The Flash: Critics give their views on Ezra Miller's DC superhero movie

Image source, Warern Bros

Ezra Miller as The Flash: Flash of genius or flash in the pan?

By Paul Glynn

Entertainment reporter

Film critics have had their say on The Flash, the new DC Comics movie starring troubled US actor Ezra Miller.

The superhero's much anticipated first solo film had been in doubt after Miller was arrested several times and had treatment for mental health issues.

The Times and The Guardian both gave it two stars, with the latter calling the character a "gurning, smirking mess".

But the Evening Standard hailed it as "one of the best superhero movies of the 21st Century so far".

Miller, who uses they/them pronouns, avoided prison in January after pleading guilty to unlawfully trespassing at a neighbour's house.

They were put on probation and told to get clean and continue mental health treatment.

Miller plays Barry Allen/The Flash, a police forensic investigator and member of the Justice League who can move at superhuman speeds.

The character travels back in time to prevent the death of his mother - which his father was wrongly convicted for - while also mentoring his younger self, bringing unintended consequences.

Image source, Warner Bros

He said producers had attempted to get around Miller's publicised personal and legal problems by giving their Flash "a line that appears to address the elephant on the screen".

"Facing a traumatised eyewitness, our hero suggests: 'You should seek the services of a mental health professional. The Justice League is not very good at that part yet'," wrote Maher.

"And then there's a naughty pause, and a half turn to camera, followed by: 'Trust me!' Which, in the context of a morally specious movie that's mostly about reflogging the cultural canon of an entertainment conglomerate, seems pretty tasteless."

The film also features cameos from some superheroes of old, including Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck's Batmen and Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman.

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw noted how there were "spectacular and surreal visions of the various iterations of DC superheroes and the final appearance from an almost forgotten version of Bruce Wayne gets a laugh".

He added: "But this is not a movie with any new ideas or dramatic rethinking, and - at the risk of re-opening the DC/Marvel sectarian wound - nothing to compare with the much-lauded animation experiment in the recent Spider-Man films.

"The intellect in this intellectual property is draining away."

The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey's gave the film three stars, calling it "muddled, poignant and - because of Ezra Miller - morally tricky".

"There's no real sense that anyone would be helped by either the release or the cancellation of Miller's movie," she wrote. "In both scenarios, Warner Bros gets to shrug all responsibility and focus on the fate of its product and not the people it employs."

She did, however, praise the writers for their exploration of grief, and Miller for their dual performances, which helped elevate "a character whose only defining trait used to be 'irritating'."

Rolling Stone critic David Fear was more enthusiastic, saying it was "by far the best movie to come out of this modern, post-Nolan Warners/DC collaboration" - with reference to director Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy.

"Keaton not only reprises his role wonderfully, he knows how to slot himself into this complicated narrative so that, oddly enough, he's in line with what The Flash as a whole is trying to do."

The Evening Standard's Charlotte O'Sullivan said fans would "enjoy the flashes of greatness", while The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney said the film was "enjoyable entertainment, even if it spends more time spinning its wheels than reinventing them".

He added that "troubled star" Miller "turns out to be the film's chief asset, bringing humour, heart and a vulnerability not often seen in big-screen superheroes."

Variety's Owen Gleiberman gave a largely negative review, writing that The Flash "exudes less of that Back to the Future playfulness and more of that mythological but arbitrary blockbuster self-importance".

And while he did enjoy the start of the "entertainingly heady comic-book caper of time-warp heroism and identity" he concluded that ultimately "none of it makes a lot of sense".

He added that "the multiverse of possibilities that opens up by toying with the past becomes an excuse to throw everything but the Batcave sink at the audience".

The Flash is in UK cinemas from 16 June.

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