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Stars: Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton
Director: Andy Muschietti
Distributor: Warner Bros. Uk

“I’m Batman”

Back in a dash, Ezra Miller returns as The Flash. This time, however, they’re twice the trouble…

Late for work, yet as fast as ever, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), discovers the ability to engage in and reverse time. Fuelled by his parent’s tragedy, Barry has the desire to adjust the past, which would result in a more appropriate and beneficial present. However, his mentor, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), has stark reservations over Barry’s idea, despite sharing childhood tragedies.

Fully equipped and determined to change the past and go back to the future (hey!)… Like every other great time travel film has suggested, the popular concept is never as easy as said and done. Instead of returning to his own time, Barry finds himself stranded in a time where he clashes with a younger, more eccentric Barry Allen. Now we have two Ezra Millers.

From the get-go, The Flash establishes itself as a fun, yet slightly silly superhero quirk. Though early awkward moments are aided by his Justice League colleagues, the temporary tackiness is erased and transformed into full blown comedy when the two Barrys are present together, for the first hour of the film. During this time, The Flash is legitimately hilarious. Ezra Miller is lightning gold in the dual role.

As The Flash escalates towards a resolution from the chaos that has ensued the returns of Michael Keaton’s Batman and Michael Shannon’s General Zod, a tonal shift and a downgrade in quality, run in parallel together. Despite the changes in the second and third acts, The Flash manages to present itself as a spectacle from start to finish, but also showcasing the good and bad. The CGI, for example, is consistently inconsistent. The Flash manages to feature the best and worst CGI of modern cinema. At its best, there are sequences that are completely mesmerising upon an IMAX screen, whereas the bad can be full on video game ugly. But this isn’t exclusively a Warner or DC issue. Suspicious CGI is an industry wide issue.

With the spectacle of Michael Keaton returning as a much older Bruce Wayne and retired Batman, a great portion of importance and screen presence is aided to the Tim Burton Batman. Keaton is visibly embracing this return with everything in the Bat tank. Especially as Bruce. Removed from the cape and cowl, Bruce gradually resembles that of a Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) from Back to the Future, which is a major point of reference for The Flash. As Batman, however, The Flash presents the Bat in a more attacking and acrobatic manner than ever before. Hello CGI! Keaton’s best moments in the suit are the stiffer actions, reminiscent of that from which we loved 30 years ago.

As a spectacle of fan service, it can be argued that if The Flash is truly spectacular, then that would entail the expectations of a diversely-aged fandom having been met. What could these expectations be, though? Of course, it’s all about Batman. Michael Keaton’s Batman. The best fan service comes in the Batcave. Outside, during the daylight, not so much.

Though The Flash doesn’t completely signal the end of the DCEU, it instead gives an indication as to how DC\WB will progress from the current slate and move forward with the vision of James Gunns and Peter Safran. For Ezra Miller, however, this is likely to be the end of the road. Despite producing one of the best acting performances within the DCEU, their continued presence would only inflate what is an enormous elephant in the room. Then again, who expected Michael Keaton to return after 30 years?

Ultimately, The Flash resembles a relay where the first runner is great, absolutely fantastic. Then the second and third runners don’t quite match up. The first hour or so is genuinely the best that the DCEU has come up with. It’s fresh, fast and funny. The rest of the film can still be adventurously fun, but it finds itself clogged up with rehashed and repetitive CGI sequences, which begin to outstay their welcome.