In a film about a man with the power of speed, its best moments come when it slows down.

Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) who plays the title character, shines during an intriguing second act that features The Flash travelling back in time to try alter the past.

As usual, things don’t go according to plan (they rarely do in time travelling movies) and Barry really ought to have listened to Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck). Instead taking matters into his own hands seems to cause more devastation.

The stroke of genius however is that in his time travelling shenanigans, Barry lands in a timeline where he finds his other self as immature, childish and largely irresponsible. An accident that sees his other self-get. Flash powers means the original Barry we start the movie with takes on a mentor role.

Here is where the best parts of the movie are. Barry Allen, in previous roles in The Justice League (both the theatrical release and 2020s Snyder Cut) has always come out as a mumbling child. When now he takes over a position of responsibility, we get to see the best parts of him.

Miller also puts in a decent performance as the two Barrys. The contrast comes out quite well, and despite the many controversies surrounding the actor, it is great to see that he is beyond it all a credible performer.

For what is meant to be The Flash’s solo outing, we also get a sense of who Barry is, and his world. The opening sequence where, life seems to boringly go along at a slow pace, gives deeper insight into how the superhero views the world. There is also lots given about his motivations, and his tragic backstory (by the end, we feel for Barry losing his father and mother in different ways).

It is sad then that the movie’s flaws outweigh its good parts. For starters, the film carries with it lots of unnecessary cameos
The opening sequence, as cool as it is in showing Barry’s powers of speed, is actually a Batman centered sequence. The Flash is there to help, not to be the main character.
It also harms the movie that Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) appears for just a brief moment. Yes, it is generally a good cameo in terms of the moment, but it does nothing to develop the story. If anything, it seems to signal that The Flash as inadequate in his solo outing that he needs former, better members of the Justice League to cameo so as to help carry the movie.
And while the movie does recover from that initial opening to then dive into Barry Allen’s life and world, it then goes back to unnecessary cameoing during the altered timeline.

Barry, while in trouble, thinks of re-assembling the Justice League. The Kryptonian villain General Zod (Michael Shannon) is back and instead of facing him alone, The Flash goes about looking for help.

Enter then the nostalgia of Michael Keaton’s Batman. While Keaton is again impressive as Bruce Wayne, he never really does much especially as his ultimate fate is to face death. Sasha Calle’s turn at Super-girl is also underwhelming, largely due to the fact that unlike our usual favourite Kryptonian (Superman), this version of Super-girl does not like humans at all. It poses the question why she joins up with the team in fighting against Zod in the first place.

And ultimately, while the cameos can be bearable, the special effects are terrible for a superhero movie released in 2023. None more so than in a sequence of multi-versal implosion, as one version of Barry keeps travelling back in time to try alter the past over and over again. Here, we get many past incarnations of DC superheroes (different versions of Batman, Superman, Super-girl, and Wonder Woman). But the CGI is jarring.

The filmmakers here may have been aiming for spectacle, but spectacle is nothing if it is only momentary. Without memorability, and with the dreadful special effects, it takes away from what would have been an incredible third act of the movie.

Certainly, one of the issues troubling the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is lack of proper characterization. This is what gives the Marvel Cinematic Universe an edge. Audiences love and care about Iron Man and Captain America and The Guardians of the Galaxy because of the immense work done to give superheroes proper character traits and flaws.
In the DCEU’s 13th film, The Flash tries to address that. It is commendable that for a moment, we do get into the psyche of Barry Allen. However, previous flaws within the DCEU whizz by again.