Considering the multitude of problems working against it, the 2023 movie version of The Flash probably should have been even more of a disaster than it was. Make no mistake, the film was one of the biggest box office failures of the summer. Combined with mixed reviews and tons of negative publicity about its star’s toxic behavior off-set, by the time I finally watched the movie, I did so with apprehension, fully expecting it to be awful. To my great surprise, I actually found it to be tremendously fun. Financial flop or no, as a piece of entertainment, The Flash turned out better than it has any right to be.
That’s not to say that this is some unheralded masterpiece. It’s still a DC Comics superhero movie, with all the messiness that implies – perhaps even more than usual this time. At the end of the day, its positive attributes weren’t enough to save the film, which will reportedly lose parent company Warner Bros. a staggering $200 million. As much of a good fight as it puts up, nothing or no one could stop that, not even the return of fandom’s favorite Caped Crusader.
| Title: | The Flash |
| Year of Release: | 2023 |
| Director: | Andy Muschietti |
| Watched On: | Max |
| Also Available On: | 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Blu-ray Various VOD rental and purchase platforms |
The movie really ought to be called Batman and the Flash. Its actual title character notwithstanding, the primary selling point for the film is to see Michael Keaton play the Dark Knight again, three decades since dropping out of the role after 1992’s Batman Returns. More than just a glorified cameo (which the trailers may have suggested), Keaton’s Bruce Wayne has extensive screen time in the movie and is integral to the plot. He’s also terrific as an older, wearier Batman who gave up on crime-fighting ages ago and only reluctantly agrees to put the suit back on again.
When “Fastest Man Alive” Barry Allen learns that his powers allow him to travel through time, he makes the ill-advised decision to go back to his childhood trying to prevent his mother from being murdered. Doing so creates wide-ranging temporal paradoxes that then leave Barry stuck in an alternate universe where none of his usual Justice League friends exist, except for a very different version of Batman (Keaton) than the one he’s used to. Regrettably, it also leads to this new world experiencing the invasion of evil Kryptonian General Zod (Michael Shannon) with no Superman around to stop him. Fortunately, Barry and Bruce find help from a Supergirl (Sasha Calle) instead. Together, the four of them (yes, I said “four” on purpose) must not only save this universe, but potentially an infinite number of others as well.
Likely the biggest issue with The Flash is that it had to be a movie about the Flash at all. Even though the character had a fairly memorable debut in 2017’s Justice League, I doubt many DC fans were really itching for a solo movie about him. The TV version starring Grant Gustin finally wore out its welcome earlier this year after nine seasons on the air, during which every conceivable storyline for the character (including several pretty similar to this one) was hashed out and rehashed, and re-rehashed, multiple times over ad nauseam. At this moment in time, The Flash feels played-out.
Add to that the poor timing of the film coming out just as the grand DC Extended Universe experiment is falling apart and is about to be rebooted by new creative staff, I think most fans felt wary of getting invested in another story about any of the prior iterations of the characters. That’s to say nothing of star Ezra Miller’s recent personal scandals and legal troubles, which may have soured many potential viewers against any project with the actor’s involvement.
General superhero fatigue in the popular culture shouldn’t be discounted as a factor, either. After so many other movies just like this one, what can any new costumed hero adventure offer that we haven’t seen before? Even the Flash’s trips through a multiverse feel old-hat after just about every other DC and Marvel character has done the same.
What decidedly does work for this version of The Flash, however, is a humorous and playful tone so much lighter than its brethren in the so-called “Snyderverse.” Even when the story tries to go to some darker places, it does so with a sense of creativeness and fun missing from most of DC’s brooding and dour superhero stories. If not for the distraction of Miller’s real-life controversies, the actor otherwise delivers a a pair of appealing performances, as both the primary Barry and a dumbass alternate version of himself.
The excuse of multiverse shenanigans also allows for a ton of amusing fan-service cameos, some fully expected (Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot as Barry’s original Batman and Wonder Woman) but others less so. Sadly, some of them are soured by obviously rushed and inadequate CGI.
For a $200+ million-dollar production, the visual effects are another glaring weakness in The Flash. Some look great, but a lot of them are embarrassingly shoddy. Personally, I found the movie entertaining enough overall that I was able to look past that, but it’s frequently a distraction, especially when the film’s big climax devolves into its inevitable (slightly tedious) CGI-fest spectacle.
Video Streaming
The Flash began streaming on Max this past Friday, August 25th, half a week in advance of its physical media release on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD this Tuesday. Unfortunately, I had a host of technical issues streaming it due to problems with the Max app.
I first attempted to do so on my Android-based NVIDIA Shield, which kicked into 4K HDR for the forced trailer before the movie, only to drop back down to 1080p SDR as soon as the film itself started. I tried backing out and going back in, then rebooting the app a few times to no avail. Frustrated with that, I switched to a Roku device, which may have delivered the movie in 4K HDR, but repeatedly overheated and displayed a warning message over the video. Maybe that’s a hardware problem rather than a content problem, but I use this Roku regularly and don’t recall that ever happening before with anything else I’ve watched. (Before you ask, it was sitting out on a well-ventilated shelf, and I even moved it away from anything else producing heat.)
All that drama aside, the 1.90:1 image looks pretty good by streaming standards. Sharpness is decent, though I suspect the physical disc release will probably better it in that respect. While nothing can improve the worst of the CGI visual effects, HDR and Wide Color Gamut really benefit this movie. Barry and Supergirl’s costumes are rich shades of red, and all the lightning effects deliver some nice popping highlights.
The Dolby Atmos soundtrack, on the other hand, seems to be set for a very low volume, and sounds dull even after amplification well above my usual default. The track has quite a bit of rumbly bass that comes across annoyingly thumpy. Again, I’d hope that this is compression related and that the physical disc might be better.
Related
- Batman
- DC Comics (Other)
- Ben Affleck
The Video File Blog 
I finished this yesterday and found it quite enjoyable. I used the Max service through an Apple TV and it looked quite good. I’m not sure if it’s the area I’m in or the Apple TV, but most of my streaming stuff looks really good. I did have to bump up my volume, but the surround was very satisfying. I’ll probably pick up the Steelbook tomorrow if Best Buy has it. I like having both blu and UHD. It’s too bad about Miller and his / they / their personal life, as I really enjoy Miller as a performer.
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I too enjoyed this one more than I thought I would. It ain’t Shakespeare, but I’ve wasted more time on decidedly more worthless fare (The White Lotus immediately comes to mind).
The scene near the end with Barry and his mom in the grocery store hit harder than I thought it would and truly felt genuine.
I wouldn’t have a problem seeing this again.
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