Lightning has struck with The Flash. Warner Bros. Pictures screened the DC movie in full for the first time at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Tuesday night — and the first early reactions are racing online. The social media response from attendees of the annual convention for theater owners agrees that the Andy Muschietti-directed multiverse movie — teaming Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), the fastest man alive, with Supergirl (Sasha Calle) and Batman (Michael Keaton) in a world without a Justice League — is one of DC's best while paving the way for James Gunn and Peter Safran's new DC Universe.
See the first Flash reactions below. Critic reviews will remain under embargo until closer to the movie's June 16th release exclusively in theaters.
Set after the events of Justice League, worlds collide in The Flash when Barry uses his superpowers to travel back in time in order to change the events of the past. But when his attempt to save his family (Ron Livingston and Maribel Verdú) inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod (Michael Shannon) has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no Super Heroes to turn to. That is, unless Barry can coax a very different Batman (Michael Keaton) out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian (Sasha Calle)… albeit not the one he's looking for. Ultimately, to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry's only hope is to race for his life. But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?
Keaton's Batman returns for the first time in 30 years, while Ben Affleck reprises his role as the Bruce Wayne/Batman of Barry's home universe. Along with the returns of Shannon and Antje Traue's Man of Steel villains Zod and Faora in the 2013 timeline, The Flash introduces another Kryptonian: Calle's Kara Zor-El, who exists in place of Henry Cavill's Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman.
"The approach doesn't change. The emotional values that I need in a story stay the same. I cannot make a movie without them," Muschietti, who helmed horrors Mama and the IT films before Flash, told Box Office Pro magazine about his emotionally-heavy superhero movie. "If there's a strong emotional core, I am interested, and the audience is interested and engaged. This goes for anything I do, regardless of the scope or budget."
Muschietti continued: "On the other hand, the visual approach does change. From an intimate horror story to a multidimensional time travel superhero adventure, the visual aspects of the storytelling have to be different. Obviously, the exploration and search for visual expression is key regardless of the genre, but the visual scope changes. Action-adventure storytelling comes with larger budgets that allow and require the use of more extensive visual imagination. For instance, how do I tell time travel in The Flash? How do I show time travel in a new, exciting way? Set pieces invite scale. I love dreaming of big landscapes, and for that I use a different visual mindset than when I am telling more contained stories."
DC's The Flash speeds into theaters June 16th. See the latest news out of CinemaCon 2023.