The Flash

Andy Muschietti is at the helm for the first cinema version of The Flash. Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) is busy doing his day job, which seems to consist of carrying out superhero duties for Batman (Ben Affleck) when he’s otherwise engaged. Barry has his own issues though with his father (Ron Livingston) in prison having been framed for the murder of his mother. When frustration gets the better of Barry, he finds himself in an alternate timeline where, with just a little nudge, he can change things and save his mother. But tweaking time has consequences, including no justice league, which is a problem when General Zod (Micheal Shannon) comes to earth looking for Superman. Barry relaises be needs to put a band together which includes the alternate timeline Batman (Micheal Keaton). Together they have to find some help and defeat Zod.

I enjoyed this. It was hardly original (if you’ve seen the recent Spider-Verse film this is basically the same story) as it treds the increasingly well worn multiverse path. But it did so with a sense of fun.

The script has plenty of humour as it playfully used the impact of its time travel narrative, especially its running gag about Back to the Future. It was also hugely enjoyable seeing Michael Keaton don the batsuit once again, alongside his iconic Batmobile. There is also a nice nostalgic touch as we dip into the DC archives to meet other iterations of some of its main characters.

Outside of the fun and pushing of the nostalgia buttons, there is a heartfelt story about grief and the acceptance of it but this is fleeting. There are also some nice cameo appearances, but I’ll not spoil them here.

The Flash was a lot of fun. While it forays into the now over warn multiverse idea it does so enjoyably. Performances are solid and it was a real joy to see Michael Keaton return as Batman. It won’t go down as a classic, but it was 144 minutes of enjoyable fun.