It’s the summer of 2024. None of the big releases coming up in the next few months are about DC Comics superheroes like Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman, as has been the case over the years and decades. Instead, social media is flooded with photos coming from somewhere close to the set of the film. Superman: Legacynext summer’s big DC reboot, directed by new DC entrepreneur James Gunn. That’s why it doesn’t seem entirely correct that just a year ago, The flash was accelerating its brief theatrical run. Now the film sits in the Top 10 on Netflix, while some of its so-called “DCEU” (DC Extended Universe) brethren are major attractions on Tubi. DC’s recent run of films has never been more accessible. But can this go a long way toward improving its reputation after the fact?
The flash It was not the last DCEU film. Rather, it came out during the biggest and worst year in the franchise’s decade-long history: a series that had previously released one or two movies a year, often big hits, racked up four post-pandemic titles and, thanks to corporate uncertainty, putting them out not unlike a liquidation sale. Over the course of twelve months, this quartet – together – grossed only slightly more in the United States than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. But although it was technically followed by the relatively discreet Blue beetle and the moderate global success of a last-minute idea Aquaman continuation, The flash is the DCEU movie that seems most likely to be an ending, even if accidentally.
On paper, The flash It seems like it should have been a hit, regardless of its place in the DC cycle. It combines the fast-paced multiverse antics that audiences enjoyed in multiple Spiderman Movies with MCU-style cameos and No way home-style revivals, including a major supporting role for Michael Keaton, reviving his version of Bruce Wayne and Batman when The Flash (Ezra Miller) engages in time travel that alters history and branches off to an alternate universe. Speaking of which, that time travel angle owes a lot to Return to the future – the long-gestating film was reportedly offered to Robert Zemeckis at one point – and aims for a similar combination of quick entertainment and emotional underpinnings. The stereotypical sadness of previous DC films like Batman vs Superman is replaced with bright and colorful super-antics that mix comedy, action and pathos. On a purely logistical level, The flashThe introduction of multiversal storytelling also meant it offered an infinitely adjustable reboot to the DCEU. Want to keep popular figures like Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman in the fold, while recasting or re-casting other roles as needed? No problem; The flash It could basically serve as DC’s version of X-Men: Days of Future Pastwhich pulled off a similar trick and became one of that series’ most popular installments in the process.
However, plenty of awful circumstances arose to fulfill what seemed like the film’s major advantages. Star Ezra Miller engaged in a years-long struggle with his mental health that seemed to include some abusive and criminal behavior, which made them a major liability for the press (and led to many online pundits who have no idea how movies work suggesting it makes more sense to just trash a finished movie to take a righteous stance against Miller). As a result, there wasn’t a lot of stellar promotion for the film and a lot of uneasy feelings about the character’s future. Ultimately, Miller wasn’t able to defeat Flash as easily as corporate shenanigans; the 2022 Warner Bros/Discovery merger led to new Warner chairman David Zaslav making some boldly upsetting DC decisions, including canceling a nearly-finished film. Bat girl film that, like The flashKeaton once again donned the cape and cowl of Batman. While the general public was likely unaware of this fiasco, it can’t have been easy to generate excitement for Keaton’s return among hardcore fans after deciding that a recent performance in that same role wasn’t worth publicizing and that the film’s universe might not be worth saving.
The flashwhile late to screens considering the project had been in development for a decade, was also at the forefront of the bold new field of audiences growing a little tired of this superhero crap. Not for everything, mind you – there will probably be at least one blockbuster superhero movie annually for the next three or four years – but for the epic, continuity-heavy, cameo-filled crossover that somehow feels like both a fresh introduction and an epic farewell retreat to its natural habitat as a niche experience just in time for The flash crash and burn.
A year later, those crossed purposes are exactly what makes the film strangely fascinating. The flash He was a simultaneous victim of exaggeration and underestimation. Its often cartoonish appearance and desire to please are distracting, and it comes nowhere close to the top-notch superhero movie described by well-known comic book fan and film expert David Zaslav (as well as certainly more credible contributor by the James Gunn company) before its premiere. It’s also interesting and strange in ways that make it quite fun, especially when juxtaposed with other DC films, which rarely delivered the frictionless experiences of the MCU’s less inspired entries.
Despite multiple big-name cameos, the film really focuses on Miller’s Barry Allen, to the point of making the actor both the first and second lead, when Barry encounters a version of himself from an alternate past who hasn’t gone through the trauma necessary to turn him into a superhero and is therefore not much help when General Zod (Michael Shannon, reprising his role as General Zod) is forced to leave the film. Iron Man paper) threatens a world now free of superheroes. The scenes with one Barry training the other in the art of superheroes have a pleasant madness; They even make a nice echo of the crazy part League of Justice movie (the non-Snyder cut, which The flash It serves, amusingly, as a relatively direct sequel/companion) where Ben Affleck’s Batman (who also appears here) guides Barry through a rescue operation larger than he’s ever faced before. Keaton’s Batman, meanwhile, goes from feeling like an eternal outcast of society to feeling like a deeply strange fit for a film that doesn’t have any gothic overtones or sideshow poetry whatsoever; However, there is a comic book spectacle turned into a movie when watching Keaton’s Batman, Sashe Calle’s Batman. Iron Man-and Supergirl and multiple Miller Flashes combined into an unworkable climax, the actual text of which is just how unworkable it is! The film pits Barry’s desire to “fix” the past against the ever-shifting variables that keep bending fate in the opposite direction, attracting in the process macabre CGI visions of past and alternate DC movie heroes. In a way, the film is faced with the dizzying, mercenary task of trying to make an audience-pleasing super movie that somehow fits into an increasingly unwieldy world of similar things.
Does director Andy Muschietti bring this mess to a stirring conclusion? Not quite; due to the film’s own uncertainty about whether it’s tweaking the DCEU, rebooting it, or sending it off into the sunset, The flash he hesitates and equivocates about his conclusions, ruminating on philosophical lessons, emotional catharsis, ironic comeuppance, or even more outlandish antics, and finally ends with a surprise cameo followed by an unfortunate callback moment and slapstick that, frankly, is much nastier. that the much-derided mid-credits gag Aquaman 2. This is a superhero movie made in what feels like a long-shot, slow-motion panic, tragically late to the party when it already had everything in place. It is also, removed from the fanboy hype and anti-promotion of box-office nerds, a messy superhero adventure unlike any other, even the ones it tries to imitate. That’s the only aspect of the movie that makes it fit with the presence of Keaton’s oddball Batman: It’s a bit of a freak show. Echoing the famous line that Keaton boldly but pointlessly repeats, it becomes a bonkers mess.
Jesse Hassenger@rockmarooned) is a writer who lives in Brooklyn. He is a regular contributor to The AV Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others. He podcasts on www.sportsalcohol.comalso.
