“The Flash” is loosely based on the “Flashpoint Paradox” storyline, which also happens to be my favorite Flash story. Unsurprisingly, the story is toned down, and a lot of its most intriguing content is excluded from the film, just so that the budget could be kept under control. It must have also been because incorporating those elements would mean assembling such a large cast of different superheroes, which would prove difficult to justify each and every one of their presences in the story.
Having so many characters fight against one another in an animated film is a different thing altogether. But when it comes to balancing so many characters and having different superstars portray them while keeping a tab on their clashing egos, the entire ordeal assumes much larger and uncontrollable proportions. Hence, the story here is kept focused on the character of Flash, and the other superheroes are added in at different junctures to elevate the intrigue and thrill quotient of the story and also make it feel a lot more expansive.
Barry Allen, AKA Flash (played by Ezra Miller), is finding it difficult to balance between his superhero duties and his professional life. It also doesn’t serve him well when his incarcerated father looks set to be sentenced for the murder of his own mother, a crime that Barry knows he didn’t commit. A crestfallen Barry, in his frustration, unlocks the potential in his speed force to time travel and decides to make necessary changes to the past to ensure that his mother is not murdered in the first place. He is able to pull this off against the better judgment of Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), and in doing so, unleashes a chain of events that renders the world defenseless against the invading forces of the Kryptonian Zod (Michael Shannon). What happens next is what the film is all about.
The story remains intriguing from start to finish:
The film remains interesting and intriguing from start to finish. The story is not only well-written but is also simplified from the original material with considerable care, and efficiency, and without diluting the inherent drama and thrill that came with the original story. The focus of the story is on Flash, and both aspects of his character are written well enough to keep us interested in him. The emotions that the character is laced with make sense and don’t feel cheap. One also has to give due credit to Ezra Miller here for essaying the character with a lot of charm, great comic timing, and impactful emotions when needed. I was impressed by how smoothly Miller was able to transition between comedy and drama in the film. Even when he is saying something utterly serious, he feels genuine, and the genuineness reflects in his voice and expressions, resulting in his every word assuming a lot of weight.
Similarly, in the comical moments, he is able to bring out the comedy naturally without the need for a lot of physical or expressive techniques. The writing is good enough to invoke the necessary comedic response from the audience, and the inclusion of pop culture references like the mention of the “Back to the Future” trilogy will leave many viewers rolling on the floor laughing. At the same time, the tragedy associated with his mother’s death and the insatiable desire of every version of Barry to somehow save his mother finds their way to the audience through the many dialogues and the longing that is portrayed through the expressions and mannerisms of the character. Miller did a fantastic job with these portions of the film.
The opening action sequence is thrilling:
I was absolutely bowled over by the opening action sequence in the film. This sequence involves Flash saving a lot of babies flying out of a collapsing building and Batman chasing down a terrorist who threatens to destroy Gotham with a biological weapon. Both aspects of this action sequence are shot and edited in very different fashion but blended together seamlessly to provide us with one of the most satisfying pieces of action in the entire film. The CGI may be questionable in a portion or two in this sequence, but that is never a major issue. Another action sequence that I thoroughly enjoyed is the one which is in the trailer involving the escape and coming back to strength of Kara Jor-El (Sasha Calle). Unfortunately, the climactic battle sequence and the final bits of action inside the speed force left a lot to be desired.
The appearances of iconic stars and some prolonged cameos that will make you jump out of your seats:
As the trailers have already revealed, there is an older version of Batman (Michael Keaton) and Supergirl (Sasha Calle) in the film, and both these prolonged cameos worked wonderfully well for me. The cameo of Keaton, especially, left an impact on the entire film, and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that a large portion of my interest in watching this film was for the fact that I wanted to see Keaton get under the hood one last time. Tim Burton’s “Batman” and “Batman Returns” not only established the superhero as a viable protagonist of a multimillion-dollar franchise but also gave us one of the most memorable and inspiring “Batman” in Michael Keaton. He hung his cape without a single blemish, and it was always a risk to come back to a DC film and invite trouble in the form of poor writing or mediocre treatment of the character. Thankfully, Keaton’s Batman is not only one of the strongest characters in the film but is in strong keeping with what he had achieved in his last few appearances as the character.
Sasha Calle as Supergirl is perfect. It is amazing to see how well the writers and the director are able to establish her character and extract genuine conflict, emotion, and drama out of her in such a short span of time. The action that she is shown pulling off is sensational, but what worked more for the character was how genuine and dramatically rewarding her brief arc in the narrative was.
If that was not enough, the last 5-10 minutes of the film throw open the door to the appearance of a plethora of iconic characters from the yesteryears. At least one of these characters was not supposed to be there, but his appearance put a grin on my face. The end credit scene also signals the movement of the franchise in a certain direction that I don’t know how it will proceed towards.
The cinematography and the editing are consistently brilliant:
Andy Muschietti is a master of mounting and executing sequences, and he brings this aspect of his direction to the fore in this film, which feels episodic in nature. The camera work is spectacular. To understand how good it is, you need to look no further than the opening action sequence. The editing complements the cinematography and the screenplay and knows when to be breakneck and when to take a deep breath.
Tacky CGI that cannot be defended in this time and age:
While the CGI of the film looks brilliant in some of the sequences, it feels unbelievably tacky and cheap in some others. The presentation of the two Flashs in many sequences feels extremely poorly done. I could easily point out the one who wasn’t real, and this isn’t something that you expect from a film of this scale and budget. The CGI oscillates between great and terrible rather violently, and this constantly kept taking me out of the experience. The visual work to represent the speed force and the view that Flash gets of things and people when he is on the run can be cited as being mediocre at best.
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The story drags in certain portions:
The story does drag in certain portions, and this film could have easily been shorter by 10 minutes or so. Even though Ezra Miller absolutely nails the emotional bits in the film, there are times when it becomes difficult to withstand two Millers in the same scene, and it feels as if some of the sequences were forced just to show us certain aspects of the character that did matter to the story but didn’t merit getting so much time and attention.
Final words:
For a film that has been in production hell for God knows how long and has been handed over to more directors than I care to remember, “The Flash” feels oddly organic and coherent. Its leading man does his job well. The action is spellbinding in portions where it needs to be. The comedy lands and doesn’t feel like undermining the characters. The drama and conflict feel real, and the story is intriguing. I couldn’t have asked for a whole lot more from a DC film, given the kind of content that they have been churning out of late.
Rating: 3/5 (3 out of 5 Stars)
The views expressed in this article are that of the reviewer and do not reflect EastMojo’s position
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