Run Time: 2h 24m
Directed By: Andrés Muschietti
IMDb: 6.7/10
Rotten Tomato: 63%
Budget: $200-220 million
Box Office: $271.3 million
Back in my college days, I started watching The Flash series, and almost instantly the character became my favorite DC superhero. It’s not like I didn’t know Flash before; I did. But the series made me a crazy fan of that character. I started exploring everything I found.
As a fan, I always wished for a solo film of The Flash, perhaps a live-action adaptation of Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2012). But all we got was a brief glimpse in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and a clownish appearance in Justice League (2017).
Later, at the end of 2019, there was an announcement of the first solo movie of The Flash. The Fandom (2020) confirmed it by revealing the concept art of the suit. I counted literally every day for the movie to come out with huge anticipation and expectations. Let’s see how the expectations worked out after the movie was released. (Spoiler Alert: I was disappointed.)
The movie is a sort of adaptation of Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013), where Barry Allen, aka The Flash, travels back in time using his super speed to save his mother from being murdered. That action creates a messed-up timeline where things are very different and dangerous. Not only that, but the timeline he gets stuck in is in 2013, and an 18-year-old Barry already exists there. Things just get messier later on.
In order to fix the chaos, Barry teams up with Batman, Supergirl, and the 18-year-old Barry from that alternate world. Together, they face a powerful enemy to save that world and restore the original timeline.
What did I like about this movie?
- Ezra Miller as The Flash: Being a Flash fan from the TV show, I didn’t like the appearance of Ezra Miller as The Flash in Justice League (2017). But watching Snyder’s version of Justice League: Snyder Cut made me fall in love with Ezra’s Flash. I even did a fan art back in those days. Ezra Miller did a pretty decent job as The Flash in his solo movie. It’s no spoiler that there are two Barrys Allen from different ages, but his acting was so good that both Barrys felt like completely different person.
- Keaton’s Batman: It was such a treat to see Keaton’s Batman in action again for someone like me who grew up watching him play Batman. That vintage Batmobile, Bat-shaped plane, and other gadgets from the ’90s Batman movies took me back to my childhood. It was great to see him again. He’s the best!
- Supergirl: Since the first day they announced that Sasha Calle would be playing Supergirl in the upcoming Flash movie, I was hyped. She may not be the blonde, long-haired Supergirl we know from the comics, but she fit perfectly, proving that not everything needs to be comic accurate all the time. Or maybe I am just a Sasha-simp who finds her extremely attractive.
- Theory Explanation: I liked the way they explained time traveling and the reason behind the creation of the messed-up timeline. The Spaghetti. I’ve seen people calling this a dumb way of explaining things, but I think it was pretty smart. I was thinking about the possible ‘Butterfly Effect’ that might occur in the future because of the past alteration Barry made. But in the movie, along with the future, Barry changed the past as well, and that part confused me. Keaton’s Batman’s simple explanation makes perfect sense.
- Humor: The Flash had some comic-relief moments. These scenes were really funny, and I enjoyed them. I’ve always been a fan of good humor in movies, and The Flash had it. I know Barry has a traumatic past of losing both of his parents, but that doesn’t make his character dark and sad like Bruce Wayne. He’s often the funny guy in the Justice League team in comics and animated movies. I’m glad that I finally got to see the awkward and funny version of Barry.
- Character Arc of Barry: In the previous movie(s), Barry Allen was introduced as a bit immature and talkative. But in The Flash, he had to act more mature, as the plotline is pretty serious and dark in a sense. They made a smart decision by bringing in a younger version of Barry Allen. The 18-year-old Barry is even more immature and annoying, instantly making the older Barry look more mature and serious. Also, Barry had to make some tough decisions and big sacrifices throughout the movie, which makes him a fully-fledged superhero, I guess.
What didn't I like about this movie?
• Special Effects: The first thing everyone said after watching the trailer for The Flash was, “The VFX is awful; hope they improve it before releasing the movie.” Well, guess what? They didn’t do any better in the movie. Instead, we saw some of the worst-looking VFX and CGI parts of The Flash. That was really disappointing given the huge budget and time they had. I mean, if you just see The Flash running, you’ll instantly understand what I mean. Watching poor-quality special effects in the baby-saving scene, the field scene with Supergirl and the two Barrys, the time-traveling scenes, or the multiverse-colliding scenes, I barely stopped myself from throwing up. So bad!
• Suit of The Flash: Ever since a bunch of concept art for The Flash was revealed at DC Fandome, I was more or less worried about the suit. Because, as comic-accurate as it looks, it doesn’t look that good. But seeing the suit in the teaser and trailer, my disappointment knew no bounds. An overly saturated scarlet suit that looks like an animated suit. And I was disgusted by the overt portrayal of Ezra Miller’s butt cheeks that the suit reveals. Miller looks like a red frog in his animated suit. If we compare this suit with the previous one, it just doesn’t stand up. The suit could be a lot better.
• Action: The movie has several good action scenes; there’s no denying that. But none of them feature Barry. Mostly, the action is from Keaton’s Batman, with some from Sasha’s Supergirl. I mean, the movie is called The Flash, right? I wanted to see him fighting one of his villains as we saw in the animated movie. The villain didn’t necessarily have to be The Reverse Flash. It could have been the Mirror Master or Captain Boomerang, at least. I wished I could see some of Flash’s super-speed action scenes. But all I got were super-speed mess cleanup, wall phasing, and time traveling. God, I waited to see this Flash my entire life.
• Multiverse: There were rumors and fan theories about the introduction of the multiverse and alternate realities before the movie. We all knew that we might see a bunch of other cameos. Well, the movie had all of those, but it couldn’t make me cheer for them. I don’t know the best way to show the multiverse effectively, but I’m pretty sure I know the worst way after watching the movie. In the multiverse and cameo scenes, instead of screaming “Wooooo,” I had to say, “Eww, what is this?”
• Plot Holes: There are a bunch of plot holes that caught my eye and some underexplained things as well. For example, when the Barrys visit Wayne Manor to talk with Batman, and later in the Batcave. As we saw in Batman v Superman and Snyder’s version of Justice League, the Batcave is nowhere near Wayne Manor. It’s literally underwater. But in the movie, it’s not. Why messing with time messes up the whole multiverse wasn’t properly explained in the movie. There are a couple of other things in the movie that I found have no proper logical explanation. I cannot talk about them because of spoilers. But when you watch the movie, you’ll definitely see what I mean.
Who should watch and who shouldn’t?
First of all, The Flash is a PG-13 movie. So, there’s no nudity (just one glance of Ezra Miller’s butt cheek) and no violence (just several Kryptonians being killed without any blood), which should be fine for kids. I saw a mom bring her kid to the theater and sit right next to me. When a scene with a naked Barry appeared, she immediately covered the boy’s eyes. That’s it.
The Flash is a pretty funny movie, so if you don’t belong to any specific genre, you will have a fun time watching it, I am sure of that. But if you are a crazy fan of The Flash like me, then I’m afraid you will be disappointed as I was.
James Gunn said some big things about the movie, such as it being one of the best DC movies after The Dark Knight. Don’t base your expectations on these statements. They are definitely lies and will ruin your experience by creating overblown expectations.
