The Flash: A CGI Mess Of Nostalgia

The first real “look” that general audiences got of The Flash as a film was back in 2016 when DC aired its Dawn of the Justice League
special on the CW to showcase footage from their upcoming movies and also announced their future release slate with some concept art images. During this special, The Flash was announced with some concept art, though none of the images look like the final product here, and the wait may not have been worth it if this was the final project. While The Flash tries to handle the iconic comic The Flashpoint Paradox, it fails on almost every conceivable level.

The Flash follows Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) as he goes back in time to prevent the death of his mother. In doing so, he inadvertently creates an entirely new timeline where there is no Justice League, Superman never arrived on Earth, and Batman is older (now played by Michael Keaton). Everything seems fine until General Zod (Michael Shannon) arrives on Earth as he did in Man of Steel to terraform the planet. Barry has to team up with a younger version of himself, Batman, and Supergirl (Sasha Calle) to try and save the world before Zod can destroy it.

Before one even gets into the plot, it is worth noting that the effects are distractingly bad. There is no sequence in the movie where the effects look passable, although at times there is a plot reason as to why they look so awful. Whether it’s the opening sequence with Barry and the Justice League in Gotham, Barry in the Speed Force traveling through time, Barry and Batman rescuing Supergirl from Siberia, or everyone facing off against Zod, every sequence looks like a pre-rendered cutscene in a PlayStation 3 game. It would be less distracting if the movie was not designed to be a top-to-bottom visual spectacle where the effects are near non-stop.

Please note there are spoilers for the end of the movie in this paragraph so if one wants to go in unspoiled, please skip this. The biggest issue with the movie is that it is trying to do too much by adapting The Flashpoint Paradox as the first movie for Barry’s arc. The movie has to lay out Barry as a character, his backstory, have him change reality to suit his needs, realize he was wrong to do so, and then put it back the way it was of his own choice because it is in the best interest of everyone. The movie sets up that time travel reshuffles the timeline from beginning to end every time it happens, and the only reason Barry sets it right in the end is because the plot demands it and the world he is in where his mother lives will die without Superman. This version of Barry has not learned a lesson because, while he does let time go as it should, he still makes a change to the timeline at the end. The inclusion of a Dark Flash is just silly in this case since it’s a version of the younger Barry trying to save everyone that has been trying for a long time when, if they really wanted to include that, it should have been the older Barry trying to find a timeline reshuffle where everything works out the way he wants it. That would have landed the theme of “the past is the past, let it be” better than Barry being forced to leave the timeline because it is getting destroyed anyway.

The Flash is not a worthwhile experience and, when coupled with Black Adam and Shazam! Fury of the Gods, one has to wonder how bad Batgirl was if these were given massive theatrical releases but Batgirl was potentially damaging to the brand. The best way to watch The Flash will be to wait for it to hit Max where one can skip ahead to Supergirl’s 15 minutes of screentime to see why Sasha Calle should lead Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and then omit the rest but it is certainly not worth a cinematic experience.

Final Rating: 4/10