The Flash- DC Is Better Than Ever

In 2022 DC Studios made headlines by announcing that director/producer Zach Snyder was leaving his position as executive producer and James Gunn would be replacing him. It was quite the announcement for two reasons, one being that while Zach Snyders films were overly ambitious at times, he still propelled DC into where they are today. The other given that James Gunn had only worked on one DC film and was actually famous for his ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ trilogy for Marvel. “The Flash” is the first DC project with Gunn at the helm and he is determined to make a massive debut. Announcing that the “Flash” will serve as a reset for the series and bringing back fan-favorite Michael Keaton as Batman.

In the first fifteen minutes of the movie I realized that “The Flash” was not going to be a slow movie. Ezra Miller returns as “The Flash” and is immediately called by Batman (reprised by Ben Affleck, more on that in a moment) to help avert a group of terrorists trying to spread a deadly virus. The first fifteen minutes alone encompass everything hat makes superhero movies great and also highlights James Gunn’s attempt to make a big splash. Lots of explosions, Batman drives a Bat-pod right off a plane, the Flash pulls impossible stunts, some one-liners, its all here.

The plot is something that’s surprisingly well laid out. In all his various iterations, the story of Barry Allen is ultimately about him trying to make peace with the loss of his mother. Whereas the CW series focused on Barry trying to solve the mystery of who (or what) killed his mother, the film took a drastically different approach. Barry Allen decides to go back in time and try to prevent his mother from ever dying in the first place, and that throws his entire time stream out of order. Now Barry has to deal with the consequences of messing with time.

Possibly the most surprising aspect of “The Flash” is how big the cast of characters really is. This is not a movie just about Barry Allen, Batman is also a key character. In the beginning Ben Affleck shows up and FINALLY pulls off Bruce Wayne. Then later Michael Keaton utterly steals the show with his excellent reprisal. Oh, and George Clooney even briefly shows. Nice. Gal Gadot makes a brief appearance as Wonder Woman, so does Jason Momoa as Aquaman. (Hey, is that a plug for the much anticipated Aquaman 2?) General Zod makes a return. This is also the first time in the DC movies that Supergirl actually shows up, and while I really didn’t care for the CW series, I enjoyed watching Supergirl in this movie. All taken in, the scope of “The Flash” is really impressive.

“The Flash” is also surprisingly ambitious. This is a movie that reaches high. It’s not just the great action scenes or the large cast of characters, its how much the film really tries to encompass. This movie made me think of “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice”. It was a pretty good movie, but it was a movie that got in its own way. I think Zach Snyder is great at what he does, but sometimes I think he gets so caught up in his own vision he forgets everything else. I counted about a dozen different plugs for various DC films, and it was obnoxious at times. “Batman vs. Superman” tried to do way too much, it attempted to be a mystery, a thriller, a superhero movie and a DC ad frenzy, without being really good at any of them. “The Flash” is just as ambitious, and tries to encompass just as much, only this time “The Flash” is actually great.

As stated, you see a lot of Batman. A few Justice League members make cameo appearances. There’s also the supervillains that show up. When I got through the first 40-45 minutes of the movie there wasn’t a clear villain, the plot revolved around Barry trying to deal with the consequences of his actions. Then, General Zod returns to wreak mayhem. This in and of itself would’ve made for a good movie, but the movies goes farther. Reverse Flash even shows up, if you’re a comic-book fan that will make your eyebrows raise up.

Lets also talk about production. Because here in “The Flash”, it features some of the best production in any DC film, even topping “Black Adam”. The action scenes are plentiful and well put together, there is a slew of eye popping special effects. The thing I probably love the most about “The Flash” is how is manages to encompass everything that makes superhero genre great. Recently, superhero movies have attempted to re-invent the genre, to no success. A few movies like “Logan”, “The Avengers: Endgame” and “The Batman” managed to be genuinely unique. “The Flash” sticks to the playbook, take a normal character with abnormal abilities and have him fight larger than life villains.

Lets also go over the flak this movie has garnered. I read film critic after critic blast this movie, talking about how poor it was. While ‘don’t believe the hype’ definitely applies to some movies, not so here. “The Flash” is a wild thrill ride, complete with great writing and endearing characters. I’ve always said that DC has the potential to decimate Marvel studios if they really wanted to, and “The Flash” is proof of everything I’ve been saying. I’m also excited over James Gunn running the show now. If future projects are anywhere near as good as “The Flash”, then DC will be the ones dominating theater sales in the future.