TL;DR – Through all its pre-production issues, the final product is a blast of fun, but I am not sure it would have the staying power on repeat watches.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

The Flash Review –

We are entering quite a tricky period for Superhero films. While they have been the dominant media property over the last decade, the shine is starting to come off the genre. While we will probably not see the great Western collapse again, how many players does the industry have room for? Can you still engage with a property you know is about to be rebooted? And can multiverses still work? These are some of the questions we will look at with our review of The Flash today.

So to set the scene, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) is living his life as part of the Justice League, but not as a leading figure as we see when Alfred (Jeremy Irons) calls him up before his morning breakfast to help clean up some of Batman’s (Ben Affleck) mess in Gotham City. But while he is very good at catching babies, the main issue in his life is trying to get his father, Henry (Ron Livingston), out of jail. He is serving a life sentence for murdering his wife, and Barry’s mother, Nora (Maribel Verdú), something Barry knows his dad did not do, but no one listened to him because he was just a kid at the time. In his frustration, Barry runs so fast that he breaches the speed of light and begins to transverse back and forwards in time, and surely nothing bad can happen from that.  

You always try to remove any preconceptions you might have when you walk in to review a film. However, while you try to do that, you have to be honest that, as humans, that is not something that you can be ultimately successful in. For a film like this, you can’t ignore what a disastrous pre-production period. The first attempt to get a movie out was back in 2018, and it has been a graveyard for many directors and writers since. This was even before lead star Ezra Miller had, well, let’s call them ‘difficulties’ and leave it at that. Add to this a fraught creation of the DCEU, and an upcoming revamp that already torpedoed the recent delightful Shazam! Fury of the Gods. However, when you hear that the screenwriter, Christina Hodson, was behind Bumblebee, and the director, Andy Muschietti, worked on It. Well, suddenly, your interest gets peaked.

To start with the good, Ezra Miller works well as Barry Allen/ The Flash. We saw that in previous films, like Justice League, but here The Flash was not the sidekick. Ezra had to carry the whole movie while playing two versions of themselves. Indeed, I think one of the film’s strengths was how they navigated two people that are essentially the same character yet make them feel completely different. Add to this Michael Keaton completely embodying the role of Batman again and Sasha Calle knocking it out of the park as Supergirl, and you have a strong core trio, or quartet, to anchor the film around.

To add to this, The Flash is a deeply amusing film. Just about everyone in the cast gets to flex their comedic muscles at some point, with the highlight being the best use of Wonder Woman’s (Gal Gadot) Lasso of Truth that we have seen in any of the films so far. Also, just a fantastic opening title card. The narrative as a whole works fine, and I think we get one of the more unique explanations of the rules of Time Travel and probably one of the better justifications for wanting to go back in time. It did lean heavily on the nostalgia factor, but for me, it worked better than when Spider-Man: No Way Home attempted a similar vibe.  

From a production side, the visual effects were a bit of a hit or miss. The graphical representation of The Flash running through time was an interesting visual choice. I didn’t mind that stylistic choice within that framework, but it didn’t work as well when we see that same rubbery texture in other elements of the film. The musical score works in elements we have heard in the past, like Danny Elfman’s score from Batman. However, Benjamin Wallfisch also brings his how voice to the proceedings, especially in the running sections. What I am not sure about is if the film has staying power, much of the choices work on you not knowing that they are coming, and I am not sure that they hold on to a second viewing. There is also a sequence at the end of the film that I am not sure landed as well as they wanted, and I have heard from people that it ruined the movie for them.

In the end, do we recommend The Flash? Well, to start with, you will have your own line in the sand when it comes to the Art v Artist debate, which might significantly impact your wanting to see the film. It also has a very particular vibe, which might rub you the wrong way. But for me, I liked it quite a bit. If you liked The Flash, we would also recommend to you Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you watched The Flash?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 


Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Flash
Directed by – Andy Muschietti
Screenplay by – Christina Hodson
Story by – John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein & Joby Harold
Based on – Characters from DC
Music by – Benjamin Wallfisch
Cinematography by – Henry Braham
Edited by – Jason Ballantine & Paul Machliss
Production/Distribution Companies – DC Studios, Double Dream, The Disco Factory, Universal Pictures & Warner Bros. Pictures
Starring – Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, Michael Keaton, Kiersey Clemons, Ron Livingston & Maribel Verdú with Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Rudy Mancuso, Luke Brandon, Ian Loh,  Michael Shannon, Antje Traue, Ben Affleck, Jeremy Irons, Temuera Morrison, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa & George Clooney with the likenesses of Nicolas Cage, Adam West, Christopher Reeve, Helen Slater & George Reeves        
Rating – Australia: M; Canada: G; Germany: 12; New Zealand: M; United Kingdom: 12A; United States: PG-13