Unable to find new evidence to help prove his father’s (Ron Livingston) innocence in a murder investigation, Barry (Ezra Miller) decides to go back in time using his superpowers as The Flash to prevent his mother’s (Maribel Verdú) murder from happening; the crime of which his father now stands accused.  He is successful but he gets stuck in an alternate timeline when trying to return.  A timeline where General Zod (Michael Shannon) is planning to destroy the world and the Justice League does not exist to stop him.   

Andy Muschietti directs a 144-minute, multi-versal saga, The Flash, from a script penned by Christina Hodson and Joby Harold.  Shortly after The Rock’s failed coup to take over the DC Universe with Black Adam (2022), it was announced that James Gunn would be the new creative force behind this facet of Warner Brothers‘ slate, and the result felt more like a hostile takeover as the Marvel Alum quickly took to Twitter claiming any of the creatively non-bankrupt DC properties which he was not allowed to cancel would be considered “elseworld” material while in the same breath slobbering praise over The Flash, calling it “one of the greatest superhero movies ever made” and giving us a frightening glimpse into the trenches which he plans to steer this studio moving forward.  Multi-versal storytelling has quickly become the norm in this era of overextended franchises, but whereas Kevin Feige, in a rare stroke of brilliance some 20+ films into his own bloated mess of a universe turned the worst-kept secret of three Spidermen to his advantage as a marketing meme in the lead up to No Way Home (2021), WB had no problem openly spilling the beans on Michael Keaton’s inclusion in the film through the trailers, reprising his role from 34 years ago as the caped crusader, possibly in an effort to distance the studio from their embattled title star despite the fact that Miller occupies almost exclusively the first hour of this film and is never long out of frame for the reaming 90 minutes. 

Try as one may to separate the art from the artist as it relates to Miller, it is an increasingly difficult task to do so in The Flash as the film is contently tying in real-world elements in what can most generously be called fan service, but in actuality is just an overcomplicated and immersion breaking routine.  Add to that Miller’s grating character choices which, to the script’s credit are addressed head-on in a later scene, it becomes hard to watch them with any goodwill.  The look-at-me eccentricities quickly wear out their welcome before the opening set piece at Gotham Hospital is even concluded as they bounce around the space force with a goofy look on their face, collecting infants from danger.  Seemingly long gone are the days when Miller was an indie-darling capable of nuanced and measured performances.  Even on the more emotional beats of the script, the performance is too – ugh – flashy and Miller proves to be a selfish screen partner who does not allow any of their cast to share in the spotlight lest eyes be averted from their antics. 

Opposite Miller, the next major player is Keaton as a washed-up Bruce Wayne who long ago put away the bat gear to live out his life in the peace and solitude which Wayne Manor affords him.  What could have been a cheer-worthy moment for those deeply invested in the DC universe had been the main marketing ploy for months in the leadup to this too-costly-too-scrap title so that for the entire first act, audiences are more concerned with when Keaton will show up instead of investing in the narrative.   

It is a strange state of affairs that the industry finds itself in nowadays in how films relate to their marketing.  Upon a second viewing, the surprise reveal of this stunt casting has already been ruined, but is it too much to ask for studios to allow some twists to remain a secret for audiences?  Sure, The Flash is full of additional in-jokes and cameo appearances that were not in the trailer, but to tip your hand so early means the first act needs to be absolutely solid which it simply is not in this film.  To keep the reveal close to the chest, however, can also hurt the film as the ravenous fan base will rush to upload a 45-minute explainer video on YouTube immediately after the first teaser drops, dissecting a 30-second reel frame by frame and relentlessly spinning fan theories and hypothesis about what the film will cover to appease their own follower’s insatiable appetites for leaks, news, and reveals.  However the scales fall, both parties are guilty of fueling a machine that diminishes their own returns and sets them up for shattered expectations as the fans have likened themselves as the stewards of these franchises and take any deviation from their own “headcanon” as a personal insult.  

To return to Keaton’s performance, he does little to make the payoff worth it.  Involved for far too long to simply be collecting a check, it is either another bad set of character choices or poor direction that results in a performance more akin to sleepwalking than saving the world.  Not that Ben Affleck proved to be a very lively presence in this era of the franchise either, Keaton’s similarly subdued performance just reiterates that this is Miller’s world, and we are just stuck living in it.  Allowances can be made as it is The Flash and not “The Batman,” but that Keaton is at his most energetic when he is a disheveled mess, stylized in a too-little-too-late attempt to have a “Fat Thor” meme of DC’s own, really takes the wind out of the sails early on.   

A bright note about the film comes late in the form of Sasha Calle making her feature film debut as Super Girl.  Despite being stored in a Russian bunker for an undeterminable amount of time, she has the most life about any of the extended cast and plays a key role in the final showdown.  She is saddled with the inherently goofy Kryptonian style, but she sells the dramatic scenes incredibly well and her face-off against Shannon’s Zod is the most exciting moment of the film.  Hers is a brief, but important, inclusion if for no other reason, her plot line is the most interesting yarn spun by Hodson and Harold and she brings the energy to match.  She is unable to escape the ragdoll special effects, so much so that even for audiences giving the film an ounce of goodwill will struggle with accepting, but this shoddy style which plagues all of the action scenes is too uniformly used throughout the duration to be anything but another poor directorial choice. 

The biggest error in the story of the film, though, is its lack of a true antagonist, despite setting one up perfectly.  There is Zod, but he is more of a set piece than an overarching villain, and while Barry’s noble pursuit to save his mother is a driving force behind the narrative, there still needs to be something else once it is clearly understood that he was successful in this timeline but will be unable to stay here forever with his double.  The film sets up such a villain in a dark menace that resides in the speed force and can stop Barry in his tracks, even when he is moving at super speed.  As the plot unfolds, it becomes an interesting facet of the story that it is frustrating that this monster is so underutilized and ignored for large swathes of the film.  Zod is inconsequential, this monster is ignored, and while The Flash should be praised for trying to not fall back totally on the end-of-the-world plotlines and instead highlighting the human aspects of the story, by and large, it just develops that plot line through quick lines of dialogue peppered in the before or after scenes of the team trying to find a way to stop the terraforming and destruction of the planet. It is a vague and undistinguishable threat that means nothing to audiences who just a week prior may have already watched the world get taken to the brink of destruction in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023).  

Rough elements of the script and performances aside, The Flash is still a very difficult film to break into given the tonal hodgepodge which Muschietti fosters.  Undercutting every pivotal scene with a joke, it is like he took every criticism levied at the superhero genre and double downed on the tropes.  Deflated emotional beats play out over a frenetic, disconnected soundtrack that seeks to instantly gratify audiences with Easter Eggs instead of building up an identity over time.  The problem with this blatant reliance on fan service over story is that for those without the deep-cutting connection to generations worth of superhero films, stories, and casting what-ifs, there is little left to be enjoyed. The montage at the end of the climax is clearly meant to be impactful, but for those not in the “in crowd” of the film, it will fall flat and honestly, be downright silly at times. Muschietti, through his work on the equally bloated It: Chapter 2 (2019) now has created a pattern of inadequacies when it comes to more complicated and multi-layered forms of storytelling, and while the individual nuggets of a powerful emotional arc are present, The Flash, through some combination of directorial blunder and studio interference – which is to let its doe-eyed and dumbfounded imploding star off the hook – has created an inarguable mess that may scratch the itch for some of the more DC-entrenched fans in the cinema seats, but offers nothing for anyone who just wants to enjoy a simple Blockbuster to welcome in the summer season.