‘The Flash’ Speed-Runs Through a Very Messy Multiverse | Review
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s another superhero movie rushing head-first into the infinite possibilities of the multiverse! In recent years—and weeks—it seems as though the theme of the season is jumping timelines, meeting variants, and accidentally creating chain reactions by screwing with fixed points in those timelines. The Flash manages to explore those infinite possibilities better than at least one of its peers, though it lives in the shadow of another.
With his father’s (Ron Livingston) trial looming on the horizon, and hope slowly dying that they might find evidence to free him from prison, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) gives into the grief that he might lose both of his parents. When he discovers he can run backward in time, he concocts a plan to travel back to the day that his mother was murdered and change the course of history by stopping it from happening. This foolhardy plan deposits him in a similar, but very different timeline where General Zod (Michael Shannon) has arrived to destroy a decidedly superhero-free Earth.
In order to save the alternate universe and find a way to get back to his own timeline, Barry teams up with himself and Batman (Michael Keaton) to track down a Kryptonian, which turns out to be Kara Jor-El (Sasha Calle) and stop Zod before it’s too late. This unlikely team-up delivers a healthy dose of mayhem, humor, heart, and impressive performances from each actor. The stakes are high, the action is solid, and the story that unfolds for Barry feels overdue, as the character has been largely used as comic relief throughout the DCEU.
Image via Warner Brothers
Keaton’s long-awaited and highly-anticipated return as Batman is everything that fans of Batman Returns could have dreamed up. He may be retired when Barry barges into his life, but he bounces back fast and delivers kickass fights, solid emotional beats, and the steadying force that Barry desperately needs to do what he has to do: grow up. He is so hung up on the past that it’s impossible for him to live in the present. Ironically, this backward-facing issue ruins his chances with Iris West (Kiersey Clemons) in multiple timelines, which makes for an amusing running gag.
The return of a nostalgic hero has become standard practice for most IP-driven franchises lately, but Keaton’s return feels natural and earned. While he may not have experience with the multiverse, he does have more emotional maturity and life experience than the alternatives, and his brand of dry humor meshes nicely with the double dose of Barry Allen bouncing across the screen. It does leave one to pine for our own alternate universe where Keaton’s run as Batman led to films about the BatFam.
Ezra Miller’s criminal history notwithstanding, they do give a really solid performance as both versions of Barry Allen, and the acting choices they make for both portrayals add a lot to The Flash beyond what is in the script. The younger Barry genuinely feels younger—it’s noticeable in the way Miller moves, laughs, and interacts with the world and that’s all their doing. There is also a wide-eyed hope in that younger performance which the DCEU’s Barry has never had the opportunity to have, and that elder Barry also grows up a lot throughout the film as he steps into the mentor role he never had on his own, despite Bruce Wayne’s (Ben Affleck) best efforts. While there’s still plenty of juvenile humor and never-ending dick jokes, The Flash is one of the better outings for Miller’s Barry Allen.
Image via Warner Brothers
Keaton and Calle, however, are the real MVPs of The Flash, though the latter will leave audiences desperate to see more of her time on earth. Kara is a nice foil to the high-energy story she drops into, bringing with her an otherworldly calm that prepares audiences for the chaos of the third act’s major battles. And there is certainly no shortage of battles—both outside of and inside of the “chronobowl” as Barry comes face-to-face with the consequences of his actions.
Perhaps it’s the Batman bias speaking, but the best aspects of The Flash revolve around the various Bruce Waynes that Barry crosses paths with. While Barry has been the comic relief of previous DCEU films, his character design makes it difficult to view him through an emotional lens. Sure, his tragic backstory is very compelling, but each Batman delivers rich emotional resonance and the beautiful burden of franchise lore. Audiences relate to them because they grew up with them, and the groundwork is already in place to build on. And that Batman bias is further aided by the fact that The Flash reminds us why Michael Keaton might be the greatest Batman ever.
If I were grading The Flash for Michael Keaton, and Michael Keaton alone, it would be one of the easiest A+s of my life, however, there’s much more to assess than just his Batman’s return. The CGI throughout the film is abysmal, from Ben Affleck’s action sequences in the first act to the bizarre “chronobowl” that looks cartoonishly unfinished, to some of the spots where you can see the seams of reality bleeding through. It’s a shame that the visuals so drastically devalue a film with a strong cast, clever script, and keen direction.
Image via Warner Brothers
In order to fully enjoy it, audiences will have to abandon rational thought to reconcile some of the decisions that The Flash makes (beyond accepting the existence of superheroes and time-traveling superheroes, for that matter). If you think too hard or look too closely, a lot of things just don’t make sense. For instance, how can Barry Allen and his entire not-friend group be the same, yet Bruce Wayne is an entirely different person? Can one slight alteration to the timeline really rewrite the entire DNA of the heroes of each universe? The time travel logic may be flawed, but at least it still makes for a fun multiverse movie—especially where the time travel gags are involved. In addition to completely changing up who Bruce Wayne is, a single can of tomatoes apparently led to a very different set of casts in Back to the Future, Top Gun, and Footloose, which is one of the most laugh-out-loud moments in the entire film.
Despite venturing into the multiverse, The Flash is largely rooted in the now-defunct DCEU. The timelines showcased in the film’s “chronobowl” were all looking backward—providing glimpses into familiar and beloved entries into the universes. Even with where the film ends for Barry, there’s a sort of closure to it, despite its jaw-dropping, applause-inducing revelation.
The Flash may be one of the better DCEU films in recent history, but it is the epitome of “check your brains at the door and just try to enjoy the ride.” They have packed some incredible surprises into this film—some of which haven’t been spoiled yet—and for those alone, it’s easy to look past some of the jarringly bad CGI work, especially in the “chronobowl” where the best of the throwbacks and homages rely upon CGI to recreate the worlds of yesteryear. A word to the wise: don’t get too excited about the post-credit scene, the best stuff is in the film itself.
FINAL VERDICT: B
