I saw The Flash (the movie) and weirdly, I liked it!

I have always been a massive fan of DC Comics and in particular, their Film and TV output. Arguably this is potentially a controversial view given how publicly slated the The CW's 'Arrowverse' (2012-23) became towards the end of its run, and similarly how universally laughed at most of the DC films are in recent memory, but it's something that I've always had a lot of time for. I would even go as far as saying I prefer most of their superheroes and stories to that of its counterpart, Marvel, home of the MCU and superheroes such as Iron Man, Captain America, Spiderman etc (I write that as if you are unlikely to know these things). I've never really had a strong reasoning behind this, I didn't grow up reading comics nor did I grow up watching many animated tv shows. Although upon writing this, I have this incredibly faint memory of watching 'Wolverine and X-Men' growing up but given I forgot that existed until just now, it's probably a stretch to call it a core memory or something that might have influenced me down the line. It's probably worth noting that I wrote my Extended Project Qualification at school about DC Superheroes, and their ethics behind it. I was really into Philosophy at the time and clearly felt that both worlds needed to be combined. That piece of writing was actually the bonus UCAS points I needed to get into University so in a weird way, I can thank DC Comics for my time at Solent.

For some reason, the 'Arrowverse' was a recurring part of my teenage life. I was gutted when Arrow (2012-2020) ended, it was the same when The Flash (2014-2023) finished, and I was fuming when Legends of Tomorrow (2016-2022) got unjustly cancelled. I'll be the first to admit that pretty much all these shows had some pretty stinky seasons, but I loved them, and I still watched them every week. To my knowledge, I don't actually have many close friends who have committed to this to the same extent, but it's never really stopped me as much as I would have loved to have talked to someone about each episode at the time. With my now distant memories of watching The Flash with my friend Josh at school during free periods being the extent of any sort of joint excitement I could express with my friends about the shows. To be fair, It was really cool when Zoom did that flip and threw a lightning bolt. I still have the GIF on my phone several years later. It was the same with the films. I've always been a big fan, even writing about Zack Snyder's Justice League on various occasions throughout my Undergraduate and Postgraduate Degrees. It's fairly common knowledge that compared to the massive success Marvel has, DC hasn't quite hit the same dizzy heights. As of writing, there are currently 9 Marvel films with a higher worldwide box office total then Aquaman (2018), which has DC's highest ever box office with $1,148,161,807. Out of the top 50 'highest-grossing superhero films' of all time, only 10 of those are under the DC brand, with 3 of those not even being part of their main attempt at an extended universe. Ouch.

Basically, what I am trying to say is that I have a lot of time for DC and I am desperately rooting for it to do well. I am incredibly excited to see what James Gunn and Peter Safran do with their time in charge of DC Studios. After the upcoming Percy Jackson TV series, it might even be what I am looking forward to the most in the worlds of Film and TV. For those who don't know, the transition into what they are going to be releasing is looking pretty complicated, with The Flash (2023) and a couple of other films, still due to be released having been made under the previous leadership. There's a lot of internet talk online about what this means for those films in particular. Will they lead into the new phase of DC? Do they have any long-term meaning? Will any of these castings continue? Why can't they just please acknowledge that Grant Gustin was unreal as Barry Allen and let him be the Flash in films? All incredibly fair questions. As well this, given how films like Shazam: Fury of Gods (2023) and Black Adam (2022) had flopped in the eyes of audiences and studios, fans were nervous for the release of The Flash (2023). Those nerves weren't helped by the consistent bad stories coming out about the lead Ezra Miller, as well as the fact that the film had been in production on and off since about 2014.

I can only assume it was an attempt to quell these concerns, but screenings of the film seemed to start so early compared to anything else I had noticed in my time following Film Twitter, and the reviews coming out about them were all overwhelmingly positive. Tom Cruise, the saviour of cinema as we know it, even supposedly called up Andy Muschietti, the Director, to praise the film. Personally, I wasn't sure whether to believe it or not. It reeked of PR campaign, but the buzz seemingly just kept going and it got me excited. A lot of films on this scale get fairly positive reviews just before they release and normally, I try my hardest not to let it impact my views before I go into seeing a film, but as I said, I was looking forward to this one even though I had seen various spoilers about cameos that made absolute zero sense.

Here's my review...

*SPOILERS POTENTIALLY AHEAD*

The Flash (2023) - Directed by Andy Muschietti

I really enjoyed this film. I had a lot of fun watching it. I would even go as far as saying it was the most fun I had watching a comic book film for a long time and I really enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 (2023). The best way I can think of to why this is, is that it’s extremely goofy. I am not sure how intended it is to be as goofy as it comes across, but I am not really complaining about it because I still enjoyed the film. I still connected with the deep meaningful parts. I even shed a tear. However, It is incredibly goofy. The CGI especially is getting a lot of talk on the internet about how it looks, and honestly, I completely get where that talk is coming from but personally, it didn't take away from the film for me. I think it's because it's so consistent within the film, it almost feels like it's an artist choice to be that way. It feels very unapologetic about the fact that it looks like that. When you compare it to the criticisms Marvel has got, for films like Quantumania (2023), or for its TV series CGI in She-Hulk (2022), I found that the CGI really took me out of the experience. With The Flash, I didn't really get that at all, even though Ezra Miller was on screen with Ezra Miller for large proportions of the film. Perhaps I was more forgiving as someone that has been through the trenches with some of the CW Flash running shots, but I didn't find The Flash going full speed as bad as other reviews made out. If you can get past the interesting CGI, and if you can get past that one scene towards the end with arguably some of the most random cameos in a superhero film, there is a lot of really good stuff in the film.

As shown in the trailer, Michael Keaton returns as Bruce Wayne/Batman (spoiler alert if you didn't know that twist I know!) and honestly looks like he's having the time of his life in the role. When I was studying Film and Television at University, I wrote an essay about his original appearance as Batman in the film, Batman (1989), because I loved the film so much, so I really enjoyed seeing his return to the big screen. I am still of the belief that the Danny Elfman Batman theme is still the best Batman soundtrack, so it's regular appearance in this film was a massive delight to experience once again. I also think that Sasha Calle is great as Supergirl who I believe did very well with the little depth to the bits she had been written into. I really love Henry Cavill as Superman and wish we got to see more of him in the role, but Sasha Calle as Supergirl is a worthy alternative for this film, especially in the context of the story. Personally speaking, I also really enjoyed Ben Affleck's brief appearance as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the beginning of the film. Like many casts in the DCEU, Ben Affleck is known for having a terrible time throughout his time involved so it's great to see a final conclusive (probably) appearance that leaves him on a happier note. With Affleck himself talking in interviews about how his cameo experience was the first time he ever truly understood what it was like to play the role. Good for you Ben. Good for you.

It would be hard to review this film without acknowledging the performance of Ezra Miller. Barry Allen, and younger Barry Allen, aka the Flash/The Flashes (!?!) are on screen for virtually the whole film and Ezra Miller is genuinely very good in the dual role. They get a really good balance with the awkward nature of Barry Allen, alongside the emotional nature of some of the scenes with Barry's parents. The awkward moments create some genuinely funny laugh out loud moments, and you really do as a viewer, get a good understanding of Barry's belief in his moral compass. However, it's incredibly difficult watching the film to push past the many stories that have come out about Miller since 2020 and although I believe Miller to be very good as The Flash (but nowhere near the man himself, Grant Gustin), I hope that for when The Flash next appears within the DC Universe, it's no longer played by Ezra Miller. It's still unclear at this point what's next for Barry Allen on screen which is a massive shame!

Overall, there's a lot to love about this film. The action scenes are good, albeit predominantly in a fairly boring setting for the majority of the film. The return to Michael Keaton's Batman is an absolute joy, along with the introduction of Sacha Calle as Supergirl. The emotional core of this film worked in the ways it was intended with the film with myself and many around me shedding a tear in one particular scene in a supermarket. However, as mentioned before, you really do have to push past the CGI in the film a little bit, and the weird cameos (why were you not there GRANT?), and also to a latter extent, quite a flat ending. The film is fun, and it's ironically fast paced nature works for large portions of the film, but with its place in the forthcoming DCU timeline questionable, the ending feels like it's been made purposefully a bit vague and wrapped up to cover it's back. Although I would love to see if the final appearance of Batman in this film continues down the line.

If you go into this film ready to embrace the goofiness and have followed DC films over the years, I really do think it would be hard not to enjoy this film. On Letterboxd, I gave it 5 stars, one of the first films I have done so for a while, and honestly, I stand by it. I just had a lot of fun watching it. I knew going into the film it was going to be a bit weird, and it was, and I loved it. KEEP SUPERHERO FILMS GOOFY AND FUN! but also let them make me cry too pls x

It's a 5 stars from me. Albeit probably a biased one.

ps miss u the flash tv series i want to run to u

The Flash is out now in cinemas across the United Kingdom.