PREMISE
Barry Allen uses his super speed to change the past, but his attempt to save his family creates a world without superheroes, forcing him to race for his life in order to save the future.
THE GOOD STUFF
Ezra Miller– The thing that really sucks about Ezra Miller being such a punk motherf***** is that they do have a lot of talent. I know a couple of people that would cite Grant Gustin’s first couple of seasons on The flash TV show on the CW as being the most accurate representation of the character. Because I haven’t seen the show, I can only assume that Barry Allen is being played more seriously, and although that arises my curiosity… I’ve always appreciated what Miller has done with this character. The Zack Snyder films were so self-serious and downbeat. They have been a serious highlight of the thermonuclear cinematic disaster that has been the dceu.
Miller does turn out two decent enough performances in this film. They carry the film rather easily, and from a talent standpoint alone, it is understandable why you wouldn’t want to let a talent like them go, even though Miller is chop full of punk motherf*****ness in actual life. Whomever they replace them with is going to have to equal the comedy that they bring to this character. Not saying it can’t be done, but that’s the way the character is going to have to play out if the character is to continue.
THE 2ND ACT- The second act of this movie does the thing that I want all superhero movies to do from now until the end of time: it explains why fellow superheroes are unavailable to help even though the world is ending.
In how many MCU movies have I seen where the protagonist of the movie is clearly in peril, the world is on the teeter-totter of destruction, and no other Avengers show up without explanation? Plenty. This is perhaps the thing that bothers just me and nobody else, but it’s worth mentioning. I’m glad they explained why Barry Allen was on his own.
ALL THINGS BATMAN- Michael Keaton in this movie is exactly as dope as advertised. He’s not exactly my Batman per se, but I understand people who will defend him as being the best Batman so far until their dying days. Keaton swag is on a thousand percent in every frame. On top of everything, they had the nerve to bust out that original Batman theme from 89; there’s an amazing shot of the Batwing being in the shadow of the Moon as Batman dives from the sky; they put a money shot of the greatest batmobile ever put to screen in this movie. Along with the greatest Batman costume to ever exist. Fan service was out of this world when it came to everything involving Keaton’s Batman.
THE BAD STUFF
SUPERLADY- Just so you know, I’m really not a Superman fan that much. And I’m not sitting here trying to give Zack Snyder too much credit when it comes to his role in the dceu, but I’ve always appreciated how he tried to give Superman a little bit of a conflict. Superman is someone with the answer to every single problem if kryptonite is not present… and it’s boring.
And Supergirl is kinda like that. She’s just as bland, just as boring, I think her longest stretch of dialogue might be three consecutive sentences, and unlike Kal-El, she does not have the answer to every problem. Her action scenes are not very dynamic in any way, shape, or form in comparison to the Flash or Batman. She hits people, and they fly far away and end of combat. She’s only here to conveniently do the superpowered stuff that Bruce Wayne and Flash can’t do. Yawn.
THE UGLY STUFF
IRIS WEST- Why is this character here? It seems as if the presence of this character is just to show Flash fans a character that they are familiar with from the show so that they can go…
You really could have cut this character entirely from the film and saved about 10 minutes of running time in a 2-hour and 25-minute movie. No purpose.
THIS F****** CGI- Believe the hype on this. It is as ugly and amateur looking as you may have heard. In particular, in the final action sequence, and every time Barry goes back in time, this CGI looks like the now outdated stuff that Guillermo del Toro would have done in the early 2000s. Repeated eye sores at different points in the movie simply cannot be unseen.
*************
Apparently, this was supposed to be the closing chapter of the dceu. And if it is, then it’s a strong way to go out. This is certainly a flawed film, but certainly not amongst the worst that the DCEU has done. They’ve set the bar so low and so often that this film looks like The Maltese falcon in comparison to some of the b******* that we’ve been treated to over the past decade or so… And this is merely just a good film. That should tell you a lot about how bad the dceu has been. Â Let’s just be happy new days are on the horizon.
THE FLASH is in theaters now
