2023 - THE FLASH, a jumbled mess of yet another superhero movie

 Like the plate of spaghetti noodles that Bruce Wayne shows Barry Allen as a way of demonstrating the various twists and turns of the different timelines in the multiverse, the screenplay for The Flash drowns in a lot of plot, subplots, Easter eggs, surprise actor appearances and overblown action sequences.

When I was a kid you could read a DC comic in about 10 or 15 minutes, the plot lines were simple and the action was direct.  This superhero story comes in at 144 minutes and just refuses to end. I suppose there is some entertainment in seeing 71 year old Michael Keaton put on the bat suit again but his part is on the shall we say small side.  At least he does better than the actor playing Supergirl who basically shows up to throw bad guys around.

 

The central plot is about Barry Allen going back in time to save his mother from being murdered.  Back in time he goes and he meets his younger self so you get a lot of supposedly humorous scenes with the two Barry's interacting.  This whole mess of a movie ends with all the timelines crashing together and in what is the ultimate superhero film nerd scene all the various actors who played Superman show up in pointless blink or you'll miss them cameos.

 

For all the action scenes and the razzle dazzle special effects The Flash will probably be forgotten in a short time.  This is yet another disappointment from Warner Brothers Studios.  They have struggeled  to find the right formula for the most part to make these DC Superhero movies.  

The film was written by Christina Hodson who has had her hand in to many of these superhero films.