This past week, in a COVID induced blur I reluctantly watched the Flash on Max. The numerous negative reviews coupled with my overall fatigue with superhero movies, had me fully prepared to hate this movie. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it.

Despite its numerous flaws, the Flash is entertaining. The humor is snappy. The story is a serviceable time-travel multiverse mash up. Ezra Miller is comfortable in his role as the eponymous character. The novelty of bringing back Michael Keaton and Michael Shannon (both great actors) works for the most part. The call outs to other historical DC characters are funny. Nicholas Cage as Superman fighting a giant spider was bonkers awesome. That scene alone was worth the price of admission.

Also, I was genuinely surprised with the twist at the end. In retrospect I feel a bit dumb for not expecting it, but it made me smile. The Flash is an entertaining slab of mindless superhero fluff.

Nevertheless, it is still not a good movie.  It has numerous flaws, which derail its potential.

The most significant flaw is the director’s treatment of Sasha Calle’s Supergirl.  Calle’s talents are completely wasted. Her character arch is an insulting mess with no satisfying payoff. The camera refuses to linger on her for any amount of time, preferring to make us stare at Ezra Miller’s cheekbones for another hour.

There is an entire universe of pent-up potential in Calle that is barely touched. Message to James Gunn, give Calle a spin off. Or stick her in the next season of Peacemaker. Or do *something* with her character.  She was tragically wasted in this movie.

There is plenty of other things to complain about. The CGI is rather clunky at times.  Shannon and Keton are underutilized. The big final fight is a mess. However, if you want a mindless superhero movie to pass the time, for better or worse the Flash delivers.