The Flash Film Review

Okay humanity, hear me out, it was actually good.

Directed by Andy Muschietti, The Flash stars Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash, Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Sasha Calle as Kara Zor-El/Supergirl, Ron Livingston as Henry Allen, and Michael Shannon as General Zod. Also appearing are Kiersey Klemons as Iris West, Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Maribel Verdu as Nora Allen, and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Many other DC heroes and characters make cameos throughout the film.

Somehow the DC film with the most tumultuous production and polarizing star (for good reason) ended up being one of the most enjoyable superhero movies I’ve seen in a while. The movie was a thrilling ride from the beginning. It was full of heart, engaging action sequences, and laugh out loud comedy.

Before I risk my reputation by talking about what I liked about this movie, I’m gonna talk about what could’ve been better. The CGI in certain scenes could’ve been a bit more polished. There are times where you could tell when something was fake or and when something was real. There’s also a couple moments where CGI was used to bring certain actors back to life. Nothing on the level of Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One but it does come close.

Ezra Miller is a fine Flash, and showed a lot of talent by portraying not one but two Flashes at the same time. There were some moments, specifically when he’s on the date with Iris, where he comes off as incredibly awkward and stiff. When he has to be a hero though, that’s when Ezra’s performance is the best.

I think we can all guess who had the other great performance in the movie. Michael Keaton’s return as Batman was a welcome one. The move did a great job of showing that Michael Keaton could still be a convincing Batman. He kicked lots of ass and was a great mentor figure for the Flash.

I’d say Sasha Calle and Michael Shannon’s performances in the film were both equally good. They weren’t in the film for very long and I felt like more could’ve been done with both of their parts. They both did a lot of cool stuff so it’s not like either was totally wasted in the movie.

If there was one performance that I’d consider to be the heart of the film, it was Maribel Verdu as Nora Allen. She’s the nicest DC Mom since Martha Kent and you really felt like she was important enough to break the multiverse for. The moments with Barry and Nora were some of the best in the film.

The Flash’s powers looked super duper cool. It’s like Andy Muschietti took inspiration from the Quicksilver scenes in the X-Men movies and then dialed them up to 11. The scene at the beginning when he saved the babies was a personal favorite, even though those babies were definitely CGI babies.

I also liked how the Flash’s ability to time travel was represented in the movie. It’s wild to imagine being able to run so fast that you can perceive multiple realities, futures, and multiverses at the same time. I know the Speed Force is a pretty broken concept but it looked awesome in the movie, and it looked better than what had already been shown in the Justice League Snyder Cut.

The movie did a good job of making Keaton Batman’s fight scenes believable. Michael Keaton isn’t the spry crime fighter he was in his early Batman films, but he was still able to beat up Russian soldiers and go one on one with Kryptonians. His fighting style felt distinct and like an homage to how he fought in the Burton films.

This is the best directed DC movie since James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. Andy Muschietti did a great job of finally bringing the Flash his own movie after years of languishing in Development Hell. Muschietti is such a versatile director, and I can’t wait to see what he does with Batman in The Brave and The Bold.

All in all I think that The Flash is the biggest surprise of the year. As the multiverse continues to be used in movies, I’m glad that The Flash took that idea in a cool direction. Even if this could be the last Ezra Miller Flash film, I’m glad that this one was a great time at the movies. I know this one will be running its way into my movie collection.

8.6/10