The Flash Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Flash Blu-ray Movie Review

Nobody puts Baby in the microwave.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III August 27, 2023

Andy Muschietti's The Flash may have been yet another punchline in a mostly disastrous box office year for Warner Bros. (Barbie notwithstanding, obviously) but, like Shazam: Fury of the Gods, it's not really deserving of all the harsh criticism. A bit annoyingly goofy in spots? Yep. Ambitious to a fault? Sure. But it's still a largely enjoyable ride with solid performances, plenty of inspired detours, and enough good sense to keep things moving during its sleek running time... by superhero movie standards, at least. Unfortunately, what most critics and fans focused on during its theatrical run were the wonky special effects (guilty), star Ezra Miller's personal issues (guilty), and hyperbolic accusations of being the worst DC movie ever made (not guilty), which left any real chances of box office success in ruins.

Taking its tonal cues mostly from Shazam, The Flash attempts to balance heartfelt drama, goofy comedy, and over-the-top action with occasionally mixed results. Our story follows the title character (real name Barry Allen, a meek forensic investigator) after he helps to thwart a Gotham City robbery with the help of Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot). Waxing nostalgic upon visiting his childhood home -- including remembering the death of his mother Nora (Maribel Verdú) and the wrongful imprisonment of his dad Henry (Ron Livingston) -- Barry is overcome with regret and, using the Speed Force, inadvertently travels back in time a couple of hours. Ignoring Bruce Wayne's warnings, he later decides to change history by returning to the day of his mother's death but ends up in an alternate timeline where Nora never died. There's also a second (younger) Barry with no powers, a different Batman, a new Marty McFly, and even a mysterious figure who's taken the place of Superman in a Siberian prison camp. That person will come in handy when battling General Zod, who shows up on a television broadcast to announce his upcoming invasion of Earth.

Needless to say, The Flash juggles a lot of balls in the air but actually does a pretty impressive job of keeping things smooth, only hitting a handful of speed bumps in the form of a few troublesome tonal shifts and that aforementioned rough-looking CGI, which is really just a byproduct of several scenes (the opening robbery, which leads to a ginormous explosion and daring anti-gravity rescue attempt, as well as the "multiverse" bubble inside the Speed Force) being too complicated for the SFX team(s) to pull off convincingly. This is often the Achilles' Heel of most superhero movies -- an embrace of excess, which also includes running times -- but The Flash doesn't fall fully into this trap, retaining a mostly light and fittingly energetic atmosphere that makes it more watchable than most in the genre. A tighter sequel would be fun to see but we damn sure won't get one (what with the justified Miller backlash and, of course, poor ticket sales), and that's a shame. I'd rather see a new Flash than Justice League Whatever or another bloated Wonder Woman... so for now, this one stands on its own as a film that's unquestionably not as bad as its reputation suggests.

For a more detailed synopsis and a slightly colder perspective, please see Brian Orndorf's theatrical review.

On the bright side, we at least get a solid home video package from Warner Bros. whose only fault is that a combo pack isn't available -- just separate Blu-ray and 4K editions with identical audio and most of the same bonus features (several are missing on the Blu-ray, but still more than you'd expect for a box-office bomb). The main difference is of course in the visuals: this Blu-ray obviously comes in second, but it'll get the job done on small to mid-sized displays.

The Flash Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Flash performs well on Blu-ray, offering a relatively rock-solid and suitably enjoyable 1080p transfer whose only real handicap is disc space; even with a full 50GB of real estate, a few noticeable compression artifacts -- including black crush, posterization, and banding -- can be seen on several occasions. The reason is bonus features; It packs a couple of hours' worth of HD supplements alongside the film instead of giving them their own disc, which isn't as much a problem on the 4K due to double the storage capacity and a more efficient codec. However, these problems may have registered slightly stronger with yours truly due to (a) watching the film in 4K first, and (b) making use of a decently large screen, where such visual anomalies can be detected more easily. (That, and combing through a couple dozen screenshots.) For most viewers, either less discerning or perhaps watching on smaller displays, this Blu-ray should provide a decently impressive visual presentation and one that might even massage a few of the more noticeable CGI seams better than the 4K disc does. It does a more than respectable job with color saturation, fine detail, and even textures, only faltering slightly where some of this transfer's finer points are concerned. Again though, it's nothing to get too worked up over, although I really wish WB had sprung for a second disc for the extras.

The Flash Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Equally unsurprising is The Flash's consistently active and robust Dolby Atmos audio mix, which pairs front-forward conversations with no shortage of discrete action, panning effects, rear channel activity, and plenty of heavy subwoofer hits that'll give you plenty of good reasons to annoy your neighbors, Highlights abound, from the early robbery and a subsequent mid-air rescue to Flash's perpetual use of the Speed Force and more than a few nicely-paced action scenes, not to mention the occasional trips through time and all the creative sonic touches that come with them. The Atmos-exclusive height channel also gets some love in almost all cases, creating not only some convincing overhead effects but also forming a satisfying "sonic bubble" that makes it such an enjoyable option. (Speaking of options, WB has also seen fit to include a superfluous Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, which at least isn't the default like it used to be.)

Several sets of dubs and subtitles, including English (SDH), are offered during the main feature and/or extras.

The Flash Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with poster-themed artwork and a matching slipcover; a Digital Copy code is tucked inside. The included extras aren't all in-depth but are collectively more numerous than expected and that might help win over a few potential buyers stuck on the fence... even if the 4K release has more than double.

• Making The Flash: Worlds Collide (36:55) - Director Andy Muschietti, producer Barbara Muschietti, and a few others host this run-through of the filmmaking process from pre-production on March 12, 2021 to the last day of shooting on October 8, covering such topics as story development, assembling a crew, tweaking the script, set design, special effects, and a bunch of other things that (hopefully) come together in the end.

• Let's Get Nuts: Batman Returns, Again! (8:31) - There's some great behind-the-scenes footage during this brief featurette about -- yep, you guessed it -- with comments from key cast and crew members about Keaton's portrayal of Batman, his history with the character, and updating his costume (but not too much).

• Supergirl: The Last Daughter of Krypton (16:00) - Supergirl gets her own little historical featurette here, presented similarly to the previous one with a handful of interviews, clips, comic panels, and more.

• The Flash: Escape the Midnight Circus Trailer (1:03) - A promotional piece for the scripted podcast story starring Max Greenfield... most of which is just visual soundwaves, LOL.

• The Flash: Escape the Midnight Circus (6 clips, 93:43 total) - All six episodes of the podcast presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. I'm not really a fan of podcasts in general, but this is a pretty nice inclusion.

• The Flash in Session: Escape the Midnight Circus (1:58) - A few behind-the-scenes clips from the podcast along with brief interviews with writer/director Henry Loevner and voice actor Max Greenfield.

The Flash Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Andy Muschietti's The Flash was DC's latest critical whipping boy and box office misfire, following in the footsteps of Shazam: Fury of the Gods despite, you know, actually being pretty good. (Black Adam, on the other hand, deserved all the hate.) Anyway, I liked this one just fine, a few speed bumps notwithstanding, and its reputation might even grow on subsequent viewings. Yet while even a warmer home video reception unfortunately won't lead to a sequel, it'll at least help to salvage The Flash's undeservingly bad reputation. WB's Blu-ray supports it nicely with a decent A/V presentation and plenty of extras, which earns this one a (perhaps surprising?) Recommended.