The Pitch: Time is just whizzing by for our ol’ pal Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), aka The Flash. For one thing, keeping up with his hyperactive metabolism, his responsibilities as a member of the Justice League, and his regular life is an awful lot for one young man to balance. Plus, he still hasn’t given up hope that he might be able to exonerate his father Henry (Ron Livingston), wrongfully accused of the murder of Barry’s mother (Maribel Verdú) for years now.
So when Barry discovers, after a late night run to get out his frustration, that if he runs fast enough he can actually step backwards in time… Well, he’s seen Back to the Future, what could possibly go wrong? Despite the warnings of Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), Barry comes up with a plan to save his mother’s life, but believe it or not — things go wrong. Now trapped in a fractured alternate reality with his younger self, he’ll need the help of this universe’s Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) to untangle the cooked spaghetti he’s made out of the timeline, and hopefully find a way back to the reality he considers home.
Rote Is the Watchword: The Flash, as a production, has not had the easiest journey to the screen, in part thanks to the off-screen behavior of its star. (A good pro-tip for life: Try to avoid choices that will lead to publications writing a comprehensive timeline of your legal troubles.) Between Ezra Miller’s actions and DC in general undergoing a massive overhaul following the hiring of James Gunn and Peter Safran to spearhead a new creative direction for the franchise, there’s an immense amount of baggage weighing down what proves to be a vaguely competent superhero adventure, albeit one that fails to add anything significant to the genre by the end.
While capably directed by Andy Muschietti, the It director doesn’t get any real opportunity to incorporate his horror bonafides, leading to much of the superhero action feeling as rote as a B-tier MCU project. Which is a shame, because some of the superhero genre’s best films have come from horror directors utilizing a slightly sinister approach, as seen in James Wan’s Aquaman, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films (especially Spider-Man 2).
This is one of those movies where, from scene to scene, you can predict each beat coming a moment before it happens; the coherent script by Christina Hodson (story by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, and Joby Harold) manages a couple of surprises across the two hour and 24-minute runtime, but they’re few and far between. (And most of the “big” surprises have already been spoiled by “leaks” clearly designed to build up buzz for the more fan-service-y elements of the film).
Dancing with Yourself: Acting-wise, Miller doesn’t lack for nuance on a scene-by-scene basis. But there’s a funny moment midway through The Flash, after Barry’s gotten to spend a little time with his hyperactive 18-year-old self, where he scolds teen Barry for being too annoying and talkative… before realizing how often he’s heard people tell him the same thing. It’s amusing; however, it also highlights why, perhaps, it took so long for a solo Flash movie to happen, regardless of behind-the-scenes issues.
The Flash (Warner Bros.)
