The Flash
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: June 16, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 55 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
22
Negative:
5

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
85
CNNBrian LowryJun 9, 2023
DC finds itself at a bit of a crossroads. Yet that timing makes it all the more impressive to see how “The Flash” has managed to click on all cylinders, pay respect to the company’s past while achieving the kind of balance that could and perhaps should point the way to its future. Read full review
85
Film ThreatAlan NgJun 6, 2023
Ultimately, the story is the film’s star, and director Andrew Muschietti knows how to tell a comic book story. As much as there is excessive fan-baiting and nostalgia, it earned it at the end by holding most of it off until the end. I’m sold. Read full review
83
Original-CinChris KnightJun 14, 2023
While the movie motors along with admirable pacing for most of its lengthy running time, it stumbles in the final act, which is marred by even more bad special effects and a maudlin reunion. Read full review
80
EmpireChris HewittJun 6, 2023
Set to be one of the final entries in what we know as the DCEU, this is also one of the best, a witty and warm buddy comedy that deserves to be more than just a Flash in the pan. Read full review
80
UproxxMike RyanJun 6, 2023
This feels like the definitive Flash movie. Read full review
80
NMEAlex FloodJun 6, 2023
A funny, action-packed and, of course, fast-paced adventure follows – with a surprisingly moving emotional centre. Read full review
75
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJun 15, 2023
A solidly entertaining if predictable time-travel film that boasts something most DC movies sorely lack: a strong lead performance. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenJun 14, 2023
It’s nuts. It’s fun. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 13, 2023
Despite a far-too-long running time and a second half that often relies on audience-pleasing gimmickry in favor of a compelling story arc, The Flash is an exceedingly well-acted adventure with just enough gas in the accelerator to make it to the finish line before wearing out its welcome. Read full review
75
SlashfilmBen PearsonJun 6, 2023
While I have a few complaints and there are a couple of head-scratching loose ends, The Flash is still a funny, emotional, action-heavy crowd-pleaser that ranks among the best DC movies ever made. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittJun 6, 2023
With good guys aplenty and a big heart, The Flash pens a love letter to DC superhero movies past, though the film runs around in circles trying to make it all work. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 12, 2023
Logic devolves, cameos abound — there are two that are truly inspired, one of which involves legendary recasting — and lessons are learned. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonJun 6, 2023
DC takes the multiverse for a spin in The Flash, an entertaining adventure that outruns its familiar narrative trappings thanks to a playful sense of humour and the arrival of an iconic character in a supporting role. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineJesse HassengerJun 6, 2023
You can feel The Flash wishing it could steal a glimpse into the audience and revise itself on the fly accordingly; no wonder early screenings apparently hedged on an ending until the last possible minute. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearJun 6, 2023
This much-beleagured cinematic universe has finally hit upon a winning film, and one that will be forever tainted. Read full review
70
IGNJoshua YehlJun 6, 2023
Though the visual effects aren’t always the best and the third act is a bit overwhelming, strong performances and a refreshing earnestness keep The Flash on track and running circles around many of the recent DC Universe movies. If this is the truly last stop on the Snyderverse express, then it’s a respectable way to go out. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJun 6, 2023
This long-gestating stand-alone showcase for the Fastest Man Alive is enjoyable entertainment, even if it spends more time spinning its wheels than reinventing them. Read full review
70
PolygonJoshua RiveraJun 6, 2023
It’s a bright, breezy film that is overwhelmed by corporate hagiography, a pat on the back for a bunch of movies that never really worked out. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMatthew JacksonJun 6, 2023
It’s sometimes buried under layers and layers of storytelling knots that the film never fully untangles, but the fun is there, and when the film is really working, that turns out to be enough. Read full review
67
IndieWireKate ErblandJun 6, 2023
In its best moments, The Flash touches on something new and exciting, but too often, its the past that tugs on, keeping it from speeding ahead. Read full review
67
ConsequenceLiz Shannon MillerJun 6, 2023
There’s an immense amount of baggage weighing down what proves to be a vaguely competent superhero adventure, albeit one that fails to add anything significant to the genre by the end. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyJun 14, 2023
The action gets increasingly overblown, even by superhero-movie standards. Bad as smash-crash-bash can be, portentous smash-crash-bash is far worse. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 13, 2023
Despite a too-long running time of 144 minutes (the entirety of which much be endured to get to the post-credits scene), the story feels slight. There’s a strong emotional hook but it doesn’t fully compensate for all the half-baked story elements that litter the film. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckJun 13, 2023
At one point in this 184-minute drama, I started wondering if I was seeing a bunch of disco balls trying to destroy each other. But maybe this was a moment of sensory overload. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 12, 2023
The disconnect between Barry’s mature and adolescent selves, a running gag, can be amusing. But coming on the heels of the parade of similar content that we’ve been subjected to for the past several years in the world of superhero films and shows, the device cloys. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 7, 2023
The Flash, while it never comes close to the gee whiz “I can do THIS?” novelty of the many Spider-Man “origin” iterations, makes a charming, nostalgic and sometimes touching addition to the genre, and lets us hope Miller will recover enough to return to acting this character and others. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJun 6, 2023
One of the most spectacular and frustrating mixed bags of the superhero blockbuster era, The Flash is simultaneously thoughtful and clueless, challenging and pandering. It features some of the best digital FX work I've seen and some of the worst. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineJustin ClarkJun 6, 2023
Nothing Batman or Supergirl do in The Flash to save the world is more effective than what Barry Allen does to save it with a hug and a can of tomatoes. Read full review
60
ABC NewsPeter TraversJun 16, 2023
Mad trippy or catastrophic? This DC superhero epic is actually a mix of both, dragged down by exhausting multiverse hopping but flashy fun on the wings of captivating star Ezra Miller and the grumpy comic perfection of Michael Keaton as a Batman on the ropes. Read full review
60
VoxAlex Abad-SantosJun 16, 2023
The Flash existing as a completed movie is an achievement in and of itself. That it’s kinda good and has fun moments is a feat. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisJun 15, 2023
I liked The Flash well enough while watching it. But thinking and writing about it and everything that has gone down has been dispiriting — real life has a way of insinuating itself into even better-wrought fantasies. Read full review
60
We Got This CoveredScott CampbellJun 14, 2023
The Flash is good, and occasionally flirts with excellence, but anyone who goes in heading the game-changer that was promised may be left feeling a touch short-changed. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeJun 14, 2023
It is still a thundering mess that ends with the usual boring battle in a CGI sky. But, on a scene-by-scene basis, The Flash passes the time better than Gunn’s own puzzlingly lauded Suicide Squad. Read full review
60
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyJun 6, 2023
Blighted by development problems and a star whose downward spiral has been widely dissected by all, this superhero blockbuster emerges just as confused as predicted. Read full review
60
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJun 6, 2023
The good barely outweighs the bad here, at least enough for me to give The Flash a marginal recommendation. A lot of the reviews of The Flash from early screenings called it one of the greatest DC Comics movies ever made. Maybe in another universe that’s true. In this one, I thought it stumbled across the finish line. Read full review
60
Total FilmKevin HarleyJun 6, 2023
Muschietti directs confidently, notably in an opening sequence that betters both Justice Leagues for fun. What’s less persuasive is the CGI, an eyesore that’s particularly gaudy when the finale’s ‘secrets’ drop. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyChristian HolubJun 6, 2023
Rather than the beginning of a cool, new idea, The Flash now feels like it should be the last word on movie multiverses. Read full review
58
ColliderRoss BonaimeJun 6, 2023
Cameos and fan service are fine to have, but the story has to be there to back them up, and it’s not quite there with The Flash. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 14, 2023
Keaton is the one who brings both effortless gravity and subtle levity to a film that, without him, wouldn’t have much of either. Read full review
50
The PlaylistNick AllenJun 6, 2023
It has taken so long for a feature-length The Flash to finally hit theaters, and he’s too late. Barry is barely the lead character of his own movie. Read full review
50
VarietyOwen GleibermanJun 6, 2023
The trouble with The Flash is that as the film moves forward, it exudes less of that “Back to the Future” playfulness and more of that mythological but arbitrary blockbuster self-importance. Read full review
49
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiJun 6, 2023
It’s hard to imagine a film with less strength of conviction than The Flash, a time travel movie about why it’s bad to retcon the past, but which exists entirely to convince the audience that retconning the past, present and (potentially) the future of the DC superhero franchise is a super cool thing to do. Read full review
45
The Film VerdictAlonso DuraldeJun 20, 2023
If The Flash proves anything, it’s that the fans won, and that’s a loss for everyone else. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 15, 2023
Keaton’s performance — sly, affectionately cranky, subtly reverberant — is certainly one of The Flash’s highlights. But it also reveals, with depressing clarity, the imaginative poverty of the movie’s design. Read full review
40
CineVueChristopher MachellJun 15, 2023
A basically entertaining, but flimsy and shallow object, The Flash may not be the final entry in this long-beleaguered franchise, but it might as well be. Read full review
40
Little White LiesHannah StrongJun 14, 2023
The heavy reliance on CGI is noticeable, particularly because the work is quite ugly (the area from which Barry is able to access the past is a jagged kaleidoscopic eyesore) and while the film benefits from not having a sludgy abundance of fight scenes, the ones it does feature are still largely indistinguishable from any other film. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyJun 9, 2023
Enjoyment of The Flash hinges on two things: how much Ezra Miller sprinting about you can realistically withstand in one film, and whether multiverses seem cool any more, a year after we just flogged them to death. I wish you the best of luck. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleTrace SauveurJun 6, 2023
After the fact, The Flash feels like the ultimate case in point as to why James Gunn and Peter Safran have been brought in to course-correct the trajectory of the DC enterprise. According to them, this has been retrofitted to be the first of a few transitory films as we exit the DCEU and move into a newly established DC Universe. Here’s hoping they pull it off, because I don’t know how many more of these I can take. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawJun 6, 2023
Some entertaining moments can’t hide the fact that this latest product of the DC Comics universe doesn’t exactly fly past. Read full review
40
Screen RantMolly FreemanJun 6, 2023
The Flash is a passable multiverse superhero movie, but no amount of DC cameos can make audiences forget the awful off-screen actions of Ezra Miller. Read full review
38
ObserverDylan RothJun 16, 2023
The Flash is no genre-redefining masterpiece and it’s unlikely to appeal to viewers who aren’t already bought into the superhero oeuvre, but it’s a much better movie than what’s being advertised. Read full review
35
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJun 14, 2023
This is spaghetti-brained moviemaking, more interested in goosing empty-calorie nostalgia than telling an original or thrilling story. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithJun 16, 2023
Although the climactic battle sequence is, as usual in these movies, teeming with spectacle . . . it feels busy rather than exciting. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 14, 2023
The Flash gets credit for effort, because this superhero movie isn’t trying to be stupid and convoluted. It gets there by accident. Read full review
10
New York Magazine (Vulture)Angelica Jade BastienAug 25, 2023
The film is remarkably banal. It’s a deteriorating rest stop on the road to nowhere. Read full review
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