The Unfortunate Letdown of The Flash in DCEU –

Spoilers for The Flash to follow.

When I went to the cinemas to watch The Flash on opening weekend, I didn’t know what to expect. There was the derision on film Twitter, and then there’s Tom Cruise calling director Andy Muschietti to rave about how good the film is for 15 minutes. “How can a movie be so divisive?” I think to myself, moments before I entered the cinema hall.

I don’t think it’s the worst comic book movie of all time – not when Catwoman exists – but I can understand what fuels the collective hyperbole that wants to label it as such. The keyword here is expectation. Moviegoers were expecting more, especially given the high praise doled out by so many – even James Gunn himself – so it feels infinitely disappointing that this is the movie we got. The movie also moves into dodgy ethical gray areas by containing cameos of dead actors, with many feeling like lines are being crossed when the dead are reanimated for the purpose of nostalgia-bait.

And yes, while that is problematic, and the VFX was at times so badly distracting, these reasons aren’t why the film ends up being less than the sum of its parts.

The heart of the Flashpoint narrative has always been Barry’s relationship with his mother Nora. He travels back in time to stop the Reverse Flash from killing her, and in doing so, creates a whole new future, and a whole new past. Given that this is the heart of the story, there should have been more interactions between the two, not just three brief scenes. And while the ending scene between Nora and Barry is heartfelt, it doesn’t feel deserved given the minimal development of their relationship in the course of the film.

The thematic underpinings of The Flash is understanding the past’s role in shaping and defining you, but at the same time not letting it overwhelm your roots in the present. The movie, however, is obsessed with resurrecting the past. With the Back to the Future references, and constant cameos from past iterations of DC characters, the film seems like its waxing lyrical about DC’s past. It’s almost like a lament of how things used to be better.

Barry is haunted by what happened to his mother, and the repercussions of that on his father, since he is wrongly imprisoned for the murder of Nora. It is his personal tragedy that fuels him to travel back in time and change things, and in doing so, create ripples of change that flow through time. There is cost to messing with time. Nora is now alive, but this has resulted in drastic changes to those around Barry, like Batman and Superman. In the comics, Barry’s adjustment of the timeline creates seismic activity that could destroy the world. He is then forced to restore the timeline in order to prevent this from happening. It is pretty much the same rodeo in The Flash, but a key factor is different.

In the comics, when Barry creates Flashpoint, Thomas Wayne is the Batman in this new reality, and it is Bruce who perished in the alleyway robbery. This takes a toll on Martha and Thomas’ marriage, and they separate. Later on, stricken by grief, Martha becomes the Joker. Thomas Wayne is the reason why Barry goes back to restore the timeline, and before Barry leaves, he passes him a letter to pass to Bruce, thanking him for saving his son’s life. The letter forms such a key aspect of Barry’s own character arc, as Thomas looks at him as a man who is able to leave the ghosts of his past behind. In a way, Barry Allen exists as a foil to Bruce Wayne. Their relationship and dynamic fleshes out the difference between embracing love and moving forward, versus holding on to pain and being held hostage by the trauma of the past.

It does seem like The Flash wanted to head down this story point, given that at one point Michael Keaton’s Batman looks at an old picture of his family and touches Bruce’s image. Why would he do that if he’s Bruce Wayne? But it makes total sense if he was meant to be playing Thomas Wayne, and the DC reboot ultimately meant reshaping this entire plot point into something less confusing and more contained. It does also mean we lose out on something that could have potentially been more meaningful.

In the letter, Thomas Wayne writes: “Barry Allen was once haunted by the past. But when he became the Flash, he left the ghosts behind. He found love, a family. And for the first time ever … friends.” But none of this applies to Barry Allen in DCEU’s The Flash. His present is empty – no love, no family, and he doesn’t have any friends. Bruce is more of a mentor who tolerates him, and even his co-workers don’t like him.

To make matters worse, the movie doesn’t even bother to properly set up Iris West. We also need to ask ourselves why Iris would even be interested in Barry when he’s behaving so strangely, and it’s not even in a quirky, endearing way. I think CW’s characterisation of the Flash is more consistent with his character in the comics, while Miller’s interpretation is juvenile and feels more along the lines of the comic stylings of Jim Carrey. Sure, Barry’s movie shenanigans will make you laugh, but often at him rather than with him.

In a movie centred on the Flash, it feels a tad odd to leave the movie theatre mainly applauding Keaton’s return and Sasha Calle’s debut as Supergirl. These characters and performances made me feel something, and brought heart and meaning to the spaces of the film. It’s disappointing to say that the central character did not.

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