Warner Bros. Pictures The Flash is a movie that was announced as far back as 2014.
After all of this time in the making, and with multiple directors leaving the project, it finally arrives in cinemas. Directed by Andy Muschietti and stars Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle and Michael Shannon.
I have seen both the non-final version of the film at the end of May, as well as an IMAX screening of the completed film on June 13, this review is for the completed version.
Ezra Miller embarks on a first live-action solo outing for The Flash and it’s an immensely fun superhero event.
It is like watching Man of Steel, Back to the Future and Spider-Man: No Way Home combined into one.
It has one of best openings to a DC film, filled with exciting action, creatively funny scenes and such a great way to present those running scenes. The movie does well to capture a heartwarming and emotional story for Barry Allen.
The Flash film finally establishes Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen as their own fleshed out character compared to previous appearances and they are the best version yet, apart from Grant Gustin’s extensive TV iteration of The Flash.
Miller gave a brilliant performance that showcases Barry Allen’s character development thoughout the film, it’s a more matured iteration for the most part, that contrasts the other Barry’s less mature role.
Really enjoyed seeing the buddy-comedy elements to this between the two Barrys and how they interacted with Supergirl (Sasha Calle) and Batman (Michael Keaton).
Michael Keaton is back, as epic as ever in the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. Keaton steps into the suit as if he had never left, with plenty of great action scenes and a few callback lines to look out for. As well as seeing his cool cartoonish appearance and bat-tech once again.
Sasha Calle had a stand-out performance, for her first appearance as a theatrical Supergirl, since the last one was in the 80’s played by Helen Slater.
With the pacing of the movie being rushed, it would have benefited from a much needed longer runtime, especially given the realized antagonists small screentime.
I had an issue with how short-lived the appearances of the antagonists were in this. It should have included some epic fight scenes between the speedster villain Dark Flash, that character turned out to be underwhelming. The build up felt like it just fizzled out fairly quickly.
Quite a few cameos were fun, however most were poorly executed; presented in such a strange way, that were definitely overshadowed by terrible VFX.
This seems to be one of the weakest parts to the movie. They are also more of a love letter to DC fans overall, than The Flash centric characters, that could have been more meaningful.
Visuals
Best parts visually about the film were during Barry’s electrifying running scenes that looked amazing, as well as showing off any other moment of speedster abilities, they really nailed that.
Incredible work on the CG face placements during both dark and brightly lit scenes featuring the two Barry Allens. There were only noticeable errors sometimes where it looked a little bit off.
Worst parts visually about this movie are the over-use of CG models; the chronobowl stadium scenes are an interesting concept, however it all looked so rough in terms of unfinished textures and lighting.
The VFX workers would have benefited from having a few more months to work on this, because it’s clearly been rushed.
It’s very odd that they didn’t composite some actors that were already cast, by filming them in front of a green screen or used archival footage during some of the Chronobowl scenes, instead it’s an unecessary sludge of distracting elements combined into a montage.
Colour grading was perfect, slightly cooler blue tones complimented the red suit and speedforce lightning in city scenes, with warmer tones suitably for the dessert. The grading was similar to the recent DC film Shazam: Fury of the Gods.
Sound
Ben Wallfisch’s soundtracks are incredible, and this easily makes every scene so much better. Very pleased with the sound mixing, there’s a clear destinction between being able to hear the dialogue and the rest of the sounds.
Final Thoughts
Overall, it’s a fun time travel film, especially with The Flash finally getting a solo theatrical entry. It is currently the best live-action multiverse film that DC has to offer. However, there are much better multiverse films that have come out in recent years.
Although, it’s a farcry from being as great as the DC animated film Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox; that executed the story so well and had stronger villains, with the inclusion of cameo characters that have an interesting involvement.
The Flash has one credit scene, that’s worth waiting around for a last minute DC character surprise.
