Time traveler's mixed bag of tricks

Warner Bros' latest attempt to build its own Marvel Cinematic Universe-styled, world-dominating superhero franchise - with Marvel up at over $29.5 billion in global box-office receipts so far - has been an affair fraught with modest hits (Wonder Woman proved a winner in 2017), massive misses (2022's Black Adam) and a lot of indifference. It's strange that DC - which arguably owns the bigger, better, more recognizable properties - has been unable to leverage Batman, Superman, the Green Lantern or Wonder Woman, among others, for consistent results, if not good ones.

So here DC is again, finally releasing the last vestiges of the previous studio regimes' plans for the DC Extended Universe - ahead of Superman: Legacy (2025), guided by writer-director James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, 2014-23). The Flash has been hit with its share of controversy, chiefly surrounding star Ezra Miller's various bar fights, break-ins and alleged grooming of adolescents. It doesn't help that Warner chose to forge ahead with a film fronted by a white man with legal troubles while shelving the Afro-Latina-led Batgirl. All of this makes the film a lightning rod (no pun intended) for critics' sharpened knives.

But the strange thing is, amid all the drama, The Flash is OK. Based on the popular comic-book series Flashpoint, writer Christina Hodson and director Andy Muschietti's superhero adventure is well-paced (even at nearly two and a half hours), action-packed, frequently funny, and one of the best DC films yet. That may be damning it with faint praise - the DC bar is set pretty low - but despite some weak CGI and familiar tropes, The Flash is good summertime entertainment, at least until the sloppy third act.