The Flash (2023)
Directed by Andy Muschietti
Written by Christina Hodson
Starring Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Ben Affleck, Michael Shannon, Maribel Verdu
Release Date June 16th, 2023
Published June 14th, 2023
Let's address the elephant in the room. There are numerous stories regarding the life of Ezra Miller that demonstrate that they may not be a good person. There's been allegations of abuse, grooming, and other types of criminal behavior, including kidnapping and, for a time, he was even suspected of murder. It's incredibly hard to objectively look at Miller's work and separate that from the person. I'm going to try and do that in this review but I want to make it very clear that regardless of how I feel about Miller's work and the movie The Flash, Miller has a lot of things to answer for and this review is not intended in any way as a co-sign of Miller the person.
The Flash stars Ezra Miller as Barry Allen, super-hero. Having been introduced in the Snyder-verse of the DCU, The Flash is now almost the last of a dying branch of a franchise. And yet, despite that negative energy running in the background of the movie, The Flash manages to be quite good. Against many odds indeed, director Andy Muschietti, famous for his deft and ingenious work on It Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, has delivered a rousing, emotional and wildly inventive super hero blockbuster. It's not without its flaws but those may be inherent to behind the scenes development where producers plotted this film with sequels in mind that are now unlikely to happen.
We pick up the story of Barry Allen as he is helping Batman/Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), respond to a heist that turns into a dangerous and deadly building collapse. Baddies have stolen a deadly biological weapon from Gotham General Hospital and while Batman goes after the weapon, it's up to Barry to save the patients and staff of the now collapsing and on fire hospital. In a visually dynamic, if slightly tedious segment, Barry rescues a group of babies falling from near the top of the collapsing building. In time lapse we watch as Barry comedically but necessarily snacks while in the air, snatches baby after baby out of the air, saves a nurse and a therapy dog, all while a massive building is collapsing over them all.
This is an objectively terrific display of the powers of The Flash and the humble, sweet, but unusual character of Ezra Miller's The Flash. Miller's Barry Allen is sweet, shy, and anxiety ridden. He's a reluctant hero whose journey is one in which he confronts his mistakes, his past, his pain and trauma, and grows up before our eyes. He becomes more and more of a hero as he discovers himself and sees the errors of his ways. He's always been headstrong, even as his nature is to wilt in front of people. Here that headstrong quality is met with a self-examination that causes Barry to become more responsible, more like the hero Batman/Bruce Wayne believes he can be.
It's a terrific arc that takes on a tragic, sad, and lovely melancholy as Barry longs for his late mother and the family that was shattered by her murder. Following a conversation with his father (Ron Livingston, currently behind bars, accused of killing Barry's mother, Barry uses the speed force to travel back in time to see if he can save his mother. Barry's mother is played by Maribel Verdu and she is utterly incredible in this relatively limited role. In her brief screen time, Verdu elevates otherwise familiar material about how we mythologize and simplify the memories of our beloved parents with an ethereal kindness, an impossible level of charisma, and a radiant loving presence. Verdu floored me in her few scenes.
In lesser hands than hers, and director Andy Muschietti, Barry's mother, Nora Allen, could be a plot device. But with the incredible work of actor and director, the role feels rich, alive and beautiful well beyond the plot and her function within it. The mother/son chemistry of Verdu and Miller is incredibly powerful and it builds to an emotional climax that I was not expecting, one that hit me right in the heart. I'm perhaps personalizing this too much, but having lost a really great mom, one very reminiscent of this conception of Nora Allen, I was deeply touched by their bond. That this is also the motivation for the plot and all of the action that Barry takes in this plot means that the whole movie gets a charge from this chemistry. It's so strong for me that I think the movie might be as good, or even better on a rewatch because you would go in knowing just how powerful that relationship is and how devastating and emotional it all will become.
Click here for my full length review at Geeks.Media
