Why a Green Lantern Sequel WOULD work

Why a Green Lantern Sequel WOULD work

My thoughts on why a sequel to the disappointing Green Lantern movie would work.
It's a repost, I know.

Editorial Opinion
By epiclybodacious - Jul 21, 2011 12:07 PM EST
Filed Under: Green Lantern

Let's just all agree the the recent Green Lantern movie wasn't what we expected. We all expected a great comic book movie, what we got was a comic book movie that was more like Batman & Robin than The Dark Knight.

I will say this though, Green Lantern was visually stunning. The constructs looked amazing, and the Green Lantern Corps looked incredible.

That being said, the Green Lantern movie was corny. Really corny. Whether is be the scene with Hal's kid nephew or the flashback of when Hal's father threw his coat to his son before he died (in black and white, I might add) the movie was filled with cliches.

Despite all this, I think a sequel to Green Lantern could be amazing. The biggest problem with DC characters, with the exception of Batman, is that their origins aren't as down to Earth as Marvel characters. With Marvel, for the most part, you have things that can be explained through science, like Iron Man's armor or Captain America's serum.

DC however, is much more fantasy-based. You have more aliens from another world and magic rings from space than high tech armor. With those fantasy elements, the origins can be a little campy, especially when they are put on screen.

I feel, however, that once you get the origins out of the way, you can really get into the great story telling. With Green Lantern, you can get into the Sinestro War Corps or Hal being possessed by Parallax. You have all these opportunities that really weren't available in the origin story.

A Green Lantern sequel has much more potential than a Green Lantern origin. Now that they don't have to show the corny black and white flashbacks or have the voice-overs that start out with the phrase, "Billions of years ago..." Green Lantern can go on the be the bad-ass movie franchise that it is meant to be.

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batLanternarrow
batLanternarrow - 7/21/2011, 2:24 PM
How dare you say Green Lantern was anything like Batman and Robin. Batman Forever even though I feel GL is far supeior to I could have excepted your analyis as. However it is like Batman and Robin no way
batLanternarrow
batLanternarrow - 7/21/2011, 2:24 PM
How dare you say Green Lantern was anything like Batman and Robin. Batman Forever even though I feel GL is far supeior to I could have excepted your analyis as. However it is like Batman and Robin no way
Highball
Highball - 7/21/2011, 2:42 PM
What you're citing as being corny is far from what was wrong about the movie.
1- the jacket scene was in the comic book. Read rebirth, Secret Origins even DC the New Frontier and they talk about his father's jacket.
2- The scene with his nephew was necessary to showing Hal Jordan had a human side and wasn't just a prick.

The flashbacks are an integral part of Green Lantern mythos... and are not what was wrong with the movie... I wanted more of them.

The corny bits are Hal showing off to his buddy and the discussion about the hero usually getting the girl, Hal dancing on Oa when he sees himself in the suit for the first time.

Stop comparing DC and Marvel. If Marvel's scientific backdrop is your cup of tea stick to that.

For my part, I love DC and Marvel the way they are.
Highball
Highball - 7/21/2011, 2:59 PM
When I mention I wanted more flashbacks, read Rormachine's review of the movie... he has a very good point about elements lacking in the flashbacks to truly flesh out the relationship between Carol and Hal.

Also, Hal's dad didn't just blow up...he avoids sending the plane into the crowd or in the city, he crashes the plane away from harm. This plays an important part in Hal measuring up to his dad... being the hero he was.

This event sets up the character without fear. To quote Hal: "When your greatest fear comes true before your eyes... you think there's nothing left to fear."

So no, I don't agree with you. Those flashbacks weren't corny, they were necessary and should've been more fleshed out. In fact, I hope they revisit them in a sequel or in the director's cut (if they'll make one), give them the time they deserve.
superbatspiderman
superbatspiderman - 7/21/2011, 3:17 PM
I just want to see a sequel because of Sinestro being the villain. Thats all I want to see.
crimsoncrusader
crimsoncrusader - 7/21/2011, 3:20 PM
I agree with Highball 100%. DC/WB really dropped the ball on this one. I just hope that if they make a sequel, that they stick to what makes GL such an awesome character.
epiclybodacious
epiclybodacious - 7/21/2011, 3:20 PM
Ok. First. To highball, I'm not saying that they should've excluded the flashbacks. I agree with you that they are essential. I didn't like with how they were presented. It was the black and white flashback that I personally found a bit corny, but like I said, the flashbacks itself were essential. I do agree with what you said about not comparing marvel to DC. All I was trying to do was give the reason why I think Marvel has tended to do better with their movies.



And to batlanternarrow. I wasn't saying that green lantern was like batman and robin. I was saying that it was more like batman and robin than the dark knight. Green lantern was much better than batman and robin, I know.



I really do appreciate the comments, and respect both of your opinions. Thank you for commenting.
Highball
Highball - 7/21/2011, 3:59 PM
@epiclybodacious -- Ok, I see what you're saying and I respect that. I guess the movie reeks of those TV writers and their corny ideas! hehehe!

First thing they need to do for the sequel is drop those writers altogether. Get one solid team of writers coached in Green Lantern lore by Geoff Johns.

Give as much love and care for the special effects as their other franchises get... i.e. Harry Potter's effects are always excellent. ILM or Weta would be ideal of course.

Get a director that understands action and great character dynamics. There's potential for some great moments between characters throughout the Corps.

Set it all in space. There's no real reason why this should be based on earth... look at First Flight. Surround the character in the variety of cultures of space. One of my favorite moments in First Flight is when Hal and Sinestro enter the club, that scene is very reminiscent of another space opera!

Blow the gates open with the music... makes some truly epic shit!!

Establish that the end credit scene was a glimpse in the future... Sinestro should fall in the second movie, set it up with an arc... Sinestro starts to abuse power on his home world and Hal notices this, warns the Guardians but they don't act... then reveal Sinestro getting his hands on the yellow ring to rule his planet with fear!

Heck I could go on... but I won't, we've all pretty much said or read this in one way or another before.
epiclybodacious
epiclybodacious - 7/21/2011, 4:12 PM
Yeah. I agree. I was really excited at the time when I saw the scene with Sinestro putting on the ring. Then I realized that you can't show Sinestro putting on the yellow ring in a post credit scene. It needs much more development than that.

I actually enjoyed a lot of the music that they used in the movie. But I really want is, during a battle scene, just some really hard guitar riff playing. Go watch Freddy vs Jason. There was one scene towards the end in the cabin when Freddy was fighting Jason. Jason gets knocked to the ground or something and when he gets up some awesome guitar music starts playing. That's a real good example of what I want in terms of music


When you say that they need new writers, I agree. But you also have to remember that this is a movie and not a comic book. That goes back to my point that DC characters seem harder to create origin movies for. But I think that a new writing team is needed since the last one didn't work.

As far as the cast goes, I was perfectly content with the cast. Blake Lively probably wasn't the best choice, but as long as she remains a simple love interest and "damsel in distress" I think she will be fine. If they decide to turn her into Star Sapphire, I sincerely doubt that she could pull it off.
YellowLantern
YellowLantern - 7/21/2011, 8:17 PM
Agreed. A Green lantern sequel could be much more promising than this joke of a movie, which was like a made for TV film. The movie script wasn't serious to even get serious ratings or revenue. It had too much "genuine" Ryan Renolds comedy and charm which is suitable for his semi-romantic films. Overall, Green Lantern failed to live up to the hype because it wasn't dark enough to arouse interest. The CGI looked cheap with limited creativity with the constructs. Even some flying scenes looked lame this day in age, such as when he descended to his girl's balcony to woo her. If they can get it right next time around, I'm sure Green Lantern will get some serious attention and money.
sonofsamadams
sonofsamadams - 7/21/2011, 10:48 PM
They got the origin story out of the way, now they should make it way more serious, and more indepth, and more action packed.
stevepants
stevepants - 7/22/2011, 11:58 AM
Okay, this whole Marvel is more grounded in reality thing is getting sort of tired.

Galactus, Silver Surfer, Thanos, Dr. Strange, Venom, Carnage..Skrull and Kree..Thor....these things are not based in reality. I'll give you Spiderman, Iron Man, Cap, Hulk (his origin at least) the basis for the X-Men. But they're not any more reality based than Batman, Firestorm, Cyborg, Flash, Aquaman, Lex Luthor....right? I'm not off base with these points am I?

But when you look at the big picture even the more "reality based marvel argument" fails...bottom line is you have someone manifesting Spider Abilities, a giant green monster running around, and someone given superstrength through a serum....it doesn't have to be "realistic" to work..it just has to be done well and Green Lantern..was not done well.
SpiderFan35
SpiderFan35 - 7/22/2011, 12:00 PM
Absolutely a sequel could work. Sue there are lots of things to improve on, so that just means they should get to work and fix the mistakes and give it another go.

Check out the link below to an amusing clip from the Onion about the GL movie, it's old but still pretty funny!

http://nerdbastards.com/2011/06/16/the-only-opinion-that-matters-the-onion-reviews-green-lantern/
Shadow11
Shadow11 - 7/22/2011, 8:26 PM
Green Lantern doesn't deserve a sequel, if anything it deserves a reboot instead, start everything off fresh and new again, better cast with a better script, and make it more gritty and dark
halvor311
halvor311 - 7/23/2011, 10:10 AM
I like your review and can't wait for a sequel. Hopefully when this movie opens in Spain, France and Germany that it surpasses its budget. I think Green Lantern has the opposite problem that Captain America has. In my opinion, Cap America just seems like a regular movie and didn't feel like a comic movie as much. Green Lantern was the perfect cliche of comic book movies. It didn't show much of what makes Green Lantern unique as a character and a comic book. The ultimate problem with Green Lantern I think is its over-reliance on comic book movie cliches. I still plan on buying it when it comes out though.
gmoney0505
gmoney0505 - 7/24/2011, 1:41 PM
Being Fantasy based has nothing to do with a movie origin being good or bad. Its the bad writing, horrible editing, and not enough character development that hurst this origin. That is what hurts GL movie the most. Not that it's fantasy based.

TheOverlord
TheOverlord - 7/25/2011, 6:32 PM
@gmoney0505 exactly. this was just bad storytelling.
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