“The Flash” was supposed to be a turning point for the DC Extended Universe as its adaptation of the “Flashpoint” comic storyline promised to reset the cinematic universe, clearing the field for DC Co-CEO James Gunn to launch his vision for it. 

The issue is, “The Flash” was a massive bomb and was mired in controversy via the off-screen troubles of its lead, Ezra Miller. It also suffered from steep competition from “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Barbie,” and “Oppenheimer,” and as such, failed to connect with audiences. 

“The Flash” stars Miller as the Barry Allen version of the titular character, who has been working tirelessly to exonerate his father, Henry (Ron Livingston), who has been wrongfully convicted of killing Barry’s mother, Nora (Maribel Verdu), when he was a kid. The death of his mother by an unknown killer is the reason why Barry threw himself into the field of forensic science, which led to the freak accident that made him The Flash. 

Barry, being a super speedster, learns after an emotional breakthrough that he can run so fast that he can go back in time by tapping into energy known as the Speed Force. He decides to change a small detail in the past that would save his mother’s life, only to return to a time near the present that has been completely changed. 

He returns to the events of “Man of Steel,” where he meets an alternate teenaged version of himself that has yet to get his Flash powers. His meddling in the past has also caused a butterfly effect in which all of the Justice League does not exist, except for Batman, who is played by Michael Keaton. The movie tries to explain why Batman is older and why a ton of other events and people were affected, but it doesn’t make any sense and serves as justification for the filmmakers to do whatever they want. 

Keaton is great, reprising his version of the Caped Crusader from his two theatrical films in the ’80s and ’90s and serving as a mentor figure for both Barrys. His role might be fanservice, but it’s not bad fanservice, though I do think it would have been better served in a “Batman Beyond” film. 

Though there is no Superman, General Zod (Michael Shannon) is still looking for a Kryptonian, who we learn is *spoilers* his cousin, Kara Zor-El (Sasha Calle) or Supergirl. Batman, the Flashes and Supergirl form a ragtag Justice League against Zod, which *spoilers* never works, no matter what they do, which I think is rubbish. Henry Cavill’s Superman was able to take down Zod by himself; it’s preposterous to think that two Flashes, a Batman and Supergirl couldn’t take down this version of the character in any scenario. 

At this point, the film stalls and breaks down, as Barry realizes he has to undo his changes to the past and let his mother die. He has to fight his younger self, who cannot accept defeat at the hands of Zod, after which the film assaults us with many bad CGI cameos. 

“The Flash” is a bizarre, confusing mess of a film. Miller does the best with what he has, but he cannot save what is an over bloated film that, despite its inflated budget, looks terrible and almost completely falls apart during its climax. Its greatly-anticipated universe reset was not only unsatisfying, it feels unearned and a cheap way to resolve the film. 

I am still in the camp that the DC Snyderverse should have been cancelled after “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which I still regard as the worst big budget mainstream superhero film of all time. The issue is that Warner had already put too many films deep into development by the time that horrible mess premiered, and the likes of “Shazam!,” “Wonder Woman” and “Aquaman” did well enough to keep it going. Still, the official death of this cinematic universe feels like a bygone conclusion. 

It’s hard to blame Gunn and DC Co-CEO Peter Safran for the failings of this film or any of DC’s recent offerings, as they were appointed last year and everything coming out now was in development long before they took their mantles. But so far, the DCU is not off to a good start and I’m not sure if there is a long runway for these types of shared cinematic universes. 

Even Marvel has stumbled and has seen some diminished returns, though some of that has been due to COVID and the splitting off of some stories into Disney Plus shows that, as I’ve remarked many times, would be better off being focused feature films. 

“The Flash” is perfectly skippable, despite its larger ramifications for DC films. It’s an over bloated mess with a handful of good performances that are unfortunately wasted due to incompetent, unfocused storytelling and direction. 

“The Flash” gets a 3/10