The Flash: What Critics Say About Ezra Miller's Star Vehicle

After months of speculation that Warner Bros.' The Flash may not see the light of day, the superhero movie about the fastest person on Earth has arrived in theaters — with many critics approving of the film's troubled nonbinary star, just not the film.

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times may have the most laudatory description of the film, writing, "It’s smartly cast, ambitious and relatively brisk at two and a half hours." But Dargis also castigates director Andy Muschietti for an early sequence involving Miller's super-speedy hero rescuing babies that the reviewer sees as clunky and off-putting.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan praises Miller's performance but says the movie's metaverse conceit is half-baked and tiresome. "The new film has it moments, thanks mainly to Miller, who brings a mesmerizing energy to dual roles: one their character’s relatively calm 30-ish self, the other a manic, teenage version of Barry he accidentally encounters while attempting to return to the present," O'Sullivan writes.

The Los Angeles Times' Justin Chang feels similarly to O'Sullivan — writing that the film is "weak," but the movie's star is its biggest asset.

"And now, as this initially enjoyable, increasingly sloppy megabucks mess at last stumbles across the finish line, one has to wonder: Do the decision makers at Warner Bros. and DC Comics secretly wish they could turn back the clock and butterfly-effect one of those earlier versions into existence? Preferably with a different choice of star? ... Nor do I mean to qualify my admiration for the actor’s witty, fully engaged, nimble-in-every-sense performance. This is hardly the first time a movie’s major PR liability has also turned out to be its greatest creative asset."

The Flash, written by Christina Hodson and co-starring Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton (as two different Batmans), Michael Shannon (as villain General Zod), and Sasha Calle as Supergirl, currently holds a 68 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. The film's release was complicated by Ezra Miller's criminal charges, legal problems, and accusations of abuse made against them. For their part, Miller apologized for their actions and said they were caused by mental health issues.

The Flash – Official Trailerwww.youtube.com