YNOT at the Movies

In case you missed the signs that summer has arrived, the chaotic superhero movie releases will certainly serve as a reminder. The latest one is a forgettable "The Flash" (USA 2023 | 144 min.) from the DC universe, directed by the Argentine director Andy Muschietti. As does most other superhero movies, it contains plenty of noise and violence, and has little substance in terms of character development and engaging storytelling.

The film actually has a pretty good opening, when the nervous Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), a.k.a. the Flash, is summoned to save the Gotham City that is under attack just as he is ordering a peanut butter sandwich. The tongue-in-cheek action sequences of him saving newborn babies from a collapsing hospital is about the best part of the entire two and a half hour long movie. Everything from there on becomes a messy spaghetti dish tangled with recycled plots and CGIs.

Barry is also working to prove that his dad is (Ron Livingston) innocent with respect to his mom's (Maribel Verdú) death. But what would be even better, in his mind, is if he could go back in time and change the circumstance, so his mom won't be murdered. So he goes back in time and meets his slightly younger self (also played by Ezra Miller with longer hair) before he was struck by lightning with doses of chemicals giving him the superhero power.

The two Barrys end up altering reality and cannot execute the plan to save the mom. Instead, they need to find Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton), a.k.a. Batman, to rescue Supergirl (Sasha Calle), and fight off the attack by General Zod (Michael Shannon).

As the film proceeds, the plot gets more and more confusing and lost in the multiverse environment which has become so popular lately. To please the fans, the film inserts many nostalgic superhero images from previous actors on multiple occasions, but that does not save the film from boring the viewers with a thin and unconvincing story. The troubled actor Ezra Miller appears as jittery in the film as his hysterical voice. When there are two of him together arguing on the screen, it makes the movie even harder to endure.

The rest of the fighting is basically what you have seen in any other superhero movies, and there is nothing new or original in this repetitive episode of superhero gathering.

"The Flash" opens on Friday, June 16, 2023.