GL Concerns thread

[flash13]

I'm worried it will perform badly and not get any sequels.

 

[Judson Caspian]

So they're leaving the franchise in the hands of a guy who directed Vertical Limit. What can go wrong?

 

[RicardusAlpert]

My biggest concerns are two:

1. Two many characters in one movie: Sinestro, Hector Hammond and Legion??? Carl & Carol Ferris, Thomas Kalmaku, Tomar-Re, Abin Sur, Kilowog and (I presume) Ganthet?? Aren't they afraid of burning out too quickly? If not, this being an origin movie for Hal and ALSO the presentation of the universe, I'm quite concerned about character treatment. This is going to have more characters than the first X-Men and I was not happy with some characters being relegated there.

2. Campbell is great with traditional action scenes, but will he know his way around all the cgi? In my ideal world, JJ Abras would helm this, but to be fair I like Campbell a lot since Casino Royale.

 

[dnno1]

Ensemble casts are pretty safe as a opposed to a cast of maybe one or two lead characters. Ensembles offer different characters that fans can choose and is what made franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek successful in lasting as long as they have.

 

[RicardusAlpert]

But Green Lantern is not an choral story, at least not at this moment. It's a story about Hal Jordan and the rest are supposed to be secondary.
Star Trek had dual protagonism. And with movies like Star Wars or X-Men (and even more with X2) there is room to discuss how many protagonists are there, but there's no argument with GL, it's Hal Jordan, maybe the Guardians of the Universe, Sinestro (being the main villain) and then the rest of the characters.

 

[dnno1]

But Green Lantern is not an choral story, at least not at this moment. It's a story about Hal Jordan and the rest are supposed to be secondary.
Star Trek had dual protagonism. And with movies like Star Wars or X-Men (and even more with X2) there is room to discuss how many protagonists are there, but there's no argument with GL, it's Hal Jordan, maybe the Guardians of the Universe, Sinestro (being the main villain) and then the rest of the characters.

No, Green Lantern is not just about Hal Jordan. It is also about, the (Green Lantern) corps the universal peace keeping force (kind of like the Jedi knights or the United Federation of Planets). If it were just about Hal Jordan, it probably wouldn't be that good of a movie. Remember, Green Lantern is not a flagship character like Superman or Batman, so writing a story about a sole character may not sell well to an unfamiliar audience.

 

[dnno1]

...2. Campbell is great with traditional action scenes, but will he know his way around all the cgi? In my ideal world, JJ Abras would helm this, but to be fair I like Campbell a lot since Casino Royale.

What I have seen is that Campbell has surrounded himself with a lot of people who have a strong background in CGI. Some of the folks he has on board (be they illustrators, art directors, costume designer, et. al.) have worked with the following projects:

Avatar
Beowulf
Benjamin Button
Lord of the Rings
Hulk
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
Star Wars (AOTC)
Constantine
Watchmen
Star Trek (2009)
The Dark Knight
Speed Racer
Thor
Spiderman III
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Men in Black II
Garfield
Godzilla
Monster House
Shark Tale
Shrek
The Polar Express
Chronicles of Narnia
Kung Fu Panda
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Transformers
Pirates of the Caribbean (AWE)
Serenity
The Matrix Reloaded
I Am Legend
Tron: Legacy

A lot if not all of these projects had some impressive CGI and there should be a lot of knowledge base to pull from there.

 

[Octoberist]

you'll be shocked how much CGI and miniatures was in Casino Royale, all used to enhance scenes like the airport scene.

 

[RicardusAlpert]

What I have seen is that Campbell has surrounded himself with a lot of people who have a strong background in CGI.

I'm quite relieved to hear that.

 

[Mr. Earle]

No, Green Lantern is not just about Hal Jordan. It is also about, the (Green Lantern) corps the universal peace keeping force (kind of like the Jedi knights or the United Federation of Planets). If it were just about Hal Jordan, it probably wouldn't be that good of a movie. Remember, Green Lantern is not a flagship character like Superman or Batman, so writing a story about a sole character may not sell well to an unfamiliar audience.

I wish that was true but you know that Hal is always the protagonist. Later it was Kyle and now its Hal again. Yes it is a corps but have you read many stories about Kilowog? No, its always Hal and the corps.

 

[dnno1]

I wish that was true but you know that Hal is always the protagonist. Later it was Kyle and now its Hal again. Yes it is a corps but have you read many stories about Kilowog? No, its always Hal and the corps.

Sure, Hal is the main character in the film, but he is supported by an ensemble, which was the case for a large portion of his bronze age run in the 1970's and 1980's. During that time frame, he was supported by characters like, Kilowog, Tomar-Re, John Stewart, Arisia, and others. Don't get me wrong, this is not a true ensemble cast, where each of the characters are equally as important, but it is a large sporting cast, where the members are at peer level to the main character.

 

[RicardusAlpert]

They cannot be at the same level. Take a movie like Avatar... it runs for like three hours yet there is only one true protagonist. This GL is not a run or big storyline of the 70's-80's, it's an origin story for a movie of two hours tops. That's it. There's not enough screen time for everybody and it's gonna be felt in decreased quality in character treatment.

 

[dnno1]

They cannot be at the same level. Take a movie like Avatar... it runs for like three hours yet there is only one true protagonist. This GL is not a run or big storyline of the 70's-80's, it's an origin story for a movie of two hours tops. That's it. There's not enough screen time for everybody and it's gonna be felt in decreased quality in character treatment.

But there will be a similar effect as a Star Wars or Star Trek film would have. The audience and fans will see diffenent characters and take a liking of one in particular. Boba Fett had a cameo in Episode IV and nearly became a cult hero. The same could happen to a character like Killowog or some other lantern.

 

[RicardusAlpert]

Maybe (and hopefully) you're right.

 

[solidsnake86]

The movie concentrates on hal, the other supporting GL's are more like extended cameos except for sinestro so you shouldn't worry about it trying to spread itself out too thin. At this point my concern is what they did change from the original draft in that I hope it was change for the better.

 

[Webhead2006]

i do hope they make the constructs look very good and down well.

 

[Dark Knight]

Well the alleged concept drawings look good.

I'm a little disappointed with Sony being hired for the mian VFX.....would have loved to have seen WETA, ILM or Digital Domain on the GL film instead. So that is a concern for me.

Hope Sony steps up their game for this one.

I'm also concerned on whether or not they will show this film on IMAX 3D. They better IMO.

 

[Dark Knight]

They cannot be at the same level. Take a movie like Avatar... it runs for like three hours yet there is only one true protagonist. This GL is not a run or big storyline of the 70's-80's, it's an origin story for a movie of two hours tops. That's it. There's not enough screen time for everybody and it's gonna be felt in decreased quality in character treatment.

I think this GL film will run longer than 2 hours.

Probably around 2 hours and 15 minutes I would think.

 

[dnno1]

Well the alleged concept drawings look good.

I'm a little disappointed with Sony being hired for the mian VFX.....would have loved to have seen WETA, ILM or Digital Domain on the GL film instead. So that is a concern for me.

Hope Sony steps up their game for this one.

I'm also concerned on whether or not they will show this film on IMAX 3D. They better IMO.

There is nothing to be disappointed about Sony Productins Imageworks (SPI). They are an Academy Award wining outfit that has a very good relationship with Warner Brothers and have been associated with pictures like "Spider-Man 2 & 3", "Speed Racer", "Watchmen", "Beowulf", "G-Force", and the upcoming film "The Smurfs" (of course there are more). They have an expertise in performance capture that makes them one of the leaders in that technique. The are also very good with producing 3D films.

 

[Webhead2006]

well yea i am sure the film will probably be 2hr to 2hr 15mins range that is a nice good range. As for imageworks sure i said before not who i wanted. But they have done some good stuff. So i hope they are on ball and do the best work they can i dont want to see crap effects like i am legend of superman returns.

 

[dnno1]

It all depends on how much money you want to spend as to the quality that you will get. If you are willing to spend $250+ million on the film, you could get "Avatar" quality, but if you are willing to spend $150 million, you will get "I am Legend", which still wasn't that bad and probably was made at the right price.

 

[Webhead2006]

well even with only 150million i am sure it will be good we dont know how much work is going to be cgi over makeup/suits and all that. But i am sure wb will want to make this look good.

 

[Octoberist]

There is nothing to be disappointed about Sony Productions Imageworks (SPI). They are an Academy Award wining outfit that has a very good relationship with Warner Brothers and have been associated with pictures like "Spider-Man 2 & 3", "Speed Racer", "Watchmen", "Beowulf", "G-Force", and the upcoming film "The Smurfs" (of course there are more). They have an expertise in performance capture that makes them one of the leaders in that technique. The are also very good with producing 3D films.

Sony Pictures Imageworks.

They're good and usually compeptant. I'm sure they'll do a good job. We're talking about an era after District 9 (low budget CGI that looks good) and Avatar (near photorealistic) that they can't screw it up. It was okay in the 2000s but not in this decade.

 

[dark_b]

They cannot be at the same level. Take a movie like Avatar... it runs for like three hours yet there is only one true protagonist. This GL is not a run or big storyline of the 70's-80's, it's an origin story for a movie of two hours tops. That's it. There's not enough screen time for everybody and it's gonna be felt in decreased quality in character treatment.

why are so many people saying almost 3 hours. wouldnt almost 3 hours be for 2.45,2:50,2:50,2:55?

from what i rememeber teh mvoie was with credits 2:40. so without credits somewhere around 2 hours and 30 minutes. how is this close to 3 hours?

 

[thegameq]

In no particular order:

1. The constructs - this is going to require the audience to suspend a great deal of belief. I believe they are going to tone down the whole constructs aspect big time and just make the ring an extension of Hal, sort of like a see through liquid metal effect in green. If not, then they may just show the ring as a bendable beam of energy of some sort. I know alot of fans want to see them push the fanstasy envelope, but I don't see it happening with the first film in this series.

2. Make no mistake, WB wants GL to be their Iron Man. How much they borrow from IM remains to be seen. We all know Hollywood: monkey see, monkey do. If they do ape IM, hopefully it wil be well disguised and not to obvious.

3. I suspect Hal Jordan will be an amalgam of the various Lanterns that have gained popularity with fans. Not bad, but it may close the door on the appearance of other Lanterns like Kyle, Guy, etc.

As with other comic to film transitions, GL has enormous potential. But there seems to be an invisible barrier that is preventing alot of these films from being all they truly can be. Budget is the obvious culprit--and many times is the deciding factor in the films vision.

WB has a chance to really push the fantasy envelope big time with a character other than Supes. It remains to be seen if the budget or the GA allows them to.