The former sure, the latter is aimed squarely at the audience who hasn't returned to regular cinema going post-Covid.
Spoilers The Flash (2023) -Review and Discussion Thread
- Thread starter thribs
- Start date
The former sure, the latter is aimed squarely at the audience who hasn't returned to regular cinema going post-Covid.
Was there ever any reason to think that Ezra Miller's twitchy, quirky, and somewhat annoying version of Barry Allen could successfully lead a movie? Even before the well-documented personal/legal troubles? Miller's version worked best in smaller doses in previous appearances, not front and center and compounded by an even twitchier, quirkier, and more annoying doppelgänger sharing most scenes in The Flash.
I enjoyed the movie for the most part, especially Keaton as Batman and Calle as Supergirl, but not so much Miller's dual role. The alternate Barry was cringe-inducing through most of the film though somewhat sympathetic during the finale.
I enjoyed the movie for the most part, especially Keaton as Batman and Calle as Supergirl, but not so much Miller's dual role. The alternate Barry was cringe-inducing through most of the film though somewhat sympathetic during the finale.
Last edited:
Sure. Miller's Barry was one of my favorite parts of both versions of Justice League. More of that character is an enormously bigger draw for me than more of Michael Keaton's Batman.
AV Club: The Flash will be lucky to come in third at the box office this weekend
https://www.avclub.com/the-flash-will-be-lucky-to-come-in-third-at-the-box-off-1850573689
https://www.avclub.com/the-flash-will-be-lucky-to-come-in-third-at-the-box-off-1850573689
Michael Keaton is the all-time best big-screen Batman. Both Tim Burton Batman films are great, and Batman Returns, in particular, remains far and away the best Batman movie.*
Ezra Miller is also very good and enjoyable as Barry Allen.
* Full disclosure disclaimer: I have not yet seen Matt Reeves's Batman film.
Ezra Miller is also very good and enjoyable as Barry Allen.
* Full disclosure disclaimer: I have not yet seen Matt Reeves's Batman film.
Miller is much to take no matter the role, but I thought the quirky tendencies of prime Barry were reined in, showing he was young-ish, but had matured since the events of JL.
One of the best characters in the film.
No accounting for taste. I was indifferent to Keaton as Batman, though I thought he was fantastic as Adrian Toomes in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Honestly, I haven't been totally sold on any live-action Batman since Adam West, though I think George Clooney would've been superb in the role if he'd had better material. (Though I'm biased since he's a hometown boy and my father knew his father.) Christian Bale was probably the best, but his Bat-growl knocks a few points off.
It was The Dark Knight Rises, when he was talking to Catwoman, they were ALONE and he still did the silly throat cancer voice. She knows who you are, talk normally!
Have you ever considered NOT projecting your personal feelings about a character on the general public as if it were gospel?
There are plenty of people who enjoyed Miller's version of Barry Allen/The Flash.
"He's not the Barry Allen I grew up with!" Whatever.... DC literally established the multiverse. So there's many different versions and takes on Barry. This is one.
I liked Ezra’s Flash. Went with my family to see the movie and my non-geeky wife, who hadn’t seen any of the DCEU movies (and was pretty much unaware of anything to do with the actor’s offscreen behaviour) thought they were great
You don't need a "multiverse" to have different versions of a fictional character. Countless characters in myth and literature had multiple alternative versions for thousands of years before the bizarre idea took hold within the past couple of decades that you need alternate timelines to "explain" why creative people exercise creativity and tell stories differently from each other. I mean, sure, DC retconned different eras of its comics into alternate timelines in 1961, but it seems to be only in the past generation that people have become obsessed with this idea that you're absolutely required to treat all alternate versions of characters as parts of a multiverse, that it's some overarching, obligatory law that governs all fiction instead of just a plot device used occasionally by some stories that play with metatextuality.
Even worse than that, there's a moment in a scene when she slinks away without him noticing, and after he realizes she's gone he says one more thing...and he still does the voice even when speaking to himself.
I guess they decided he had to use the voice when he was in the suit?
Mage,
I certainly don't view my personal feelings as gospel, only my opinion. I'm sorry if I offended you as that was not my intention.
And yes, I did not appreciate Miller as Barry Allen because he was simply too far off from the comic book character I grew up with (as was virtually all of Snyder's takes on all the characters in his movies). I don't fault those who enjoyed his versions, though.
I certainly don't view my personal feelings as gospel, only my opinion. I'm sorry if I offended you as that was not my intention.
And yes, I did not appreciate Miller as Barry Allen because he was simply too far off from the comic book character I grew up with (as was virtually all of Snyder's takes on all the characters in his movies). I don't fault those who enjoyed his versions, though.
I think it's overestimated how many people actually read comics. Comic book readers number in the thousands, movie goers in the millions. If people were familiar with one version of the character, it's probably the (last) TV version.
Between this film being originally announced and actually released the TV series has a NINE season run. While the last few seasons might have been pretty bad, Grant Gustin is the Flash for an entire generation.
For me I think the Tim Burton + 90s Batman all kinda had similar issues. They usually did a good job casting BRUCE WAYNE, but I didn't really think the actor was as good as Batman. You look at the martial arts training and everything in the comics that Bruce undertakes after leaving Gotham and what he becomes before he returns to be Batman. I don't really think Keaton, or Clooney had believability there. Kilmer prob came closest out of the three IMO.
Wasn't until Christian Bale that I thought you had an actor who showed more of that skilled/trained martial artist and be believable.
Burton's own issues poisoned his Batman right out of the production gates, as he purposely cast a short, balding comedic actor because Burton--as revealed in his NBC interview in the week leading up the film's premiere--did not think Batman should be a "square jawed hero", but a "techno-geek". That perception--a rejection of the essence of how Batman can function--was the reason his film was a garish, oddball travesty, with Keaton being the worst act of miscasting in comic book film history--a status retained with Keaton in The Flash.
Agreed.
Bale and Affleck captured the essence of what Batman should be at their respective stages of life, with both coming off as the most believable, undeniably dangerous, non-powered men on the streets (which is what Batman is supposed to be). Incredible that it took 66 years since Batman's comic debut for film adaptations to finally get it right starting with Batman Begins.
Last edited:
Gotta disagree with you there, Adam West was pretty much perfect as the goofy Silver Age era Batman.
The Little Mermaid did pretty well, it wasn't huge, but it made $499.3 million and $250 million budget.
Ezra Miller and Micheal Keaton are perfect examples of characters who aren't exact recreations of the comic book versions, but still retain enough familiar elements to be great takes on them.
Similar threads
