The Flash review: Film embarks on a thrilling journey down memory lane

Zipping through an already-crowded comic book movie landscape, this DC film evokes several blasts from the past

Ezra Miller stars as The Flash. Photo: Warner Bros

After Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the Oscar-winning Everything, Everywhere, All At Once and Spider-Man: No Way Home, to name but three, you would be forgiven for having had your fill of superheroes crossing alternate dimensions.

The Flash, released in the UAE on Thursday, adds another to the pile, a chance to play in the messy bowl of spaghetti that reflects these parallel universes.

The DC Comics speedster, as played by Ezra Miller, has so far been the comic relief of the Justice League, the gang of heroes that includes Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Now, The Flash, aka Barry Allen, gets his first solo outing in a film that tries to put flesh on the bones of a backstory that, like Batman, involves the fate of his parents. In Barry’s world, his Dad (Ron Livingston) is in prison for murdering his mother (Maribel Verdu).

Desperate to find evidence to prove his father’s innocence, Barry’s faster-than-the-speed-of-light abilities have enabled him to travel back in time. So what if he adjusted events, ever so slightly, so his mother never died? Batman (Ben Affleck) warns him against any such temporal meddling, but Barry ignores this sage advice. The next thing he knows, he’s stuck in another reality. His mother is still alive, but now he’s confronted with an 18-year-old version of himself.

It is, of course, a nod to the king of time-travel movies, Back to the Future, where hero Marty McFly must engineer his parents meeting in the 1950s to ensure he and his siblings are actually born. Director Andy Muschietti more than acknowledges this, notably when Barry meets his younger version’s roommates, who all refer to Eric Stoltz as the lead of Back To The Future (the actor famously shot scenes for the real BTTF – but was later replaced by Michael J Fox).

Barry comes to realise his tinkering with timelines has changed everything, and he has his work cut out, or as he tells his younger self, “there might not be a future”. And much like in Spider-Man: No Way Home, for which Tom Holland teamed up with Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, who played earlier versions of the character, The Flash does similar, bringing back several familiar DC faces.

For a story that deals with the theme of second chances, this is a film that offers several actors exactly that. Chief among them is Michael Keaton, who reprises his role as Batman/Bruce Wayne, whom he twice played for Tim Burton before stepping down. Ironically, Keaton was due to appear as the character in Batgirl, the film that Warner Bros scrapped last year despite being entirely shot and near completion.

In this “second chance”, however, it’s great to see him back, even if it's blatantly clear he’s not doing the action scenes. Michael Shannon also returns as Superman’s nemesis General Zod who, thanks to The Flash, is back from the dead trying to "terraform" the Earth. Previously seen in Man of Steel, the first of the Henry Cavill-era Superman films, Shannon never really got a fair crack at the whip then – and, sadly, once again he’s rather underused.

As for newcomers, Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El – aka Supergirl – also makes an appearance. Again, she’s rather underserved, with actress Sasha Calle playing her po-faced. Perhaps this is necessary, next to Ezra Miller’s zippy, motormouth-y performance(s) as the two Barrys, but the most tedious stretch of the film coincides with her arrival, as she and the others take on Zod and his Kryptonian army in what feels like an endless high-octane battle.

Apart from several charming cameos that will remain secret here, The Flash is at its best when it digs into Barry’s relationship with his mother. “Those scars we have make us who we are,” Affleck’s Bruce Wayne tells him. And it’s Barry’s desperation to repair his own childhood damage that drives the film. Getting that second chance to say something to a loved one is a precious thing – and The Flash doesn’t waste its opportunity.

The Flash is in UAE cinemas from June 15