The Flash Review

MICHAEL KEATON IS BATMAN. Keaton returns to his iconic role after more than three decades away and he hasn’t missed a beat. If anything he nails it even more this time around bringing a level of nuance to the character in only a way that he can. The Flash, directed by Andy Muschietti, a movie that has been long stuck in the dreaded Hollywood development hell phase is finally a reality and follows Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) as he sets out to save his family by going back and changing time only to unravel the fabric of reality, creating a new timeline in which Superman never made it to earth, the world has no metahumans, and Michael Keaton not Ben Affleck is Bruce Wayne. The result is a thrilling multiversal tale that is fast-paced like a freight train yet poignant and deeply resonant on a core level. 

The film’s opening gives us a fresh introduction to Barry Allen aka The Flash in his status quo as the pseudo-janitor for the Justice League, particularly for Batman. This paints the scarlet speedster as an underdog in his own right, especially once we find him in his day job as a forensic scientist at CCPD. The differences between the movie and TV version of Flash hit you like for instance that on the TV show Barry is pretty much a one-man show at the precinct whereas in the movie he is but a minor cog in a very large machine of forensics. The story of Barry’s loss of his mother during childhood and his father being wrongly framed for her murder is recapped to great effect. This really cements the relationship between Barry and Bruce (Ben Affleck) as after Barry tells him about accidentally running back in time, Bruce warns him of the dangers of time travel when Barry expresses his desire to him to go back and save his parents. Bruce very poignantly tells him that, “These scars that we have, they're not meant to be changed. They make us who we are.” He also tells him that he’s wasted a lot of time trying to change his past and the only place it’s gotten him is alone. For what is likely to be Ben Affleck’s last scene as the character for a long time barring a possible appearance in the next Aquaman film, Ben Affleck really shines as the character and truly delivers on the essence of this lone damaged man. 

Moving things forward of course Barry goes against Bruce’s advice and turns back time to stop his mother’s murder. However on his way back to the present he gets pushed out of the speed force by a frightening-looking creature. Realizing he’s home again he goes inside to find his mother, alive and well. Barry proceeds to have a heartwarming meal with his parents only to first realize he has really messed things up when he spots his younger self walking across the street. Confronting his younger self, Barry learns that he’s in the past. And taking note of the date, September 29th, Barry has to ensure his younger self gets his powers so that the change he made to the timeline sticks. So Barry sets out to guide this younger and much more immature version of himself to getting his powers via a lightning bolt strike which in turn ironically rids our Barry of his powers. The comedy that ensues as Barry must mentor his younger self into learning how to use his newfound powers is very reminiscent of a classic 80s movie by the name of Back to The Future with a parallel to the Marty and George dynamic. And for the diehard Back to the Future fans out there I’m sure you were all equally delighted as I was at that deep cut Eric Stoltz gag which served to illustrate just how badly Barry had fractured the timeline. 

Barry comes to realize that his actions, going back in time to save his mother have caused things to be not only different from after he prevented her death but from before as well. This in conjunction with him realizing he has created a timeline in which Superman isn’t around when General Zod appears on the scene prompts him to track down the rest of the Justice League only to realize that he has also created a world with no metahumans. However, according to younger Barry’s roommates there is still one hero Barry can call on: Batman. 

So the two Barry’s embark on their quest to recruit Batman for their mission to help them stop Zod. They arrive at Wayne Manor, but not the one as seen in Zack Snyder’s films but the one from Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman film and its subsequent sequel Batman Returns. As the two Barry’s wander through the various rooms of the larger-than-life structure old memories come flooding back of the old scenes from those films. This includes the two Barry’s in the armory where Bruce first “officially” introduced himself to Vicki Vale, the Barrys going through the dining hall with that very long table that Bruce and Vicki sat across from each other at on their first date, and finally the kitchen in which they bonded together with Alfred. A wacky and wild run-in with a disheveled Howard Hughes-esque figure leads us to our reintroduction to Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne. Quirky and off-kilter as ever Keaton brings back all the old charm from his original Batman films into his performance here. And Bruce being the intellectual detective that he is, it doesn’t take him long to put it together that Barry is from another timeline in which he is… chronologically different. 

Bruce’s explanation of the Multiverse via spaghetti is comedic gold and explaina things so well that even the uninitiated audience member can understand what the characters are talking about. We learn that Bruce is retired as Batman because Gotham City is now one of the most peaceful cities in the world. However, his Alfred is now gone and his decades of crime fighting has left him alone. So when Barry asks Bruce to join their mission to stop Zod he gives him a hard pass. 

The next line of business is for Barry to break into the Batcave with his younger self and to use Bruce’s backdoor into NASA to track down Clark Kent who he thinks is being held in a Russian military facility. He reaches out to Bruce via video chat and gets through to him, telling him how his Bruce had an Alfred as well and how his quest to save his mother is not unlike Bruce’s quest to avenge his parents’ deaths. Bruce knows he has to do the right thing and unlocking the secret door we REVEAL a whole collection of Bat-suits from his storied career as the Caped Crusader. 

CUT TO Barry, asleep at the Bat-computer and younger Barry being characteristically annoying per usual. Barry prepares to proceed forward with the mission alone without Bruce when the younger him asks, “How’re you gonna get to Russia?” Cue the Danny Elfman theme and the Bat-Wing descending from above we see the profile of Bruce in the cowl walking across the catwalk toward them. Younger Barry exudes with glee, “You’re, you’re…” 

“Yeah… I’m Batman.” 

The Danny Elfman theme blaring we CUT TO Russia where Batman pilots the Bat-Wing with the two Barry’s in the back as his passengers. The comedic banter between the two of them as they debate who asks Batman how far till they reach their destination is very evocative of the tone set by the scene from the original film in which Vicki Vale ponders the mysterious Batman while riding with him in the Batmobile after he saved her from the Joker. Michael Keaton himself has said that in his performance his intention has always been to make it seem like Bruce has entered some sort of trance as he transitions between Bruce and Batman and the mysterious man of few words demeanor that he exudes in this scene perfectly illustrates this point. The trio’s quest inside the facility is chock full of memorable action set piece and character moments showcasing Ezra Miller’s talents as a comedic performer and both Michael Keaton’s unique sense of comic timing and bad assness. 

The introduction of Sasha Calle’s Supergirl comes as the trio realize that the prisoner being held isn’t Clark but rather a frail malnutritioned girl. Batman is quick to dismiss her and get out of there but Barry in a moment of humanity insists that they have to help her. Their escape and survival is dependent on Batman’s deft leadership and the emergence of Supergirl’s powers when exposed to the outside world. Upon their return though, Supergirl tells them she doesn’t want to help save humanity as she doesn’t believe in humanity because of what she has been through being held in captivity for years. This prompts Barry to insist to Bruce that he has to get his powers back and Bruce tells him he will help him. Of course things go awry with Barry nearly killing himself in the first attempt but luckily Supergirl shows up after having had a change of heart and she flies Barry up into the heart of a lightning storm, the bolt’s surge giving Barry his powers back. Later she explains to him that after she saw Zod declare war on humanity she knew she couldn’t turn her back on humanity as Krypton was all about hope, not war.

Earlier Barry connected with Bruce over the death of his parents in relation to Barry’s desire to fix the timeline after he saved his mother. Michael Keaton very poignantly conveys the pain of a man who has spent his entire career fighting crime as if fighting crime would bring his parents back but as he points out Barry actually did. So when it comes time for Barry to assemble a “Justice League” to take on Zod with Supergirl at his side, Michael Keaton is more than game. “You wanna get nuts, let’s get nuts.” 

The set-piece in the desert with Bruce, the two Barrys, and Supergirl taking on Zod and his forces feels like a magical combination of Man of Steel and Tim Burton’s Batman film. Things take a turn for the worse however when Zod kills Supergirl. And then Bruce sacrifices himself colliding with an enemy ship. So the younger Barry continually tries to fix things by continually running into the speed force and resetting time. Bruce is spared only to die yet again after an an epic encounter with a rather formidable Krpytonian soldier but not before he takes him out. Supergirl however continues to die in every timeline variation. Barry realizes it’s a fixed point and that he really messed things up when he went back to save his mother. His confrontation with his younger self leads to him facing down the antagonist of the film, old future version of Barry / The Dark Flash. Things get trippy though as we witness the Chronobowl in which a pantheon of DC cameos are set out before us. We get to see Christoper Reeve’s Superman, Nicholas Cage’s never-seen Superman, Adam West’s Batman among others. These cameos were all fitting and certainly shocking but I think they would have better served the story if these characters actually had gotten to interact with the heroes of our story. And as cool as it was to see Christoper Reeve’s Superman represented, I couldn't help but wish that they had brought back Brandon Routh to portray Reeve’s version of the character in a more substantial role. Anyways, Barry eventually gets his younger self to see the light and together they stop the Dark Flash but at the cost of younger Barry’s existence. 

This leads to the emotional climax of the film in which Barry goes back to undo his saving his mother’s life. That final interaction between Barry and his mother certainly hits all the notes and delivers as a great piece of storytelling. The film’s epilogue finds Barry returning to his proper timeline after he gets his father acquitted from prison at his trial hearing after making it so that the security camera captured his father’s face in the past. This happy ending is followed up by Barry asking out Iris West on a dinner date. So we think all is well in our hero’s world till he gets a call from Bruce who tells him he’s pulling up just now. We see Bruce arrive in his car, swarmed by a mob of reporters and Bruce Wayne fans and Barry fully expecting to see Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne is stunned to find George Clooney’s Bruce Wayne step up to greet him. Clooney’s surprise return after 26 years is a product of regime changes at Warner Brothers that originally saw Michael Keaton returning as Bruce Wayne in the newly created timeline at the end of the film by Barry before James Gunn took over the reins and opted to end the film on a comedic note that would serve to minimize audience confusion / not promise something they couldn’t deliver on with their new ongoing plans for the new DC Universe that’s about to start up. And seeing as how George Clooney’s Batman film, Batman and Robin is without a doubt the worst superhero film of all time it’d be easy to discount Clooney but I must say the poor quality of that film isn’t on him and he actually gave quite a great performance as Bruce Wayne. One in which he returns to in all the debonair style you could imagine here. George Clooney practically is Bruce Wayne!

Of course James Gunn has confirmed that Clooney won’t be the new Batman moving forward in The Brave and the Bold to be directed by Andy Muschietti but how cool would that be if he was? In any case the gag ending to this film serves to illustrate the ending to the saga of DC films that started back with Man of Steel and Michael Keaton’s original Batman films. That’s not to say I don’t hope we get a standalone Batman film with Keaton sometime in the near future barring the fact that he won’t be the main Batman in the new DC Universe. Keaton is without a doubt my favorite Batman and this film was a perfect vehicle for him to reprise his iconic role in. Moving forward Ezra Miller with all his legal troubles will certainly not be reprising his role as Barry Allen however but that doesn’t take away from the well-crafted fast-paced thriller that Andy Muschietti brought to fruition with The Flash.