At The Movies: The Flash speeds past its troubles to deliver a smash

The Flash (PG13)

144 minutes, opens on Wednesday

4 stars

The story: When tragedy strikes Barry Allen/The Flash’s (Ezra Miller) family, he uses his superspeed to travel back in time to alter events and save everyone. But his meddling brings unexpected consequences, such as the return of General Zod (Michael Shannon), who wishes to destroy humanity. To make matters worse, Barry’s Justice League friends no longer exist in the altered reality, as Batman and Superman are not the same as the ones in his old timeline.

There are a dozen reasons why this superhero movie is superior to any of those released in recent months, but to start the list in no particular order, one reason is the way story information is revealed.

Take Batman/Bruce Wayne, for example. As played by Michael Keaton – the fact that he reprises his role from the 1989 and 1992 films has been known for months through the trailer, so this is not a spoiler – Batman, as he exists in Barry’s altered timeline, is a strangely purposeless man.

Without ever once talking about his feelings, Wayne reveals his troubled inner state through his eyes and voice. And that is the same with the other characters. To understand the mysterious Kryptonian Kara (Sasha Calle), lore and backstory are not necessary. One just has to listen to her delivery as much as interpret her words.

This makes the scenes fly past, helped by smart editing that drops information in the right places. There are no ironic set pieces in which characters are introduced as if they were in a variety show, a format which worked for film-maker James Gunn (The Suicide Squad, 2021), but is, by now, overused. Nor does the action come to a halt for anyone to explain who they are and what they want.

Director Andy Muschietti – who helmed the It horror movies (2017 and 2019) – trusts his audience, a quality few film-makers in the Marvel or DC Comics universes possess. Look at, say, Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (2021) or Black Adam (2022) for examples of movies that over-verbalise.

The Flash uses the idea of time travel, allowing the hero to join forces with a version of himself. The same concept was utilised in the hugely popular Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), and other areas of the Marvel cinematic and television universes have also adopted the theme of alternate realities.

Before anyone accuses this movie’s producers of being copycats, it should be remembered that its production was rocked by a litany of well-publicised troubles, causing it to miss its original release date by several years.

If there really is a multiverse, there might exist one in which Miller is an untroubled person and it is The Flash, not Spider-Man, who first went back in time to change his present reality.

Hot take: Lighter-than-air storytelling, coupled with great performances by Miller and Calle, with an especially powerful contribution by Keaton, make The Flash the year’s best superhero movie to date.