'The Flash'-Crazy Blend of Fast Speed, Humor, and Adventure

Photo courtesy of Batman-News.com and Warner Bros. Pictures.

Wyckoff native Ezra Miller’s (they/their) return as the Scarlet Speedster in the solo film The Flash was both heavy and goofy. And what it lacked in being at least 80% faithful to the Flashpoint comic, it made up for with riveting music reminiscent of John Williams, John Powell and Danny Elfman, crazy adventures/misadventures across the Speed Force, somewhat diverse casting, and proof that in Michael Keaton’s case, you don’t have to teach an old Bat new tricks.

After saving the world with the Justice League, Barry Allen is still trying to get his family and life together. But once he finds that as The Flash that he can super-speed back in time, he goes back to prevent his mother’s murder, and inadvertently creates a multiverse of problems. It’s going to take Barry from Earth 2, an older, alternate Bruce Wayne, and Supergirl to help the Justice League comic relief to prevent the multiverse from going haywire. Add to that an alternate General Zod, played by Michael Shannon, re-enacting the terraform of Krypton on Earth.

Up until another cliffhanger, I liked the film. Between Barry’s awkward yet charming demeanor in and out of the supersuit, Barry 2’s bumbling, and seeing that Keaton still has the moves after over 30 years, it was fun seeing these three go nuts trying to rebuild the world, and learn what it means to be a hero. There was some diverse casting in the case of Barry’s mother, which surprised me, being played by Spanish actress Maribel Verdú, and Latina actress Sasha Calle as Kara Zor-El/Supergirl. It was like she studied Tae Kwon Do or Muay Thai, that some of insane work, to prepare to fight. She was a no-nonsense type hero, but at least she fit the super profile.

Some of the visual effects were funny when Barry starts saving people in Gotham, arranging people being saved like the Sistine Chapel. He ran like the Olympics, had thrilling music that reminded me of Hancock and Superman (1978), and was also humorous with his messy living habits. I also picked up some vibes of The Polar Express in the Speed Force, and Barry 2 was giddy as a schoolboy when he gets his powers. And Bruce and Barry were like Doc and Marty on a speed force adventure. Cool rock muisc in the background, such as Don’t Fear the Reaper in the alternate timeline.

Also for Keaton as Batman, I picked up a Jeff Lebowski, Sam Elliott, bitter Indiana Jones babysitter vibe when I first saw him. Good thing he snapped out of it, made weird timeline analogies, and got back in for high-flying action. He was also like Stephen Lang from Avatar, minus the hoo-ha thrills. Aside from a Pandora’s Box of paradoxes, the only other thing the film had related to Flashpoint was Barry trying to redo the lightning that granted him his speed abilities.

I’d recommend more screen time for Keirsey Clemons as Iris West, and get some more goofy mishaps that a good-natured Flash can fix. Great job, overall, to the cast and crew. But don’t superspeed the production on the next one.