Boy that Green Lantern trailer was something am I right?
All Green and Lanterny? OK, you got me. I'm not hugely versed in Hal Jordan and his adventures with the Green Lantern Corps.
What I do know is that a large portion of this film would appear to be set in space, and not just space, but honest to goodness Outer Space. We're talking stars, alien worlds the lot, and I'm delighted. Utterly thrilled in fact, because if The Green Lantern works and if it is a commercial success it could change Comic Book Movies forever.
For comic book movies the last ten years have been significant to say the least. We've suffered some turkeys (why?... why would you sew his mouth shut? I just ... never mind) but the way the genre has grown and matured in that time is staggering. Darren Aronofsky developing a Wolverine movie would have been unthinkable four or five years ago, but it's happening right now. These stories and characters are being treated seriously with real talent getting involved. And yet despite that, most of these films, even the great ones, still seem reluctant to completely embrace the pulpy roots of their source material. Instead, every attempt is made to keep things smaller to ground them in reality. Let me be clear, I'm not outright opposed this, it obviously worked for Chris Nolan's take on Batman, but just because "real" and "gritty" worked for The Dark Knight doesn't mean it's a suitable take for every super hero.
When that first image of Ryan Reynolds appeared on EW everyone attacked it. Was I the only one just relieved he wasn't wearing green Kevlar? It's garish, it's sci-fi, it's a little bit silly, but it's comic book. It's fantasy. Which is just what Gil Kane had in mind when he redesigned The Green Lantern all those years ago. Likewise, when Jack Kirby designed Galactus' costume, he wasn't trying to design a practical outfit, he was creating something fantastic and awesome (and I use those words in the traditional sense), something bizarre and outrageous. It's the very essence of escapism and the definition of fantasy. So why should these concepts and designs be so hard for a mainstream audience to swallow? I'm no filmmaker nor am I the head of multi billion dollar film studio but I do know that this...
Is scarier than this...
Let's be honest, would a faithful portrayal of Galactus really have made Rise of the Silver Surfer any worse?
After Revenge of the Fallen I'm reluctant to use Transformers as a positive example but to his credit Michael Bay did a very good job of taking a particularly daft concept and making it work for a mainstream audiences. I have always been of the opinion that no matter how outlandish the idea if it is approached with enthusiasm and care it will translate.
Seeing things like Abin Sur and Oa in the Green Lantern trailer and Marvel revealing the Infinity Gauntlet at comic con makes me hopeful that we could be nearing a new stage in this wave of Superhero Movies. There is a huge wealth of material to be mined if Hollywood is prepared to explore the more fantastical side of comic books. I'm not suggesting that the Spider-Man reboot take place on the moon, just that some truly epic cinema could come from opening the films up a little.
Hal Jordan flying into space might be the first step