General consensus on The Flash landed more than a month ago, and most of us are in agreement: the movie was, at best, substandard.
It had its moments, and I’m certainly one for some mindless action — particularly when that action comes at the hands of Michael Keaton — but few people are praising Ezra Miller for their performance in the flick. They play a fine Flash, sure, but when compared to other iterations of the Scarlet Speedster (and with Miller’s many controversies considered) Miller’s presence in the flick hurt it more than it helped.
No one is really an outlier to this line of thought (except Tom Cruise, as it turns out) and few people are disappointed to consider Miller’s time as the Flash concluded. All of the best elements in The Flash were provided by people other than its leading man, after all, which is never the desired outcome from a solo superhero movie. Its not hard for Keaton to outshine damn near anyone, to be fair — particularly when he’s given the freedom to return to an iconic, beloved character — but Sasha Calle’s comparative inexperience never should have outshone Miller. Yet, she did.
There are too many lacking elements in The Flash to list here, but one of them is inarguably Miller’s Barry Allen. He plays the part with reasonable skill, I won’t lie, but when compared to other actors who’ve taken on the role — most notably Grant Gustin, who played the part in the CW’s own take on the iconic speedster — his shortcoming are much more obvious. All of this is surmised flawlessly in a single pair of shots, one from Gustin’s final moment as the Flash, and one from Miller’s. The joint shots, particularly when positioned side-by-side, as Twitter user @D4hz4hn oriented them, highlight everything that went wrong with the DCEU release.
In the shared shots, we see Gustin going out precisely as the Flash should — the world a blur behind him as he runs, fully suited, into what we can only imagine is his sunset. That little smirk certainly doesn’t hurt things.
Miller, meanwhile, is suited up in much more formal attire, with one of his front tooth missing from a prior movie plot line, and a look of dumbfounded delight on his face. It’s the look he wears as yet another version of Batman emerges from his car, and serves as the final glance we’ll (hopefully) ever get of Miller’s Flash. Not the most fitting of sendoffs, when Barry is concerned, but surprisingly appropriate for Miller himself.
I’m not the only one who thinks so. The tweet’s comment section is littered with a similar sentiment, as fans call for Gustin to get a proper shot (and a proper budget) as the Flash. He’s largely celebrated as the better iteration of the character, and many people think he, rather than Miller, deserved a shot at the big screen.
What we got, instead, was babies in microwaves, a popped-out tooth, and a thoroughly uninspired runner’s behind. Disappointment after disappointment, and one final shot to sum the whole letdown up.