Green Lantern Script Review

[protocida]

Nothing personal, i'll completelly understand if they change the line, but it's REALLY ridiculous to suggest a boycout for that.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Is anyone suggesting a boycott?

In all honesty, it's a minor issue, and I'm surprised that - with all this new info on the film we've got - it's this we're all talking about.

 

[TheVileOne]

It's still a lame stupid thing to complain about. El Mayimbe still has no credibility as a script reporter.

Also, what if the character was alive before he was autopsied and he was established as latino earlier?

dnno1, are you going to tell me that no Arab Americans saw Iron Man?

Soze, El Mayimbe did. Because he's muy loco.

 

[dnno1]

...dnno1, are you going to tell me that no Arab Americans saw Iron Man?

No, what I am telling you that most of the Arab community did not pay to see the film (BTW, it did make $265,031 in Egypt). Also the Arab community makes up a fraction of the 8% of other ethnic groups (other than white, Hispanic, and African American) that go to the movies, so their absence was negligible.

 

[Evil Twin]

That's a really silly reason for a boycott. Heck, I bet if you broke down demographics by region of the country, and assuming GL is set in the southwest, the percentages of meth dealers by ethnicity make it not so inaccurate. That said, an easy and unimportant in the grand scheme of things fix.

Edit: Now, nothing wrong with changing this, but El Mayimbe is talking out his ass about Latino's being a very small part of the meth problem.

Here's a relevant quote.

"According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, 65 percent of all meth consumed in the United States now comes from Mexican drug cartels: 53 percent from superlabs in Mexico itself, and 12 percent from Mexican-run superlabs within the U.S. The cartels who so efficiently established super labs in the West Coast in the mid-90s are now moving operations to Mexico, where restrictions on the precursor chemical, pseudoephedrine, have, until very recently, been nonexistent. In 2004, Mexico imported 224 tons of psuedoephedrine, a figure estimated to be double the national demand for cold medicine, and quadruple the 66 tons imported in 2000. To supply their super labs, the cartels are obtaining the chemical in mass quantities, either in bulk directly from overseas suppliers, or from local pharmaceutical companies making legitimate cold pills, or via bogus pharmacy fronts. "

See http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meth/etc/updmexico.html

 

[TheComicbookKid]

No, the guy's got a legitimate beef. Portraying Latinos as crystal meth dealers when they are not sends the wrong message to a lot of people. That's even more morally wrong than Superman having an illegitimate child (because this alienates real people). In addition, Latinos do have a strong representation (and possibly influence) among moviegoers so this is the appropriate time to lobby that scene out of the script.

And Iron Man having sex outside of marriage offended the Christian Conservatives!!!

 

[Katsuro]

Are you trying to say that Latinos are crystal-meth dealer or what are you trying to say?

Yes, some of them are. Drug dealers come in all races. In fact, if the drug dealer is portrayed as white, i'm boycotting the movie. Yeah, now what?

Seriously, maybe they should just roll a dice. 1 is white, 2 is latino, 3 is black, 4 is asian, 5 is arab, and 6 is jew. Whatever it lands on, that's what they pick, and no one gets to complain.

 

[DarkSuperman]

Yes, some of them are. Drug dealers come in all races. In fact, if the drug dealer is portrayed as white, i'm boycotting the movie. Yeah, now what?

Seriously, maybe they should just roll a dice. 1 is white, 2 is latino, 3 is black, 4 is asian, 5 is arab, and 6 is jew. Whatever it lands on, that's what they pick, and no one gets to complain.

haha...that's kind of funny. But what number would Bi-racial people be?

Oh and what about Namekians? t:

 

[dnno1]

Yes, some of them are. Drug dealers come in all races. In fact, if the drug dealer is portrayed as white, i'm boycotting the movie. Yeah, now what?

Seriously, maybe they should just roll a dice. 1 is white, 2 is latino, 3 is black, 4 is asian, 5 is arab, and 6 is jew. Whatever it lands on, that's what they pick, and no one gets to complain.

How about no drug dealer or just not mentioning the race? I don't even see why it is mandatory to have that scene in the script anyway (the part about the person being a drug dealer). It is very minor.

 

[dnno1]

That's a really silly reason for a boycott. Heck, I bet if you broke down demographics by region of the country, and assuming GL is set in the southwest, the percentages of meth dealers by ethnicity make it not so inaccurate. That said, an easy and unimportant in the grand scheme of things fix.

Edit: Now, nothing wrong with changing this, but El Mayimbe is talking out his ass about Latino's being a very small part of the meth problem.

Here's a relevant quote.

"According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, 65 percent of all meth consumed in the United States now comes from Mexican drug cartels: 53 percent from superlabs in Mexico itself, and 12 percent from Mexican-run superlabs within the U.S. The cartels who so efficiently established super labs in the West Coast in the mid-90s are now moving operations to Mexico, where restrictions on the precursor chemical, pseudoephedrine, have, until very recently, been nonexistent. In 2004, Mexico imported 224 tons of psuedoephedrine, a figure estimated to be double the national demand for cold medicine, and quadruple the 66 tons imported in 2000. To supply their super labs, the cartels are obtaining the chemical in mass quantities, either in bulk directly from overseas suppliers, or from local pharmaceutical companies making legitimate cold pills, or via bogus pharmacy fronts. "

See http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meth/etc/updmexico.html

So now we have people going out to find proof that Hispanics are crystal-meth drug dealers so that they can justify using one in a film. This is classic racism at its best. I think you need to stop before you get your self into more trouble. Look, based on the demographic statistics from the MPAA, El Mayhimbe might have enough leverage to get them to change that scene in the script. There is a moral element to it so a threat of a boycott is justified here and if it offends you, it is not silly.

 

[Evil Twin]

No, I'm simply asserting that El Mayimbe is pulling his own demographics of what he thinks a crystal meth dealer is out his ass. He's complaining simply because a Latino is presented in a bad light.

I'm not even suggesting that it would be a bad thing to omit the drug dealer information or change the race. I'm saying El Mayimbe's assertation that most meth dealers are white isn't backed up by anything. And, therefore, his argument that it's highly inaccurate to portray a meth dealer as Latino is provably false. If anything, it is a perfectly accurate, if unnecessary, detail.

Now, if the larger point is that minorities are generally portrayed negatively in Hollywood and a big budget superhero movie shouldn't add to that unnecessarily, then I'll agree. But that's a different argument than accuracy, which is what El Mayimbe invoked.

 

[ironman29758]

And Iron Man having sex outside of marriage offended the Christian Conservatives!!!

iT'S iRONMAN People no rule applies to him!

 

[Freakjokerxxx]

Sounds good. I'll wait to see the final product.

 

[protocida]

Hey, know what? I'm boycouting this movie too!

After all, Hector Hammond is a steryotipal character that must be writen out of the script! He suggests all white men a governmental forensic agents that go mad after getting superpowers from a alien sharpnell!

I smell RACISM!

 

[darkseid26]

i wanna see this movie so bad!

 

[The Guard]

Like most of them, this script review boils down to "Guess what, guys? It uses a few characters from the comics and features several obvious story elements". It doesn't give a hint at how those characters are used or adapted, what character development occurs, etc. The one redeeming bit is that they focus on what Hal has to "overcome", the death of Martin Jordan, etc.

As for the racism bit...I get where he's coming from, but the obsession over the "Latino crystal meth dealer" bit is just ridiculous. If only because I've never seen him take exception until THIS comes up. And it's amusing that this comes from a guy who calls his site "LATINO REVIEW".

You know, I didn't realize we could concretely say who would or would not peddle crystal meth IN A FICTIONAL CITY in a FICTIONAL WORLD.

Now, did the writers NEED to call him "Latino drug dealer"? No. They did, and there may be a bit of a stereotype there. Is it really THAT big a deal? Is there not likely one "latino" in the drug trade in some fashion? Is this not occassionally the case on the West Coast or near Mexico or New Mexico (or anywhere really, depending on where they put Coast City) somewhere? Maybe one of the writers has a latino friend who needed work. There are all kinds of explanations for something like this other than "RACIST BASTARDS!!!".

If he told you the entirety of the story. Would you still be interested in seeing it? I don't think everybody would and he might be trying to prevent that from happening and it is an indication of how good the script might really
be.

You're asking me, if I knew the storyline, would I still want to see a live action GREEN LANTERN film?

Hell yes.

 

[Keyser Soze]

The Jonah Hex and Green Arrow scripts leaked. Anyone think this Green Lantern script will leak? I tend to avoid reading scripts for movies I plan on seeing, and I know if a script had leaked for "The Dark Knight" I'd have avoided it for the plague. But for "Green Lantern", I think I'd actually be willing to make an exception and read the script. I'm just so anxious to find out how they're going about adapting this world for the big screen.

 

[protocida]

I Think it's harder for the ''Green Lantern'' script to leak, because Warner is really pushing it foward, and is problably being more careful than with the ''Jonah Hex'' and the ''Supermax'' ones, that, despite being considered, are still only proposals, whereas ''Green Lantern'' it's practly confirmed.

Moving on the Latino drug dealer thing, what did you think of Hector Hammond getting his powers from Legion's pieces on Abin Sur's dead body?

 

[Octoberist]

It's like me getting upset about Lau in Dark Knight because i'm Asian.

I like Latino Review, but they are self righteous. I believe that minorities should have their fair share in the industry, but you SHOULD never go overboard or completely bias.

 

[The Major]

Moving on the Latino drug dealer thing, what did you think of Hector Hammond getting his powers from Legion's pieces on Abin Sur's dead body?

Someone on the writing team has been reading GL: Secret Origins.

 

[Evil Twin]

It's not like the review is particularly short on plotpoints. What it is short on is analysis.

I think the biggest failures of most script reviews is that they skip discussing what the story is actually about, and I don't mean plot. TDK is about The Joker trying to prove that when the chips are down, people are as base as he is, and Batman showing how much a man can resist and endure. Iron Man is about a man who becomes responsible in light of prior irresponsibility. Green Arrow is about how adaptable and wily a person can be in order to survive and about seeing people as complex mixs of good and bad. Jonah Hex is about how much pain a man can endure and the violent retribution he will inflict. And dealing with the ghosts of the past. We can talk for days about what Watchmen is about. Green Lantern is about ???? Coping with daddy issues? Is that compelling in the script or is it lesser Spielberg and Burton?

Making an argument about the strengths and weaknesses of a script, which doesn't have to involve much for spoilers, is better than plot point, plot point, plot point, "it sucked/ruled"!

 

[dnno1]

Hey, know what? I'm boycouting this movie too!

After all, Hector Hammond is a steryotipal character that must be writen out of the script! He suggests all white men a governmental forensic agents that go mad after getting superpowers from a alien sharpnell!..

Actually nobody is commenting on the fact that they altered the background of the Hector Hammond character in this draft of the script. From what I remember Hammond was never a coroner who performed autopsies, he was a fugitive (and then in another version a private consultant for Ferris Aircraft). Also, he got his abilities from a fragment of a meteor, not a piece of Legion. Now granted, the origin and nature of the meteor was never explained in the comics, but this it a deviation. What is everyone's take on that?

 

[Keyser Soze]

Actually nobody is commenting on the fact that they altered the background of the Hector Hammond character in this draft of the script. From what I remember Hammond was never a coroner who performed autopsies, he was a fugitive (and then in another version a private consultant for Ferris Aircraft). Also, he got his abilities from a fragment of a meteor, not a piece of Legion. Now granted, the origin and nature of the meteor was never explained in the comics, but this it a deviation. What is everyone's take on that?

I think it's fine. Hector Hammond doesn't exactly have the most iconic of origins. Geoff Johns has just finished with completely rehauling Hammond's origin in his current "Secret Origins" arc. And if anything, it seems like the movie origin is actually quite close to this new comic origin.

 

[Octoberist]

I understand why Sinistro has a mustache, but why does Hector Hammond have one too, in the same style?

 

[The Guard]

It's not like the review is particularly short on plotpoints. What it is short on is analysis.

Agreed. I could list plot points from BATMAN & ROBIN and make it sound good, but if I never go into any depth about them...what's the value of that as a review?