The Flash (2023) (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

This is what I said in June after I saw an advance screening. The show was filled to capacity with fans and was a really invested, excited crowd.

The movie is good, solid entertainment and I enjoyed watching it. Even at 2 hours and 24 minutes, it felt very well-paced and kept me interested and invested throughout.

While I stand by what I said, this is a case where thinking about the movie afterwards and talking about it and analyzing it has changed my opinion on it somewhat. I definitely think that seeing a movie with an excited crowd is a great thing, but it also might make you a little bit more forgiving of a movie's flaws while you're in the moment with a crowd. I had a similar experience with Love and Thunder last year, where I liked it okay while it was on and laughed at some of the jokes in the moment. But the narrative problems started to appear once I got out of the theater and started processing what I had seen.

I still don't think this is a bad movie. There are things I liked about it and I'm glad I saw it. I would still put it third out of the DCEU films I've seen (behind the first Shazam and Wonder Woman films.). But in thinking about it, some holes started to show here, too.

Spoiler

1) I said in my original post that I'm not a big fan of Michael Keaton's Batman films. I think if I liked those more -- if I had grown up with Keaton instead of Christian Bale as my first Batman -- the ending here would be unsatisfying. Bringing Keaton back just to get killed seems unpleasant. I know Keaton was supposed to show up in the end of the movie before they went with Clooney there. But with the film as-is, the result is that Keaton just gets unceremoniously killed off.

I have to imagine that Michael Keaton Batman fans probably feel the same way about those movies as I do about Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man. With respect to the great Spider-Man actors who came after him, Maguire's first film is the one that turned me onto superhero movies as a genre. That first film was incredibly influential for me. So I have a soft spot for Maguire in the role. I was really excited when he showed up again in No Way Home and was delighted with the closure it was able to give his version of the character. If his Peter had been brought back after a 14-year absence just to get killed off, I would have been absolutely livid. That would have probably ruined the movie for me. So I'd probably be pissed about Keaton's character dying here if I had a personal attachment to his earlier films.

It also feels to me like Keaton's Batman didn't have to be Keaton's Batman in this film. Minus the "let's get nuts" line, they could have written essentially the same part for any former Batman who would have agreed to be in it. I really found Maguire and Garfield's returns in No Way Home satisfying because their material was written in such a way as to build on what they learned in their movies. It would be a different script if it hadn't been those particular actors. I'm not sure that's really the case here with Keaton, so that seems like a missed opportunity. Supergirl is even more underused, even though Sasha Calle is really good in the role. And the multiverse of cameos really didn't serve any purpose other than fan service.

2) The whole point of the movie is for Barry to learn that he shouldn't mess around with the multiverse for personal benefit. The moment where he realizes that he needs to let his mother go is impactful. But t kind of undercuts the lesson because he is still willing to make a smaller change in service of freeing his father. I don't know how else I would have ended the film, and I'm not saying that his father staying in jail forever would have been satisfying either. But I'm not sure this ending was the best way to accomplish that.

3) I understand that James Gunn and Peter Safran didn't want to use certain characters in the final scene because they didn't want to imply that those actors would be returning. But if this is the end of the DCEU anyway, then who cares? Allowing Cavill, Calle, Gadot and either Affleck or Keaton to appear in the final scene would be a nice sort-of button on the DCEU. Let Barry celebrate his dad's freedom with the fellow heroes that he knows. Since the majority of this continuity is being jettisoned anyway, what difference does it make?

Clooney's appearance is funny and got a big laugh when I saw the movie. But the "whoa, they got Clooney" surprise element really only works once per audience member. If you really think about it, I don't think seeing Clooney again just as a joke is not as satisfying as it would have been to fade out with Barry surrounded by his friends.[/quote]

 

[Keith Cobby]

The best thing about "The Flash" (a movie that had a lot of good things in it) was Michael Keaton. He had about double the number of lines in "The Flash" than he did in both of his earlier Batman films, and the film was the better for it. I think a lot of people would have come out for a Keaton starring new Batman film. A pity.

Keaton's too old to play Batman.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Keaton's too old to play Batman.

That seems like a perplexing statement given that he just played Batman.

 

[Bryan^H]

Keaton's too old to play Batman.

'The Dark Knight Returns' by Frank Miller is possibly the greatest Batman story ever. The "old Batman" concept is gold in the right hands.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Everyone loves Michael Keaton, but Indi 5 has shown us (if we didn't already know) that you have to move on and that beloved characters need new, younger actors to reinvigorate them. Will there be a Batman film with a septuagenarian actor playing the lead, no.

 

[Tommy R]

Finally watched this last night, and all I can say is I was VERY underwhelmed. The basic plot of the movie is interesting, but had very predictable story beats. Other time travel stories have done this sort of thing in WAY more satisfying ways. (Netflix’s “Dark” I would highly recommend.)

It WAS cool seeing Michael Keaton again as Batman, but he definitely fits better in an actual Tim Burton movie. Michael Shannon was just sort of there, though it’s not his fault, the story didn’t really have much for him to do. Also liked the Super Girl character, but again, didn’t really impact the movie story-wise.

Like most superhero movies, this could have been better had it been 45 minutes shorter and more focused. I kept thinking it was building to something more interesting, but then just sort of gives up and delivers us the predictable conclusion.

I’m very happy I didn’t waste more than $5.99 renting it on Vudu. I was very much considering blind buying it on 4K, but not only am I glad to have avoided that, I no longer mourn having missed it in theaters.