You know it was really a shame how Green Lantern turned out. Yes I believe it was a good movie, but I also feel that in many ways it could have so much more. The reason it was not in my opinion is due to too much studio interference from Warner Brothers, and I can only see them doing the same thing on future DC adaptions.
The movie really had potential to be much too. I mean it had Martin Campell directing. One of the best directors of the last few decades if you ask me. He gave us Goldeneye and Casino Royale, which are both regarded as 2 of the best Bond movies of the last 2 decades because of not only action byut great stories behind them as well. Both films also introduced new actors playing Bond and helped launch both of their careers into super stardom. Yet, with Green Lantern, things did not seem to go so smoothly. The story felt rushed(mostly in the 1st half) and things sseemed to happen very randomly. We had not seen Hector Hammond for more than 5 minutes, before he was infected by Paralax, and Hal Jordan pent all of 15 minutes for his Green lantern training, when he should have been their for a day or 2.
Yet I refuse to believe Campbell is at fault. Say what you will that he was not a good fit for Green Lantern. I say he was the perfect fit for the movie. It was an origin story, and anyone who has watched Casino Royale, can tell you that Campbell is great at origin stories with good character development. No. Instead, I blame Warner Brothers, who gave us a movie that at 1 hour and 45 minutes was far too short, and did not have enough time to make us feel attached to the characters or care much about the conflict they faced. What we got from them was a movie that jumped from scene to scene rather than progress into them, probably because Warners was afraid our attention spans would not hold out, and that casual audiences would scoff at some of the more comic book elements of the film. I really do think Martin Campbell made a good movie, but we have yet to see it.
Yet for a director like Christopher Nolan, Warner Brothers let him do whatever he pleased. Now please folks, do not assume that this is an anti Nolan piece. I love Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and I bet The Dark Knight Rises will blow us all away, but their is no deneying that Warners is playing favorites, and any DC character that is not being courted by Nolan is given the short end of the stick. This should not be the case. Martin Campbell is every bit as good as Chris Nolan and Casino Royale was an origin story and reboot right on par with Batman Begins. Had Warners not meddled so much with Green Lantern, and not castrated the film's length, the film would have done far better critically and financially.
Therefore, I am suggesting that DC does what Marvel did when they formed Marvel Studios. If DC wants their characters, represented properly, with all of their comic book like traits, then DC Entertainment must be separated from Warner Brothers. That is the reason why Marvel Studios is sitting so pretty with their films. They had the smarts to realize the only way to make theur movies the way they wanted to for the fans was to form their own studio, and not to rely on other studios to decide the fates of their beloved characters. Sure Marvel is now under Disney management, but their movies are good because it is film makers who care about the projects making the decisions and not some studio executive changing things from the source material, because they feel it is too geeky. Believe me folks, Warners does not care about giving us fans a rich cinematic DC Uinverse. They care about money, and if they feel a character can not support a money making franchise, then they either micro manage the crap out of it, or ignore it altogether. Either way, we the fans lose. Marvel Studios on the other hand has taken many risks with their movies. Iron Man and Thor were potentially huge risks that people knew very little about. Yet, Marvel knew these characters were awesome and had faith in them, and they turned out great. Warner Brothers does not have faith in the DC characters besides Batman and Superman. And that is the is the reason why Green Lantern had so many problems.
This really does have to happen. If not then the fate of our beloved characters will forever be placed in the hands of people who do not believe in them, and will mishandle them as they see fit. If DC Entertainment becomes it own studio, then I think that we will finally see the DC movies that both fans and casual movie goers will love and remember for yearsto come.