“The Flash”, the latest product from DC Extended Universe (DCEU), turns out to be saddled with several other problems besides its very problematic lead actor, who has been quite notorious for what he allegedly committed outside the screen. Even if you can put aside all those alleged crimes and misdemeanors of this actor for a while, the movie is still a glaringly bloated and superficial fan service despite some inspired moments, and it will not add up much to whatever DCEU will try next after the extensive recent reboot of its many different intellectual properties.

During the opening scene, we see how Barry Allen / The Flash (Ezra Miller) has been pretty much like the lapdog of Bruce Wayne / Batmen (Ben Affleck) just like Tom Holland’s Spider-Man was to Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man in recent Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) flicks. Just because several other members of Justice League happen to be unavailable, Barry has to assist Wayne in Gotham City on one day even though he is late for his work, and we accordingly get the first major action sequence of the film. Incidentally, this sequence looks and feels so phony with lots of mediocre CGI pasted on the screen that we do not brace for ourselves that much – even when a bunch of babies are falling down from the top of a crumbling building along with a poor unfortunate nurse and one therapy dog.

Anyway, as he is back on his usual daily routine after saving the day again, Barry becomes frustrated again as reminded that there is still not any chance of release for his incarcerated father. It is clear that his father is wrongfully accused of the murder of Barry’s mother, but his father’s alibi is not proven yet despite some generous help from Wayne, and Barry’s subsequent encounter with an old friend of his makes him feel more bitter about his personal loss as well as his father’s misery.

And then there comes what may look like a possible solution to Barry when he speeds up himself much more than before. When he is consequently running beyond the speed of light, he enters a spectacularly peculiar zone of time and space where he can go back to the past as much as he wants, and he naturally wonders whether he can actually change the course of that traumatic incident which has defined his life for many years, though Wayne wisely reminds Barry that he should stop considering that tempting possibility.

Of course, Barry eventually tries his luck on time traveling, and all he has to do is making sure that his mother buys a can of tomato at a local supermarket not long before the day of that traumatic incident. However, not so surprisingly, things somehow go pretty wrong once he succeeds in changing the following history, and he suddenly finds himself thrown into a resulting alternative universe quite different from his in many ways. For example, this alternative universe does not have most of Justice League members, and the movie has some naughty fun via several wry references on well-known Hollywood films including “Back to the Future” (1985), which does not have Michael J. Fox in this alternative universe but has the other actor initially chosen for that film instead.

Moreover, Barry also comes across his alternative universe version, who has had a much better childhood time but becomes your typical college slacker instead. As frequently alternating between Barry and his alternative version along the story, Ezra Miller embodies well the strained relationship between these two roles, but, like me, some of you will be more uncomfortable about dealing with more than one Miller on the screen, and you may cringe at some of broad comic scenes which will probably remind you more of all those disturbing allegations against this actor.

When the Earth is later threatened by the arrival of General Zod (Michael Shannon, who simply seems to be content with getting his paycheck here) and his cronies from Planet Krypton, Barry and his alter ego must find any possible way to save the Earth and the humanity from the impending total destruction, and, fortunately, they can get some help from Wayne in this alternative universe. Michael Keaton, who is about to have the 72nd birthday in this year, is surely glad to play Batman again despite his age (After all, if Harrison Ford can still play Indiana Jones, why not?), and it is certainly nice to hear Danny Elfman’s classic theme for Tim Burton’s “Batman” (1989) on the soundtrack, though composer Benjamin Wallfisch quotes it a little too many times throughout the film.

Thanks to Wayne, Barry and his alter ago come to a certain figure who has been imprisoned for years somewhere in Siberia, though that figure turns out to be quite different from what they expected. As already shown from the trailer of the movie, that figure in question is a young Kryptonian woman named Kara Zor-El (Sasha Calle), and she is not so eager to save the Earth and the humanity for a good reason. Because her character’s development is quickly pushed aside when the movie is drenched in lots of crashes and bangs during its expected big climactic part, Calle is merely stuck in her thankless functional role just like a few other substantial supporting actresses in the film, and that is a big letdown to say the least.

Around this big climactic part, the movie reaches for more and more while also sucking lots of the intellectual properties associated with DCEU, and that is where I got more disinterested instead of becoming really entertained. While the movie remains rather schizophrenic in its mix of comedy and drama, the following narrative resolution is too convenient as not carrying much dramatic weight compared to the ending of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2021), and I only came to muse more on how much Holland’s Spider-Man in that film sacrificed while really coming to learn a painful lesson from his unwise attempt to change the timeline of his universe.

On the whole, “The Flash”, directed by Andy Muschietti. is merely passable while dutifully cleaning up whatever was done by DCEU during last several years. As a seasoned moviegoer who has been pretty tired of superhero flicks these days, I do not expect much from what may come next from DCEU, and I can only hope that I will be a bit more entertained in next time.