Last Week's "10 Must Haves For..." Can Be Viewed Here
Ah the glory days. I remember a past not so long ago, when a DC Cinematic Universe seemed so very close, until the film guiding the universe flopped and sucked. Now we have a new film that is guiding a shared DC Universe,
Man Of Steel. With
Man Of Steel being a financial success it is inevitable that we will see a sequel within the following years. But enough about Superman, it’s Green Lantern’s time to shine. Green Lantern is one of the best superheroes ever, and his first on screen outing really didn’t do the character justice. But much like Superman (
Superman & The Mole Men), Batman (
Batman: The Movie 60’s) & Spider-Man (
The Amazing Spider-Man 70’s) their first films were not the best. So like Batman, Superman & Spider-Man I think Green Lantern deserves another shot, and here’s how to do it!
1. Hal Jordan
I’m probably going to get some massive hate here, but I like Hal Jordan and the general audience did to. Hal Jordan to me reminds me of Han Solo in the sense that he is the asshole who says an awesome one liner and then kicks your ass. That’s something 2011’s
Green Lantern didn’t get right, but it really is an easy fix. The general audience does not care for any Green Lantern apart from Hal Jordan, and plus Parallax deserves a better on screen incarnation.
2. DC’s Star Wars
Green Lantern is practically DC’s
Star Wars. It’s about a bunch of dudes who fly around space protecting it with green utilities. That’s the Jedi minus a green midget. This isn’t a bad thing, in fact I love
Star Wars so why not use that idea to your advantage. The unique thing about all those Star based franchises is that they use space to their advantage and create a universe that can withstand anything.
3. Find A Tone And Stick With It
This might’ve been
Green Lantern’s biggest fault. The film really didn’t have a consistent tone. Some scenes in the film were bright and vibrant while other scenes were dark and mysterious. With a consistent tone we can make all those problems disappear. I think a suitable tone for the new Green Lantern film would be that of the new
Star Trek films. And I’m not saying this because I love Star Trek; I’m saying this because those films have the perfect tone for a Green Lantern film.
4. Imagination Damn It!
One of the unique and awesome things about Green Lantern’s magical ring is that he can create anything he wants with it. That’s the awesome thing about Green Lantern, you take that away and all you have is a bloke flying around in space undies. I was playing
Injustice: Gods Among Us the other day and I realised how visually cool Green Lantern’s powers are. Green Lantern is a character that relies solely on imagination, that’s the point of the character. He can create anything his mind can imagine so to make a film you must use the imagination to the films advantage.
5. Don’t Recast Sinestro
I understand that I am writing about a Green Lantern reboot, but please Warner Bros’ don’t recast Sinestro. Mark Strong brought the character to life, one of the few fantastic things about
Green Lantern was Mark Strong’s portrayal of Sinestro. Obviously I do not want Warner Bros’ to continue the series that was previously started, so Sinestro could maybe interact with Hal a little more in the reboot and maybe help Hal fight the enemy in the final battle. Unless Mark Strong receives the role of Lex Luthor in
Man Of Steel 2 I expect Strong to return as Sinestro in the next Green Lantern film.
6. Less Earth, More Space
Space is a key essential element to Green Lantern’s character. He is the protector of the galaxy, having the final battle set in space and the rest of the film on Earth really doesn’t satisfy the inner fanboy in myself. If the space setting can work for
Star Wars & Star Trek then why can’t it work for Green Lantern? I think the new Green Lantern movie will be similar to the first
Star Trek film, we will have twenty-thirty minutes of Earth and build up and then we will move to space for the rest of the film.
7. Not To Big Of A Budget
One of the many problems with
Green Lantern was the over use of CGI and the ridiculous budget spent on a completely new character. The 2011 film had one of the biggest budgets in the history of film, the film cost well over $200 Million dollars. Now up until 2012, no Batman film had a budget of more than $180 million dollars, for a character like Green Lantern to receive a budget of $200 million is ridiculous. With todays technology you can create anything for under $200 million, so don’t waste money on the film instead waste the money on the marketing. Now for those of you who do not believe a Green Lantern movie can be made with a budget under $200 Million; J.J Abrams's 2009
Star Trek film was made on a budget of $150 Million, while it's sequel was made on a budget of $190 Million. You
don't need a budget of $200 Million+ for Green Lantern, it is illogical.
8. A Unique Story
Okay, I’ve had it with these bullshit stories in superhero movies. I don’t want to see another blue beam of light hit the sky in anymore of these superhero films. Now what makes a unique story? Good characters. The new Green Lantern film should focus on a character driven story instead of a story driving character. What I mean by this is that Hal Jordan should make the story great, not the story itself. If you get the audience to give a shit about Hal Jordan then anything is possible. Max Landis (
Chronicle) said the other day that superhero films are forgetting the ‘hero’ side of it, well I say let’s bring that back with Green Lantern.
9. Fix The Damn Suit
Green Lantern’s costume is one of the greatest costumes in all of comic books; the suit is down right gorgeous. From the vibrant green look, to the iconic Lantern emblem, don’t fix what isn’t broken and Green Lantern’s comic book suit is not broken. One thing that
Green Lantern got right was the way every Green Lantern had a different suit, I liked that. Do that again. But you can’t do that until the actual suit looks great. If
The Avengers & The Amazing Spider-Man proved anything, it’s that comic book suits look fantastic on the big screen.
10. No Ryan Reynolds
It seems I always end these editorials with “No (insert actor name here)” but it needs to be addressed. As much as I loved Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, I feel DC/WB should not continue with Reynolds as Green Lantern. He did a great job as Hal Jordan but I think if Warner Bros’ want to establish a new universe tied into the
Man Of Steel universe they must start from scratch. I will say it again, treat
Green Lantern like
Hulk or
Superman Returns having failed films is okay, and fans will forgive you if you start fresh as long as that fresh start is decent. My personal pick for Hal Jordan would Kit Harington, who you would know from
Game Of Thrones the dude is a fine actor and has the look of Hal Jordan down.
And that draws the close to another “10 Must Haves…” I hope you guys enjoyed this one, while I will be the first to admit it is not as good as my Batman one, I hope you guys still get a kick out of this one. Be sure to hit the thumbs up button down below so we can get this thing on main page! And as always you can follow me on Twitter, plus in the comment section tell me what “10 Must Haves…” you would like to see next! Comment below and let me know, I’m Khan and I’m out for now.