Just like my viewing experience for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022), a film that I reviewed April last year on The Legionnaire, The Flash is another another that I got to see a few weeks early via advance screening. Unlike that showing, however, I enjoyed The Flash much more than I did Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore for a couple of reasons. For one, I got to see it with a close friend of mine who didn’t know anything about the film beforehand but had a fun time watching it. Another was the energy from the crowd with which I saw it. Unlike Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, I was with a group that was pumped to see the latest D.C. Comics film. To add further context, the line to get in to see The Flash wrapped around the building. When I saw that line, I wasn’t sure if we were able to get in because they usually give out more passes than seats at these events, which means first come, first served. Judging from the crowd, there were a lot of people that wanted to see this movie. Fortunately, however, my name was already on a list because the passes I received were a prize from a group page on Facebook and because I won them, our seats were secured. Crisis averted. So, with that taken care of, my friend and I got our refreshments and found a good spot to watch the film. I will say, there is one major thing about The Flash that has in common with Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (besides both being released by Warner Bros.) is controversial actor Ezra Miller.

In my review for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, I had a put a disclaimer for a few controversial topics surrounding that film and Ezra Miller was one of them. Unfortunately, Ezra Miller has become more controversial since that film’s release, which (allegedly) includes breaking & entering, assault, public disturbance, and grooming involving minors. Major yikes. This was most likely done during post-production otherwise Warner Bros. would’ve most likely re-casted them beforehand. Given the $200 million price tag, however, there was no way the studio was going to shelve the movie and basically hoped good word of mouth will help people go and see the film despite the actor’s troubles. The studio even showed the film to a few high-profile celebrities such as Tom Cruise and Stephen King, and both of them gave the film glowing reviews. Not going to lie, this did hype me up a bit even though I have seen this before where expectations were high but ended up falling short. That being said, and to repeat similar words written for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, I will leave any personal feelings I have towards the actor when reviewing The Flash. So I ask: was it a fantastic comic book film that matches Tom Cruise and Stephen King’s Praise? As usual, let’s find out.

In The Flash, we follow Barry Allen/The Flash (Ezra Miller) as he’s waiting for breakfast at a local cafe before going to work. While waiting, he receives an emergency call from Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred (Jeremy Irons) stating that Bruce/Batman (Ben Affleck) needs Barry for an emergency involving a hospital about to collapse with people in peril. Within seconds, Barry puts on his suit and uses his superpower of speed to run from his city to the next in less than a minute. When he gets there, Barry is informed that Batman is going after criminals who have a virus that would spread a plague within the area and a local hospital that is crumbling (thanks to the criminals) needs assistance. After Batman, Flash and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), who shows up as a deus ex machina, save the day, Barry heads back to his city and goes to his job where he works as a police forensic investigator for the city. His interests in forensic dates back to when is father Henry Allen (Ron Livingston) was wrongfully convicted for killing Barry’s mother Nora Allen (Maribel Verdu) when Barry was a child. After finding out that his dad won’t get released from prison earlier than expected, Barry returns to his childhood home and starts to recollect his past and the day when is mother was accidently killed. Overcome by his heavy past, Barry starts running and goes so fast that he finds himself outside of time itself and realizes that he can travel through time with his abilities and save his mother with the discovery. He then consults with Bruce about this discovery, but Bruce warns about the consequences of time travel and how a simple change can affect a lot. Despite the warning, Barry travels through time anyway and goes to the day his mother was killed and changes one minor detail that seems innocent enough. As he travels back to the present, another fast individual intervenes while Barry is traveling and is knocked to 2013; ten years prior to the events of the beginning of the film. Unaware of the year at first, Barry goes home and sees his mother alive and has a nice dinner with his family including his father who is not incarcerated. While Barry is enjoying the moment, his moment of bliss is interrupted when he sees his younger self coming home and quickly brings him to his room before anyone notices two Barry Allens. Barry consults with 2013-Barry about the situation and after noticing the date, he realizes that he ended up on the date where he got his superpowers. Later that evening, Barry and 2013-Barry go to the building where he got his powers which happens to be a police station and he got them by getting struck by lightning while also getting dosed with chemicals. 2013-Barry successfully gets the superspeed, however Barry ends up losing his. While Barry thinks it couldn’t get any worse, he is then informed that General Zod (Michael Shannon) has begun invading the Earth, similar to the events in Man of Steel (2013). Desperate for help, Barry tries to contact the other members of the Justice League, but some couldn’t be found, didn’t have their powers yet, and one was never born which was the consequence of Barry time traveling. He does, however, find the whereabout of one member which is Bruce Wayne. When the two Barrys show up and force themselves into Wayne Manor, they are ambushed by an older version of Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton). After a brief conversation about the situation, Barry asks for Bruce’s help but he them tells the two Barrys that he is retired and won’t help with their problem. Frustrated, Barry then stumbles upon the Batcave and then uses the computer in there (which has a backdoor connection to NASA) to try and find Superman in this alternative 2013. Barry then finds out that he’s located who he believes to be Superman in a facility in Siberia, which leads to both Barrys and Bruce (who changes his mind helping them) to head there to free Superman. When they try and break him out, they discover a female Kryptonian instead. She goes by the name Kara Zor-El (Sasha Calle) and is Superman’s cousin who is sent to Earth instead in this timeline. After informing her of the situation, the four of them (including Barry who gets his powers back after rescuing Kara) team up and use their special talents to take on General Zod and his army before they can invade the Earth.

Putting my feelings aside for Miller’s legal troubles, I can confidently say that The Flash is surprisingly fun comic book film. While I don’t think it’s as great as others who saw it before me, I can confirm that is is enjoyable because as I said earlier, it’s just a fun film.

I probably mentioned before on The Legionnaire that I prefer Marvel over D.C. Comics when it comes to such films. This is so much so that I mostly have watched D.C. Comics films as of late based purely out of obligation rather than anticipating enjoyment. That wasn’t the case for The Flash, however, because it delivered what a comic book film should provide: pure spectacle. Unfortunately, this enjoyment was mainly because of Ezra Miller’s charisma that they brought into the film. Seeing the character play against a younger version of himself was highly entertaining and intriguing because we finally got to see the Flash’s origin story told through a different perspective. Aside from Miller, one person that I liked a lot whenever he was on screen was Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader. While they were some fan service moments with him (especially when he said “want to get nuts, let’s get nuts.”), seeing him reprise a role after thirty years did bring that extra bit of fun to the film. I could tell while watching it that hardcore Keaton-Batman fans will definitely enjoy this when it is fully released. While Batman may not be in the film for a long period of time, his presence was well-known and blended with both Flash’s whenever they had to work together. 

While I was enjoying myself not only watching The Flash but getting to see it early, I did so with the intent of reviewing it for The Legionnaire. I was about to spot some elements that related to my Catholic faith such as dealing with loss and the consequences of obsession. Loss, unfortunately, is inevitable and as a practicing Catholic, I’ve learned that everything happens for a reason. Barry learns that loss (particularly his mother) does lead to something good. While it hurts him at the moment, he is eventually able to see the silver lining. As for obsession, well, we all know that obsession can lead to great sin. While I won’t spoil crucial plot points, there was a moment when 2013-Barry tries to time travel which leads to further consequences that Barry tries to fix. This obsession almost causes great catastrophe.

Now if I had any issues with The Flash, it would be the ending, which I felt like it wrapped things up too conveniently, and the visual effects. Now, I will point out that some representatives at the screening did say that the film that I was about to see wasn’t the final cut, which led me to believe that some parts of the film weren’t going to be properly finished such as the computer-generated imagery (CGI). It’s a good thing that I didn’t write this review sooner because after the movie got its full release, I kept reading reviews that CGI in the film was bad, so bad that it is basically the main reason why most people aren’t loving it. Apparently, the cut that I saw was mostly the same as the wide release, the only difference being an after credit scene that I read about, and the credits themselves because when I watched it, it just said “Directed by Andy Muschietti” and went to black screen. Side note: director Andy Muschietti previously directed It Chapter Two (2019), which was the first film I ever reviewed for The Legionnaire, so that is pretty neat.

It’s not perfect, but The Flash is that fun summer blockbuster that will not only satisfy your comic book craving, unless you’re like me and still thinking about Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The Flash is nostalgic, too, as there are a good number of easter eggs. If you’re a fan of D.C. Comics, then I know that you’re going to enjoy those moments. The only caveat that I have (besides Ezra Miller) with The Flash is that it doesn’t lead to anything big down the road because they will soon be rebooting the D.C. Universe with James Gunn (director of The Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy) supervising the majority of it. After The Flash, there are two films within this universe that’s still awaiting release which is Blue Beetle and the Aquaman (2018) sequel: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Time will tell if those films will be enjoyable though I highly doubt that they will be as fun as The Flash, and this is coming from someone whose favorite DC Comics film in this universe is The Suicide Squad (2021), which is ironic when you really think about it. Hopefully that won’t be the case with the new films when the franchise is rebooted.