GREEN LANTERN vs GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY...Which Was Worse?

The title says it all. It's the "why" one is worse than the other that might surprise you.

Editorial Opinion
By Highways - Nov 06, 2014 07:11 AM EST
Filed Under: Comics

 First let me say that it has been a couple of years since I have posted on CBM. It's a fun site only partially ruined by the slavish devotion of fans to one brand or another. It's that mindset that inspires me to compare the two biggest "outer space"  movies from Marvel and DC.
  Green Lantern was poorly received by the majority of fans and was torpedoed from the get-go by  persistant online trolling, giving almost no credit to what the movie got right. In contrast, GotG has been a success with positive fan support, despite the many things both movies have in common and the many things GotG got very wrong. For examples...
 Ryan Reynolds and Chris Pratt were both very good in their roles as brash space adventurers. Reynolds portrayed a light hearted and sincere daredevil pilot-cum-space cop. Pratt played a light hearted and sincere space pirate. I really liked Pratts first few scenes in GotG.I felt he was the strongest defined and acted of the cast. I am not especially familiar with the GotG comics.( I'm 44 years old and though I do love comics, and always have, real world economics have made actually buying comics every month a burden instead of a pleasure. It wasn't like this as a boy and teen, or even as a younger man. then...WHOOSH!...comics became a pricey priviledge. Thankfully, trades are now widely available for us old-timers.) Visually the Star-Lord character is nearly perfect. Seeing him in his helmet, using gadgets to explore, being brash and obvisiously enjoying his life, I thought of Han Solo, which is as good a template for a space cowboy as any, and i saw the very big possibilities of a Booster Gold film if it followed a similar template. It was really good to see a hero, or outlaw-turned-hero truly enjoying himself.
 This is the glitch I have in relating to other comic-movie fans...the very thing Pratt portrayed well was first portrayed equally well by Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds' Hal Jordan enjoyed life, women, and pushing the limits, taking big chances, and being a wise guy. Same darn thing as Pratt, yet Reynolds was skewered and Pratt celebrated. 
  There was a lot of criticisms of some of GL's cgi. I am not an expert on these things but in GotG, and I think this will be more glaring when people can own the DVD, there were multiple scenes of really shoddy looking cgi as well.

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Highways
Highways - 11/6/2014, 8:13 AM
Hm...I am not sure why only part of my editorial posted. Technology is leaving me behind. I will continue.
Rocket and Groot were so well done I could see and support a stand alone movie for the duo. The great thing about Groot? Not even the terrible, and I do mean TERRIBLE script could screw him up.
Drax was just awful. Not just his dialogue and acting, but his entire presentation. The Drax I remember was a cosmic level badass. This was just one bad choice after another regarding how he was presented.
I will make this editorial much shorter than I had planned...
say what you want about Green Lantern, but there isn't anything comparable to how awful Drax was, or Gamorra for that matter...she simply seemed like 2 or 3 different characters throughout the movie..capable fighting expert one minute, driven, focused and practical, then...what? A damsel-in-distress with a bleeding heart and the motivations of wishful thinking? "Hi, I am the daughter of Thanos, Deadliest Woman In the Universe, and I'm teaming up with petty crooks and criminals with either no or far less training than I have, and I will be emotionally wishy-washy while being saved from bad guys!"
kinghulk
kinghulk - 11/6/2014, 8:16 AM
i thought this was about compareing the 2 not comparing Ryan reynalds to chris pratt? both of which IMO played their parts well, the biggest positive of green lantern IMO was the casting of Mark Strong as Sinestro.
Highways
Highways - 11/6/2014, 8:17 AM
ANNND MOST IMPORTANTLY...People hated on the presentation of the GL Corps and Hal's training but are totally cool with the keystone kops version of the Nova Corps, and think it is totally fine that an authoritative law enforcement entity would take a call from outlaws that say, "Hey you gotta trust us" and the Nova leadership shrugs and says, yep, lets follow these clowns to deaths door"


I mean, come on, how could GL be so criticized when compared to GotG? it isn't even close.
kinghulk
kinghulk - 11/6/2014, 8:17 AM
opps just saw your post,
disagree with you about drax, agree with you about gamora.
HOTSHOT
HOTSHOT - 11/6/2014, 8:18 AM
Thing is, GL used CGI without necessity at times. His mask for example, it looked bad, it looked really really bad.

I'm not really sure what you're asking though. If it's why he complain about GL even though you find it similar to GOTG? Simple: GOTG had better writing,action, villains, visuals, characters, pacing AND it had no space cloud coming to kill Earth.

Ryan Reynold's character was the LEAST of my problems with this movie.
kinghulk
kinghulk - 11/6/2014, 8:19 AM
on the criticism of the green lantern corps i say that film was about green lantern whilst GOTG was about the guardians not the nova corps. but i do think the Nova corps could have been presented better especially after seeing some of the concept art.
marvel72
marvel72 - 11/6/2014, 8:20 AM
green lantern was utter shit apart from sinestro,guardians was superior in every way.
Highways
Highways - 11/6/2014, 8:31 AM
Oh, I forgot to mention Ronin. Visually I think he has been the most impressive villain in any Marvel or DC. some of his dialogue, or his delivery of that dialogue was stereotypical of what we might see during a WWE interview. maybe that was Batista's curse for the film, lol. So many movies, especially cbm's drop the ball on great villains due to 1960s villain dialogue and a very 2 dimensional portrayal. Though I liked Ronan, the idea of two marvel movies featuring Thanos as the main villain, knowing from watching Thor, and GotG that marvels cosmic characters are not at all interesting, (Loki excepted), and I am not looking forward to seeing him in Avengers films of the future unless they give him some substance.
kinghulk
kinghulk - 11/6/2014, 8:35 AM
im sure thanos will kick plenty of ass when he shows up unlike every other villian so far
Highways
Highways - 11/6/2014, 8:41 AM
Oh...last comment...I think...The Collector was a complete waste of an incredible actor. That entire segment of the film featuring the Collector was just too awful for words. I find it hard to believe any fan would want to see him in the next film as the featured villain...


but marvel fans tend to eat up everything with big grins on their faces no matter how crappy it tastes...as long as it is Marvel, and hate everything that isn't...see Amazing Spiderman...if Marvel made that exact same movie people would be praising Andrew Garfield.
Highways
Highways - 11/6/2014, 8:41 AM
I agree about Thanos but it really worries me with marvels script history for villains.
kinghulk
kinghulk - 11/6/2014, 8:44 AM
well with the exception of Loki, thanos will be the only villian to span multiple films i think that will only help add layers to his character and properly explain his motivations. at the moment Ultron looks really good so hopefully the avengers villians will be better than all the others.
Highways
Highways - 11/6/2014, 8:54 AM
Ultron does look incredible and I trust Joss Whedon. I no longer give Marvel a free ride about these things. I have watched two sub-par Thor movies go over big. GotG was a fun, breezy film but not the cosmic breakthrough online fans have made it out to be. I see it playing six times a month on a cable channel within a couple of years...Saturday and Sunday afternoons and the 3 am slot, lol
Dingbat
Dingbat - 11/6/2014, 8:55 AM
I liked GOTG but tbh, I don't understand how some people think it's a masterpiece. It's a fun ass movie but it's no achievement in cinema.
Highways
Highways - 11/6/2014, 8:58 AM
Dingbat you just said in few words what I tried to ramble on about.
sKeemAn
sKeemAn - 11/6/2014, 9:01 AM
TBH you sound more like GOTG bashing than comparing the 2 movies. I understand if that you don't like the film (pretty obvious) but the only comparison between these 2 movies that you speak of is Pratt and Reynolds. I do agree with a few of yor points though. Rocket & Groot were very well done. Gamora was all over the place, and Drax was dry (I think they did that on purpose). The Collector could've been used a lot better which I believe they will utilize him more the future.
ZeoTV
ZeoTV - 11/6/2014, 9:17 AM
GOTG achieved everything Green Lantern wanted to achieve
Highways
Highways - 11/6/2014, 9:18 AM
Yeah..my article kind've got loose from my control and I went sideways with it. If you have seen A Scanner Darkly the actor that played the Collector, whose name I don't recall, also played in ASD as a crazy drug addict. I had hoped that performance would have been used as a guide to build the Collectors portrayal.
Actually I did like the movie and I hope that future GotG films have better writers, for one, and perhaps a new Director. Most of my complaints are about good to great actors portraying a very bad script and the choice of takes the Director decided on. They do multiple takes with actors giving multiple interpretations of the script. That is how they make a movie. Then the Director and his people put together a movie based on the takes they like best. A new director would explore better choices from his actors regardless of the weakness of the script.
sKeemAn
sKeemAn - 11/6/2014, 9:21 AM
I dont think GOTG was a breakthrough space film either. There have been plenty more before it. I do think its been a while since we've had a good fun space movie. And thats why it gets so much praise. A new generation of A-Holes that have never seen a good movie about A-holes.
Highways
Highways - 11/6/2014, 9:22 AM
And, almost the exact remarks would cover my feelings for the GL movie and the remote chance for a new one. Improve the script, get a new Director, let the actors act, and have a great movie.


I'm just still sore at the zombies for sabotaging the public mind.
GoldenMan
GoldenMan - 11/6/2014, 9:31 AM
Really?
Dingbat
Dingbat - 11/6/2014, 9:38 AM
@gasmasquerade

lol, glad I could help summarize it. That's really my honest opinion though. It's like the Fast and Furious movies to me: Great but absurd fun. Nothing too remarkable.
MileHighRonin
MileHighRonin - 11/6/2014, 10:20 AM
@Gas It's Ronan! Not Ronin.

Comparing two characters from two different films to make a point that Green Lantern is better than people think it is, is well ridiculous.

Liev Schreiber played Sabretooth better than Tyler Mayne, does that mean Borigins is a better film than people think, no. Same thing with Brandon Routh, he was great as Supes, does that mean Superman Returns is a better film than given credit, no.

If you want to give props to Reynolds, cool, but don't use him as proof that Green Lantern is better than people think. If you like it, more power to you, but your article is kind of weak in my opinion. Would of liked you to simply do your article on Reynolds deserving more love for his role. Instead you, whether you ment to or not, have basically done nothing more than starting another DC vs Marvel war.
McGee
McGee - 11/6/2014, 10:59 AM
For the kind act of upping my penis to Fully Engorged... I'm upping your article to Main.
BlueWaffleRises
BlueWaffleRises - 11/6/2014, 11:00 AM
@gasmasquerade
Pasto
Pasto - 11/6/2014, 11:08 AM
Green Lantern > Guardians of The Galaxy, duh.

[frick]ing fight me.
Pasto
Pasto - 11/6/2014, 11:11 AM
People hated on the presentation of the GL Corps and Hal's training but are totally cool with the keystone kops version of the Nova Corps, and think it is totally fine that an authoritative law enforcement entity would take a call from outlaws that say, "Hey you gotta trust us" and the Nova leadership shrugs and says, yep, lets follow these clowns to deaths door"

Thats the only valid complaint you raised in your mindless drivel. But it doesn't change the fact that Guardians of The Galaxy is far more superior to Green Lantern.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 11/6/2014, 11:33 AM
congrats. you have made a horrible editorial.
ToxicCap
ToxicCap - 11/6/2014, 11:54 AM
This is such a bullshit argument.
RoyRodgersMcFreely
RoyRodgersMcFreely - 11/6/2014, 1:01 PM
Next time write an editorial with both hands and don't beat off to Ryan Reynolds while you're typing and maybe the argument will make sense
WYLEEJAY
WYLEEJAY - 11/6/2014, 1:57 PM
When Green Lantern came out, I remember thinking it wasn't that bad. I enjoyed it. There were a couple parts I didn't enjoy, but overall it was entertaining. I just recently watched it again. The second time I watched it, and holy crap! This film IS bad. So many things I didn't notice the first time. Jurassic Parks CGI held up better over time than this did. Plus everything that felt charming about Reynolds as Hal, while it made me smile the first time, made me want to change the channel this time. This movie has been added to my do not watch list.

Steel
Catwoman
Ghost Rider SoV
Green Lantern

Those are the ONLY comic book movies I dont like. Been disappointed by a few bits of plot in a couple films, but these are the only CBMs I dont like. I would rather watch Elektra.
WYLEEJAY
WYLEEJAY - 11/6/2014, 1:59 PM
Since this article made mention of comparing two films, then just bashed one of them the whole time I wont even bother explaining why I liked GOTG so much. Vastly superior film.
PerfectAss
PerfectAss - 11/6/2014, 3:28 PM
This editorial is [frick]ing worse than batman and robin.
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