The Flash: Movie Review

Cast: Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Ben Affleck

Director: Andrew Muschietti

There's a certain cheekiness running through the first half of The Flash, a superhero film that's greatly buoyed by a lead performance from Ezra Miller that's earnest, real and relatable.

Called into Gotham by Jeremy Iron's Alfred, the self-confessed "janitor of the Justice League" is tasked with helping Batman stop a heist, but in reality, finds himself clearing up after the chaos of the robbery. As multiple life-ending situations ensue, Muschietti slows down the action and lets the charm and comedy through as Miller's super speedster Barry Allen races to save the day in an homage to X:Men's Quiksilver slow-mo sequence.

It's in these earlier strokes that The Flash becomes a breathtaking revitalisation that closes out this iteration of the DC Comics Universe before the James Gunn reboot takes hold. But as the film progresses, and the plot of Barry trying to unravel the multiverse after going back in time to save his mother, it becomes tied up in fan service, some truly awful CGI and a lot of what if shenanigans.

Mostly best when it concentrates on the two iterations of Barry created by parallel timelines, Muschietti's kinetic and almost hyper take on The Flash relies too much on nostalgia to pull it through. From Danny Elfman's Batman music cues to Michael Keaton's wiry and wondrous performance as the Bruce Wayne the world no longer needed, the film almost collapses in its reverence to its past, and almost forgets it's a Flash film first and foremost.

While this is all perfectly fine and crowd-pleasing fare as the Butterfly Effect takes hold, the self-deprecation and ultimate humility that Miller brings to the tragedy of the older Allen trying to readjust his life and stumbling toward a realisation is mightily impressive stuff, a sign that the comics world can bring to life a fully rounded character that doesn't rely on cliche and bombast to win over audiences.

It's Miller's powerhouse performance that elevates The Flash from the nostalgia-led bombast that it lapses into toward the end as it tries to unravel the spaghetti level mess it's created for itself. Their time on screen is utterly compelling, with both Millers demonstrating their nervous energy and their fragility in the face of it all.

While Muschietti's to be commended for most of what transpires on the screen (including a riff on Back To The Future, a film which The Flash clearly apes), some truly awful CGI marrs the usual rote formulaic smash and bash of the comics book genre as Michael Shannon's General Zod tries to conquer Earth once again. 

Not everything works - certainly Sasha Calle's Kara Zor-El feels more like a plot device than a fully rounded character and the film leans too heavily into audience nostalgia for Keaton's Batman.

But The Flash speeds to victory on the strength of Miller alone. Seldom in the comics world has there been a presence that's so jittery, so nervy and so much of a livewire that you can't take your eyes off them as it transpires. It's to be hoped they can be engaged for future installments, because this Flash deserves to have another day in the sun - the race may be over for the flimsy DCEU, but emerging victorious from the rubble makes Miller one of the soaraway talents of their generation.