Development Hell; what is it you may ask? Well, it’s when a project struggles to move beyond conception to completion for years, or in some cases, decades. Reasons for this could be legalities, money, or just good old fashioned creators’ block. Some movies struggle for years to escape and on occasion come out okay. Look at films like Deadpool or Mad Max: Fury Road, both which were stuck in the development phase for years but managed to come out the other side well made and memorable. On the flipside, some projects finally see the light of day, and we all collectively wish they stayed in the dark. To look at a different medium, I always think to Duke Nukem: Forever, a sequel that was hyped for almost 15 years and came out looking like a hot load of garbage.

Now we find DC Comics’ latest film, The Flash, sitting at this intersection. While the film isn’t one of the worst examples of development hell, it did involve a lot of stop and go production for many years due a plethora of issues involving changes in DC’s leadership, change in direction for their bigger cinematic universe, multiple talents coming and going from the project, and the lead star’s erratic behavior. All of this was really starting to spell disaster for the film, but after the movie was lauded by new DC Studios CEO James Gunn as “one of the best superhero films of all time”, I actually became pretty intrigued by the film.

James, I love ya, but I might have to disagree with you.

The Flash, for me, is quite the mixed bag. For every inkling of a generally good idea, performance or moment, it’s counteracted by baffling decisions in the writing, story, and visuals. Its messy effects often undercut otherwise interesting ideas, while the backdrop of the multiverse lends to cameos that range from fine to freakish. The movie does succeed in generating some semblance of humanity through Barry Allen’s dilemma, giving the film a genuinely mature resolution that, unfortunately, the film can’t help but squander. 

The Flash follows the titular hero, aka Barry Allen, still dealing with the death of his mother and the unjust incarceration of his father. When Barry finds that he can run fast enough to travel back in time and change history, he soon finds out what every other time traveling protagonist does; the past is not to be tampered with. Now in a slightly-off version of his world, Barry must find a way to fix everything before his actions cause the destruction of his and many other worlds.

Let’s go ahead and make something perfectly clear. Ezra Miller is not a good person. Their behavior over the past couple of years is pretty concerning, and though they’ve said they are seeking help to get better, their actions still can’t be excused. Truthfully it’s incredible that this movie ended up even coming out, let alone the idea of Ezra remaining in the role of The Flash for future films. With that being said, I’m judging their performance objectively without that context. Which I feel like is pretty obvious, but in case anyone thinks anything positive I say about their performances is reflective of my thoughts of them as a person, that’s not the case. With that said, Ezra does a pretty okay job here. I haven’t been super sold on Ezra in the role since their introduction in Justice League, as I found their performance to kind of miss the mark on what I think the character of Flash should be. Yeah they should be goofy and a bit annoying, but they should be funny for the audience to watch and mostly be annoying the other characters, not me. I’ve just found Miller’s Flash to be more annoying than anything, but the film does give Barry the room to grow and add additional layers to the character. They’re given pretty decently executed emotional moments that, while few and far between, still manage to successfully hit an emotional string in my opinion. Miller also pulls double duty as a younger, more annoying version of himself that if anything shows a decent contrast between where the character is now compared to how he was. The rest of the cast is kind of just okay, not really making that big of an impact which I do think boils down to a story issue. I think the biggest selling point for this film was Michael Keaton’s long awaited return as Batman, and if I’m being honest, it kind of just feels like he’s in a Super Bowl commercial. Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool to see him back under the cowl again, but overall his return doesn’t really give much to the story or to his version of the character. It’s just a callback for the sake of callback. Same thing kind of goes for Michael Shannon’s Zod, who really does feel like a shell of who he was in Man of Steel. His use in the story is admittedly more interesting than Keaton’s, but we don’t get much of him and it honestly just looks like his face was grafted onto a body double the whole time. Sasha Calle is a nice addition as Supergirl, but again her role in the film feels kind of squandered as she makes a very small impression in the grand scheme of things. There’s also quite a few cameos, all ranging in quality, that I’ll talk about a little later.

Now for the visuals, which I think has been the most common complaint since the first trailer hit screens. And yeah, they’re pretty bad at times. I think one of the bigger issues for me is the coloring, especially when Barry utilizes the Speed Force. These scenes are usually painted in a rather ugly orange sheen that makes the movie nauseating to look at, while we’re also treated to rubbery, video game cutscene looking human models moving through slow motion. I don’t know what it is about director Andy Muschietti, but a lot of his films have this particular visual style usually reserved for his monsters that just come off looking incredibly fake. Now this gets applied to actual humans, and it looks even worse. I get the idea that things should look warped and distorted when you’re moving that fast, but you can make things look weird and still have them look good. The Quicksilver scenes in the X-Men films did a pretty decent job with this, but here I just think it looks too uncanny. And that kind of leads me into those aforementioned cameos, several of which utilize actors who are either too old or too dead to reprise their past roles. This has been a trend going on for a while and…yeah it feels a little gross. Especially when these cameos do next to nothing for the plot, existing to just show up and stare at the camera with an artificial look in their eyes. There is, granted, one cameo at the very end that actually gave me a good chuckle, even if it kind of throws the whole plot and message out the window.

The film’s story is a roller coaster, and by that, I mean you can track my enjoyment of the film on a bell curve shaped like the world’s most basic rollercoaster. I wasn’t really hooked in the beginning, mostly because the conflict didn’t feel very interesting and the humor and visuals just felt off putting. Yet once Barry does go back in time and meets his past self, I think the film’s quality improves. The dynamic between the two Barry’s does lead to some decent laughs, as well playing into the original Barry’s growth as a person. It also adds an interesting dilemma involving Barry losing his powers, allowing the character to show off more of his intellect when it comes to solving problems. It’s nothing all that deep, but it does give the character more layers than what we’re used to. The introduction of Batman and Supergirl adds a bit of nostalgia and charm, but like I said before, their inclusions don’t add much overall. Then we get into the third act, which is simultaneously home to the best and worst aspects of the film. The final battle takes place in a big, open and ugly field that doesn’t allow for much creativity when it comes to the action sequences. Yet the film does lean into actual consequences that, while at times feels emotionally manipulative, does lead into something I liked about the climax. The film treats its conflict in a slightly more unique way than other films would, embracing the idea that no matter how hard you fight, the past can’t really be changed and your only option is to find a way to move forward. All of this culminates to a fairly emotional scene of somber acceptance from Barry, whose kneeling to the powers we can’t control actually spells out a pretty nice arc for the character. That is, until the movie just completely abandons this idea and has Barry do almost the exact thing that got him into this mess. In mere minutes the film throws Barry’s story progression out the window and makes me wonder what the point even was in the first place. Like I said it leads to a funny stinger ending, but is that really worth throwing away the whole point in your movie?

The Flash can’t outrun its multitude of problems to really seem like a success in my eyes. It’s hard to look at and often grating to sit through, while its better moments are ultimately undercut by a baffling ending. Its cameos don’t feel all that satisfying outside of surface level nostalgia, exemplifying some of the worst pratfalls of a multiverse story. This looks like the doomsday reset button the DCEU desperately needed, it’s just a shame things couldn’t be closed out on a better foot. I don’t really know what this spells for the future of DC, but I do know one thing. Keep Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson as far away from this shit as possible. 

Rating

Speed Force

The Speed Force is the ethereal power that The Flash taps into to receive his powers, allowing him to run at super speeds and even travel through time. Things get a bit warped while using the Speed Force, so I’m taking that inspiration to create this modified New York Sour. The cocktail is a bit smokey from the mezcal, while pineapple and lemon juice give the cocktail a bit of brightness. And in true New York fashion, it’s topped up with a pour of red wine, which will give the cocktail a unique range of flavors, sometimes tasting a bit like sangria while sometimes being more akin to the whiskey sour. But just like the real Speed Force, keep your calorie count high or this’ll tear you apart.

Ingredients

• 1.5oz mezcal
• 3/4oz pineapple juice
• 1/2oz lemon juice
• 1/2oz ginger simple syrup
• 2 dashes orange bitters
• Float: 3/4oz dry red wine

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients to a shaker and shake to chill.
2. Strain over fresh ice in rocks glass.
3. Gently pour the red wine over the back of a spoon to layer it on top of the cocktail.