Amuse Productions

So, I’m not a super critic about superhero movies, or action movies, because most are made for the hell of it. However, in recent times with Marvel raising the bar, and many well made action movies on the horizon, as well as having been released in theaters, you kind of have to critique as they are presented in a much more structured way. I’ve never seen myself as someone who critiques however, but simply gives their opinion, and I have a lot to say about The Flash. This film was already a movie that was kind of set up for failure at the box office, especially because of its lead actor, Ezra Miller and their many run ins with the law. On top of that, the film itself had many iterations to go through, namely being picked up and turned down from 2014 to 2018 by directors, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, James Wan, Rick Famuyiwa, and Robert Zemeckis. Eventually being picked up and followed through by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. The film itself was supposed to be a lot more lighthearted and taken direct inspiration from the Justice League film of 2017, however it thankfully didn’t, but Ezra pushed for the story to be closer to the basis of the “Flashpoint” storyline in the comics. Warner Bros. execs would give Miller and comic book legend Grant Morrison, two weeks to write a new script, that script would be similar to the final product, but with more elements of the “Flashpoint” storyline being sprinkled in. That script would be turned down by execs at Warner Bros. but, they still hoped Miller would follow through with the role. Now these weren’t just the aspects of the film that would delay it, but also in 2020 we got some interesting news about Ezra.

Miller first came onto the news in April 2020, as a video of them in Iceland at a bar they frequent often, was showing them strangling a woman at the neck. The people at the bar, as well as the bartender would identify and confirm Ezra’s identity. In 2022 was when things would heat up as Miller arrived in Hawaii from March 22nd to the 28th. In this timespan Miller would have more than 10 calls from police as well as multiple arrests from: Assaulting a couple in their hotel room, shouting obscenities at people, filming at a private karaoke lounge to later sell for “NFT Crypto”, physical altercations and harassment towards customers at the karaoke lounge, assaulting people at a hostel they were invited too, and finally getting arrested for not only the karaoke incident, but also an incident where they would meet with a 26 year old woman for a private night together at a hotel where Miller would turn aggressive and launch a chair at the woman, leaving a cut on her forehead after being told to get out. This is just the tip of the iceberg as I feel the worst one is when Miller’s relationship with their partner Tokata Iron Eyes started to be shed light upon.

A few burglary charges, and assault charges in Vermont and Massachusetts, and the biggest story at large for Miller was when it came out that Iron Eyes was being forced to be in a relationship with Miller, allegedly. According to Iron Eyes’ parents her and Miller would become close when Miller and Tokata would meet at a rally against the Dakota Access Pipeline, where Miller and Tokata would exchange numbers and Miller would promise to help her with her music career and fights in activism. An important detail, Tokata was 12 at the time. In 2017, Miller would offer to fly Tokata, as they would have constant contact with each other, to London for filming of, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Tokata’s father Chase would offer to go to London with his daughter, but Miller denied his going, and explicitly made it clear that Tokata only go. According to the family, this is where their relationship would begin, Miller being 23 and Tokata being 12. In 2021, many allegations of inappropriate behavior from Tokata and Miller would arise from the family, including Tokata being forced to do LSD and various other hard drugs, while also committing sexual acts while visiting the family, and Miller potentially being the reason for Tokata to drop out of school in 2021, keep in mind, she was 16 at this point. Anyways, to make a long story short and to finally move on to the movie, Tokata would go quiet for over weeks on end after running away from home. Her parents would try to contact her and accusing Miller of abuse after seeing bruises and cuts on her arms, legs, and neck. Miller would deny these allegations while Tokata would also deny them on a now deleted instagram post. Tokata’s family already was on edge as Tokata didn’t have social media access, which Tokata would claim was because she, “chose to not have a phone”. Even to this day, the Standing Rock Sioux tribal court, issued a temporary order of protection against Miller, until the Iron Eyes family felt that Tokata would be safe again. Apparently, Miller sees himself as a messiah to the Native American people, while not having any indigenous blood in him, while also believing that he is Jesus Christ and the FBI and KKK are after him for this, and yes, these are true statements made by them. A cult like relationship that has absolutely tarnished the reputation of the young actor.

All in all, amidst the controversy, the question really was, will The Flash still release in theaters, and will Ezra Miller still remain as The Flash. Funny enough, Amber Heard, at the time, was also mixed up in legal trouble herself, as the now famous court case between her and former partner Johnny Depp would paint Heard in a very bad light, not only losing the court case, but leading Warner Bros. and apparently James Wan to initiate the move, to cut Amber Heard almost entirely out of the upcoming Aquaman 2 film. Warner Bros. would deflect questions about Ezra and would point to them losing a lot more money by reshooting and recasting, than by releasing the film. So, the damage was done and the trust was severed as when The Flash released in June 2023, it bombarded with an opening $55.1 million in its opening weekend. Making it one of the biggest box office bombs of all time, as well as potentially losing Warner Bros. over $200 million, with the film only grossing in total $265.8 million and coming out on digital merely a month later. Regardless, safe to say, we probably won’t be seeing Ezra as The Flash again, and maybe on a big screen sadly, but you can’t justify anything they’ve done.

Now onto the movie, I’ll keep it brief. NO SPOILERS – The film itself actually is a pretty fun watch story wise. From all the cameos, to the implementation of the multiverse, it’s great without being super complex, however, it does also feel like DC is again one step behind. I don’t mean to be that type of person, but Marvel did introduce their multiverse a few years ago, while DC is once again playing catch up, which makes the film seem unoriginal, even if the plot, characters, and setting are completely different. It’s not a groundbreaking story don’t get me wrong, but the time travel aspect is simple to understand, the whole multiverse and clear “Back To The Future” inspiration is there, and it seems like the emotional connection for Barry Allen (The Flash), and his mom/childhood being the plot of this whole film seemingly work pretty well. You do feel for Barry at points as he is basically just trying to change the past without messing anything up. Michael Keaton fits pretty seamlessly into the film as well. Reprising his role after 30 years of not seeing him as Bruce Wayne, it was nice to see a familiar face, even if its more of an homage to the originals than anything. I’m trying to avoid spoilers altogether, but one big issue for me with this film is the CGI. I could compare this movie in some scenes to a Playstation 3 game, and if you compare it to that, it’s not a fantastic sign to behold. I read a quote that said Zach Mulligan, ironically a VFX artist on the film, commented on the poor reception to the CGI saying, “If it looks like it was made a week ago, it probably was”, this being kind of commentary on how demanding Hollywood has become with their movies. Besides that, I had no issues with any characters, or the semi goofiness of the film, however it does feel like No Way Home: DC Edition. I wouldn’t blame the directors, VFX artists, producers, or even Ezra themselves for that, I would point the blame to the execs, whom it seems spend a lot more time watching Marvel films and studying them, than reading DC comics and trying to be original, such as Matt Reaves did for the reboot of The Batman. The ending also feels a bit rushed and should’ve lasted a bit longer, I do think the important thing that happened in that scene, would’ve gone over better if the final fight actually felt like a fight. P.S. Reverse Flash should totally have been the villain, since they chose to have one. Overall, despite the bad CGI (which was not the artists’ fault), the semi-unoriginal plotline, and the delayed multiverse introduction, the film excels in the scenes where Barry Allen can thrive and be himself, namely the more comedic scenes with him and friends, or even the more emotional scenes with him and the realization of what his future has to be. I’d watch it again, but I would really want CW’s The Flash protagonist, Grant Gustin, to reprise the role if they do a sequel, and seeing as to how James Gunn is going to completely reboot the DCEU, we may not see a Flash sequel for a good while.

Final Score: 7.2/10