The Flash is a junk food movie, but sometimes junk food hits the spot. I think in this case, it kind of did, and I had fun. There are problems here for sure, and maybe it'll all fall apart in my mind the more I think about it. But I had a pretty good time with this, and while it might not have been as filling or satisfying as a proper piece of cínèmá, I feel like as far as unapologetic crowd-pleasers go, this is one of the better ones.
It has fun with a time travel plot, and also dives right into all that multiverse stuff that's all the rage at this point. We may be at a breaking point soon with movies that spiral off into different universes/timelines, in the process bringing back actors to roles they haven't occupied for years or even decades, but I know I still get some enjoyment out of this kind of thing. In a couple of years, who knows - there's a good chance fatigue will set in around this latest trend, but unlike a lot of cinematic trends/sub-genres, this one has at least inspired universally loved movies and even Oscar winners (like Into the Spider-Verse and of course Everything Everywhere All At Once).
The Flash is a movie that's desperate for you to like it, and I can see that turning some people off. But others are probably going to like it a lot, and I imagine it'll do well at the box office. As for the future of DC, that's all up in the air, it feels. Anything can happen now, and we'll see whether that's a good thing in time. I'm also interested to see how fans of previous DC movies react to this, given how divided the fanbase is (and how fractured all the different DC universes are, what with the extra worlds of Robert Pattinson's Batman and Joaquin Phoenix's Joker).
But The Flash? It's fun. It's entertaining. It panders sometimes. It looks a bit like a video game at points (also plays out like one at times). Its humour generally lands, but not always. I'll probably never watch it again, but I had a good time watching it just this once.
