This would have been a great movie if it came out ten years ago and Ryan Reynolds was cast ten years from now. (Oh split-time machine, where are you?) But these days we need comic book movies to do more, and we need actors who come from outside of a spa.
This would have been a great movie if it came out ten years ago and Ryan Reynolds was cast ten years from now. (Oh split-time machine, where are you?) But these days we need comic book movies to do more, and we need actors who come from outside of a spa.
Green Lantern is the story of the intergalactic peacekeepers who use the power of one’s will (that’s right, your willpower) to power a bunch of lanterns which recharges a ring which is then use by the wearer (whom the ring has chosen) to create, in green, anything the wearer can imagine. So it’s like if NATO used bling to throw Muammar Gaddafi into space. C’mon who can’t relate.
Anyway, there is also crazy evil Parallax who feeds on fear to get stronger and oddly, more furry, though you look closely it is the souls of millions writhing around. He has come to earth to devour the planet so he can destroy the Lantern home planet of Oa. Though correct me if I am wrong, if each one of the Green Lantern corp is supposed to be guarding one of the 300,000 plus quadrants of the universe why are they all hanging out on Oa? You had your staff meeting, now get back out there! That would also make sense if you knew a looming threat was on its way.
But I quibble.
This movie is a tough one. There is something wrong but it hard to lay out a corrective course. It might stem from one of the following:
1) Source material. The comic book was created way back when good and evil was easily defined. Green Lantern was always a comic book you came to after you enjoyed some ‘entry level’ comic book hero, ie Batman or Superman. However, it always seemed to be created by writers and artist who were feeling tied down to the limitations of Batman and Superman. No weapons, other than the utility belt, and no space travel (someone’s home planet was destroyed, doncha know). What if the hero could create anything, and fly back to a planet to have big meetings, with keepers of the universe? That would get us out of Gotham.
In a couple of updates in the decades that followed, (including Geoff Johns’ acclaimed “Blackest Night” run) Hal Jordan has to step up to the plate and address his fear. Throw in some early death of father issues and that should gel. Also, Hector who has a Parallax goo infection making him evil, also has a parallel father/self esteem issue to Hal. That should be good too. But it is not. Even with the expanded universe ( I am sure that there are sequels with the Red & Blue lantern Corp. all lined up) this movie feels somewhat small.
2) Writers. With four credited screen writers and prolly another 25 punch-up guys, this has exec stink all over it. Clearly, then went to Comicon one year and said “there is like 62 guys wearing a Green Lantern T-shirt. Get that property!” It is like a bad joke: “What happens when you put a comic book guy, a action writer, and a romance novelist all in one room to write a script?” And I can see the early meeting – the one that said, “I’ve got an idea. Let’s read the reviews of all previous comic book movies, and not do what everyone bitched about.” The superhero mask concealing an identity – nope, not doing that. How about where he keeps it secret from even his best friend? – Not happening. And so on. It’s the like the early script notes were all just saying where it shouldn’t go, and no one thought to say where it should.
3) Casting. Neither lead is quite right for this, All I could think of was Ryan Reynolds in a fat suit in that dreadful comedy Just Friends. He played Hal like the most dangerous thing he has ever seen in life is a dermabrasion. But what are you going to do? I spent two hours after trying to think who would be better in the role. – criteria being – Name actor, not already contracted in another comic book movie, who is in his 30’s yet rugged and roguish enough to be believable as a fighter pilot. I will take my answers off the page.
4) Directing. Martin Campbell obviously loves working with Peter Saarsgard since he is given lots of chances to brood effectively. But when it comes to the anyone interacting in a digital effects world, it seems like he just sent a head scan of everyone else to the VFX dept. Every scene looks like it was made to be a leaked trailer/teaser first and then just cut into the movie in sequential order afterwards. The final city battle is so without menace or threat that it looks like it was cut in by a rogue second unit directing team that wasn’t actually hired by the studio.
5) Visual Effects. It is rare to fault a digital effects house, but here they really stunk up the joint. It probably didn’t help that all major weapons had to be green as with keeping with original comic art, but motion wise, everything that Hal thought up felt like a derivative from the movie THE MASK. I was just waiting for him to cap one of his exploits with the phrase “SMOKIN’!” They even comment on how lame his imagination is, but that doesn’t mean everyone behind the scenes has to be brain dead. And I get that comic was from the 1940’s but if we updated the time line, is he really going to EVEN THINK of a WWII anti aircraft gun?! How does he even know what that looks like? Looks like they saved money in pre-vis by just taking a trip to the comic shoppe and nothing else.
All that said, my girlfriend, who knew nothing of the comic books, was perfectly entertained but still wishes there was a young Harrison Ford out there for just these sort of occasions. But chances are he would have wisely turned Green Lantern down.
–Dean Haglund
