½

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.

A simple look at news articles surrounding the production of The Flash would have you under the impression you’re observing a product that was doomed to fail. Whether it go from the controversies surrounding Ezra Miller to the film’s repeatedly changing directors, to see the consequences that this film would have on the fate of the DC Extended Universe would be almost fascinating. It’s fascinating just in the sense that these circumstances would make The Flash into a franchise killer, especially in an era where superhero films have become one of the dominant forces of popular media in today’s age. Many of these have not been especially good, but The Flash might just as well represent the very bottom of the barrel.

Following the events of Justice League, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) is shown struggling to maintain the balance between his life as a regular citizen and his superhero persona. He is not taken as seriously by the fellow members of the Justice League due to his youth – but tries his best. Recalling an incident with his own youth that left his mother dead, he decides to go back in time hoping to make things right, despite warnings from Batman. But going back through time has ended up bringing unintended consequences for him, inevitably altering the universe he once knew – running into both his past self and an alternate version of Batman (Michael Keaton) in this new universe he inadvertently created.

We’ve already seen films that explore the concept of the multiverse in very thoughtful ways, whether they be through exploring a legacy in the same way that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has done so, or to capture the chaos of an always changing world in the Academy Award-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once. Yet it seems like when the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe have gotten their hands on this concept, the only reasonable conclusion is to point back at characters that people love in order for nerds to recreate their “Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the screen” moment as many remember from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It was especially egregious in the case of Spider-Man: No Way Home, but The Flash takes you down a more actively offensive routing.

All of this starts with the re-entry of Michael Keaton as Batman. To see him re-enter as the caped crusader once again in The Flash makes evident how he feels out of place within a newer series of superhero films, but it’s clear he’s trying his hardest to keep everything afloat as one of the best actors in the film. Also welcome is Sasha Calle, who plays Supergirl in here – where she’s trying her best with rather pitiful material. It’s all evident with how much of this film is carried upon Ezra Miller’s shoulders. Miller, playing a dual role as present-day Barry Allen and Barry’s younger self, might just as well be the worst performer of the bunch. Miller’s performance is very uneven, but even in playing a dual role there’s no distinction between past and present self that feels evident, it still feels like one character talking to themselves in a room.

But I think the worst aspect about The Flash is that it seems to have a massive crisis stemming entirely from who the film is aiming for. At this point in time with the DC Extended Universe, it was clear that these films have no consistent tone which has continually eaten them up over the years. When the DC Extended Universe started with Zack Snyder’s films, he approached them with a dark tone that wasn’t always successful, but it felt like he established something to bounce off from. But obviously, the need to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe has led to films that can’t quite decide who they’re going to be for, especially when they don’t mix the lightness and the darkness as deftly. The Flash runs on jokes that get old really fast, but also it seems to have no distinct identity from many other past superhero stories before it – in fact, Flashpoint kept coming to mind as the film met its climactic moments which are just about the same as every other superhero movie in the past.

This era of big studio filmmaking is a particularly bleak one; constantly driven by bringing back familiar characters with no purpose beyond sucking off their own legacies like leeches. It’s already been evident in the Marvel Cinematic Universe post-Endgame, but trying to replicate that success has only made clear where these superhero movies’ own weaknesses come to light. The Flash might not be the worst superhero movie that I’ve ever seen, but I think that it could very well be the worst that I’ve seen in the past few years. It’s just an ugly mess that can’t escape a never-ending identity crisis, to the point that it leeches off other superhero movies in order to tell its own story. It was bad enough when Spider-Man: No Way Home did it, but that didn’t mean DC had to make theirs even worse. But it should be enough to satisfy those who like to point at the screen at a character they love.

Watch the trailer right here.

All images via Warner Bros. Discovery.

Directed by Andy Muschietti
Screenplay by Christina Hodson, from characters from DC Comics
Produced by Barbara Muschietti, Michael Disco
Starring Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue, Michael Keaton
Running Time: 144 minutes
Release Date: June 16, 2023