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The Flash

There's an intriguing correlation that seems to be occurring in pyjama films these days. Once the undisputed master of the genre, the MCU has dipped of late (though the recent Guardians film was a peach), whereas the erstwhile shite DCEU has lifted its game. Their latest entry is The Flash, written by Christina Hodson and Joby Harold, and directed by Andy Muschietti, and to my surprise, it's a bit of a banger.

It concerns the fast one in the Justice League, Barry Allen (AKA The Flash) and his awkward attempts to fit in to society. A possible reason for his gormlessness is the fact that he lost his mother when he was a child, so when he realises he can run fast enough to, stay with me here, crack the space time continuum (!), he decides to go back and prevent his mother's death. What could go wrong?

Well, shit, obviously a lot, and so, wrong it goes. Even though Batman warns him off it, Flash can't resist and is on his way back to his past when he's knocked out of his 'Speed Bubble', landing, coincidentally, on the day he got his powers. Cue some mumbo about timeline stuff and suddenly the Flash is joined by a less anxious, more irritating version of himself. This double act is one of the many happy surprises in the film, along with the consistently funny dialogue and the effective performances (it's a credit to Ezra Miller that I found myself thinking of them as two different actors). Aside from Miller, Michael Keaton is fantastic and Sasha Calle is some find. Her introduction sequence in a snowy Russian compound is great fun.

After a slightly wobbly, yet pretty funny opening, The Flash picks up the pace and rarely stumbles, finding time for belly laughs and emotional kickers along the way. If I had to pick out one issue, it would be that the whole Zod incursion (Michael Shannon, revisiting his role from Man of Steel) felt way more grandiose than it should be, like it's some sort of filmic cultural touchstone. Didn't help that Shannon himself gives it the full CBF - he's actually on record voicing his displeasure at being in the film. On the flip side, there are genuine moments of class. Keaton's explanation of the multiverse using a spaghetti dinner is sublime ("What does the parmesan represent?") and the discovery of alternate reality film casting is wry. The DC film mythology is explored (real and almost) and though mildly indulgent, it doesn't milk the cow too much.

This is a film that juggles its themes of loss and fatalism alongside separate balls of sharp wit and social discomfort. Let's hope this is the beginning of a trend and not an exception.

The Flash is/was/will be screening in a multiverse near you.

See also:

Miller is almost unwatchably top notch in Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), and the Quicksilver scene in Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) is still the best of its kind.

(Film stills and trailer ©Warner Brothers, 2023)

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