This is a very real and human question which sets The Flash (dir Andrés Muschietti) apart from many of the recent superhero comic movies which focus on the planet or universe-ending stakes. It is human. It is small. It is fragile. Like us.
As with most movies, the answer is given to the main character, Barry Allen, aka, The Flash (Ezra Miller) early on in the film. His mother said to young Barry that some things don’t have answers and you have to let go.
The Flash feels like he is not treated with the respect he deserves from the other superheroes, he has to clean up Batman’s (Ben Affleck) mess while Wonderwomen (Gal Gadot) swoops in to save the day. Superman (a fully CGI Henry Cavil) is off saving another disaster.
Barry Allen’s life echos his alter egos life. Barry’s father is in prison for murdering his mother and he can’t find evidence to prove his innocence. His father says he needs to stop trying and that Barry shouldn’t throw his life away trying to save him. His co-workers and boss give him no respect and he can’t seem to be on time anywhere despite Flash’s immense speed.
In an unleashing of emotion, Barry runs so fast he can go back in time. Barry mentions the idea to Batman who discourages him because of all of the unforeseen outcomes that might happen. Do you think Barry lets go of this idea? Obviously not, but in his desire to help people he cares about, he is attacked in the timestream by a mysterious (very obvious) enemy and sent out of the time stream and back in time before his mother is killed.
In a new timeline, his mother is alive and he has everything he hoped for. A mother that is alive and a father that is out of prison. However, altering the timeline has altered other facets of the world and now there are no superheroes but General Zod (from Man of Steel) still comes to earth except now there is no Superman to stop him.
Because of the changes that happened, there is no Ben Affleck Batman, but there is the Michael Keaton Batman from the 1989 film. The film indulges in the meta nature of comic books and has nods and winks to many properties that exist and often those that nearly existed (you can read up about a nearly Nic Cage Superman movie).
In a film that is very meta, it is interesting to think about the environment in which this film was created and presented. Everyone is aware of the juggernaut that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). DC Comics, a rival to Marvel Comics has been trying, and mostly failing, at starting their own cinematic universe.
DC has even pinched James Gunn, who has written and directed the three Guardians of the Galaxy movies, which are all very intimate films set in the wild and crazy universe of the MCU. Gunn now has the task of making the new DC universe work where it hasn’t in the past.
The Flash is the last film before the Gunn version of the DC universe starts. Barry has to let go of what he doesn’t control to move forward, he fails over and over again until he learns his lesson. Maybe it is destiny, maybe it is inevitable, but it feels like what DC has done and in the final hurrah they made a movie that understands that anyone in this modern filmmaking era can make a spectacle, the important part is do we care?
19 June, 2023
Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe