PORTLAND, Maine — [Editor's note: This article is a critical analysis of a film and does not represent the views of NEWS CENTER Maine, but that of the author.]
It comes after several delays, but The Flash is finally getting his own movie, complete with a few different Batmans.
Even Ezra Miller's arrest record couldn't deter this movie as they showed up to the premiere.
Story
After the events of "Justice League" and a handful of other loosely-connected DC movies, "The Flash" follows the team's super speedster as he tries to balance work and being a superhero.
Barry Allen works at a crime lab, trying to revisit old cases that might have been rushed through evidence and ruined someone's life. He's also trying to find new clues that will get his father out of prison after he was wrongly convicted of killing Barry's mother.
While waiting on a barista to make him a sandwich, The Flash helps Batman with an incident in Gotham City and saves a bunch of falling babies from a hospital. Afterward, Barry discovers the evidence that was going to help his father during an appeal hearing is basically useless.
Distraught, Barry hypothesizes he could run fast enough to go back in time and stop his mother from being murdered in the first place. Going against Batman's advice, the Flash rewinds time, stops his mother's death, and then stumbles into an alternate timeline where she's still alive.
Barry finds his mother and father happy and healthy. But chaos starts when Barry notices his 18-year-old self walking up the driveway. Older Barry stops his younger self, explains the situation, and then realizes how much trouble his actions have caused.
That's when General Zod (Superman's nemesis from Man of Steel) appears and threatens the planet. But in this timeline, there is no Justice League to stop him, and Superman is absent as well. So, both versions of Barry Allen have to track down this timeline's Batman to figure out how to stop Zod from destroying the world.
Analysis
After films like "Spider-Man: No Way Home," "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," and "Everything Everywhere All At Once," the multiverse is becoming a bit of a well-worn exercise.
Fortunately, "The Flash" comes with enough twists and tricks to keep things from being stale. And a large part of that is seeing Michael Keaton suit up as Batman again for the first time in more than 30 years.
Keaton's Batman coming out of retirement for one last fight is certainly a cool moment for fans of the early '90s Caped Crusader films. And because Keaton is a fantastic actor, he doesn't make this a tired cameo only good for nostalgia. He brings a layer of mortality to a fight of super-powered beings.
Sasha Calle's Supergirl is another welcome addition to the team, and she'll leave folks wanting more. . . literally. She's a mysterious and loathsome Girl of Steel the film could've dedicated a few more minutes to developing.
While they're surrounded by legal troubles off-screen, Miller delivers an impressive performance on-screen, having to pull double duty between their older and younger selves. They certainly pulled their weight giving each Flash a distinct personality, one defined by loss and the other a less-than-charming immaturity.
If anyone looks unhappy to be in this film, it's Michael Shannon returning as Zod. He doesn't bring the same anger and rage that made him such a powerful villain in "Man of Steel." Fortunately, as the film will reveal, another more interesting villain is waiting in the wings.
Some of the movie's opening special effects are a little wonky, particularly in the hospital scene with the infants. But the time travel and running scenes with the Flash are amazing to watch.
To top things off, "The Flash" includes a heartbreaking climax with a tender moment where Barry has to learn the limits of who he can save and what he has to let go of.
All of this together makes for DC's best movie since "The Suicide Squad."
Also playing this weekend
Pixar is back with a new animated movie called "Elemental." Here's the synopsis:
"Follows Ember and Wade, in a city where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together."
To see which movies are playing at a theater near you, click here.
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