Your past does not necessarily determine your future, but trying to change it just might.
Release date: 16 June 2023
Director: Andrés Muschietti
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Adapted from: Flashpoint
Cinematography: Henry Braham
Cast: Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Sasha Calle, Kiersey Clemons, Michael Shannon, Nicholas Cage, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa
Summary
Reader beware: the (k)night is dark, and full of spoilers.
See what I did there?
See it? No?
Look. Let’s be honest. Almost all my movie reviews are going to contain spoilers. Know this and know peace. Spoilers have had really bad PR. Maybe that has something to do with the name. I prefer to call them Pointers, you know, things to look forward to in the movie? Spoilers don’t ruin a movie, for me. If anything they make them more enjoyable. I know I’m watching the right movie, not the bootleg version. So yes, this post, much like all the other movie review posts that I’ll write, contains spoilers.
Have you noticed that people only fuss about spoilers when it’s a blockbuster movie? I think all spoilers matter. If I can spoil the ending of The Big Bang Theory (Sheldon wins a Nobel prize - by the way), then I should be able to spoil The Flash. It is my fundamental right.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get into it.
The Flash movie might be one of the last in the series of standalone movies for the members of the Snyder Justice League. Apart from Cyborg, all the other members have enjoyed their respective moments in the spotlight. Wonder Woman and Aquaman have their own (arguably) budding franchises and Superman and Batman literally have their own movie. Asides the TV series, I haven’t seen The Flash get as much screen time as I believe he deserved.
Until now.
Story Line
The movie details the journey of a supernormal speedster who realises that he can literally dash into the past and undo it. This realisation comes at a time when he discovers that the evidence he has, which he hoped would exonerate his father from the false accusations making him stand trial for the murder of his mother, is insufficient. He decides to go back in time and tweak the events in his past, against Bruce Wayne’s warnings. At this point I wondered: hasn’t he seen any DC movie? Never go against Batman. But he does anyway, and ends up realising that when he changes the past, things don’t go so well. Superman is murdered and replaced by Supergirl. Bruce Wayne has solved all the crime in Gotham, grown a beard, and retired. And General Zod is never defeated so he comes to earth to reclaim it as New Kryptonia. And no matter how many times they try to defeat him, they fail. Flash then goes back to the past and tries to put everything back as it was. But as much as his character displays a lot of growth, he hasn’t learned a thing. Cos he still goes ahead to change one tiny detail and ends up creating yet another universe.
Sigh. That was a mouthful.
I know this is unpopular opinion cos critics want to cancel Ezra Miller so bad, but I LOVED THIS MOVIEEEE!! IT IS SOOO GOOD! The story is largely based on the Flashpoint Comic series but it’s been improved in so many ways. And there were a truckload of random little things in the movie that made it extremely enjoyable. I was not expecting to have that much fun from a DC movie. This is the most I’ve been visually and mentally stimulated since I sat down at midnight to watch the Snyder Cut and got up at 4am.
I also really love the inclusion of Absolute points/canon events in this movie. Every Comic Movie studio — Marvel in particular — seems to want to explore this concept rather holistically. In Marvel’s “What If…” animated series, we see it being explored in the Dr. Strange episode, in Loki and Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania they literally take their time with it, in Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse, we see the idea being explored with Miguel O’Hara meticulously guarding all canon events — more of this later in my ATSV review — and here too, the concept, referred to as an Inevitable Intersection, is used to generally tell people that some things should just be left unchanged, even though they might hurt us.
That said, while I love the concept of a multiverse (usually because it allows us tie so many variations of characters and timelines in one studio reel) I think it’s fast becoming a played out idea. Ever since Dr. Strange and Peter Parker teamed up in No Way Home and Multiverse of Madness — and even before that in Infinity War — the idea has been used repeatedly. Several movies and film series have begun to use this trope and it’s only a matter of time before it becomes tired and over-flogged. When does it end? Does it ever?
Costume and Setting
Really love the costumes. I was a huge fan of Michael Keaton’s Batman so seeing him in that black rubber suit made me all the more excited. But nothing could have prepared me for the suit-in-a-ring Flash costume. That was just plain brilliance. Every single costume in this movie was tight, but none quite as tight as what Supergirl was wearing. It was slightly distracting, if I’m being honest.
I loved the attention to detail: The beer bottle fizzing out after being phased through a wall, the way his legs moved backwards while running through time, the way he looks like he’s swimming whenever he speed-runs, the Inception, V for Vendetta and Pacific Rim movie posters on younger Barry’s wall showing that the time period was 2013, the fact that younger Barry’s room is super clean (cos he has his mom supervising him) and older Barry’s apartment is a dumpster diver’s haven, the fact that Alright by Supergrass was playing in the background when younger Barry went on his first run, the laugh bag that Commissioner Gordon finds on The Joker from the original Batman series, the OG Batman theme song when the jet gets ready for takeoff, Batman using tape rules to measure platforms and calculate explosion power based on weight, the fact that the Chronobowl is made out of sand to represent sands of time in an hourglass, dude! I could go on and on. The attention to detail is superb.
Don’t even get me started on the cameos. There are 3 different Batmen in this movie: Affleck, Clooney, and a 71 year old Keaton. There are also at least 2 Supermen: Cavill (although his face isn’t shown), the late Christopher Reeves and Nicholas Cage — Yes. Nick Cage (almost) played Superman in a 1998 movie called Superman Lives, but the movie got canceled before it was released. I can’t imagine how much they must have spent for these appearances. A true DC fan’s ultimate movie, if there ever was one.
Cinematography
Oh my goodness! The shots were so good. Especially the parts where he’s speed-running in slow motion. This might be my recency bias talking but the movie has arguably one of the best opening scenes for a superhero movie I’ve ever seen. The baby shower scene (and the buildup to that pun) had me cheesing! The Batman chase scene was also pretty incredible, and it reminded me of that scene from Deadpool where he drops from a bridge into the car full of bad guys.
Everyone has something to say about the CGI in this movie, but I’m not sure if they could have done much better. I mean after they fired Zack I pretty much expected two-Black-Panthers-fighting-on-a-vibranium-railtrack level graphics from then on. No one has done it better, and I wouldn’t hold my breath on anyone actually getting it right. Maybe I’ll eat my words when Blue Beetle comes out.
Maybe…
Acting
C’mon. Let’s be serious. Have you seen the cast? It’s full of A-List actors. Affleck, Keaton, Gadot, Miller? What do you want from me??? Okay but seriously, the most noteworthy part of this movie is how younger Barry and older Barry play off each other SO WELL that it almost feels like they’re two different actors. We’ve seen people perform multiple roles in a movie, (looking your way, Ramsey Nouah. Yes, I saw you in Dangerous Twins) but I guarantee you, you’ve never seen it done quite like this.
Also, he kind of played every single role in the movie. Everyone else is literally the supporting character. He’s the hero, he’s the villain, he’s the older brother, he’s the younger brother, he’s the mentor, he’s the mentee, he’s the antagonist and the protagonist. You might not understand this paragraph if you haven’t seen it, but if/when you do, come back and read this post again, and don’t forget to drop a comment!
When Ezra Miller asks you to refer to ‘him’ as ‘THEM’, he means it.
Younger Barry is even more talkative and quirky, and that gives older Barry a chance to be a grown up. A nice deviation from his regular Justice League comedic persona. He actually has to be the big brother for once and I thought the execution of that was simply incredible. It’s so well done, even without the difference in hair length, you can tell who is who from their very divergent personalities. Full marks for acting. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Rating
4D
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Delightful. Delicious. Delirious. Divine!
This movie is a perfect example of how hype directly correlates to enjoyability. So many people have said how much they hate the movie, but it’s probably because they expected more. I went in hoping for it to flop and I REALLY enjoyed it. I mean I had my jaw open for a sum total of (at least) 30 minutes. I also think a lot of critics are giving negative reviews because of people’s innate desire to want to cancel Ezra Miller, making it difficult for them to do press releases and interview runs that are characteristic of blockbuster films like this.
Whether or not they should reprise the role as The Flash is debatable and it’s not news that they have rather problematic tendencies, but Ezra is undoubtedly the best actor to ever don the Flash costume. I personally want to see them again and again on screen. If we cancel everyone who has made mistakes in their past, we would have no movies. “All men have sinned” — Rom 3:23. As far as a superhero movie goes, this one gets top marks in my books.
I highly recommend. Go see it.
