All good until the third act - 6/10

by Jad Sammour

Watched on June 15^th, 2023.

I enjoyed it best when the plot felt aimless and without direction which was a sizeable part of the film.
For the most part, I was having a blast with The Flash and it did feel like a breath of fresh air in the boring superhero film landscape. It’s more Back to the Future - which it endlessly references - than a superhero film, up until the last third. The runtime feels long but not in an off-putting way. Ezra Miller playing two parts their interactions with themselvesthat really held the film together, and the way they seamlessly put them on screen was incredible.
The choice of linking it to Man of Steel was a terrible idea. The final act with Zod and his army was not good. What the last third does well goes into spoiler-full territory but it was a rushed part that should've been more sizeable. The film did not need to go big in the end, and should've focused on keeping it an intimate and small-scale story. This would’ve elevated the film especially since some emotional scenes were moving.
Nowthe closing minutes did really ruin a big part of the film for me, and played off the film's core theme as a joke for a cameo punchline. Also The Flash is indirectly excessively self-aware and self-referential, and it entirely feels like a joke about itself… it’s hard to describe as I need to re-watch it to reassess it.

The good:
-Fresh story
-Cool way of showing a hero’s origin
-Michael Keaton’s Batman
-Emotional core
-Good action
-Ezra Miller… sometimes
-The Lebanese general security cutting Gal Gadot from the film... I STAND AGAINST CENSORSHIP but the film was better without her and removing her cameo resulted in the elimination of a terrible scene with Batman and The Flash.

The bad:
-Bad third act that derails the movie
-Bad mulitversal concept
-Ezra Miller can be a little bit annoying
-Rushed key moments
-Excessive humor
-The ending
-Bad CGI, especially when substituting the actors with CG doubles (in cameos and action sequences)
-Disrespectful to the DCEU (especially Snyder's vision)

I had a good time with the film… for the most part, and it’s certainly not a bad film. But it had so many bizarre writing decisions that detracted the film. I wanted to write a review after seeing it but I could not, so I wrote a shorter one which summarizes my thoughts.

Michael Keaton's Batman rocks; they should do a Batman Beyond film with him... or release Batgirl.

Connect with Jad Sammour

Instagram
View other reviews by Jad Sammour