Much about The Flash goes without saying. The headlines surrounding its star, Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton’s return as Batman and those ecstatic first reviews in the USA all fed the hype machine, so it felt like it was in overdrive. But there’s a lot riding on this, not the least of which is DC’s desperate need for a crowd-pleaser after hitting the doldrums with Shazam: Fury Of The Gods and Black Adam.
The good news is that they’ve got an entertaining film on their hands. Not one that hits stellar heights, but one with definitely has more energy and humour than recent offerings. Set after the end of Justice League, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) discovers his Flash superpowers can take him back in time and, in theory, prevent his mother’s (Maribel Verdu) death. But he’s plunged into a new reality, one that brings him face to face with himself, eradicates the Justice League and brings back General Zod (Michael Shannon). Yet there just might be a hero or two left…
It’s impossible to take your eyes off Keaton’s Batman but, while he’s the film’s MVP, Sasha Calle’s Supergirl is close behind. Loaded with presence, her haunted but vulnerable Kryptonian isn’t given nearly enough screen time. Worse still, there’s so little of Michael Shannon’s Zod that he’s almost superfluous. But where the film really slips up is in its CGI which, at best, is average and, at worst, unforgivably poor.
The final third does “get nuts”, steering the film off course, but overall the pacing, the laughs and the nostalgia make up for it, even if Ezra Miller’s personal dark cloud still lingers. With Blue Beetle out in August, is this a taste of things to come – or a flash in the pan? Time and the box office will tell…
The Flash releases in cinemas on 14th June. Read more reviews at SciFiNow.
