There is something that feels…ghoulish in watching the last handful of DC movies because they are, for lack of a better term, dead films walking. They are holdovers for a previous regime and, good, bad, or mediocre, the odds are slight that they’ll have any impact on what is to come save for souring moviegoers on the brand.
With FLASH it’s a bit harsher in that the film was delayed over and over again as its lead dealt with mounting personal and legal issues that made you wonder if it had any chance at all.
So, you wonder, as it hits streaming, is it even worth a darn or just so much vaporware?
The answer to both is yes.
It’s a fun movie, with a LOT of great stuff but it’s also pulling so much baggage, its own as well as its previous regimes and its stars’, that it never really had a chance to do more than just middling. It’s frankly a wonder that it’s as decent as it is.
FLASH is essentially an ‘Elseworlds’ tale, for lack of a better way to put it. Elseworlds stories were DC’s What If line in that they were stories with established characters but served as one-off tales that presented possibilities but didn’t have an impact on the established story arcs or continuity. They are just – oh, what if this happened? – tales. It’s a really fun way to tell stories with these characters that don’t have any bearing on bigger pictures, thus allowing any manner of weirdness to go down. FLASH, in this new world of DC, can be seen in that light. This is what MIGHT happen with characters you know/knew. It doesn’t have to ‘mean’ anything though. It can just be weirdness for the sake of weirdness.
What you have is a story of regret. Barry, AKA the Flash, lost his mother at a young age and his father was blamed for her murder thus he lost two parents because of one incident. While he is a superhero and part of the Justice League, Barry is still very much an outsider trying to find his way. One day he accidentally happens upon the possibility that he might be able to alter the timeline if he were to run fast enough to go back in time. What he doesn’t realize though is that as soon as he does this he creates a spur in the fabric of time and from it alternate earths are accessible, meaning every version of himself, or the other heroes, familiar or strange, have their worlds altered in large or small ways. If Barry can’t stop in his pursuit to save his mother and figure a way to fix the timelines he may destroy everything.
Big stuff and a familiar idea now that the idea of a ‘multiverse’ is part of our vernacular. This is a very classic idea though and one that was covered extensively in the recent television series.
The movie is well-made. It’s very well acted, with Ezra Miller doing a really nice job in their roles. The real revelation is in presenting a new Superman and a familiar Batman to aid Barry. The Bat stuff takes the show as it perfectly captures another time, another era, and a version of the character a lot of us miss. The film is rife with that stuff though, and lots of Oh My Gosh, Is That So-And-So moments. So many that it becomes distracting at the end. You are looking for these callbacks and not paying attention to the plot.
The plot is decent but it jumbles some Flash lore together to make itself cohesive and throws too many villainous plots at you.
And that’s the thing, the movie is too much.
There is so much going on that it’s easy to lose the plot in remembering who people are, who their elseworld versions are, and that this isn’t the world we know from other movies.
They do an admirable job trying to make you aware of that but it gets sticky.
There’s also the matter of the CGI, which is supposedly intentional but feels really, really cheap. You’ll know it all when you see it and while it doesn’t ‘ruin’ the movie it takes you so far out of it that you’re just a bit gobsmacked on what to think.
There are some wonderfully funny moments in this that play with the conceit of superheroes, there are a lot of surprises, and the beats we are familiar with feel new with different stakes and different players. This movie succeeds as brilliantly as it fails.
As well as it is directed, and acted, and as well as some of the moments work it’s a jumbled mess of a movie.
They do what it seems all of these movies want to do now and that is to tell epic, sweeping films with huge stakes when they don’t need to. They need to tell one story well and let the rest fall into place with other films. These films feel very – do it while we can because we won’t get another chance.
And that’s probably true.
It doesn’t mean it’s the right decision.
I cannot imagine what this film started as, went through in editing, and became. It feels like it wanted to be two movies but was forced to be one.
Saying all of that, it’s still entertaining.
It’s still fun.
It has a lot of great points and great Easter eggs.
What it really means in the grand scheme?
I wager very little.
It was a fun ride though, and if you’re a superhero ride or die, like I am, then you’ll want to take a look. It’s better than many said but as much of a mess as you probably thought.
3 out of 5
…c…
The Spooky World of Chris Ringler 