In JOYLESS night.

In JOYLESS night.

"Joyless". Was this word even in use before Green Lantern appeared in theatres? A simple search of the internet reveals that the judge, jury and executioners of Martin Campbell's ill-fated superhero epic may have been reading from the exact same playbook...

Editorial Opinion
By BellHorneKing - Jun 30, 2011 01:06 PM EST
Filed Under: Green Lantern
Source: Rotten Tomatoes

“Joyless”

I may possibly have heard this word before. It’s a derivative of “Joy”, which we all know means “a feeling of great comfort or happiness”. And what’s the opposite of a feel-good superhero movie? Well, “joyless” would be a pretty good one.

However, on opening day of Green Lantern, when CBM readers were beginning to tally up the awful critiques of this admittedly-flawed-but-not-even-close-to-sucking movie, all I could notice from the little blips on the front page reviews were the common, herd-like use of this relatively uncommon term; joyless. Take note:

“Martin Campbell has somehow managed to make the origin story the least interesting part of the film. And when that comprises a big chunk of your movie, it results in a pretty joyless experience” – Jason Zingale

Zingale then goes on to blast the film’s use of a repetitive origin story, and knocks Ryan Reynold’s smarmy attitude, using only bits of information that could have been gleaned from the trailer, or a basic scan of the overview.

"Remember when big, summer blockbusters were fun — when they were a light, clever and entertaining escape? That notion apparently eluded the makers of Green Lantern, a joyless amalgamation of expository dialogue and special effects that aren't especially special.'
-Christy Lemire, Associated Press Movie Critic

Lemire then goes on to blast the film’s use of a repetitive origin story, and knocks Ryan Reynold’s smarmy attitude, using only bits of information that could have been gleaned from the trailer, or a basic scan of the overview.

And so it goes On. And on.

The only review I couldn’t find is the very commonly found in search term review of George Ebert underling Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, who only has a single word to describe Green Lantern. What word does he use?

Joyless.

One music reviewer I found actually uses the term “joyless” to describe how reviewer Ignatiy seems to plow through stuff he reviews. From www.hollywood-elsewhere.com;

…”the modern cineaste is expected to have an encyclopedic knowledge of every genre, era and nationality of film. That's why you get the Ignatiy-types joylessly plowing their way through Netflix to catch up on everything…”

Ya know what I find “joyless” - ?

People who shouldn’t be reviewing comic book movies for a living.

Especially ones they haven't seen.

MAD MEN Star Jon Hamm Reflects On Pitching Role To Marvel And Confirms He Turned Down GREEN LANTERN
Related:

MAD MEN Star Jon Hamm Reflects On Pitching Role To Marvel And Confirms He Turned Down GREEN LANTERN

SUPERMAN: Nathan Fillion On Why He's Perfectly Suited To Play GREEN LANTERN Guy Gardner
Recommended For You:

SUPERMAN: Nathan Fillion On Why He's Perfectly Suited To Play GREEN LANTERN Guy Gardner

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.

This post was submitted by a user who has agreed to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. ComicBookMovie.com will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please CONTACT US for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. CLICK HERE to learn more about our copyright and trademark policies.

Note that ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.

sonofsamadams
sonofsamadams - 6/30/2011, 2:10 PM
Good article dude. Green Lantern isn't joyless. And i think its funny that the guy from MSN.com said the movie was silly and joyless. Hmm....whatever. Critics shouldn't rate summer movies if they hate them so much. They might as well take most of the year off and wait until fall when their movies come out. They were so up in arms over The Kings Speech (The most overrated movie since Shakespeare in love) last year saying it should've won best picture. No. Inception shoulda won. Why not? Summer movie.
ThreeBigTacos
ThreeBigTacos - 6/30/2011, 6:40 PM
Green Lantern in the future will be what 'Catwoman' or 'X-men Origins' is to us now.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 7/1/2011, 5:48 AM
@ bellhorneking


"Ya know what I find “joyless” - ?

People who shouldn’t be reviewing comic book movies for a living."

Dude,you're obviously being completely biased and butt hurt that these people shat on a movie that you liked.

first of all, they don't review CBM's for a living. They review ALL MOVIES for a living.

2nd, its not like its only critics that thought the movie sucked. just look at some of the things people are saying in this very article. There are TONS of fans that thought the movie was complete garbage. You can add me to that list.

3rd, Why is it that when a critics give good reviews to movies that people like, then all of a sudden people listen to them. But when they give a bad review, to a very bad movie like GL, then all of a sudden people give the standard response, "I don't listen to critics, i make up my own mind"

Like HailToTheKingBaby said, I didn't hear anyone complaining about critics when they gave TDK awesome reviews.

CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 7/1/2011, 5:51 AM
also, just because someone doesn't read comics doesn't mean they're not allowed think a movie sucks balls.

especially when its something like GL, that a blind/deaf person can tell sucks.
batLanternarrow
batLanternarrow - 7/1/2011, 1:43 PM
The movie was good don't you dare compare it to catwoman
therudd52
therudd52 - 7/1/2011, 11:21 PM
I though GL couldve been better but dont get me wrong it was an alright film, i enjoyed the experience and if there is a sequel it will be way better than the first cause mark strong was excelent as sinestro in my opinion
SpiderFan35
SpiderFan35 - 7/3/2011, 2:42 AM
@HailToTheKingBaby: Well said. Critics are just people, some are great at their jobs, some not so much, but you can't say they are geniuses when they praise a great movie everyone loves, then say they are bitter hacks when they criticize a stinker.
@ThreeBigTacos: X-men Origins maybe, but that Catwoman thing? Never, never ever. That wasn't even a CBM, I don't know what that was. 2004 Razzie for Worst Actress.
Moonwalker1991
Moonwalker1991 - 7/5/2011, 11:16 AM
GL was good. I liked it. Could have done without Hector Hammond. No one cared about him at all, he just took up screen time away from Hal. Should have seen more development for Sinestro in this film before he randomly forged the yellow ring, bc even though I was pumped during the post credit scene I couldn't help feeling that it was out of place, like it should have been saved.
View Recorder