Review The Flash – Review on FilmTotaal
Director: Andy Muschietti | Script: Christina Hodson, Joby Harold | Cast: Ezra Miller (Barry Allen), Kiersey Clemons (Iris West), Ben Affleck (Bruce Wayne), Michael Keaton (Batman), Michael Shannon (Zod), ea | Time to play: 144 minutes | Year: 2023
The multiverse is already in full swing in competing DC movies. But within the world of comics, that concept originally began with DC, with the superhero The Flash. So this movie doesn’t steal from the others, but just follows its own source material. But somehow it seems that they want to benefit from the success that the competitor with clashing realities is achieving. The flash It’s a very entertaining movie, but the feeling that others have already done it cannot be completely shaken.
Now that Barry Allen as The Flash is a superhero who is part of the Justice League, he has to juggle stressful personal life and saving lives when summoned by Batman. Especially now, when his innocent father has to show up again to prove that he didn’t kill his wife, Barry’s mother, years ago. Suddenly, Barry discovers that when he runs as fast as he can, he can travel back in time. He can’t resist making a small adjustment that saves his mother, but he turns present reality upside down.
They never learn either. Bruce Wayne tells Barry that he can’t change anything in the past, that it’s better not even to travel back in time. But yes, if he listens to this advice he shows himself to be an intelligent and sensible character and there would be no story to tell. Or an auteur film about a young man who lives with the trauma of growing up without a mother.
This is a comic book adaptation, a superhero story. So of course Barry won’t let him rest, and what follows is a drastic change in current reality. A world to which he does not really belong, so the only option is to correct his mistake. Barry finds himself in 2018, the year General Zod arrives and begins transforming Earth into an atmosphere humans cannot live in. So the first mission is to locate Superman.
With them Wonder Woman DC has already taken a step away from the humorless world that Zack Snyder had created for them. It was a smash hit, so there’s plenty of room for jokes in his movies now. Additionally, Joss Whedon contributed to how Barry Allen’s character is portrayed, making him a more three-dimensional human being.
On the other hand, Ezra Miller was cast in the role. If show business reports are to be believed, he is an odd figure and a difficult little man in his spare time. Bar fights, excessive alcohol and drug use, that kind of work. A standout actor can put on a facade and hide his own personality during a performance, but Ezra Miller isn’t that good (yet). The scenes where he has to emotionally scream aren’t great, the scenes where he’s emotionally quiet are.
His younger self, the Barry Allen of 2018, will drastically divide the audience. One will find him as a comedic version of the main character, the other as an annoying and shitty stoner boy. Everyone will agree that Barry 2.0’s smile isn’t as funny as he thinks. Especially in this doppelgänger character, Miller’s self-righteousness shines through.
As the trailer promised, Michael Keaton returns as Batman, including the theme song Danny Elfman composed for Tim Burton’s films. For those who know him in that role is a delight, Keaton remains a hero on several fronts, at least in comedy. Sure, he used a body double for the fight scenes, but that’s okay, because he’s actually too old for the moves he does.
A valid point of criticism is the quality of the computer effects. Some images are impossible to film in reality, but what comes out of the computer is of a lower quality than it was thirty years ago. It’s like a cartoon sometimes. Even babies and a dog are clearly not real, but the study apparently agreed with that.
The flash It is a show full of humor. That’s nothing new these days, so it’s no more than two and a half hours of hit entertainment. Leave logic behind, it is a science fiction story full of action and adventure. The fact that DC has moved away from its original gravelly vibe has done them good. Still, they would really stand out if they tried to overlap a bit.