The Flash Review: An Excellent Film That Relaunches the Dc Universe to The Cinema
Cast: Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdù, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue, Michael Keaton, Ben Affleck, Jeremy Irons
Director: Andy Muschietti
Where to Watch: In Theaters
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
The Flash is a film that is the child of its chaos that, a net of problems, succeeds in its intent: to entertain and amuse every audience. There was a moment when this movie seemed like it would never come out. Maybe even more than a moment. And then slowly but inexorably it became a unique object, absurd, full of contradictions, impossible to pigeonhole, and also for this damned fascinating. A productive case study story that of The Flash, which arrives in our cinemas on 15 June. Carrying past dreams and future doubts with it, but always maintaining an almost ineffable attraction. Can you see it for Michael Keaton, Batman is still granite in the hearts of fans. For Ben Affleck, who never managed to wear that costume completely? For Ezra Miller and the storms, it brought down on the film? For surprises or to understand how all this will bring about James Gunn’s DCU? Maybe in the end you just see it, because The Flash is the son of his chaos and should be approached. We will tell you why.
One thing is certain: this is a film that had to bring order to the chaos of a collapsing cinematic universe. And that tells the story of a hero who has to bring order amidst the chaos of a collapsing multiverse. And in both cases, you have to deal with the past (and also with tomato puree). In short, it is truly incredible how the productive history of this unfortunate work is identical to the one it tells. In our review of The Flash, we will tell you about a bizarre, cheeky, sometimes funny, and in some moments too amused cinecomic. Certainly, a film that does not leave us indifferent as other dull cinecomics are doing lately. Because Andy Muschietti has put the turbo on this roller coaster that is not afraid of vertigo or derailment. And so, it catapults us into a non-stop multidimensional adventure of ups and downs. Someone will feel nauseous, others will be exalted, but no one will be able to say they are bored.
The Flash Review: The Story Plot
Go back in time to save your mother but risk jeopardizing the space-time continuum. This is the doubt from which everything starts in The Flash, the triggering event that Barry Allen can’t escape. It almost seems to hear the echo of another film that has already made an example of canonical and multiverse events to follow (and if you haven’t read it yet, run to our review of Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse). Andy Muschietti’s film has minor artistic ambitions but finds his first strength right where he risked the most: Ezra Miller. His (indeed, his) Barry Allen works, mix a sense of pure outsider and a drama measured in the moments of greatest emotional impact. Ezra Miller doubles as a more mature and self-aware Barry and a young, rookie version of him.
Giving life to moments that are realistic in their absurdity: if you’re sailing towards 30, try to imagine having to argue with an eighteen-year-old version of yourself. Patience would probably be short-lived, continuing to repeat “But was I like that?”. In these dynamics The Flash works, giving thickness and depth to Barry and fully exploiting the skills of Ezra Miller. As if it were a mature and sui generis origin film, where the superhero trains his little super and little hero self.
The Flash Review and Analysis
When James Gunn said he liked The Flash we all raised an eyebrow. Sure, it’s hard to criticize a product that you’ve found yourself having to manage anyway, but a few scenes are enough to understand why: comedy. The type of humor used in The Flash is very much in the vein of Gunn. It doesn’t touch his peaks, but there are genuinely funny moments that make fun of the concept of superhero in general and The Flash figure. It is a comedy that does not break the rhythm of the narrative and fits well into a context that is decidedly dramatic at times, without ever weakening it or making it ridiculous. Christina Hodson’s screenplay knows which strings to strike for those who love a more caustic type of irony, which blends well with more solemn tones capable of making certain characters stand out as much as possible.
Just think of the little big lesson that Ben Affleck‘s Bruce Wayne delivers to Ezra Miller‘s Flash, the true moral legacy of a Batman who has never really been exploited and whose treatment we will always regret badly managed without any foresight. It almost seems superfluous to reiterate, but there it is: Michael Keaton is still damn perfect as Batman. Charisma to spare, total stage presence, both in costume and without. A tribute to the glory that was without lapsing too much into nostalgia, giving him the role of a mentor who must also somewhat find himself, brought back to life out of necessity but underneath immortal in his being an icon. It is undeniable that his presence is an important driving force for The Flash, in which we would perhaps have liked to see Ben Affleck‘s Batman a little more, despite his speech on scars, as we said, it perhaps represents the best moment of the character in his bumpy cinematic adventure. The real sin though, if you think about it, is Sasha Calle’s Supergirl. A great pity… because it is a little exploited.
A few shots are enough for her to take the spotlight: taking her eyes off her becomes almost impossible. A version of the character capable of carving out its niche practically only thanks to the presence of an actress who has so much to give in the cinematographic field, for a Supergirl who knows if we will ever see again, even if we want to. At this point, one might think that the film has no major flaws, but unfortunately, it collapses when faced with a rock that shouldn’t even present problems for a cinecomic: CGI. The special effects of The Flash are really at the limits of acceptable, and in some cases, unfortunately, go even further. The faces of certain characters recreated on the computer clash with our gaze, especially in the moments when Flash goes back in time. The action scenes are affected by the CGI, which trudges several times without allowing the viewer to fully enjoy what is happening on the screen.
Also, thanks to the direction of Andy Muschietti, who can never find his identity or his gaze, taking things here and there (a bit from Snyder, a bit from Reeves) but remaining anonymous and without a shot that can just be remembered. This then mixes with a still nebulous product in James Gunn’s revolution: there will be time and a way to talk about it, but without spoilers, The Flash paradoxically clarifies little about his future and how everything will fit (if he does) into the DCU. Taken individually, however, a net of defects and stumbles, he lives on his flare-ups and cameos capable of making us jump out of our chairs with our eyes widening. What then, in the end, is what we wanted from the film, right? Let them be crazy. And the madmen have made them all right.
This not-exactly-happy balance between the two needs, artistic and commercial, is even more evident in the light of the very recent Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (which, needless to do on purpose, addresses the issue of the Multiverse with a very similar philosophy), where the multiple universes are consistent with the film’s cinematic setting and not an excuse to make up for past mistakes (and, partially along the lines of Spider-Man: No Way Home, earn nostalgia points with longtime fans). There is a fairly clear caesura between the first two acts, those where the epic and the person go more or less hand in hand, net of some fall in style in individual action scenes, and the third, where the powerful emotional highlight of the whole story risks drowning in a CGI soup that smacks entirely of a top-down imposition to arrive at a new starting point (although the new DC Universe, creatively managed by James Gunn, will hardly correspond entirely to create by Barry’s actions).
After ten years, the DCEU’s earthly suffering has come to an end. And as Nora Allen says, the time has come to let go and move on. The two souls of the film collide with certain violence, but the emotional sincerity of the performances and the characterization of the characters manage to compensate in several points for the overabundance of commercial cynicism steeped in CGI. Anarchic, bizarre, and funny, The Flash reflects on the theme of failure. And it does so by embracing both its protagonist and the DC Warner universe in its entirety. Once the thunderbolt has passed, however, doubts remain. Because it’s a paradox to go so fast and yet always finish after the competition. In this case, two weeks after Across the Spider-Verse, which somehow touches on similar themes. And then because we need to ask ourselves about the fetishist tendencies of pop culture. Since then, we exalt ourselves more for nostalgia than for the present. Victims of a past from which perhaps we should get away once and for all, running with all our strength toward the new.
The Flash goes back in time to change the past and save his parents, and at the end of the film, he realizes two fundamental things. Messing with the Multiverse can have catastrophic effects, which we can’t necessarily remedy. But above all that, our past defines who we are, inevitably. We may have painful pasts behind us, episodes that we would like to change at any cost. But, without them, without those crucial turning points in our lives, we wouldn’t be who we are today. Superheroes or mere mortals, the question does not change, each of us is the product of his past and how he reworked it.
A perfect movie? No. But a film that does its job well? Yes. It entertains, it relaunches DC to the cinema by resetting the continuity and bringing the Flash back into the spotlight. From now on, the road is paved with good intentions, we need to understand where they will take us. James Gunn is the ideal helmsman, but you can’t miss this train, which won’t pass again. Before saying goodbye, I’ll tell you one thing though. Perhaps this culture of hype should be overcome. Yes, it drives people to the cinema and therefore sells. But if you went to see this film, without such inflated expectations and fifty thousand theories in mind, perhaps, you would enjoy it more. Take care, go to the cinema, and let us know if you like it.
The Flash Review: The Last Words
The Flash is a film born of chaos: productive and multiversal. Caught in a crossfire of scandals and patches, revolutions and upheavals. However, he still manages to carve out his own space, taking full advantage of Ezra Miller and his versatility to put him at the center of a film of origins “in reverse”, cut by a well-managed irony that winks at that of James Gunn. Michael Keaton remains unquestionable as Batman, like the regret for what could have been Ben Affleck‘s Bat Man. Regret is also joined by Sasha Calle’s Supergirl, perfect despite being exploited too little. The real big problem of The Flash, however, remains the CGI, often at the limits of acceptability, together with the anonymous direction of Andy Muschietti.
