The Flash was a Whirlwind of a Movie

Hold on to your seats!

***SPOILERS AHEAD****

I saw THE FLASH and loved it. Once again, June 2023 has been a banner month for movies.

The Flash brings Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) to main character status as a socially awkward young superhero grieving the murder of his mother.

Allen lost his mom when he was about ten years old. His father was accused of the murder. His father maintains his innocence but has been denied his freedom and remains in prison. Allen is obsessed with freeing his father. But the grief he still feels for his mom also burdens him.

After saving a nurse, babies, and a therapy dog from certain death, Allen accidentally discovers that his abilities allow him to go back in time. At first, it’s only a few minutes, then a day, then years. Allen realizes that he can return to the time before his mother’s murder, prevent it, and save his father from prison.

Allen is friends with Batman (Ben Affleck) and shares his discovery with him. Batman warns Allen against tampering with the fabric of time. When Allen offers to prevent the murders of Bruce’s parents, Batman gives him a wan smile. While the idea is nice on the surface, Batman informs Allen that it’s the tragedy of his childhood that made him the man he is today.

Unconvinced, Allen goes back in time anyway. In a weird twist of events, he is able to share the same space at the sam time with the 18-year-old version of himself. Allen doesn’t know how it’s possible, but it’s happened.

Allen helps his younger self recreate the moment when he first gained his super speed abilities. But in another twist, the older Allen loses his powers.

Thus, the two Allens set off to find members of the Justice League. Unfortunately, only Batman exists in the younger Allen’s timeline. However, this Batman is retired and its not Affleck — but Michael Keaton (who played Batman in the movie during the 1980s). Keaton’s Bruce Wayne is a long-haired holdover from the Woodstock era.

The older Allen convinces Keaton’s Batman to help him find Superman. Supposedly, the mighty Kryptonian is being held in a secret base in Siberia. They find the base where Superman is located, and free him — only to discover the him is a her. Cara, Superman’s cousin, who was assigned to protect him when their pods escaped the destruction of Krypton.

The trio rescue Cara who helps them defeat the Russian guards. Cara has no love for humanity and flies off to face General Zod who has arrived on Earth in search of Cara. In addition, Zod plans to terraform the Earth to transform it into the new Krypton.

Meanwhile, Batman and the two Allens, returned to Batman’s underground base. The older Allen is determined to regain his powers. In order to do so, he has to once again recreate the conditions that gave him his powers.

I’ll stop with the spoilers here. Let’s just say that the action speeds up soon after.

I found The Flash to be quite entertaining. It was a movie full of action, drama, and sappiness. Allen was faced with a moral dilemma. He didn’t obtain clarity until everything around him was falling apart. In the end, he chose to do the right thing even though it broke his heart.

The movie gets confusing in the last 20–30 minutes and the ending left me with questions.

I recommend The Flash. I give it four out of five stars.