The Flash (and the DCEU) Stumbles to the Finish Line
So..... I went to see The Flash on opening night, and I have... Thoughts.
Like a lot of people, I was originally on the fence about going to see the film in theaters at all, given the fact that my movie-going dollars would signal direct support for a film with an extremely problematic star.
But Ezra Miller aside, thousands of people contributed to the film, and James Gunn — who I've been a fan of since long before he was ever considered to direct big budget movies, let alone run an entire film studio — has repeatedly said that he thought it was great. Plus, my wife was out of town, so... There ya go.
Here's the thing… It wasn't horrible. But it's also frustratingly far from great, and mostly for reasons I didn't expect going in.
For those of you relatively familiar with DC's comics and animated films, The Flash is basically a mash-up of a bunch of classic storylines mainly including Flashpoint by Geoff Johns & Andy Kubert and Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman & George Pérez (who sadly died just last year), along with bits and pieces from Injustice, Dark Knight Returns, and depending on how you view Keaton’s Batman, perhaps even Batman Beyond.
In other words, it's not particularly original... but it is actually a pretty good story overall.
The Plot.
Without spoiling anything major, here’s what happens: A few years after the events in Justice League, The Flash is now a fully-fledged member of the team and regularly participating in heroic missions around the world.
Since saving Earth from Steppenwolf and Darkseid, he's also become a bit of a celebrity.
Meanwhile, Barry Allen is gainfully employed as a forensic scientist working at a crime lab.
Just like in the comics, the reason Barry went into the criminal justice field in the first place was to gain the professional skills he needed to find evidence that might exonerate his dad, who was wrongfully convicted of his mother's murder and serving a life sentence in prison.
With the help of Bruce Wayne, Barry reconstructs some video footage that he hopes will be the key to his father's upcoming appeal, but when that doesn't pan out he goes for a run.
All the frustration and pain Barry feels over the death of his mom and inability to help his dad compel him to run faster, and faster, eventually breaking the light speed barrier, which pushes him into the Speed Force itself, unlocking a new ability:
Time travel.
And once he realizes it's possible, Barry contemplates using the power to go back in time to save his mom.
Bruce doesn’t think it’s a good idea, but Barry does it anyway.
Of course his plan instantly goes awry and he finds himself a few years in the past in an alternate timeline without Superman or Wonder Woman, but with an 18-year old Barry Allen who hadn't yet become The Flash, along with a completely different version of Bruce Wayne.
So when the General Zod — played again by Michael Shannon — shows up looking to terraform Earth like he did in Man of Steel, no one is around to stop him.
But to be honest, that's not really what the story is about.
Zod's presence in the movie is more of a motivational device that gives Barry a reason to re-think his actions and fix the damage he caused by messing with the past.
And without spoiling the end of the movie, it's what animates Other Barry to become the true problem The Flash has to overcome.
The Good, The Bad, and the Shockingly Ugly.
Ultimately, I think The Flash is not a very good film, but there are several things that I liked about it.
The opening sequence was absurdly entertaining in a goofy way that still successfully re-introduced us to Barry's character, his abilities and limitations, and his role inside the newly formed Justice League.
Seeing Michael Keaton play Batman again was a lot of fun, and Ezra Miller was actually way less annoying than I thought he'd be. That’s probably mostly a function of low expectations, so your mileage may vary on that one.
More importantly, the flashback sequences with Barry and his mother, played by Spanish actress Maribel Verdú, were all exceptional and the emotional core of the entire film.
Director, Andy Muschietti handles the emotional beats really well, and for the most part, he created a light, fun tone that's both a huge departure from a lot of the other DCEU movies and also a perfect fit for The Flash.
The movie needed to get Barry's personality and his relationship with his mother right, because it's the essential motivation behind everything else that happens.
And giving Barry an emotional reason to exceed the speed of light, rather than simply having him will his way into it, was not only a great narrative decision, it also resulted in one of the most moving scenes in the film.
Unfortunately, The Flash is also filled with awkward moments.
For one thing, it actively hangs a lantern on Ezra Miller's psychological problems and on legitimate complaints that his characterization in Justice League was extremely annoying. I’m not sure drawing attention to any of that was a very good idea.
And at the end of the day, I was shocked to see how utterly hideous it looks.
Whatever you've heard about the CG already, I promise you, it's worse.
I get that some of the design choices were intentional, and that it should look a little weird when Flash is moving at 10,000 miles a second... but there's simply no excuse for the way that Ben Affleck's Batman looks at the beginning of the film, or how most of the de-aged or post-humous "cameos" looked as Infinite Earths started to collide.
And it's not just the CG. It's also the costuming and the set design.
Grant Gustin's suit in the CW TV show looks considerably better than the thick rubber Ken Doll getup they put Ezra Miller in. Ugh.
But the bigger problem is that there's so much going on in the film:
Flash working with the Justice League,
Flash working to get his dad out of jail
Flash meeting Iris West
Barry’s flashbacks with his mom
Shenanigans with Other Barry
Going on a mission to find Bruce Wayne / meeting old Batman
Re-introducing General Zod from a different character’s perspective
Losing powers and re-gaining powers
Going on a mission to free Kara Zor-El from a Russian prison
Zod’s attack on Earth, and
The whole time-travel Crisis situation…
There's just not a lot of time to develop most of the characters effectively.
Marketing for the movie made it seem like Sasha Calle's Supergirl was going to be a major aspect of the story, but in reality, she has a handful of lines and largely serves as a narrative device in the same way that Zod does. She’s there to raise the stakes for Barry and animate Other Barry’s actions, but that’s about it.
It’s kind of a shame, since the few moments she did have weren't bad.
To be honest, I also expected the film to at least try to provide some kind of segue for the new, James Gunn-led "DCU", but it doesn't do anything of the sort.
Weird choice, given how things are going.
Box Office Disaster.
As hyped up as the movie was, it's had a rough opening weekend.
It was originally projected to bring in between $115-140M, but that got downgraded to $75 Million and as I write this, it’s winding down at around $61 million.
If anything, I think it shows how audiences don't trust professional reviewers and celebrity endorsements the way they used to, especially when they know that they can just see everything on streaming platforms like Max in a couple of months.
Major Studios can't just keep pumping out insanely expensive junk and expect people to lap it up.
I think James Gunn understands this. Almost everything he’s said on Twitter and in interviews about taking over the creative vision at DC has made me more excited to see what he’s going to do, rather than less. His comments on this recent episode of Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum contains a lot of examples of what I mean:
Either way, I hope he gets it. If he doesn’t bring his A-game with Superman: Legacy and if his grand vision for the rest of the newly-emerging “DCU” don’t bring anything new to the Superhero genre, I think the entire studio will be in a tremendous amount of trouble.
In the end, with the dissolution of the DCEU / “Snyderverse”; Ezra Miller being insane; and 8 years of production hell, The Flash seems like a film that was always going to be tough to pull off, and… well… yeah. There are certainly a lot of lessons to be learned by smart writers, directors, and studio executives in all this, but as far as whether or not you should rush out and see the film… Feel free to wait.