Hey there friends, I want to make this my last interest in the whole Green Lantern thing we have had over the past week. Many praise it while I and others bash it for being a disgrace. The people who are for it say it’s great and a good comic book movie while MovieBob is the ultimate case of being someone who flat out hates it. I’m not on that level of extreme as Bob was, but I can see where he is coming from, he didn’t want the movie to fail because of the grandeur and scope this material has. However this movie (To date) is the best example of how divided we comic book movie fans are, this single moment in time has shown just how die hard we are when it comes to our opinions on the same thing.
Yet this movie needs to be thoroughly examined much better, are we, the naysayers blinded by high hopes and expectations that we wanted and never got or are the wide eyed viewers too blind to see what was in front of them. So rather than a rant, this is not an attack on either side, this is just an examination at how this comic book movie has made alliances to certain sides, what worked, what didn’t, and how it could it be improved. So in a way this is a redo of my prior article but with a clearer mind and a better focus.
First the biggest detail is the CGI in the movie; you either love or hate it. The best thing about the movie are the constructs, I admit that the creativity of the constructs the various Lanterns we see them use are impressive. However there were a few constructs that required an explanation but they are never brought up at all in this movie. The moments when Hal created a mini-gun that had real world casings and when he created a flamethrower that shot real flames. Does the movie properly explain the rings ability to create real items such as gunpowder and gasoline, there is not a moment like that and it gives this slight disconnect that there might have been a scene that mentioned such an ability, so we are left with real things coming from constructs. The other concern in terms of the CGI was the suit, the whole light construct works as a suit I didn’t mind, it made some sense that a suit of cloth and fabric wouldn’t make sense in space but to save on some budget they should have had Hal and Sinestro, clearly the only two realistic Lanterns, since it was two real actors and not CGI, they could have had them wearing realistic looking suit that the actors could have worn, to give them some knowledge of what they are wearing rather than just picturing it until post production. I was the smart one and chose not to see the movie in 3D so I will not comment of that.
The second issue is the story, now this is where people are making the most divide. To me, this story was disappointing, rushed, clichéd, and of course oddly edited. Now the story is the most basic telling of an origin story: Back flash to childhood, troubled past, training, saves the day to gain notoriety, gets involved with love interest, must overcome obstacle holding them back and fights big baddie to become a true hero. How can a simple formula could be ruined, simply put, shoehorned in elements that go nowhere and either drop or never explained. The addition of his relatives, especially the nephew, they are quickly added to show Hal is not the typical loner hero but after he leaves their house, they are never seen again, no mention if they survived the attack. Another example is Hector Hammond coming into the plot and being shoved into the romance plot to make him the other side of a love triangle, which doesn’t add any weight to the story, nothing is gained from this added in plot.
Then there are things that seemed out of place and make little sense to the movie; Hal leaves the corps after showing he has fear and doesn’t have what it takes, but KEEPS THE RING…..uhhhhh when you QUIT a job you usually hand in your things, not keep them for convenience. Speaking of the Ring, they mention it lets him sense danger around him, so how does he know Hector is in that building. If the ring could sense Fear inside people, wouldn’t it go crazy with Parallax flying around killing off planets? Also this got me and I’m sure a few of you as well, Sinestro and a group of lanterns go after Parallax, now Sinestro says the BEST members of the Corps went with him, the BEST mind you couldn’t take this monster down but Parallax was taken down by two lone Lanterns, the first was Abin Sur a great warrior even amongst the Lanterns and then Hal Jordan, a rookie who used one method of Kilowog’s training, using the Sun and its gravity to destroy Parallax. The big problems of course are the plot holes and it seems like every few minutes in this movie there’s a hole to fall into so to make this article short I won’t go into much detail about them but they are visible.
The third issue, for me which is the biggest, is the cast. I have never seen a more hit and miss casting that I have ever seen in a movie. Now I love Ryan Reynolds as an actor, he has some good range, he can be funny, dramatic, and a leading man. When I see him on screen, I know its him and not Hal Jordan, he fails to live up to others that disappear into the role like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Christopher Reeve as Superman (seriously, when I watched it I was like….that’s Superman), and of course Robert Downey as Tony Stark/Iron Man who practically is Tony Stark. I don’t see that with Reynolds, I know it’s him; he always cracks jokes and is a goof ball no matter what role he is in. He’s not the worse choice, but I really think Bradley Cooper or Nathan Fillion would have been a better fit as a more mature and heroic Hal Jordan, not a man child who needs to learn how to be responsible. Blake Lively, I still stand by my opinion that she is not the Carol Ferris us fans deserved, aside from the fact her hair is brown and not raven black in the comics is a minor gripe, but her trying to be the strong willed woman who will run a company one day is wrongly placed in here since she’s much younger than her comic counterpart. I could have seen better more mature actresses playing this part.
When it comes to the villains, they at least are trying. Peter Sarsgard as Hector Hammond was an interesting choice yet his performance as Hector is really out of place, his hunched over posture, his mannerisms, and his overall look, just screamed of Dr. Forester from MST3K or the mad doctor from Batman and Robin, it’s too strange and alien, even in a movie about alien cops. Now clearly Mark Strong was the best thing in this movie, I love Mark Strong as the villain, that’s what he is best at, being a bad guy who you want to know more. Kick-ass and Sherlock Holmes are the best two villains he has played since they are very different villains, yet with Sinestro he plays him as a potential villain, showing he has arrogance and evil intentions inside him, yet a character you want to know more about yet never given the chance. I won’t go into Amanda Waller since she does nothing great in the movie other than trying to be a shameless Nick Fury style character or the others since they go nowhere, except one, I mentioned this plenty of times, I hate the guy who played Hals friend….yes I know he has a friend in the comics, but this guy, he’s someone who has no bearing on the plot, he’s just there to be the guy who just makes faces and makes bad jokes.
The final issue is the critics, now the critics went off on this film like I have never seen the likes before at a comic book movie since….well……the 90s comic book movies that nearly killed the genre. Were they harsh, yes, a movie getting reviewed as badly as this one has a huge impact for its success. The biggest concern I had was when Warner Bros announced they had the reviews embargoed until the end of the week, that’s a red flag in my mind, whenever a studio does something to prevent reviews is usually a bad thing, I remember GI Joe: Rise of Cobra didn’t get screened but managed to do good (I enjoyed that movie more). Now critics are just old film fans that always put the high standards on many films like are your typical popcorn flicks, much like this one. Many put the blame on The Dark Knight which pretty much puts the highest standards which to them any future CBM’s must live up to, and they shouldn’t in my opinion. Comic book movies are always going to be different and always try to establish new methods and styles, we need to embrace these or else we will get many typical and by the book superhero movies. I’m all for opinions and for the most part, I don’t say they don’t know what they are thinking or they need to turn off their brains for this one. Critics are a part of the Hollywood system, they are a necessary evil, we don’t have to care what they think, and sometimes it’s best to hear another’s opinion, if you take it to heart then good for you, if you don’t then don’t worry what they say.
So in closing, I don’t HATE this film, I just think there was so much potential that it became one of those movies where it got everything wrong. Will there be a sequel?....maybe…its hard to tell since its poor box office results both here and overseas, which if you can’t get the overseas interested in this, then it’s not a good thing at all. This will get the Incredible Hulk treatment or the Superman Returns Sequel we were promised. Warner Bros is a tough company when it comes to making a Franchise that isn’t closed sourced like Harry Potter, and Nolan can only do so many projects for them. I do hope we get a franchise out of this series, there is SO MUCH they can do, many great story lines and characters they can bring into the pop culture, establishing a continuity in a much deeper and rich Cinematic universe, a Green Lantern and Flash movie that exist in the same world, the interaction with many more heroes and villains. They have the power to do greatness; they just need the right light to guide them. Til next time friends, ComicCritc87 OUT!!!!