Director: Andy Muschietti
Writer: Christina Hodson
Cast: Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, Michael Keaton, Michael Shannon, Kiersey Clemons
Somewhere in the multiverse, there’s a dearth of multiverse movies. Unfortunately, in the timeline we’re in, The Flash is the fifth multiversal adventure to hit theatres in the past two years, after Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness (2022), Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) and the recently released Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023). By introducing characters to alternate versions of themselves, these movies offer their heroes a chance to fix what is by giving them a glimpse of what could be, to reconcile the dead-ends of their lives with the limitless paths they could’ve taken. At their best, they’re moving and meaningful character studies in which protagonists who travel far enough in search of their mirrored versions, find their own tragedies and triumphs reflected. More often than not, however, these movies are the opportunity for cheap nostalgia bait, a parade of cameos that take audience affection and applause for granted. The good news is that The Flash packs a universe-spanning crossover tale with an emotional intimacy. The bad news is that the film itself can’t outrun the allure of the past, succumbing to the same vices it chides.
Picking up after the events of Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021), the film finds Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) serving as the unofficial ‘janitor’ of the group, cleaning up their messes and being taken for granted. His father (Ron Livingston, taking over Billy Crudup’s role), wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of his mother, has an appeal coming up and it doesn’t look optimistic. Lost, alone and with nowhere to go, Barry does the only thing he can do – he runs. He runs so hard that he’s hurtled back in time and then decides to alter it just enough so that his mother survives.