Movie Roundup: Turbulent productions and CGI-generated fun clash in "The Flash" and "Transformers: Rise of The Beasts"
FILM REVIEW: The Flash (2023)
After nine years of a turbulent production and a main star’s recent disturbing crime spree, The Flash”, directed by Andy Muschietti, has sped into theatres but it’s not exactly in fighting shape.
The problems that plagued its production are embarrassingly apparent in the final product; undercooked visual effects, a screenplay unsure of where to orient itself in the larger designs of the DC Extended Universe, and a hollow devotion to nostalgia.
Although these issues should have crippled “The Flash”, through a plucky desire to entertain, it ends up being an infectiously fun if inessential experience. To wit, a big selling point of this movie is Michael Keaton’s return as Batman. There’s not much to sink your teeth into with this concept, which is the result of Barry Allen/The Flash travelling through time to resurrect his mother. But Keaton is in top form here, ably bringing shades of deadpan and zen to his cartoonishly competent and jaded Dark Knight. This multiversal adventure also introduces a Supergirl in lieu of Superman (Sasha Calle, doing a lot with a little) and an alternate, much younger and more naïve version of Barry Allen.
The plot crescendos to a flirtation with CGI-driven storytelling in its final 20 minutes of mayhem, but then “The Flash” loops back to being something real again.
3 stars out of 5
FILM REVIEW: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Look, it’s giant toy robots smashing seven shades of junkyard metal out of one another for reasons that are both under-explained and over-explained. Yet its earnest, dorky spirit puts this above Michael Bay’s hollow and evil offerings in the Transformers franchise.
