^Yes. Loved that moment, along with the rather silly gruff voice Hal was trying to use when he spoke to her. 
Green Lantern: Grading, Review, Discuss, Tracking, Sequel?
- Thread starter Captain Craig
- Start date
Warning: Longish post on my thoughts, feel free to dismiss with a "TL;DR"
Twenty years ago, I became a Green Lantern fan. The GL comic, at the time, was handled by Gerard Jones, who wrote Emerald Dawn with Keith Giffen, the mini-series that defined Hal for the 90's. For those not familiar, Hal is introduced as he gets drunk, drives, crashes, and is sentenced to jail for 90 days. He spends time in lock-up until the ring busts him out and he spends time on Oa, missing the funeral of the friend who was in the car with him when he crashed.
On Oa, he meets Tomar Re and is trained by Kilowog. Eventually, they fight against Abin Sur's murderer, which looks like a giant yellow robot, called Legion. It turns out, the "robot" houses the Tchk-Tchkii race, which, like Parallax in the film, is an expanding blob that begins destroying Oa. Hal eventually saves the day and is accepted into the Corps.
It seems that, despite Geoff John's influence, this movie owes more to Emerald Dawn than John's recent "Secret Origins" arc in Green Lantern. As someone who became a fan during the time of Emerald Dawn, I liked the movie, and gave it a B+.
Hal, as we are introduced to him, comes off as more of a version of his ED character than his current one. Though DUI isn't mentioned, his brother does mention a motorcycle accident. The current origin of Hal has him as someone who was obsessed with flying and very little else. He screwed up his life, but because of his love of flying. In ED, Hal, like in the movie, comes off as more of a general screw-up, without a clear direction in his life.
As a whole Green Lantern is a difficult concept to capture on film because it is equal parts science fiction as it is super-heroic fiction. A lot of us love it because of the diversity of the Corps and the space-opera. To me, while I love GL no matter what, when his adventures are based on Earth, he's just another super-hero. However, unlike Flash, Batman, Aquaman, Superman, etc. he also has many adventures out in space or on alien planets.
The diversity of the Corps is another strength, in my opinion. While some of have viewed the idea of the corps as redundant, I have seen the potential in the characterization of all of these GLs who have the same power, but vastly different cultures, characterizations, etc.
Tomar Re is the compassionate one who comes across as your best friend. Kilowog is the big softie, whose bark is worse than his bite (especially after he trains you). Hannu is the big rock creature whose race views their physical strength as their primary trait and reliance on weapons (even the GL ring) a weakness. Boodika comes from a race of warrior women who kick ass and take names. Rot Lop Fan became the only member of the F-Sharp Bell Corps, since his race is blind, due to their planet being completely dark.
And Sinestro, Sinestro cares for order above all else. To the point where he turned his planet into a fascist state to make it more efficient.
My point in all of this is that there is so much to draw from, and yet, we only get a tiny bit of the iceberg. A more space based, Corps focused movie might have made for a better plot.
As Cracked pointed out, it did seem like a retread of other super-hero movies, most notably Iron Man (though I saw some shades of Spider-Man, especially with Hector reminding me of Green Goblin). The scene where Hal takes out the drones in the same way Tony took out the Iron Monger was a big thing that made me want to scream, "Iron Man did it first!" A shame, especially since it was such a minor scene.
Instead of trying to be unique, avoiding the super-hero movie cliches, and going with a more science-fiction/space-based blot, we got a focus on Hal and Carol, even though they are possibly tied with the Atom and Jean Loring as the worst pairing in comics. Clark and Lois, Barry and Iris, Wally and Linda, Aquaman and Mera, these couples have all, for the most part, evolved into loving relationships that lead to marriage. Hal and Carol bucked that trend by never marrying. They've been broken up almost longer than they were together. As soon as Hal got out of the 90's, they drifted apart and Hal got involved with other women, including, most famously, Arisia, the teenage Lantern (but, it's okay, since the teenage years in her culture means she's over 100 years old).
The movie, probably due to the focus of other super-hero movies on the hero and his girl, sticks with Hal and Carol. We get some great scenes of Hal on Oa, but they are few and far between. We get a screw-up Hal who, after a talking to by Carol, overcomes this.
As for the villains, Sinestro, Hal's greatest villain (arguably) does take some setting up, more than an origin movie can contain. So we get a minor Hal villain that Geoff Johns has taken a liking to in Hector Hammond. But, in a reverse of Sinestro, he works better when less time is spent on his origin and more on what he can do. However, that does not translate well to film.
And Parallax, well, as I said earlier, it reminded me more of Legion from ED than the Parallax from the comics. If they had to go with Hector, I think they should have made him a bigger threat and saved Parallax for the sequel (which could have played well with the after the credits scene).
Oh, and if comics have taught me one thing, it's that you never dispose of your enemy in the sun. That only brings more trouble later on (Superman and the Eradicator, as well as Firestorm and Brimstone as two examples).
Finally, I'm not sure I like the idea of the Guardians being the ones who created Parallax and the yellow ring. It works better when it is the opposite number of the Guardians, not a failed experiment.
Overall, the movie was like Transformers, which, if I shut my brain off, is enjoyable. The more I think about it, the more I find things that bother me. That being said, I do look forward to buying it when it comes out and watching it again at home.
I do think, however, if they do it right, this could be a time when the sequel will be better than the original. With what they hinted at, it has a lot of potential, I just hope they remember what makes Green Lantern unique.
Twenty years ago, I became a Green Lantern fan. The GL comic, at the time, was handled by Gerard Jones, who wrote Emerald Dawn with Keith Giffen, the mini-series that defined Hal for the 90's. For those not familiar, Hal is introduced as he gets drunk, drives, crashes, and is sentenced to jail for 90 days. He spends time in lock-up until the ring busts him out and he spends time on Oa, missing the funeral of the friend who was in the car with him when he crashed.
On Oa, he meets Tomar Re and is trained by Kilowog. Eventually, they fight against Abin Sur's murderer, which looks like a giant yellow robot, called Legion. It turns out, the "robot" houses the Tchk-Tchkii race, which, like Parallax in the film, is an expanding blob that begins destroying Oa. Hal eventually saves the day and is accepted into the Corps.
It seems that, despite Geoff John's influence, this movie owes more to Emerald Dawn than John's recent "Secret Origins" arc in Green Lantern. As someone who became a fan during the time of Emerald Dawn, I liked the movie, and gave it a B+.
Hal, as we are introduced to him, comes off as more of a version of his ED character than his current one. Though DUI isn't mentioned, his brother does mention a motorcycle accident. The current origin of Hal has him as someone who was obsessed with flying and very little else. He screwed up his life, but because of his love of flying. In ED, Hal, like in the movie, comes off as more of a general screw-up, without a clear direction in his life.
As a whole Green Lantern is a difficult concept to capture on film because it is equal parts science fiction as it is super-heroic fiction. A lot of us love it because of the diversity of the Corps and the space-opera. To me, while I love GL no matter what, when his adventures are based on Earth, he's just another super-hero. However, unlike Flash, Batman, Aquaman, Superman, etc. he also has many adventures out in space or on alien planets.
The diversity of the Corps is another strength, in my opinion. While some of have viewed the idea of the corps as redundant, I have seen the potential in the characterization of all of these GLs who have the same power, but vastly different cultures, characterizations, etc.
Tomar Re is the compassionate one who comes across as your best friend. Kilowog is the big softie, whose bark is worse than his bite (especially after he trains you). Hannu is the big rock creature whose race views their physical strength as their primary trait and reliance on weapons (even the GL ring) a weakness. Boodika comes from a race of warrior women who kick ass and take names. Rot Lop Fan became the only member of the F-Sharp Bell Corps, since his race is blind, due to their planet being completely dark.
And Sinestro, Sinestro cares for order above all else. To the point where he turned his planet into a fascist state to make it more efficient.
My point in all of this is that there is so much to draw from, and yet, we only get a tiny bit of the iceberg. A more space based, Corps focused movie might have made for a better plot.
As Cracked pointed out, it did seem like a retread of other super-hero movies, most notably Iron Man (though I saw some shades of Spider-Man, especially with Hector reminding me of Green Goblin). The scene where Hal takes out the drones in the same way Tony took out the Iron Monger was a big thing that made me want to scream, "Iron Man did it first!" A shame, especially since it was such a minor scene.
Instead of trying to be unique, avoiding the super-hero movie cliches, and going with a more science-fiction/space-based blot, we got a focus on Hal and Carol, even though they are possibly tied with the Atom and Jean Loring as the worst pairing in comics. Clark and Lois, Barry and Iris, Wally and Linda, Aquaman and Mera, these couples have all, for the most part, evolved into loving relationships that lead to marriage. Hal and Carol bucked that trend by never marrying. They've been broken up almost longer than they were together. As soon as Hal got out of the 90's, they drifted apart and Hal got involved with other women, including, most famously, Arisia, the teenage Lantern (but, it's okay, since the teenage years in her culture means she's over 100 years old).
The movie, probably due to the focus of other super-hero movies on the hero and his girl, sticks with Hal and Carol. We get some great scenes of Hal on Oa, but they are few and far between. We get a screw-up Hal who, after a talking to by Carol, overcomes this.
As for the villains, Sinestro, Hal's greatest villain (arguably) does take some setting up, more than an origin movie can contain. So we get a minor Hal villain that Geoff Johns has taken a liking to in Hector Hammond. But, in a reverse of Sinestro, he works better when less time is spent on his origin and more on what he can do. However, that does not translate well to film.
And Parallax, well, as I said earlier, it reminded me more of Legion from ED than the Parallax from the comics. If they had to go with Hector, I think they should have made him a bigger threat and saved Parallax for the sequel (which could have played well with the after the credits scene).
Oh, and if comics have taught me one thing, it's that you never dispose of your enemy in the sun. That only brings more trouble later on (Superman and the Eradicator, as well as Firestorm and Brimstone as two examples).
Finally, I'm not sure I like the idea of the Guardians being the ones who created Parallax and the yellow ring. It works better when it is the opposite number of the Guardians, not a failed experiment.
Overall, the movie was like Transformers, which, if I shut my brain off, is enjoyable. The more I think about it, the more I find things that bother me. That being said, I do look forward to buying it when it comes out and watching it again at home.
I do think, however, if they do it right, this could be a time when the sequel will be better than the original. With what they hinted at, it has a lot of potential, I just hope they remember what makes Green Lantern unique.
Dude, that was totally supposed to be funny, and a dig at Bale. Funny on purpose.
^Yes. Loved that moment, along with the rather silly gruff voice Hal was trying to use when he spoke to her.
God, yes - when he used that fucking "amateur Batman" voice I was laughing, and hoping that she'd call him on it but not quite expecting it...they never do.
And, uh...everybody got that it was a joke. Almost everybody, apparently.
There were a couple of minor moments in the movie where they went a little beyond or off from what's expected - more people died here than in most movies this light, even if other than the Senator they were extras. The mask moment, and so on. For the most part, though, the script played it as safe as Thor or Iron Man or...well, almost every superhero outing other than Nolan's. Ebert called that on the whole genre.
There are a couple of false beats at the climax. The writers are unwilling to leave much of anything as just subtext, a stylistic failing which as a Star Trek fan I've pretty much lived with for forty-five years. And whoever said that the Guardians should be played by actors rather than CG puppetry was right - it works for Kilowog and Tomar Re, would be the waste of an opportunity for a character like Sinestro and was wrong for the godsmurfs.
Was Sinestro Mark Strong in makeup, or CGI? I'm leaning toward makeup, but considering how much CGI was everywhere else, I can't be sure.
Strong was in makeup. The other choice would have been foolish, which is not to say that it's a foregone conclusion that they wouldn't have tried it.
To do that stuff as well as the Na'vi in Avatar is still a challenge and I don't think anyone but WETA has a chance of getting it right, at this point, on major characters. There's a lot of potential in the future for the Guardians as individual characters in GL, but really not if they continue to do them as they did here. IMAO.
OTOH, the mask that so many wrung their hands over for so long works perfectly in GL, as do the CG costumes. Yes, they look weird and unlike clothing, and they're supposed to...but man, effects have come a long way from Christopher Reeve flying toward Boulder Dam in a chartreuse Superman outfit because they couldn't color correct against bluescreen closely enough.
Mark Millar evidently hates the movie, which is another strong point in its favor.
To do that stuff as well as the Na'vi in Avatar is still a challenge and I don't think anyone but WETA has a chance of getting it right, at this point, on major characters. There's a lot of potential in the future for the Guardians as individual characters in GL, but really not if they continue to do them as they did here. IMAO.
OTOH, the mask that so many wrung their hands over for so long works perfectly in GL, as do the CG costumes. Yes, they look weird and unlike clothing, and they're supposed to...but man, effects have come a long way from Christopher Reeve flying toward Boulder Dam in a chartreuse Superman outfit because they couldn't color correct against bluescreen closely enough.
Mark Millar evidently hates the movie, which is another strong point in its favor.
Yup, but he'll still see it again...
“I hereby declare Green Lantern the worst superhero movie ever made. And yes I count The Phantom and The Shadow as superhero movies. Green Lantern was the cheapest-looking 300 million dollar movie I’ve ever seen. Why didn’t they give that money (to) Africa? It had a couple of good moments, all coming from Mark Strong. But oh man. It was just such an ODD movie. Like it travelled here from a parallel universe where they made a Green Lantern movie in 1995. But it was only eight quid and thus worth it. And I know I’ll go and see it again”
Link.
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Whatever good work Millar did is increasingly diminished by his peculiar grandiosity and public fantasizing about the big things he's always on the verge of doing. I've no doubt that he thinks he could create a fantastic superhero movie, but despite his almost-announcements and frequent intimations Hollywood seems determined to struggle along without him.
The one thing that stood out as a mistaken beat in the Green Lantern[/q] story was that side trip back to Oa just before the throwdown with Parallax. It gave Hal an opportunity to make an obligatory speech about human virtues (the whole script is sprinkled with some awfully Trekkie dialogue and sentiments), but it was flat and mistimed. "Sorry, we're all bent out of shape about this Parallax but we're not going to help you with him because we forgot to mention that as intergalactic soldiers go we're actually gigantic pussies. We will pop in for a Kodak moment and group hug after you defeat it, though."
The one thing that stood out as a mistaken beat in the Green Lantern[/q] story was that side trip back to Oa just before the throwdown with Parallax. It gave Hal an opportunity to make an obligatory speech about human virtues (the whole script is sprinkled with some awfully Trekkie dialogue and sentiments), but it was flat and mistimed. "Sorry, we're all bent out of shape about this Parallax but we're not going to help you with him because we forgot to mention that as intergalactic soldiers go we're actually gigantic pussies. We will pop in for a Kodak moment and group hug after you defeat it, though."
He did create a fantastic superhero movie. "Kick-ass" is probably the most original superhero film ever.
"Wanted" was a terrible adaption but it has it's charms (James McAvoy is just plain awesome, Freeman as a bad guy just rules, Jolie is not too bad)
No, he absolutely did not.
He created a comic book. Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman and a host of film professionals created a movie based on that source material.
There is all the difference in the world.
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Miller worked with Vaughn in adapting the story.
Not good. It took DC decades to get a non-Superman/non-Batman superhero onto the big screen and this was the best they could do? Green Lantern is dull, uneven, and unfocused.
There are a couple of good things. Skargard was a decent villain, it was cool to see the Lantern Corps, and the action at the end was pretty decent. But this movie was a waste and could barely qualify as 3D. Again, if you're doing to do a 3D film, then SHOOT THE DAMN MOVIE IN 3D!
There are a couple of good things. Skargard was a decent villain, it was cool to see the Lantern Corps, and the action at the end was pretty decent. But this movie was a waste and could barely qualify as 3D. Again, if you're doing to do a 3D film, then SHOOT THE DAMN MOVIE IN 3D!
^^ Yes he did...but Dennis point is that Vaughn, Goodman, and the actors were more responsible for the film part than Millar was. He was a consultant I believe.
I like Millar's comic work, for the most part, but I think the Kick-Ass movie is kind of overrated. Everyone seems to love it, and I don't think it quite earns that love.
I just don't want to waste $30 on a crap movie, when I could spend the money and time on better stuff.
I normally base my decisions on trailers rather than reviews. That being said, I will read reviews but I won't base my decision to see a film on what the reviewer said.
J
Jetfire
Guest
Well 4 people here gave it a B+ and 4 People gave it a C-...so take it from there. 
Plus I've not seen it yet.
