Review: THE FLASH is an Absolute Mess of a Multiverse Movie that Does Nothing to Correct Anything For the DCEU

***This review has some mild spoilers. You've been warned.***

Lots of hype has been building for THE FLASH, starring Ezra Miller, and after seeing last night's press screening of the full film it does nothing to correct anything in the DCEU. Makes sense since Warner Bros. Discovery is moving away from that superhero universe and beginning new with DC Studios co-head James Gunn and his new creative vision for his DCU.

As the movie starts you will immediately notice, minutes into it, how bad the CG effects are in this movie. This is not hyperbole, but the effects in this film are some of the worst CG seen in any superhero movie throughout the entire movie. It looks like the studio got fed up with continuing to dump loads of money into the CG graphics and stopped, or the studio didn't have enough time to finish them. Either way it's really, really bad.

Miller's performance in dual Barry roles is admirable. They have some moments of heart and humorous fun in the movie, but not to the point to save this disaster of a film. Even Michael Keaton's return to the role of Batman from 30 years ago can't save it, however, it is fantastic seeing him back under the cowl and his performance is clearly the standout of the film and in every scene he is in.

Onto the lazy plot, yeah, it's lazy.

In order not to spoil anything too big in this movie... some mild spoilers are ahead. 

The opening of the film is action with chase scenes for Ben Affleck's Batman, but it's copy-pasted basic chase scenes akin to those in college teachings and nothing to really be excited about. Actually, a bit on the boring side. A very lazy Batman chase sequence coincides with Flash having to save a bunch of people at a hospital that is falling into the ground. Part of this rescue is the Flash saving some newborn babies and it is literally a bad parody of Marvel's use of Quicksilver's speed scenes when everything slows down while he moves items in super-speed. Flash does the same to save the really bad looking CG babies. 

After this opening sequence we learn the Flash figures out how to go back in time to try and save his mother from dying. This is where the CG gets even worse. He enters the Speedforce and during this time Dark Flash sees the Flash trying to mess with time itself and shows up to push Flash out of the Speedforce and he lands in the universe where Keaton's Batman exists. Shortly after, the DCEU Flash loses his powers while trying to get the Barry of that universe powers for the first time, and this leads to seeking help from Keaton's Batman. At this point, you learn Zod has arrived in this universe and we begin re-telling the same invasion story that was done in MAN OF STEEL, which is so very lazy when it comes to storytelling and is a good chunk (maybe a third) of the movie, too. The Barrys and Batman realize they need to find Superman to fight off Zod and when they locate him it is actually a her and Supergirl is revealed. Her story is also lazy and if you're looking for any character development for her you're not getting any of that. The battle commences and the Barrys, Batman, and Supergirl fight off Zod and his minions. Some cool fighting moments here, but again the bad CG takes away from so much. 

Zod is victorious and the Barrys realize they can go back in time to ensure they win taking us into some moments similar to Tom Cruise's EDGE OF TOMORROW movie replaying battle events over and over again trying to get a different outcome and the victory ending they want. During this, DCEU Flash realizes some things of the past are defined and cannot be changed and need to happen. Quickly leading to the realization he cannot save his mother to get the ending he desires. He and new Barry go back into the Speedforce and run into Dark Flash again. The three of them have some dialogue and DCEU Barry finds out who Dark Flash really is. There is no epic fight here between them and once this scene is resolved, DCEU Barry goes to set his own timeline back to normal, heading back to his own universe after where everything is normal expect for one thing at the end that is too spoiler-y to reveal here. 

There are some interesting cameos, but instead of using stock footage to try and re-use it, the decision was used to make them bad CG versions instead. This totally takes away from the thrill of seeing these quick cameos because they look terrible and I would liken it to perhaps XBox 360-type of graphics. Not a great look at all for this fan service.

In the end, nothing is really resolved for the DCEU from the Flash's attempt to correct the past. It does not fix anything in the DCEU, nor does it set up Gunn's incoming reboot of his DCU. It's a lazy movie with horrendous CG, a tiny little bit of heart sprinkled in that doesn't matter when the credits start roll. Just more of the same from what was once known as the DC Synderverse. Even the end credits scene does nothing except to remind you that the Aquaman sequel in coming this winter.

It's way past time to move on from the DCEU and these versions of the characters. Gunn's new DCU reboot cannot come soon enough. This entire franchise badly needs this incoming reboot and fingers crossed Gunn can be the one to make that finally happen.

Written and reviewed by Daniel Wolf, Founder and Editor-in-Chief