I think the hardest part of watching any superhero movie is when they reboot a franchise all over again and the audience is forced back to square one with new faces trying to liven up an old storyline we’ve heard about before.
“The Flash” does some of that while exploring the age-old theory of using time travel to make changes in the past that have a possibly profound effect on the outcomes of the future.
I mean, characters in the film even reference 1985’s “Back to the Future” as a good example of what happens when you mess with time travel.
Still, how do you make such a lackluster and frankly – played-out concept – relevant again?
Especially since the DC Comics cinematic universe got canned as a whole and reboot from the ground up?
You let Michael Keaton reprise his role as the best on-screen Batman to date and have fun with it.
That being said, Keaton’s role made this movie for me and I’m sad to say it was far too short-lived overall.
Flash is produced by DC Studios, Double Dream, and The Disco Factory, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the 13th installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).
The film is directed by Andy Muschietti from a screenplay by Christina Hodson and stars Ezra Miller as Barry Allen / The Flash alongside Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, and Michael Keaton.
Clocking in at 144 minutes total, the film is also rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, some strong language, and partial nudity.
After helping Bruce Wayne (Affleck) and Diana Prince (Gadot) stop a robbery by Al Falcone’s terrorist group gone wrong in Gotham City, Barry Allen (Miller) revisits his childhood home and remembers his youth with his parents.
Though, this is also before his father Henry’s (Livingston) wrongful imprisonment for his mother Nora’s (Verdú) murder.
Overcome by his emotions, Barry accidentally uses the Speed Force to travel back in time to earlier in the day and informs Bruce about it.
Despite Bruce’s warnings that time travel can have unintended consequences, Barry goes back to the day of Nora’s death and prevents it from happening.
As Barry returns to the present, he is knocked out of the Speed Force by another speedster and ends up in an alternate 2013 where his mother is alive.
He finds his past self and realizes he has arrived on the day he originally obtained his powers.
Barry and his younger self go to the Central City Police Department, where Barry forces 2013-Barry to be struck by lightning in order to recreate the accident that gave him his powers.
Both Barrys end up getting struck by the lightning, giving 2013-Barry his powers, but causing Barry to lose his own powers in the process.
As Barry struggles to train 2013-Barry on how to properly use his powers, the two of them see a broadcast by General Zod (Shannon), who is preparing to invade Earth.
The Barrys attempt to assemble the Justice League but are unsuccessful, as in this timeline, they are unable to locate Diana, Victor Stone has not been in his accident yet and Arthur Curry (Momoa) was never born.
The two travel to Wayne Manor, hoping to find Batman, but instead find an alternate, older version of Bruce Wayne (Keaton) who has retired from crime fighting.
Like with every other time travel plot, Barry has to learn his lessons with this flick and I’m honestly burned out on heroes messing with the flow of time.
Overall, I don’t think this film is worth more than a matinee ticket but stick around after the credits for a hilarious scene featuring Aquaman and Barry.
