The Flash: First Reviews Race Online
The Flash reviews are in — and it seems DC is getting a major jolt of lightning. Warner Bros. screened the multiverse movie in full for the first time to rave reactions at Las Vegas CinemaCon in April, and on Tuesday, critics began sharing their reviews for the multiverse-hopping time-traveling superhero movie that has been likened to a Flashpoint and Back to the Future mashup. The Flash currently sits at 73% approval from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the fifth-best reviewed DC movie after 2017's Wonder Woman (93%), 2019's Shazam! and 2021's The Suicide Squad (tied at 90%), and 2020's Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (79%).
"After years of being a proverbial white whale in the realm of superhero movies, The Flash finally exists in an undoubtedly fun, but somewhat inconsequential way. The movie's liveliness is infectious, and there are some genuinely unbelievable moments on display, but that might not be enough to fully cement it as a legendary part of DC's canon," ComicBook critic Jenna Anderson wrote in a review. "Whether on the screen or on the page, Barry Allen's adventure is far from over — and, in one way or another, The Flash movie will always be a one-of-a-kind chapter of that."
See a sampling of reviews from around the web below.
Variety: "In The Flash, the multiverse of possibilities that opens up by toying with the past becomes an excuse to throw everything but the Batcave sink at the audience. Despite the vividness of its star, the movie steamrolls Ezra Miller's personality as it goes along. The climactic battle against General Zod with ... its overblown sound and fury, is working too hard to engulf us after a story that did a nifty job of beguiling us. For a while, Ezra Miller brings it. But they deserved better, and so do we."
Entertainment Weekly: "The Flash ends on a purposefully open note (and a pretty good joke), so that if the film succeeds at the box office, Miller's Barry can run again another day. If it doesn't, the precedent is set for a full continuity reset. Whatever DC movies await us in the future, let's hope they avoid multiverses. It's well-trod territory at this point, even for a speedster."
Rolling Stone: "The Flash is, by far, the best movie to come out of this modern, post-Nolan Warners/DC collaboration, and builds on the promise that Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman first put forth. That is: You can make a superhero film with these particular superheroes that's dark but not needlessly abyss-black; you can make something that matches the epic scope of worlds-collide comic crossovers while still making sure that your characters matter; you can balance serial storytelling and the burdens of confusing canons with something that stands on its own two fleet feet; and you can channel the thrill of both comics and blockbusters without giving either short shrift."
The Hollywood Reporter: "This long-gestating stand-alone showcase for the Fastest Man Alive is enjoyable entertainment, even if it spends more time spinning its wheels than reinventing them. Much of the advance publicity has focused on Ezra Miller's string of controversies and legal issues, but the troubled star turns out to be the film's chief asset, bringing humor, heart and a vulnerability not often seen in big-screen superheroes. That Miller manages to make such a funny, fully dimensional impression as Barry Allen, better known as the Flash, is no mean feat given the movie's slavish devotion to nostalgic fan service."
USA Today: "With good guys aplenty and a big heart, The Flash pens a love letter to DC superhero movies past, though the film runs around in circles trying to make it all work ... The movie's stronger underlying themes, like the importance of living in the present and learning to let things go, are overshadowed by the multiversal gymnastics. And as much good stuff as the The Flash features, including a nifty scene where Barry slo-mo saves a slew of falling babies in entertaining fashion, the film can't help but get tripped up by the same old hurdles."
TheWrap: "If you can ignore the macro-narrative of how The Flash affects the evolving, overarching 'DC Universe' of movies, and if you can somehow set aside the context of Ezra Miller's many personal and legal troubles — which is very hard to do since this whole movie is Miller's character making selfish choices that hurt a lot of people and then trying to avoid taking full responsibility by being The Flash — the movie offers some superficial entertainment value. It's reasonably enjoyable while you're watching it, but very frustrating to think about five minutes after the lights go up and you realize most of it didn't actually work."
The official logline: "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 inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no Super Heroes to turn to. That is, unless Barry can coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian… 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?"
Starring Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash, Sasha Calle as Supergirl, Michael Shannon as General Zod, Ron Livingston and Maribel Verdú as Henry and Nora Allen, Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, Antje Traue as Faora-Ul, Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman, and Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman, The Flash opens only in theaters June 16th.