The Flash - Film Review
Sep. 3rd, 2023 09:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatFinally got around to seeing The Flash via Streamings "MAX" channel.
It was eventually coming to MAX anyhow, since it was produced and distributed by HBO and Warner Brothers. Surprisingly enough, I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. From reviews, I expected it to be gadawful, but it's not a bad film.
In case you are living under a cultural rock - this was the film that bombed this year at the box office, and has been touted as the worst superhero film ever. (It's not - that's an exaggeration. Apparently a lot of folks have not seen most of the superhero flicks released in the 1980s-roughly the early part of the 21st century? There's a lot of bad superhero flicks to choose from. Many of which are unwatchable. Far worse than this, actually this was surprisingly enough not all that bad. The millennials are spoiled in regards to superhero action flicks. You want to see a truly bad superhero action flick? Check out Superman: the Quest for Peace. I saw that at an outdoor theater in Wales in the 1980s, and we spent the entire film making fun of it. It is the worst superhero film I've seen. Granted - I've not seen the latest Fantastic Four - which I'm told was pretty bad, but I still think Quest for Peace reigns as the worst superhero film.)
I went into this with really low expectations. But it was surprisingly good in places, and not quite as bad as I was lead to believe. The CGI was actually better than Guardians of the Galaxy, which gave me a headache. And I found the movie to be less busy, and less head-ache inducing than say, Suicide Squad, and the CGI battle held together slightly better than Whedon's Justice League or again Guardians - which had too much going on, and got choppy.
The problem with CGI in any movie - is less is more. If you use too much of it, it starts looking a bit fake and like a video game. Also, you need a really good film editor, who can cut well between the action sequences. And it's best not to use it for actors - or too much with them.
That was the biggest problem with the film - it needed a better film editor and should have been a bit more sparing with CGI, although I admittedly felt the same way about Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Adam, and Suicide Squad. What distinguished the Flash from those - was it was a bit choppier in places, and they used CGI too much with actors and supporting players.
For example? I could tell it wasn't Ben Affleck in the Batman costume at the beginning - although, it may have been - but it did not look like him, and his jaw didn't look real.
The babies were obviously fake in the beginning action sequence with the Flash, and so were a lot of the other elements. Although, I was able to hand-wave the babies for the most part. And it was admittedly easier to enjoy the sequence - knowing they were fake.
I've seen this sort of sequence done well - see Quicksilver in the X-men flicks, or even the Flash in Snyder's Justice League, but here - it felt sloppy. Snyder handled CGI better than other directors have in the editing room, partly because Snyder is a visual artist, and this director isn't, and it shows. You have to be a visual artist - know how to paint with film, to understand how to use CGI well. Joss Whedon and James Gunn aren't visual artists - and should not be using CGI to the extent they have in film - the major weaknesses in their films are partially due to that, and Andy Muschietti, the director of this film - isn't either. He shouldn't have relied on CGI as much as he did or at least should have brought in someone who did know how to handle it. The main weaknesses in the film - were the CGI editing and special effects insertion - it was clumsy, and jarring - in particular in regards to fight sequences. With Avatar and other films out - current audiences have high expectations regarding CGI. (If you've seen early CGI, it probably won't bother you.)
The plot in of itself works, and there are some excellent character moments wedged in there. The Batman portions of the movie work really well - and Batman is admittedly an easy character to reference here. The focus is once again on mothers, and missing parents. Batman and the Flash are kind of simpatico since both lost their parents tragically to violence. The difference being that Batman saw the crime, was unable to prevent it, feels responsible for it - and has spent his life trying to avenge similar crimes and/or prevent them from happening. The Flash on the other hand, didn't see the crime - he was elsewhere when it happened, and came upon it after the fact. It appeared his father was responsible - even though he knew that he wasn't. And has spent his life attempting to prove his father's innocence, and works in a crime lab with DNA evidence to prove innocence. While the other Justice League players are referenced the focus is on Batman and the Flash's relationship, kind of similar to Spiderman and Iron Man. I think DC had originally wanted The Flash to be its Spiderman - but ran into issues with the actor selected to play the role, Ezra Miller. It's kind of ironic in a way - because DC felt it was being progressive in the casting of Ezra Miller as the Flash - and to a degree it was, Ezrawas a POC (ETA: apparently not - Jewish and German/Dutch, and heavy LGBTA), and as it turns out, also Trans. Unfortunately, he's also an alleged rapist and has various breaking and entering allegations against him. Goes to show you - people are more than one thing? And yes, all of this had an impact on the film. They almost yanked the film due to the allegations. The other bit, Trans, may have worked in their favor.
Anyhow what for the most part, worked in the film was Batman. He's the evidence that The Flash messed with the timeline in a big way. We also discover the other characters are detrimentally effected. I think the references to how they've been affected work better if you've seen the Michael Keaton Batman films from the 1980s, or the various Superman films.
Affleck and Keaton both put in good performances. [Although, Keaton's appearance basically underlines what was lacking in Affleck's performance and why no one will miss him in the role. Affleck plays a sensible, logical, tactical, and somewhat world-weary Batman, who is just tired of it all. He's more bored playboy than superhero. And as the Flash states - he always feels like he is cleaning up Batman's mess, and Batman is always being partially saved by Wonder Woman, who shamelessly flirts with him. Keaton plays a version who had given up, but still has that edgy nuttiness that makes the character a bit more fun to watch. Keaton's is more Batman, and playboy is a skin he's neither comfortable in nor knows how to play, so doesn't really and is a recluse. This Batman wouldn't be in the Justice League nor flirt with Diana. The best, in my opinion, was Bale who kind of fell in-between the two extremes. But as it turns out? We end up with none of the above. More on that later. ]
Batman attempts to dissuade Barry from going down this road. Screwing with time, never ends well. Of course Barry ignores Batman's sage advice. And it is fitting Batman advises him - since Batman also lost his parents to violence. And as both Keaton and Affleck's version advise Barry, that lose defined them. It made them who they were. It's not something they can or should change - since it would change too many other things that they happen to like about their worlds. Both are fatalists in their own way. Also, Keaton's version explains time to both Barry and the audience, and why time travel doesn't work. If you change something in time - you create the multi-verse or a variation of spaghetti, with interlocking strands and if you aren't careful - world will collide and be destroyed. Just as the Avengers (various team members at various junctures) created the Multi-Verse in the Marvel Universe by playing around with Time Travel, so too does Barry Allen.
What doesn't quite work plot-wise, is the saving the mother plot. It should work, and for the most part does up to a point - we're supposed to believe that Barry plopping tomato sauce would have prevented his father from being sent to the store. Except - the mother clearly wanted the father out of the house for some reason. She tells him to go to the store - and he says, why, and she looks about for an excuse, and says, oh to get another can of tomato sauce. Which he briefly argues with her about - but caves and does it.
When he gets back he finds her in the kitchen with a knife sticking out of her chest.
So, if she'd had the tomato sauce, what would have kept her from asking him to find something else? That's why it doesn't quite work. I didn't expect it to and was surprised that all the Flash had to do to save his mother was to add another can of tomato sauce. Also, we never get an explanation as to what really happened there - instead we're told it was just a break-in - which would not have occurred if Dad had been home. The individual broke in thinking everyone was away and ran into Mom in the kitchen. But Barry was playing upstairs - why wouldn't he have heard something?
That's an example of the holes in the plot. The plot works but doesn't. I had to kind of handwave bits here and there.
From a character standpoint - Barry's arc works. Barry is, on a good day, annoying, he rambles, he blusters, he fidgets, and he makes crude comments. When he cavalierly decides to turn back time - with a bit of a forceful nudge from a monster (who we later learn is a monstrous version of himself) in the time intersection - he eventually runs into the new time line's version of Barry Allen. It's basically him with both parents, Mom alive, Dad out of prison. Except no powers yet. Barry mistakes this version for him, not realizing his actions created an alternate timeline and another version himself - a version with parents, a happy life, without a job - just school, and no powers. In this version he's not with Iris or dating her yet. And he's even more annoying, so annoying that Barry would love to bop him one. Instead, because Barry thinks it's is him on his own timeline - Barry insists on giving this version powers.
It's not a bad idea exactly - except Barry ends up giving him - Barry's powers, and his suit, to ensure that there aren't issues. Barry discovers he screwed up his timeline - when he's told by his double's roommates that Eric Stolze played Marty McFly in Back to the Future. (Fun fact Stolz was supposed to, but they recast him with Michael J. Fox.) Barry also discovers along the way that Batman is now being portrayed by a much older Michael Keaton, Affleck has left the building, and Superman is dead, with Sarah Callis playing Supergirl. Wonder Woman is nowhere to be seen. Aquaman was never conceived (this is actually a bit amusing - he calls Aquaman's father, and asks him about his son and wife, who was the Queen of the seas, and the man is perplexed, looks at his human dowdy wife, and hangs up on him). They hunt down Batman, then in Batman's cave try to find out Superman's whereabouts - since Zhod is trying to destroy the world to recreate Krypton, as he tried to do in Man of Steel, except the Man of Steel seems to be non-existent. With the aid of Batman's systems, Barry discovers there are over 1000 Clark Kents on the planet, but a super-powered being is being housed in Siberia. So off they go to rescue Superman. It's not Superman. Batman and this verse's take on Barry Allen, shrug and leave, but Barry picks her up and basically saves her. As a result of that - she helps them, and helps Barry get his powers back.
It quickly becomes clear that this verse can't be saved. No matter what they do, Kara and Batman die. Nice, if somewhat risky twist that - and rather dark. In each iteration of this particular verse, where Barry's Mom lives, Zhod wins and kills everyone. Why? Because Superman doesn't exist to stop him. Nor for that matter does anyone else in the Justice League. Barry Allen Take 2 keeps trying to change it, until he becomes monstrous and deranged, his molecules destabilized and multiple spikes inserted in him from each iteration of Zhod's forces. This is again a bad use of CGI, which I hand-waved for the most part because the plot and story worked well.
The climax occurs in the intersection of the time lines. I think Marvel handles this better in Loki series, and also handled the CGI and special effects better. Because it did - the audience is less forgiving. I found the way DC handled it - a touch on the cheesy side. This is busy, not helped by everything being engulfed what amounts to red streaks of lighting and various shades of flames. We see various versions of past Supermans. Apparently we got the various versions of Batman (except for Bale - who will only appear as Batman in a Christopher Nolan film, directed by Nolan), so now we get various versions of Superman (except for Caville - who only briefly appeared early on in the time intersection - pretty much the first or second time Barry visited it - by himself, giving us an idea what he was changing.
What's going on here - is DC is rebooting the DCU or filmverse. Much like the comics did with Flash Point. It means they can recast the actors, and do different stories and storylines, without referencing or caring about the storylines, characters, world-building, and actors portraying those characters in previous films. And they are doing it by showing the audience how many actors previously played Batman and Superman - bye bye Ben Afflek, Michael Keaton and Henry Cavill - you are clearly gone. In short, recasting those roles is kind of a given. Although why they felt the need to release the Flash to do it, is beyond me. It's not like they haven't recast them multiple times before. Personally? I'd have recast the Flash and had it be someone else - but they probably decided that was going too far.
The versions we get of Superman are...well, some make sense, some are just odd. Why they felt the need to show footage from the Nicholas Cage Superman that never completed filming, and was never distributed, I do not know. I could have lived without footage of Nick Cage's long-haired version fighting a Giant Space Spider on a Dark Cavernous Planet. (It was heavily CGI'd and kind of cartoonish - not necessarily bad cartoonish - but still cartonnish and jarring). Brandon Roush's Superman Returns would have made more sense. Or even Dean Caine's Lois and Clark, or Tom Welling's Smallville. There's a few jarring and unnecessary inside jokes crammed in there. I think they wanted a dark Superman paired against Christopher Reeves light one? Because we see the two facing each other across the time space continuum as their worlds slowly collide. We also get the first Superman, from the 1940s, Kurt Alyn, and a Flash in black and white film stock.
But basically all this is telling us is that numerous actors have played these roles, and we're about to get new ones, and new versions, and the Snyder verse is over and done with. (Some of the backlash against the Flash is angry Snyder fans who wanted a continuation of the Snyder verse, and angry Keaton and Cavill fans who wanted those actors to continue in their roles, no one cared that much about Affleck.)
Allen decides to go back in time one last time, to undo what he did regarding his Mom. And put back the tomato can. He does it as they hug, since she discovers him at the store wandering about with clothing that still has the store tags on it. After he puts the can back, he looks up at the security camera - and we realize he must have done something to fix it. Figuring helping his Dad by fixing that camera - so the footage that comes to light will provide his Dad with an actual albi - isn't that big a deal.
He gets his Dad off. Everything seems to be back to normal again. Batman helps him get a footage. Iris wants to go out on a date. All is good with the world. Except for one thing - Batman is now being portrayed by George Clooney, who looks like he has been CGI'd into the film by mistake. Also looks a lot older - Clooney looks his age. Affleck was decidedly younger in appearance. Allen takes one look at him and responds, "Wait, who is this guy?" What happened to the fit, and cool if somewhat world-weary playboy?
You look like an aging Wall Street Banker or like George Clooney in an American Express ad.
It's a joke of course, but it doesn't quite work - since Clooney looks like he was photoshopped into the film somehow from a commercial against his will. The end sequence has Allen complaining about it to Jason Momoa's Aquaman, relieved that at least Aquaman is the same. (I didn't see them changing Aquaman - that movie did the best of the bunch, although the CGI in it was worse than it is in the Flash...so apparently audiences were more understanding several years back? Or they handwaved it, because Momoa is more entertaining to watch than Ezra Miller (that's true).)
My biggest issue with the film is Barry Allen is annoying. But he's supposed to be. He annoys himself. And his arc is kind of picking up on that. "My god, I'm beginning to understand why everyone keeps telling me to shut up!" He tells himself. "Can I be any more annoying?"
That said, he is somewhat likable at the end, and he does change. So the character arcs work. The film is in short a mixed bag. I wouldn't pay $18-20 for it, like we did for Oppenheimer. But I don't mind watching it on MAX, and don't consider it wast of time. Superman:Quest for Peace was a waste of time, so too was...Batman and Robin (the George Cloony film) and damn, The X-man - the Last Stand. Those were horrible films.
Overall? A solid C film, or two and half to three stars. Enjoyable but nothing to rave about (I wouldn't necessarily want to pay for it), and certainly not nearly as bad as everyone is claiming. But it should be noted, I'm not a huge Flash fan, and this iteration of the Flash, I like better than the Television Series versions (which I've given up on at various points). Ezra Miller may be an asshole with serious issues, but he can act and manages to carry off the role effectively. Same is true with Keaton and Sarah Callis, who both pull off their roles fairly well.
No, the main problem was the clumsy use of CGI. And the clumsy plot points - both trying to reboot the universe so that DC can recast the big roles and go in a different direction.
It was eventually coming to MAX anyhow, since it was produced and distributed by HBO and Warner Brothers. Surprisingly enough, I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. From reviews, I expected it to be gadawful, but it's not a bad film.
In case you are living under a cultural rock - this was the film that bombed this year at the box office, and has been touted as the worst superhero film ever. (It's not - that's an exaggeration. Apparently a lot of folks have not seen most of the superhero flicks released in the 1980s-roughly the early part of the 21st century? There's a lot of bad superhero flicks to choose from. Many of which are unwatchable. Far worse than this, actually this was surprisingly enough not all that bad. The millennials are spoiled in regards to superhero action flicks. You want to see a truly bad superhero action flick? Check out Superman: the Quest for Peace. I saw that at an outdoor theater in Wales in the 1980s, and we spent the entire film making fun of it. It is the worst superhero film I've seen. Granted - I've not seen the latest Fantastic Four - which I'm told was pretty bad, but I still think Quest for Peace reigns as the worst superhero film.)
I went into this with really low expectations. But it was surprisingly good in places, and not quite as bad as I was lead to believe. The CGI was actually better than Guardians of the Galaxy, which gave me a headache. And I found the movie to be less busy, and less head-ache inducing than say, Suicide Squad, and the CGI battle held together slightly better than Whedon's Justice League or again Guardians - which had too much going on, and got choppy.
The problem with CGI in any movie - is less is more. If you use too much of it, it starts looking a bit fake and like a video game. Also, you need a really good film editor, who can cut well between the action sequences. And it's best not to use it for actors - or too much with them.
That was the biggest problem with the film - it needed a better film editor and should have been a bit more sparing with CGI, although I admittedly felt the same way about Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Adam, and Suicide Squad. What distinguished the Flash from those - was it was a bit choppier in places, and they used CGI too much with actors and supporting players.
For example? I could tell it wasn't Ben Affleck in the Batman costume at the beginning - although, it may have been - but it did not look like him, and his jaw didn't look real.
The babies were obviously fake in the beginning action sequence with the Flash, and so were a lot of the other elements. Although, I was able to hand-wave the babies for the most part. And it was admittedly easier to enjoy the sequence - knowing they were fake.
I've seen this sort of sequence done well - see Quicksilver in the X-men flicks, or even the Flash in Snyder's Justice League, but here - it felt sloppy. Snyder handled CGI better than other directors have in the editing room, partly because Snyder is a visual artist, and this director isn't, and it shows. You have to be a visual artist - know how to paint with film, to understand how to use CGI well. Joss Whedon and James Gunn aren't visual artists - and should not be using CGI to the extent they have in film - the major weaknesses in their films are partially due to that, and Andy Muschietti, the director of this film - isn't either. He shouldn't have relied on CGI as much as he did or at least should have brought in someone who did know how to handle it. The main weaknesses in the film - were the CGI editing and special effects insertion - it was clumsy, and jarring - in particular in regards to fight sequences. With Avatar and other films out - current audiences have high expectations regarding CGI. (If you've seen early CGI, it probably won't bother you.)
The plot in of itself works, and there are some excellent character moments wedged in there. The Batman portions of the movie work really well - and Batman is admittedly an easy character to reference here. The focus is once again on mothers, and missing parents. Batman and the Flash are kind of simpatico since both lost their parents tragically to violence. The difference being that Batman saw the crime, was unable to prevent it, feels responsible for it - and has spent his life trying to avenge similar crimes and/or prevent them from happening. The Flash on the other hand, didn't see the crime - he was elsewhere when it happened, and came upon it after the fact. It appeared his father was responsible - even though he knew that he wasn't. And has spent his life attempting to prove his father's innocence, and works in a crime lab with DNA evidence to prove innocence. While the other Justice League players are referenced the focus is on Batman and the Flash's relationship, kind of similar to Spiderman and Iron Man. I think DC had originally wanted The Flash to be its Spiderman - but ran into issues with the actor selected to play the role, Ezra Miller. It's kind of ironic in a way - because DC felt it was being progressive in the casting of Ezra Miller as the Flash - and to a degree it was, Ezra
Anyhow what for the most part, worked in the film was Batman. He's the evidence that The Flash messed with the timeline in a big way. We also discover the other characters are detrimentally effected. I think the references to how they've been affected work better if you've seen the Michael Keaton Batman films from the 1980s, or the various Superman films.
Affleck and Keaton both put in good performances. [Although, Keaton's appearance basically underlines what was lacking in Affleck's performance and why no one will miss him in the role. Affleck plays a sensible, logical, tactical, and somewhat world-weary Batman, who is just tired of it all. He's more bored playboy than superhero. And as the Flash states - he always feels like he is cleaning up Batman's mess, and Batman is always being partially saved by Wonder Woman, who shamelessly flirts with him. Keaton plays a version who had given up, but still has that edgy nuttiness that makes the character a bit more fun to watch. Keaton's is more Batman, and playboy is a skin he's neither comfortable in nor knows how to play, so doesn't really and is a recluse. This Batman wouldn't be in the Justice League nor flirt with Diana. The best, in my opinion, was Bale who kind of fell in-between the two extremes. But as it turns out? We end up with none of the above. More on that later. ]
Batman attempts to dissuade Barry from going down this road. Screwing with time, never ends well. Of course Barry ignores Batman's sage advice. And it is fitting Batman advises him - since Batman also lost his parents to violence. And as both Keaton and Affleck's version advise Barry, that lose defined them. It made them who they were. It's not something they can or should change - since it would change too many other things that they happen to like about their worlds. Both are fatalists in their own way. Also, Keaton's version explains time to both Barry and the audience, and why time travel doesn't work. If you change something in time - you create the multi-verse or a variation of spaghetti, with interlocking strands and if you aren't careful - world will collide and be destroyed. Just as the Avengers (various team members at various junctures) created the Multi-Verse in the Marvel Universe by playing around with Time Travel, so too does Barry Allen.
What doesn't quite work plot-wise, is the saving the mother plot. It should work, and for the most part does up to a point - we're supposed to believe that Barry plopping tomato sauce would have prevented his father from being sent to the store. Except - the mother clearly wanted the father out of the house for some reason. She tells him to go to the store - and he says, why, and she looks about for an excuse, and says, oh to get another can of tomato sauce. Which he briefly argues with her about - but caves and does it.
When he gets back he finds her in the kitchen with a knife sticking out of her chest.
So, if she'd had the tomato sauce, what would have kept her from asking him to find something else? That's why it doesn't quite work. I didn't expect it to and was surprised that all the Flash had to do to save his mother was to add another can of tomato sauce. Also, we never get an explanation as to what really happened there - instead we're told it was just a break-in - which would not have occurred if Dad had been home. The individual broke in thinking everyone was away and ran into Mom in the kitchen. But Barry was playing upstairs - why wouldn't he have heard something?
That's an example of the holes in the plot. The plot works but doesn't. I had to kind of handwave bits here and there.
From a character standpoint - Barry's arc works. Barry is, on a good day, annoying, he rambles, he blusters, he fidgets, and he makes crude comments. When he cavalierly decides to turn back time - with a bit of a forceful nudge from a monster (who we later learn is a monstrous version of himself) in the time intersection - he eventually runs into the new time line's version of Barry Allen. It's basically him with both parents, Mom alive, Dad out of prison. Except no powers yet. Barry mistakes this version for him, not realizing his actions created an alternate timeline and another version himself - a version with parents, a happy life, without a job - just school, and no powers. In this version he's not with Iris or dating her yet. And he's even more annoying, so annoying that Barry would love to bop him one. Instead, because Barry thinks it's is him on his own timeline - Barry insists on giving this version powers.
It's not a bad idea exactly - except Barry ends up giving him - Barry's powers, and his suit, to ensure that there aren't issues. Barry discovers he screwed up his timeline - when he's told by his double's roommates that Eric Stolze played Marty McFly in Back to the Future. (Fun fact Stolz was supposed to, but they recast him with Michael J. Fox.) Barry also discovers along the way that Batman is now being portrayed by a much older Michael Keaton, Affleck has left the building, and Superman is dead, with Sarah Callis playing Supergirl. Wonder Woman is nowhere to be seen. Aquaman was never conceived (this is actually a bit amusing - he calls Aquaman's father, and asks him about his son and wife, who was the Queen of the seas, and the man is perplexed, looks at his human dowdy wife, and hangs up on him). They hunt down Batman, then in Batman's cave try to find out Superman's whereabouts - since Zhod is trying to destroy the world to recreate Krypton, as he tried to do in Man of Steel, except the Man of Steel seems to be non-existent. With the aid of Batman's systems, Barry discovers there are over 1000 Clark Kents on the planet, but a super-powered being is being housed in Siberia. So off they go to rescue Superman. It's not Superman. Batman and this verse's take on Barry Allen, shrug and leave, but Barry picks her up and basically saves her. As a result of that - she helps them, and helps Barry get his powers back.
It quickly becomes clear that this verse can't be saved. No matter what they do, Kara and Batman die. Nice, if somewhat risky twist that - and rather dark. In each iteration of this particular verse, where Barry's Mom lives, Zhod wins and kills everyone. Why? Because Superman doesn't exist to stop him. Nor for that matter does anyone else in the Justice League. Barry Allen Take 2 keeps trying to change it, until he becomes monstrous and deranged, his molecules destabilized and multiple spikes inserted in him from each iteration of Zhod's forces. This is again a bad use of CGI, which I hand-waved for the most part because the plot and story worked well.
The climax occurs in the intersection of the time lines. I think Marvel handles this better in Loki series, and also handled the CGI and special effects better. Because it did - the audience is less forgiving. I found the way DC handled it - a touch on the cheesy side. This is busy, not helped by everything being engulfed what amounts to red streaks of lighting and various shades of flames. We see various versions of past Supermans. Apparently we got the various versions of Batman (except for Bale - who will only appear as Batman in a Christopher Nolan film, directed by Nolan), so now we get various versions of Superman (except for Caville - who only briefly appeared early on in the time intersection - pretty much the first or second time Barry visited it - by himself, giving us an idea what he was changing.
What's going on here - is DC is rebooting the DCU or filmverse. Much like the comics did with Flash Point. It means they can recast the actors, and do different stories and storylines, without referencing or caring about the storylines, characters, world-building, and actors portraying those characters in previous films. And they are doing it by showing the audience how many actors previously played Batman and Superman - bye bye Ben Afflek, Michael Keaton and Henry Cavill - you are clearly gone. In short, recasting those roles is kind of a given. Although why they felt the need to release the Flash to do it, is beyond me. It's not like they haven't recast them multiple times before. Personally? I'd have recast the Flash and had it be someone else - but they probably decided that was going too far.
The versions we get of Superman are...well, some make sense, some are just odd. Why they felt the need to show footage from the Nicholas Cage Superman that never completed filming, and was never distributed, I do not know. I could have lived without footage of Nick Cage's long-haired version fighting a Giant Space Spider on a Dark Cavernous Planet. (It was heavily CGI'd and kind of cartoonish - not necessarily bad cartoonish - but still cartonnish and jarring). Brandon Roush's Superman Returns would have made more sense. Or even Dean Caine's Lois and Clark, or Tom Welling's Smallville. There's a few jarring and unnecessary inside jokes crammed in there. I think they wanted a dark Superman paired against Christopher Reeves light one? Because we see the two facing each other across the time space continuum as their worlds slowly collide. We also get the first Superman, from the 1940s, Kurt Alyn, and a Flash in black and white film stock.
But basically all this is telling us is that numerous actors have played these roles, and we're about to get new ones, and new versions, and the Snyder verse is over and done with. (Some of the backlash against the Flash is angry Snyder fans who wanted a continuation of the Snyder verse, and angry Keaton and Cavill fans who wanted those actors to continue in their roles, no one cared that much about Affleck.)
Allen decides to go back in time one last time, to undo what he did regarding his Mom. And put back the tomato can. He does it as they hug, since she discovers him at the store wandering about with clothing that still has the store tags on it. After he puts the can back, he looks up at the security camera - and we realize he must have done something to fix it. Figuring helping his Dad by fixing that camera - so the footage that comes to light will provide his Dad with an actual albi - isn't that big a deal.
He gets his Dad off. Everything seems to be back to normal again. Batman helps him get a footage. Iris wants to go out on a date. All is good with the world. Except for one thing - Batman is now being portrayed by George Clooney, who looks like he has been CGI'd into the film by mistake. Also looks a lot older - Clooney looks his age. Affleck was decidedly younger in appearance. Allen takes one look at him and responds, "Wait, who is this guy?" What happened to the fit, and cool if somewhat world-weary playboy?
You look like an aging Wall Street Banker or like George Clooney in an American Express ad.
It's a joke of course, but it doesn't quite work - since Clooney looks like he was photoshopped into the film somehow from a commercial against his will. The end sequence has Allen complaining about it to Jason Momoa's Aquaman, relieved that at least Aquaman is the same. (I didn't see them changing Aquaman - that movie did the best of the bunch, although the CGI in it was worse than it is in the Flash...so apparently audiences were more understanding several years back? Or they handwaved it, because Momoa is more entertaining to watch than Ezra Miller (that's true).)
My biggest issue with the film is Barry Allen is annoying. But he's supposed to be. He annoys himself. And his arc is kind of picking up on that. "My god, I'm beginning to understand why everyone keeps telling me to shut up!" He tells himself. "Can I be any more annoying?"
That said, he is somewhat likable at the end, and he does change. So the character arcs work. The film is in short a mixed bag. I wouldn't pay $18-20 for it, like we did for Oppenheimer. But I don't mind watching it on MAX, and don't consider it wast of time. Superman:Quest for Peace was a waste of time, so too was...Batman and Robin (the George Cloony film) and damn, The X-man - the Last Stand. Those were horrible films.
Overall? A solid C film, or two and half to three stars. Enjoyable but nothing to rave about (I wouldn't necessarily want to pay for it), and certainly not nearly as bad as everyone is claiming. But it should be noted, I'm not a huge Flash fan, and this iteration of the Flash, I like better than the Television Series versions (which I've given up on at various points). Ezra Miller may be an asshole with serious issues, but he can act and manages to carry off the role effectively. Same is true with Keaton and Sarah Callis, who both pull off their roles fairly well.
No, the main problem was the clumsy use of CGI. And the clumsy plot points - both trying to reboot the universe so that DC can recast the big roles and go in a different direction.