When all else fails in the world of DC (trust me, that’s a lot lately) then look to your successful opponent and try to replicate what makes those movies so special. Guest contributor Scott Bickerton brings you his thoughts in this The Flash IMAX review.

Worlds collide when the Flash uses his superpowers to travel back in time to change the events of the past. However, when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, he becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation.
With no other superheroes to turn to, the Flash looks to coax a very different Batman out of retirement and rescue an imprisoned Kryptonian — albeit not the one he’s looking for.
Watching The Flash on its UK opening night brought a long many a mixed feeling so I thought I should write them down into this very review that you’re reading.
Spoilers will be avoided at all costs but when push comes to shove, there really isn’t a great deal to spoil as aside from disrespecting Henry Cavill and his Superman solo film The Flash just feels hollow and empty, devoid of ideas and lacking in so many areas. Quite telling for one feature but this seems to be the case for a whole slate of recent DC release.
The Flash  opened in Cinemas on the tenth anniversary of Man Of Steel, which is ironic because a lot of the film is set in some of the Man Of Steel “timeline”.  Cavill was brought back to play Superman last year, he was in the post credit scene of Black Adam as well as filming cameo’s for the newest Shazam film and this Flash film.

Sadly, WB’s internal fighting meant Cavill’s Man Of Steel sequel was canned, and his cameos binned too! Yet here we have a film set in the timeline of his Superman film, without him, but with plenty of chances for his cameo to fit into it. It’s bizarre decision making, and this does annoy me about this film.
Let’s introduce a multiverse into the DC Universe, we’re not copying Marvel I promise, it’s a DC universe full of DC characters, it’s totally different in idea and execution… right… right?
One of many executive conversations I feel as though genuinely happened when this film concept was conceived. 
The original intention of a Flashpoint multiverse type film was to wrap up on what Man Of Steel started in 2013, classed as the “Snyderverse” or DCEU. I think it’d be fair to say this film went very differently to the original plan. If the original plan had been followed there’d be so many films that came before this, including things like Man Of Steel 2, Affleck’s solo Batman film (Pattinson ended up with that), more Wonder Woman from Gal Gadot and at least two more Justice League films. Sadly, that hasn’t been the case largely thanks to the mess caused in 2017 with the Joss Whedon cut of the Justice League.
 
Fans campaigned for 3 years to get the Snyder Cut which was eventually released in 2021. Things went very differently and this version of The Flash is odd to say the least.
Storyline delivers a very bog standard and bland progression and the number of WTF moments in this particular DC movie is astonishing, particular one big WTF moment focused around Ben Affeck’s face!
The acting in The Flash is actually very good and Michael Keaton’s return is much more than a cameo and he absolutely nails it as his Bruce Wayne/Batman. This was a fan service like no other and in that aspect it pays off, in box office revenue though however, none of this paid off. The Flash opened to the tune of $55 million and was classed as a box office bomb before even given the legs to stand.
Could audiences be avoiding it because of the controversy around Ezra Miller? Probably not. 
Could audiences be avoiding it because DC movies have been very poor 99% of the time and occasionally brilliant 1% of the time. Probably.

The Flash feels like a Marvel film and it’s certainly not the first time that DC have tried to get some of that star power from Marvel to inject into their tired and lacklustre offerings. Throwing comedy in for the sake of it and trying to force some sort of movie magic, it’s just not going to happen when the characters the films are focused around just aren’t the jokey ‘Marvel’ types.
To summarise, this film should have been DC’s big finale before a reboot after ten years of Cavill, Affleck & Gadot as the DC trinity, instead it’s a DC film full of confusing decision making, odd CGI cameos from retired or deceased actors, and has Marvel’s stamp all over it. A classic case of too many books in the ktichen.
The Flash had the potential to be the perfect ending to a great series of films but instead it highlighted the mess that Warner Bros have made with these comic book films since November 2017. It was alright, but it’ll leave most DC fans thinking of what could have been instead!

Dodgy CGI scenes aside this movie is glorious on IMAX screens and is really the only way I’d ever want to see a superhero movie. Beautiful vibrant images with punchy audio and kick ass bass. IMAX really is the way to go when watching these grand scale epic features in the cinema.
Many DC fans around the world will be looking to Marvel (yes Marvel) genius James Gunn to turn their fortunes around because absolutely no one else that’s been a part of the DC Universe for a while now can seemingly divert this sinking ship to greener pastures.

Our Rating

Summary
The film lost its audience the second it tried to be like its more successful box office competition. This is a DC movie, NOT a Marvel movie and the filmmakers and all decision makers behind the project will do well to remember that.