The Flash (2023) Hugely Mixed Swansong for the DCEU (Review)

Having uncovered the ability to go back in time through the speed force, Barry Allen attempts to save the lives of both his mother and father, setting off a chain of events which could alter the world as he knows it entirely.

In October 2014, Warner Bros. announced a slate of DCEU movies they hoped would cement their long troubled comic book franchise alongside the MCU in terms of world, character and story building. The gonzo stylings of Suicide Squad, the epic tales of Wonder Woman, the underwater adventures of Aquaman, culminating in a two part magnum opus: Justice League parts 1 and 2. However, despite a strong box office from 2016s Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice, the lukewarm critical reception, for want of a better turn of phrase, put the shits up WB execs. The follow up, 2017s Justice League, was marred in controversy, rewrites and reshoots, and released as a hot mess of weird, sexualised Whedon dialogue and awful CGI. Fast (or should that be Flash?) forward to Andres Muschiette’s speedster tentpole, and we have what is essentially a swansong for the DCEU as we know it. Flawed, fraught in controversy and rewrites, but ultimately more enjoyable than it had every right to be.

Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) is at a crossroads. Partially accepted into the Justice League, he is essentially used as their janitor. When Superman levels a city block, The Flash catches the debris. When Batman chases thugs who have ran off with a cache of weaponry, The Flash tidies up the goons (and catches awfully rendered CGI babies). All in all, not what the ambitious Allen had hoped for. His is a life of unfulfilled ability and potential. However, when he accidentally travels through time, Barry realises his ultimate destiny is within reach: to save his mother’s, and prove his father’s innocence. Despite warnings from Bruce Wayne, Barry continues and sets off a chain of events that could tear the multiverse apart. 

Lets start off the cast chat with Ezra Miller. They have been a hugely controversial over the past couple of years, from fan altercations to felony charges. I’m going to look at this from the perspective of the evidence on screen. As Barry Allen, Miller is fantastic. Loveable, mournful, heroic, all encompassed brilliantly by them. Barry’s journey in The Flash is one laced with hope, but ultimately doomed to some form of tragedy, expertly portrayed by Miller. It makes you wonder what we could have seen from them, if the DCEU hadn’t been so much of a binfire. They are ultimately outshone, however, by two absolute standouts: Sasha Calle as Supergirl and, of course, Michael Keaton, belatedly reprising his role as Batman. The Calle Supergirl has more nuance than we have seen many a time from Cavill as Superman, while Keaton’s Batman is given a chance to develop from what we have known from the Burton movies. World weary, but not to the extent of Affleck, he is able to hold his own against super-powered Kryptonians. Oh, and Michael Shannon is there, and I suspect he is just as surprised as the rest of us. 

The elephant in the room, as it is with most of the DCEU, is the CGI. And at times it is beyond awful. The opening action sequence is some of the worst ever put to high budget film (although being from the area, seeing so much of Glasgow was wonderful), and a multiverse scene, as well as adding nothing to the plot, seems like it was cooked up by a drunk AI, and some of the cameos are far beyond the pale. The less said the better, so I think I’ll leave it at that.

Caught between odd Whedon-esque comedy and sombre Snyder-verse moroseness. Miller does well with both, but they don’t marry well enough together to make it cohesive. The Flash feels like the end point of the DCEU, before we move into the heralded and hopeful new beginning with the Gunn-verse, and while it wasn’t by any means perfect, there is enough to get enjoyment from. 

Andy’s Archive: The Flash 2023