The Flash Non-Spoiler Movie Review - Michael Keaton Shines As Batman, But Not Enough To Save The Movie

I went into this movie really hoping it was going to be good, but sadly I found myself being very disappointed. The only shining point about this movie was being able to see Michael Keaton back in action as Batman, and he did not disappoint. In fact I would say that the one positive thing this movie does is prove without a shadow of a doubt that Keaton is the best on-screen Batman ever to grace the big screen. Even with that however, it wasn’t enough to save this movie as a whole.

The basic story premise for the movie is that Barry (Ezra Miller) learns he can travel in time using the Speed Force, and as he realizes his father (Ron Livingston) will once again be losing his appeal to overturn the murder conviction that landed him in jail for killing his wife and Barry’s mother, Barry decides to go back in time and prevent the murder from ever happening. This of course causes a number of time paradoxes that Barry then has to try to fix enlisting the aid of a Batman (Michael Keaton), Supergirl (Sasha Calle) and another version of himself (also played by Ezra Miller). Yes even with the help of one of the greatest detectives in the world and all the resources of Wayne Enterprises behind him, Barry is unable to prove in a court of law that his father did not kill his mother.

I find in most time travel themed stories, the plot and explanations for why or how things happen from said time travel is confusing, but this one takes it to a whole new level. If you felt Avengers: Endgame had plot holes dealing with the time travel aspects of its story, this movie was like “here, hold my beer”. In fact at one point they give an analogy story using a plate of spaghetti to try and explain how time travel works to basically give themselves carte blanche to change anything they want in the timeline, whether it makes any sense or not.

Suffice to say the story doesn’t really work here and even worse has you walking out of the theater wondering what the point of any of it was.

Michael Keaton of course wasn’t the only Batman in this movie. Ben Affleck is back reprising his role as Batman and Barry’s Justice League teammate. While I overall liked Affleck as Batman in the Justice League movie, here he comes off like he just phoned it in which honestly after everything that has happed with him and DC, I can’t say I blame him. His scenes were mostly forgettable and his new suit looked horrible in my opinion.

Speaking of suits, the new one The Flash gets in the movie does look pretty good and is a vast improvement over what he wore in Justice League.

Another complaint I have about this movie is the lack of Henry Cavill as Superman. While I think newcomer Sasha Calle as Supergirl did as good a job as anyone other than Cavill could have done in the role she was given for the movie, that role should have been played by Cavill. This was a real missed opportunity in my opinion. Had Cavill been given the role to reprise Superman here, which would have likely been his final time wearing the suit, I think it would have given the movie an added dimension and a real emotional connection for the audience that was otherwise missing. I think It would have given his fans as Superman some real closure and would have made some of the film’s other cameos more impactful. The movie is filled with a lot of cameos, but for the most part they just seemed to have been thrown in as eye candy and did little to help the overall story. Even one of the cameos at the very end of the movie, while somewhat funny, seemed otherwise completely pointless.

The same goes for the after-credit scene. That really left me scratching my head, though maybe it was meant as symbolism for where things are with DC and its movies.

Like I said at the beginning, I really wanted this movie to be good, but it just wasn’t. It added nothing to the overall DCU nor did it bring any kind of closure to fans of the Synderverse. The story was convoluted and poorly thought out, and while it was great to see Keaton back in action, that alone was not enough to save this one.

Grade C-