Another superhero zooms across the big-screen for his first solo movie – and it’s a bit of mixed bag.
Very much a mixture of the good – and the ‘meh’.
It’s definitely not the groundbreaking spectacle early critics tagged it as –
but has a heartwarming story at heart. And lots of fan services. Like an incredible amount.
It features four past Bruce Wayne/Batman characters for starters. And thankfully the iconic inclusion of Michael Keaton’s iteration (from the 1989 original) is one of the film’s welcome additions. Look out for Stamford's Burghley House used in some sequences!
While on Justice League duties – the Zack Snyder universe still reigns with brief appearances by Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and Aquaman (Jason Momoa) – Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen/The Flash realises he can run so fast he creates a ‘speed force’ that can turn back time.
This leads to him going back to the day of his Mum’s (Maribel Verdu) murder – and subsequent wrongful imprisonment of his Dad (Ron Livingston) – to change the history and prevent this horrific act.
But in the process, he fractures time and ends up with another version of himself in the past, in an alternate universe. One where Eric Stoltz continued in his role as Marty McFly instead of getting replaced by Michael J Fox in Back to the Future – in one of a few amusing side gags.
More significantly Michael Shannon’s General Zod (from 2013’s Man of Steel) isn’t now dead, and leads to the two Barry Allen’s crossing paths with an alternate Batman (Keaton) and Superman – which actually comes in the form of Sasha Calle’s Supergirl –
as a ‘make-shift’ Justice League looks to save the world.
What transpires is an interestingly watchable couple of hours that just about succeeds with its sometimes ‘lump in the throat’ mother/son story arc – and its reliance on giddy ‘fanboy’ references. Super-imposed additions of Christopher Reeve (Superman 1978-87) and his Helen Slater (1984’s Supergirl) for example – among several others – of course, never hurts.
Which helps The Flash – with the divisive Miller fluctuating between fascinating and annoying – speed through its run-time and churn out a competent spectacle. If very little more.
But whether this multi-versal movie has done enough to transport Miller’s The Flash iteration into the new James Gunn DC universe remains to be seen.
Or just like Shazam! it could very quickly disappear from memory in a flash . . .
ESP Rating: 3.5/5
Gavin Miller
Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough, Out Now
Cast: Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdu, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa and Jeremy Irons
Running Time: 2 Hrs 24 Mins
Director: Andy Muschietti
Go to www.showcasecinemas.co.uk for all the latest film information & showtimes at Peterborough’s Showcase Cinema De Lux