Review: 'The Flash' sees Ezra Miller's fine act with dual roles & a fun return for Michel Keaton as Batman

The Flash

Distinguishing the art from the artist. When the leading man of your film has all kinds of shenanigans going on in the real life, it leads to and did lead to The Flash being a subject of concern - will it be released? will Ezra Miller portions be removed? and so on. However, amid misconduct allegations (the latest in a long list of turbulent cases with Miller), The Flash marks its release in the theatres this Friday. As a critic, it was difficult but paramount that I watch the film independent of how I feel about the actor playing the character. Having seen the film beforehand, here is what I thought about it-

The Humor & Performances

Still rather infamous for its 'dark' treatment, DCEU has lightened up (see what I did there) lately and The Flash is yet another example of the same. Humor plays a constant factor in The Flash and understandably so as Barry Allen aka The Flash (Ezra Miller) is still pretty much a kid - who is goofy and gets excited by small things and so on. Owing to that, there was immense scope for good humor and it lands almost everytime. Some are hilarious laugh-out-loud moments while some are chuckles. 

This becomes even more important post the first half where the pace of the film witnesses a huge dip. As mentioned above, the off-screen personna of Miller aside, the actor does a terrific job here as Barry Allen and Barry Allen in the alternate universe. Miller goes by the pronoun - they and hence, they make sure that the distinguishing factor of both Barry Allens is done so well that you literally feel that it is being played by two people with contrasting personalities. MIller lands well with their emotional scenes as well and add to that - a fun new friendship with the returning Batman - Michael Keaton. 

And now that we are talking about him, Keaton, who reprises the role after three decades is fantastic as well. He doesn't overdo any of the Batman characteristics and rather plays age play the factor in this version of Batman in the best possible way.

The Shoddy VFX & Dipping Third Act

The first half of The Flash is a lot of fun owing to Barry Allen's emotional core being the central talking point, him travelling through time and meeting another version of him in a different universe, losing his powers - and so on. Most of the crucial and noteworthy developments happen in the first half thus keeping you engaged and entertained. But a few minutes into the second half, the tempo drops considerably and especially, as we reach the third act, it becomes a drab. 

The repetition of scenes owing to multiverse principles, an underwhelming faceoff with Zod, Supergirl getting something to do but not too much and endless wondering of Barry Allen's woes don't quite hit the mark as it was intended. To my absolute surprise, a mega film like that should have had the cleanest CGI work possible but there are several portions that the CGI appears to be too scratchy. Some of them might not be obvious to everyone but some of those instances are almost too scrappy too be missed out.

The Cameos & Future

To its credit, The Flash also delivers some good surprises, as one would have expected. Some of these faces are the ones you obviously knew are going to appear but then a couple other come out of nowhere leading to a rousing moment on multiple occasions. 

I am definitely not spoiling anything for you but I can say that these surprising cameos become a major reason for the more fun moments and also making it worthy enough. The future is also set rather well for the franchise as the end pretty much acted as a cliff-hanger and one that did not feel forced in any manner. The bigger problem though is that will Miller be able to continue playing The Flash? Only time will tell.

The Verdict

The Flash is in no manner one of the best superhero movies from the DCEU in recent times as the loopholes are too huge to be missed. But that doesn't take away from the fact that it still delivers a good time at the movies for you, the viewer - who is looking for escapism. The real life notion of the leading star might be a factor for many but devoid of that, The Flash is entertaining and engaging.

Rating - *** (3/5)