DISAPPOINTING NEW MOVIE: THE FLASH

THE FLASH (2023). Director: Andy Muschietti.

Justice League member the Flash/Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) wants to go back in time to save his mother's life after she was murdered and her husband, Barry's father (Ron Livingstone), unfairly arrested for the crime. (I believe this development is taken from the long-running Flash TV series). Although Batman (Ben Affleck) warns Barry not to mess with the timestream, he does it anyway, but finds that he's now in a parallel universe where Batman (Michael Keaton) is a lot older and there are no other super-heroes. Barry also encounters a younger version of himself, but when his younger self gets his powers, Barry loses them and may not be able to return home. Worse, the entire planet is threatened by an invasion of General Zod (Michael Shannon of Man of Steel) of Krypton. The two Flashes, plus the Senior Batman, team up to find Kal-El, who has not yet emerged as Superman, but find an imprisoned Kara (Sasha Calle) -- or Supergirl -- instead, Can their combined forces save the world and get Barry back where he belongs? 

Ezra Miller as the Flash

Oy vey! The character of the Flash has a rich history that was exploited by the TV show, but this movie pretty much ignores all that and comes up with a plotline simply borrowed from the comic book mini-series (and the resultant animated film) Flashpoint. There are so many ideas, villains, and plots that could have made for an enthralling movie, but while The Flash has its entertaining and exciting moments (such as our hero saving a bunch of infants that are thrown out of a maternity ward window high in a skyscraper) and is often visually striking, it is way too long and often too silly -- as well as featuring too many fairly dull battle sequences -- for this to be a contender. I think Ezra Miller [We Need to Talk About Kevin] is a fine, sensitive actor and he gives a very good performance, and Keaton certainly makes his mark in his first appearance as Batman in decades -- he comes off better than he did in the first Batman. Calle, Shannon, and others make little impression, however.  

Michael Keaton as Senior Batman

In this movie The Flash is an amalgam of Barry Allen and his nephew Wally West, who took over the role of Flash after Barry's (temporary) death. (It is Wally who has to keep eating to keep his energy up, not Barry.) A weird touch has quick CGI images of all of the actors who have played Superman -- George Reeves, Christopher Reeves, and even Nicolas Cage, who wanted to play Superman but never did -- flying across the time stream (??) -- and a really stupid post-end credit sequence has Barry encountering Aquaman who is on a drunken bender. (Presenting the dignified Aquaman as a drunk, which makes no sense at all, is similar to the way Marvel movies have turned the equally dignified Thor into a Las Vegas lounge act!) Ultimately The Flash seems pointless because -- SPOILER ALERT -- he not only doesn't save his mother but the alternate earth he winds up on is obliterated by Zod! (In the final moments of the film the Flash doesn't seem particularly disturbed by the deaths of billions -- WTF?) Then Batman shows up again only this time he's played by George Clooney! Wonder Woman also gets a brief cameo. 

Verdict: Some may think the movie is fun, but it's also a badly-plotted mess. **1/4. 

ROBOCOP (2014)

Joel Kinnaman as RoboCop

ROBOCOP (2014). Director: Jose Padilha.

In the future American robots are used for overseas combat, but so far the country has resisted the idea of having robot police men back in the U.S. Omnicorp, a company run by Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton of Batman),  hopes to change all that, and figures the answer is to use the same technology on a real human being. Their opportunity comes when Detroit officer Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is nearly destroyed by an explosive device put in his car by a man named Vallon (Patrick Garrow). There's not much left of Murphy -- the movie's most startling scene has his armor dropping off to reveal how much of his original body is actually missing -- but he's put in a high-tech suit and given assorted abilities to fight crime. Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman) is able to override Murphy's consciousness, but his memories still fight to the surface and take over. Do either Norton or Sellars care about the ethical concerns of this "project," and why won't Omnicorp let Murphy's wife Clara (Abbie Cornish) visit him? There are many interesting elements to this remake of the original Robocop, and the film boasts some excellent performances from Keaton and especially Kinnaman, with a solid supporting cast (such as Jackie Earle Haley [Shutter Island] as the snarky Mattox and Samuel L Jackson [The Spirit] as a commentator, among others), but the action scenes are cluttered and uninvolving, even a bit dull. The amount of time, energy and money made to turn Murphy into RoboCop doesn't make the project seem very cost-effective, which the movie hilariously ignores.

Verdict: The performances help put this over. **1/2.