This is the idea I posted in the other thread.
Considering the film that's been made there's many potential reasons why it didn't succeed. Too much fitted into too little. Maybe DC interfering too much? Maybe WB interfering too much? Who knows.
They can still save this plane crash of a franchise by potentially ignoring the **** that's gone down in this film and do a sequel with a more emotional storyline.
Get rid of what they've done here and go for a more steely approach to the story and make it a proper character based film without just being a mindless action adventure.
Personally I'd love to see a film book-ended with the setup towards Kyle being the last surviving member of the Corps who then faces off against the ultimate villain.
THE PREMISE
Start the film off almost in a similar manner to how Abin Sur comes to Earth looking to find his replacement but instead with Ganthet arriving on Earth which is being rebuilt following what seems to have been an extinction level event and him seeking out a ring slinger.
Through a little bit of exposition when he finds Kyle Rayner, the new Lantern, we find out that a destructive force has almost wiped out the Green Lantern Corps (no naming what it is) and Ganthet is looking for Rayner to be his first new Lantern.
I'd do away with the fear-entity ******** Johns created to justify Hal's actions and show Hal's descent to madness in a very real fashion through the use of flashbacks charting the destruction of not just Coast City but most of the the planet leading to a semi-post apocalyptic world.
Rayner obviously has questions, questions which lead into the bulk of the film's plot through the primary portion of the film being a flashback.
FLASHBACK BITS.
The film's plot as such kicks off with a pitched battle between the Sinestro Corps and Green Lantern Corps on OA which results in both sides suffering heavy losses and the GLC ultimately scraping through thanks to Hal rallying his troops and turning over the Sinestro Corps.
We find out that Sinestro had turned against the Corps as a pre-emptive strike prior to them reacting to his own dictatorial rule over Korugar by stripping him of his ring by him harnessing the yellow energy of fear to rise up against them.
This battle needs to be fairly short but intense depicting the polar opposites of Hal & Sinestro with a little bit of exposition to explain the above and the battle stressing the rivalry between the two.
Following the battle being won by the GLC, maybe a few shots switching between Earth and OA would be good, showing the parallels of chaos on Earth and order on OA but also showing some weaker moments of Hal with his loneliness coming through but being comforted by the softer scenes he'd share with Carol who is more than love interest but a proper companion to Hal. Hal however needs to be seen in these moments to question Sinestro's actions as well to try and understand what happened.
The main thing that needs to be achieved at this point is why Sinestro's really fighting the Corps. Him having differing views isn't enough grounds for him to just wage war against them, and neither is his expulsion, even though it's seen as enough by many. Ideally it needs to be down to him wanting control.
Not just him wanting power but him wanting the power to control how the universe is run and not in the soft manner the guardians want to run the universe in. He doesn't want to stand by and watch whilst things go to ****. He wants to play God on a big level and this needs to be his motivation.
Whilst the GLC are celebrating their victory, or well not celebrating but just recognizing their victory, and following some scenes covering the ground of what's gone down we find that Sinestro's retreating forces have already gone one step ahead of them and targeted Hal's home world of Earth as revenge for their defeat.
The Sinestro Corps unleashes a nuclear equivalent attack on Earth by focusing the energies of their rings through the Yellow Power Battery almost destroying the entire planet resulting in the 2nd big throw down.
The destruction of Earth needs to be caused by Sinestro to prevent the Cyborg thing coming into play with it being a revenge motive to show that even the greatest Green Lantern (Hal) can be pushed over the edge and how his control stretches to every facet of the Corps, even their hearts and minds.
During the battle Hal goes out of control a little bit and you can see him losing his battle with his own fear as he sees what Sinestro's done to his home planet. They duke it out with Sinestro taking more of the Corps down with Hal unleashing his power as well to take down all but Sinestro from the Sinestro Corps with the GLC having to restrain Hal and the Guardians intervening to imprison Sinestro in the Central Battery.
Even at this point during the battle you see Hal giving into the fear emanating from Sinestro, and maybe you see the initial grey lines appear around his sides just to lineup with the comics' aging style depicted in the story-arc.
Hal surveys the wreckage of Earth and is taken away almost from a comforting point by the remaining GLC to Oa to speak with the Guardians about what's happened.
After speaking to them he realizes that they're not going to execute Sinestro but will instead merely keep him imprisoned in the power battery, and he gets pretty enraged by this and also starts hearing Sinestro's voice in his head as his conscience almost telling him about the lack of control he has over the situation and how the Guardians are almost not willing to wipe out the evil of the universe just so that they have a job to do almost. Fear keeping the universe in line and all that.
Hal flies back to Earth at this point but prior to him leaving you see Sinestro in the Power Battery releasing the yellow energy into the battery from his ring which was thought depowered by the Corps and laughing to himself at what's happening outside.
Once Hal arrives on Earth he sees the chaos that's been caused by the extinction level event brought about by Sinestro and starts questioning himself even further about how inactive the Guardians are. You see his good side come through as he helps a few people here and there on Coast City but when he has an injured person question why he spends so much time in the stars and not protecting Earth he kinda flips a bit and seeing what he's becoming because of his inability to protect his home he heads back to Oa to end Sinestro once and for all.
His justification for killing Sinestro needs to be that Sinestro is his guilty conscience and also the personification of the weakness pervading through the Corps. He also feels the Guardians fear Sinestro which is why they won't kill him.
When he arrives on Oa to kill Sinestro he discovers the Guardians have moved the Power Battery to a secret location as they knew Hal would come for them. An argument between Hal and the Guardians ensues with Hal's conscience clearly winning the battle in his own head throughout and Parallax as such finally overtakes Hal.
He bursts out at the Guardians resulting in the 3rd action beat of the film with him pretty much releasing all his powers on them and absorbs their energy and begins to dismantle anyone who comes in his way, Lantern or not and becomes Parallax. Not the gassy smokey version or the fear entity, but just the badass that he was in the original arc.
With this battle you see that the only Guardian who supported him Ganthet refuses to fight Hal but instead attempts to reason with him whilst protecting the Corps.
He finally breaks through to Hal and contains him temporarily by harnessing the powers of the dying Guardians and throws Hal into the anti-matter universe with the bait of that being where Sinestro is. It's depicted as a portal to another dimension without mentioning Anti-Matter.
Ganthet bloody and bruised tends to the very few surviving Corps and leaves a crumbling Oa which implodes behind him as he makes way for Earth, thinking that he may find an emotional counterpart to Hal who may save the Corps.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
We come back to the present where Killiwog and the remaining Corps, only around 4-5 of them have been spread out to maintain order whilst Rayner is recruited, who finds out that he was merely in the right place at the right time and in anecdotal moment gets told that 'he'll do'. Rayner asks for what and Ganthet replies 'for the Blackest Night'. This isn't the Blackest Night of the comics but is the final faceoff between Parallax and Sinestro.
In the present we find out that Parallax didn't find Sinestro and is coming for the remaining Corps members who have settled on Earth to undo the damage Sinestro did as he wants to extinguish anything that links him to the damage he did to his home planet.
He arrives on Earth and an immense battle of will takes place between Parallax and the remaining Corps including the newly knighted Kyle.
During the battle we find out that Ganthet had housed Sinestro in a pocket dimension and releases him following an agreement that Sinestro would be given the control he desired as long as he helped chain Hal down.
By this point Hal's gone so far over the edge that he's willing to use his powers to destroy pretty much everything and start again. Naturally, he must be stopped.
You have the final action beat of the film which is Sinestro, Killiwog, Ganthet and Kyle versus Parallax but **** hits the fan when Sinestro starts manipulating Hal for his own aims and further goads him into doing what he set out to do. Sinestro assumes he can overpower Hal, get him to destroy the Corps anyway and then prevent destruction resulting in him being the saviour.
Problem is Hal/Parallax doesn't see it that way and plows through the heroes and Sinestro anyway. He dismantles everyone including Rayner and finally beats down Sinestro to an inch of his death whilst everything is coming to an end around him.
Beaten and bruised, Sinestro begins to laugh and also pretty much cry at what he's achieved and says something along the line of him only wanting to be the universe's saviour and protector and the Guardians couldn't contend with that. At this point Hal's humanity creeps through ever so slightly and he asks why and Sinestro responds 'so I can be in control' and dies.
In a whole moment of his life flashing before his eyes, Hal regains control of his senses and realizes what's happened. He goes for the Sun which is the source of the hollowing he started himself and sacrifices himself in the one final moment of heroism and prevents what he wanted from coming to pass.
The film ends with Ganthet using a large reserve of his powers to help rebuild Earth (Brainiac 13 technology style) and Rayner assisting this process and the two of them flying into the darkness with new challenges to face.
THEMES
The main thematic elements of the film in a similar way to any morality tale would be heroism, sacrifice, the power that people desire and fear of loss. There would need to be parallels of course. Again each of the themes carry emotional weight and need to be balanced.
- Hal and Kyle are two of the same being. Hal shows his heroism in the first and third act. Kyle shows his in the third and fourth act.
- Hal and Ganthet are willing to sacrifice. Hal is willing to sacrifice his own life at the end of the film to save the universe from his own actions. Ganthet, albeit stupidly is willing to sacrifice the entire Corps to stop Parallax by releasing Sinestro, thus resulting in a bigger storm.
- The Guardians and Sinestro both desire control. The Guardians want things done their way which is their weakness, and ditto for Sinestro who even when he dies does so satisfied albeit prematurely that he died in control.
- Hal and Sinestro both have a fear of loss. Hal fears losing his mind which he does. He fears losing his home, which he does through Sinestro actions and loses his adopted home of Oa through his own power-fuelled actions. Sinestro fears losing control and does everything to make things dependent on him, even if that means risking the entire universe.
MAIN PLAYERS
Hal : He's the central part of the story with Sinestro. He is the tragic hero ultimately. He is central to every thematic element above along with Sinestro.
Sinestro : He needs to be evil, but again evil with a reason. Control.
Ganthet and the Guardians : The Guardians need to be like any orthodox force. Old fashioned and stubborn, with only Ganthet seeing the errors they made.
Kyle Rayner : The last of the Lanterns. He is the new student. He gets his moment at the end of the film and hopefully in a sequel.
CONCLUSION
It's a pretty ambitious idea because ultimately if done wrong it could be an absolute cluster**** but would be hopefully be pulled off by a skilled team.
It would likely be long. The film would be divided into five acts.
The Prologue would show Ganthet arriving on Earth to find Rayner who he chooses as a Lantern and then explains to him what's gone down, and dovetails into the First Act.
The First act charts the battle between the Sinestro Corps and the Green Lantern Corps. It also slows slightly into the emotional attachments Hal has on Earth and his relationship with Sinestro. A second level flashback would show the expulsion of Sinestro and forming of the Sinestro Corps.
The Second Act would be the second battle between the Sinestro Corps and the Green Lantern Corps; the destruction of Earth; and the imprisonment of Sinestro into the Central Power Battery after the Guardians intervene in the battle. At the end of this act you see the early descent of Hal into darkness.
The Third Act would begin with Hal speaking to the Guardians about Sinestro and their decision not to kill him; show the aftermath on Earth with Hal's inner conflict taking place; the yellow energy being released into the Central Power Battery and end with Hal's return to Oa with his intention to kill Sinestro.
The Fourth Act begins with Hal confronting the Guardians; him learning of their supposed betrayal of sparing Sinestro's life; Hal becoming Parallax and taking down the entire Corps and destroying Oa; Ganthet using his powers and the sacrifice of his fellow Guardians to throw Parallax into the anti-matter universe with the bait of him facing Sinestro there; Ganthet makes his way to Earth; finds Kyle and the film basically meets up with where the prologue dove in.
The Fifth Act is basically the final battle as explained above in detail. Everything goes down and all the loose ends are tied up with the heroes being the heroes and the villains being the villains, but albeit with the lines between the two very very thin.
The epilogue is the aftermath of it all. A new Corps needs to be built with a new Lantern and a setup for the future with Kyle as the main man.
Opinions?
