakes, but one cameo in particular doesn't have a family to speak for him. So it's up in the air on whoever approved of that. Another thing I didn't like was the ending. I really don't think it was necessary for a sequel bait. Especially because this movie did contain a lot more heart than I imagined, so teasing a sequel, in my mind, didn't feel needed. And that post-credit scene with a drunk Aquaman, was so stupid. So yeah, the ending is just bad all around.

Middle Ground

Now I imagine a lot of you, much like myself, saw the leaks with the CGI, and yeah, some of that can't be defended. Especially when the Flash was time traveling in a energy sphere. Andy Muschietti can go on and on about how it was for artistic reasons, but come on, there's a way to be artistic and still make things appealing. Now with that out of the way, not all of the CGI is bad. There are scenes when it's really good. So if you're planning to see this, even though you saw the leaks, ignore that footage that was taken on someone's phone. Another mix bag was the humor. I'll admit, there was some genuinely funny moments, but some jokes just didn't work.

Pros

There's two good aspects of The Flash and one of those is the performances, especially from Michael Keaton and Ezra Miller. It's impressive how Ezra was doing an amazing job at having to play two different characters, and Keaton, Keaton pretty much steals the show. It was great seeing him play Batman again, and I had a big smile on my face, whenever he was in the Batsuit. Now for my biggest praise, and it's like I said before, this movie actually has a lot of heart to it. Because a majority of comic book movies seem hellbent on pleasing people who have this narrow view, that a comic book movie can only be good if there's an overabundance of comedy, I was expecting to see basically more of a parody of The Flash. Sure there's jokes, but they weren't the primary focus. A good portion of the movie is Barry missing is mom, and wanting what any child would want when their parent is gone, and that's having the chance to bring them back. A lot of people can relate to that. A matter of fact, there's a scene where Barry is saying goodbye to his mom, and it's really good drama. My folks are alive and well, and if I found this scene touching.

While I did enjoy quite a few things about The Flash, there are somethings that I just couldn't get behind, especially those cameos. But, I do think a lot of the hate for this movie is overblown.

My final rating is, Okay.

Well, that's all for now. Come back on Monday, Jun 19th, for my review of Chris Hemworth's newest movie, Extraction 2. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.