GoMovieReview Rating: ★★★1/2
Rated: M
Directed by: Andy Muschietti
Screenplay by: Christina Hodson
Story by: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, Joby Harold
Based on Characters from: DC
Produced by: Barbara Muschietti, Michael Disco
Starring: Ezra Miller, Ben Affleck, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue and Michael Keaton.
The Flash (Ezra Miller) naming himself, ‘The janitor of the Justice League’ feels like he’s always cleaning up after Batman.
But Batman’s his besty.
So when the latest disaster hits Gotham City and the Justice League are busy elsewhere, it’s up to The Flash AKA Barry Allen, who’s in the middle of trying to buy a sandwich from a server who isn’t his usual server and he’s going to be late AND he’s hungry and trying to feed himself because if he doesn’t his body will literally run out of fuel… Well, Barry steps up, or rather, steps forward with arms bent at the ready.
It’s a silly beginning – think falling babies from a collapsing skyscraper while The Flash breaks into a falling vending machine to eat.
The film takes a moment to get traction (ha, ha).
Then the film shifts gear, cue the strings of the soundtrack, pan to dad in jail for the murder of his wife and mother of Barry:
‘I loved you first’.
It’s an unsubtle shift but leads to a poignant moment with Batman (Ben Affleck) – he’s a character who can relate.
Then flash again (ha, ha, sorry, can’t seem to help myself with this one), the film flashes back to a time when Barry’s mother was alive. Back to a time when he can save her, because if he can run faster than the speed of light, the theory runs, he can turn back time.
Enter, The Chrono Ball.
This is where most of the effects come into play: the surrounding faces of the past nightmarish as The Flash runs in the Ball’s centre, making time warp backwards.
But of course, changing the course of the past will always lead to changes to the future and added to the risk of changing the world forever, General Zod (Michael Shannon) returns to the past. To a past that no longer has metahumans.
Until Supergirl (Sasha Calle) is rescued.
They need all the hero’s they can muster to beat the Kryptonian general from destroying the Earth completely this time. In the past.
The film gets entertaining once Barry meets his past self so that verging on the silly overacting tones down to an overly enthusiastic Barry who meets older and wiser future Barry.
The effects also help off-set some of the silliness – The Flash quoting himself as a Barbie Girl in a Barbie world, well, that was one of the OK funny bits, but you get where I’m going. The humour just did not hit until The Flash meets his younger self – the chemistry better and more balanced.
And then there’s the return of Michael Keaton as the hermit Batman of the past (who is somehow older and yet explained so well with a bowl of spaghetti by said hermit Batman).
Really, I can’t believe how good it was to see Michael Keaton as Batman again.
Once the balance got going with the characters, there were some genuinely funny moments – seeing The Flash run around without being able to flash around did tickle.
And there’s some themes running (ha, ha) through the storyline so it’s not all superficial flashy trash – ‘not every problem has a solution,’ etc.
The future self, teaching the past self, worked better than expected.
And the film felt full, with every second of every frame brimming with as much dialogue and effects as possible.
Didn’t always hit the mark, but there’s enough of a foundation here to enjoy the entertainment.