The Flash Movie 2023 Is Good | Best 3 Features

As much as it’s a shame that the lead actor of this film, Ezra Miller, has been entangled in a mess of legal and character shortcomings, it would’ve been an even bigger shame if they had chucked this movie because of that.

The Flash movie 2023 will surprise you with how easily it ropes you into the narrative, subverts your expectations, and impresses you with the ingenuity of the superhero’s powers on display.

The Flash Movie 2023 Is Good | Best 3 Features

The Flash follows superhero Barry Allen, the self-proclaimed janitor of the Justice League, as he makes it his mission to change past events in order to prevent his mother's death and therefore prevent his father's wrongful imprisonment.

These three parts of The Flash are what make it so good: the audiovisual effects of the Flash’s powers, the complex yet easy-to-follow narrative, and the surprising yet natural characters.

1. The Audiovisual Effects of The Flash’s Powers

Many people have criticized the, at times, wonky-looking CGI of The Flash.

And honestly, there are moments when the super suits’ movement looks awfully stiff and the transposition of Barry’s face onto another person’s body looks like a bad Snapchat filter.

But when it comes to the scenes where the world around Barry slows down as he moves at a regular pace, there are no notes.

We walk through time with Barry, moving with purpose as our surroundings push slowly through the air as if oxygen had become molasses.

The sound becomes muffled against the crackling of the Flash’s lightning. We feel submerged underwater as we marvel at The Flash‘s clever use of sight, sound, and technology to create these trippy contrasts of speed.

This immersion into Barry’s point of view is particularly impressive in the opening scene where we watch him ingeniously rescue several newborn babies and their nurse as they fall out of a collapsing building.

All the while he manages to catch a quick meal before allowing the ultra-vulnerable infants to even endure a scratch.

Yes, the babies look like dolls as they float among broken glass and heavy objects, getting stuffed in microwaves for protection, but do we really want them to look real in these circumstances?

This scene perfectly introduces the audience to Barry’s unfathomably quick speed as well as his quick wit.

Along with the most obvious benefits of Barry’s speed, we also see some really genius additional benefits of his speed which are less implied.

He vibrates the molecules of his body so quickly that he can move through objects, a skill called phasing.

And the most crucial of his powers, the one that drives the whole story, is Barry’s ability to move so fast that he can even outrun time, traveling to the past.

The way that the movie’s creators visualized the mechanics behind Barry’s powers so that we can experience them with him is super immersive and very impressive.

It draws audiences into the story with ease and fascination.

2. The Narrative is Complex yet Easy to Follow

If you had the ability to go back in time and change something awful that happened to you, wouldn’t you take that opportunity? Wouldn’t you try?

At the core of The Flash, this is the main motivation. It’s a compelling question that the movie explores as we follow Barry and find that changing even the smallest details of the past can have a terrible butterfly effect on the future.

Lately, it seems as though nearly every superhero film has entered into the multiverse, conjuring up so many new universes and details that are difficult to keep track of to the point where watching the movie is no longer a leisure activity but instead a homework assignment.

The Flash takes a concept that can easily become a confusing mess and makes it simple enough to follow. Even using a bowl of spaghetti as a visual metaphor to ease us into the complexities of multiple timelines.

Because the narrative is clean and straightforward, it’s easier to get out of your head and follow the story as it goes.

The important little details that you’re introduced to are simple enough to keep track of when they reemerge later on because your mind hasn’t been oversaturated with confusing subplots.

Although there is a lull in the film’s second half, it does pick back up in energy, leading to an ending that leaves you satisfied, yet wanting more.

3. The Characters are Surprising yet Natural

It takes a minute to dissociate the controversial Ezra Miller from the clean-cut Barry Allen but once you do, you find that, by golly, Miller is doing a decent job.

Miller plays both a present version and a past version of Barry Allen from two different timelines, yet, it rarely gets confusing. It’s easy to differentiate between the two versions of Barry despite the fact that they’re played by the same person.

The trailers give away many of the cameos that we see in the movie like the original Batman, Michael Keeton, and Ben Affleck’s version of Batman as well.

We know to expect these other versions of Batman in the movie so it’s not surprising to see them but nonetheless, they also execute the role in a natural way.

There is no overhyping of their presence but rather they get the job done and get out.

There are other “surprises” in the film though which were shocking to see.

And then there is Gal Gadot who makes yet another cameo as Wonder Woman in this film. At this point, it seems as though we might as well expect to see her in every DCEU film for at least 2 seconds. It’s come to the point where it’s no longer exciting to see her…

Maybe they should give her a break.

In Conclusion…

The impressive visualization of Barry’s superpowers, the detailed yet focused storyline, and the solid characterization create a film that’s hard to zoom by.

Despite the dark cloud of bad press that The Flash has gotten, it’s quite fortunate that this stellar movie got the chance to see the light of day.

Rating 8.5/10

What did you think of The Flash? Let me know in the comments below!

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Peace, love, and lots of popcorn,

IMO