The Flash

The 2023 superhero film, The Flash, will go down in comic book history as one of the most monumental misses for a studio when it comes to adapting a popular superhero. There have certainly been worse films released under the hero banner, and DC is no stranger to releases that divide their fanbase more than unite them, but this film suffered multiple behind-the-scenes dramas that have forever poisoned the legacy of the studio and the character. While the flash has been a popular character for quite some time and has had success in the animation and TV space (with the once-beloved CW series starring Grant Gustin certainly assisting with the popularity and likeable of the role), his presence in film hasn’t been very successful, and this outing may prevent him from taking the reins of a movie again any time soon. After helping to save the city, Barry Allen (played again by Ezra Miller) is grappling with the upcoming trial that will determine the ultimate fate of his imprisoned father, Henry (played by Ron Livingston), who has been wrongfully convicted for killing his wife and Barry’s mother, Nora (played by Maribel Verdú). With Barry suddenly realizing that he can use his powers to go back in time, he recklessly decides to reverse the course of fate and alter the events of the past, thereby allowing his mother to live. However, in doing so, a set of problematic dominos are tossed over, as the Barry who exists in this newly created timeline never got powers, the Justice League doesn’t seem to exist, and Earth is about to invaded by General Zod (played again by Michael Shannon) with no Superman to stop him. With both Barry’s needing to work together to stop this threat (especially since the original Barry lost his powers in a stunt that powered up his counterpart), this leads them to Bruce Wayne (played this time by Michael Keaton), who has grown despondent and given up the mantle of Batman, and Supergirl (played by Sasha Calle), who came to Earth instead of Superman, but was held prisoner and prevented from gaining her powers. Working to save this new world in order to stay with his mother, Barry will need to face the consequences of his actions, especially since this new Barry may not be going down such a heroic path. Warner Brothers quickly came to regret releasing this film, as the box office results were not very favorably, and the critical reception ranged from incredibly mixed to disastrous. While there are some solid ideas and performances featured within, the limp storytelling, incredibly messy script, poorly handled characters, and ghastly visuals are more than enough of a deterrent.

While the film had a long waiting period to suffer through due to the COVID pandemic pushing its release date further and further back, the initial idea for a movie has been around since as early as the 1980s (during which DC had only just started to get back into the movie space with Tim Burton’s Batman). While there was interest in a Flash movie, it took practically thirty years before a decision could be made on how to construct one, with several writers and directors by swapped out due to conflicting thoughts on what tone the film should have, several actors were considered and rejected including Ryan Reynolds and Adam Brody, and even after Barry Allen was officially introduced in a film through Zack Synder’s Justice League in 2017, it still didn’t accelerate its production in any way.  With all this in mind, it’s no surprise the film is so awkwardly constructed, with so many varying perspectives being stitched together by Joby Harold, and John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (a filmmaking duo who were originally set to direct the film but stepped away while still retaining story credits) to create one complete storyline which doesn’t fall into place. The plot for this film seems to take a lot of inspiration from the very popular Flash comic book event, Flashpoint, which focuses on the multiverse fallout of his decision to reverse his mother’s death, but instead retools it to better suit a direction that matched with their establishing universe, which ultimately doesn’t pan out very well. The narrative has very little stakes to it as the audience doesn’t really have much attachment to these characters or this world, the tone of the story is so childishly goofy and ran by in-your-face gags that it kills any sense of actual drama, the characters range from underdeveloped to just plain annoying, the look and visuals of the film are so poorly executed that it barely feels like it cares whether or not it pleases its fans, and while there are a handful of decent concepts, they are never taken advantage of because of how terrible the screenplay by Christina Hodgens is. With additional writing support from people like Rebecca Drysdale, Rick Famuyiwa, Seth Grahame-Smith, Geoff Johns, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Grant Morrison, Adam Sztykiel and even Ezra Miller themselves, it was never going to be a pretty picture, but the dialogue is lame and overly quippy, the directing by Andy Muschietti is so wild and over-the-top that it’s hard to feel invested when it tries to be serious, and despite the plot outline being prime for a dramatic and emotional delivery, the incessant focus on cameo appearances and lines, abysmal effects work and over expository writing, just makes it a crazy ride that you want to get off of fast.

One of the main components as to why this film was so divisive even before it was released was due to the star, Ezra Miller, who was hit with serious criminal charges on multiple fronts from a variety of people. Regardless of the morality of allowing a person who committed very bad things to still remain a star of a big-budgeted movie, the outside problems of an actor should not enforce the performance within said picture, but it certainly didn’t leave a good taste in people’s mouth. As the performance goes, they are incredible mixed and a lot of that is also worsen by the fact that they have to perform two versions of the same character (one that hasn’t really been that well established anyway). The original Barry is already a whiny, bland complainer who has no personality traits to work with, but at least has a few scenes where he’s tolerable to be around, but the younger version of Barry is extremely obnoxious and is acted so strangely by Miller that it only makes it worse. Portraying a caricature so notably unrealistic that it calls into question whether or not Miller even comprehends how most people operate in real life, it is an overly squeaky, loud, childish portrayal on both accounts. The rest of the cast is acted a little better by comparison, but the film handles its characters so poorly that it feels like they are struggling to piece together what they’re even doing in the movie. People like Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, and Jeremy Irons appear in an opening action sequence that isn’t pieced together very well, serves no purpose in the story and quickly showcases the film’s awkwardly humorous tone, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú and Kiersey Clemons are fine on their own, but their scenes are so brief that they only feel like stock portrayals of expected architypes, and everything involved with the altered timeline just feels like a shallow cameo fest with no soul (quite literally in some case given some of the people they show off). Michael Keaton returning as Batman was a big headliner, but it honestly adds next to nothing in the movie and the portrayal is just not that good. Keaton doesn’t feel as invested anymore, all of his lines just feel like they’re winking so hard at the camera to the point of being irritating, and it doesn’t in any way feel like the character from the Burton films, but rather just an old Michael Keaton riffing in cosplay. The only one that avoids this issue is Sasha Calle as Supergirl, as even though the character is not given a lot of screentime or story purpose, she looks cool in the outfit and the acting really does elevate her above being just another cameo, as you really feel the rage and pessimism the character feels through how she portrays her, and it’s a shame that she was wasted on such a basic role.

The film was largely mocked for its terrible CGI effects which have managed to eclipse even other recent superhero-related material which have also showcased poor visuals. For a movie released by a big studio with a budget of $200 million, these effects are insanely embarrassing and are even hard to comprehend. Supervised by John Desjardin (who worked on a lot of the previous DCEU movies), any moment where an action scene takes place with a substantial amount of CGI included feels like something ripped out of a PS1 game (at best) or like something that AI generated and spat out (there’s already AI people in this movie, so it doesn’t feel like a stretch). While cited as ‘’intentionally looking bad’’ by the director in order to show the formless nature of the speed force, this idea maybe could’ve worked better if the visuals weren’t so bland and lame looking. The imagery that pops up when in this alternate time pocket isn’t abstract enough to feel creatively free-forming but is also not structured or consistent enough to feel like an ironed-out idea, it is just a mess and will forever be remembered as one of the worst uses of CGI in a film in recent memory. The action scenes are not terrible and on occasion can have a decent shot, but otherwise are not very well put together, have no real stakes due to the nature of the story and obsession with time reversal, and are often ruined by an obnoxious song or blaring musical piece by composer, Benjamin Wallfisch, camera work by Henry Braham that is so active, mobile and frantic that it distracts the audience away from the thing of focus, and the already mentioned poor effects which take you out of any moment they’re featured.

The Flash may not be the worst superhero movie, as there have been others in the past which have been more universally hated and laughed at, but it’s safe to say that it has enter the ranks. With those past examples, you can feel a least a sense of misguided passion in some areas, whereas this might’ve had an earnest origin, but rotted over time and was left with a hollow centre that probably should’ve been thrown out rather than repackaged. The story isn’t engaging, the script isn’t very good, the directing ruins a lot of the film’s more grounded moments, the characters aren’t well established, the acting feels aimless, the fight scenes aren’t memorable, the visuals are pathetic, and even though the world, time-related rules and sparky personality of the Flash’s characters can and should make for an entertaining film, it just isn’t present in this failed science experiment. Pretty sad when a channel that championed Dawson’s Creek can produce a more likeable, timeless, memorable and visually pleasing adaptation than a two-hundred-million-dollar blockbuster, probably best to leave this one dead in the past.