The Official Green Lantern Review Thread - Part 2

[Octoberist]

Hah. That made me laugh, nice.

Wasn't there a rumor going around that he'd be directing a Gears of War or God of War movie?



So...we'll be seeing a GL reboot? Like...a Green Lantern: Rebirth movie in five years? Haha.

You laugh now...but...

 

[Man of Tomorrow]

You know, I wanted to wait to see the movie in September (that's when it gets released here) but I don't think I can take 2 and a half months of negativity. I'm watching a bootleg copy as soon as it comes out. Sorry WB.

It's not worth the wait. Bootleg it.

It felt like a mid 1990s movie, or Syfy TV special. Even the music felt like a TV show.

It will be the same experience on a good bootleg compared to 3D in a theatre.

 

[KalMart]

So...we'll be seeing a GL reboot? Like...a Green Lantern: Rebirth movie in five years? Haha.

Or the next Phantom or Spirit...as in....






.....

 

[Anno_Domini]

Maybe they'll make that Jack Black movie they've been wanting to do.

Well it may not have been any worse...

You laugh now...but...

Oh, I laugh now, but I definitely know it'll happen.

 

[Octoberist]

Yeah the score was bad.

 

[Passdom]

Im currently in shock at how bad this was.

A Syfy TV special sums it up.

Nothing about the movie indicated it was a professional production. A total waste.

And JNH...how could produce such a POS score like this...worse than even Iron Man...

 

[Man of Tomorrow]

You laugh now...but...

I wish. But WB isn't as forgiving with their properties compared to Marvel.

The 'playing it safe' approach was so evident in this film and hindered it drastically, making it stale and mediocre.


This thing could bury Green Lantern, Flash and all the others outside Batman indefinitely.

 

[Octoberist]

Im currently in shock at how bad this was.

A Syfy TV special sums it up.

Nothing about the movie indicated it was a professional production. A total waste.

It was a mistaken to shoot it in New Orleans. Not for a second did I thought it was a West Coast city.

 

[moviedoors]

Alright, I've seen it now. Spoilers follow.

The Good:

Ryan Reynolds- he really did give it his all and sold it as best he could. His sincerity was undeniable and he deserves most of the credit for what works in the movie. He succeeded were plenty of others would've fallen flat on their faces.

Peter Sarsgaard- not a great performance, but he was chewing the hell out of the scenery and having a blast doing it. I love that piercing scream he does.

The creature and Corp design work- The suits look great. They don't look phony at all on Reynolds. I love the bright colors. I was surprised how much I liked the look and presence of Parallax. Especially good sound work on him. There were some neat looking aliens tucked away in the corners.

The Bad:

The script- lazy, lazy, lazy. It's boiling over with clunky exposition. Who these characters were was shoehorned in in a very shoddy manner. Hal's flashback at the beginning to his father's death was the height of plot convenience. Hal and Hector having a past is pretty much non existent. They don't share any scenes together until what seemed like an hour in and their interaction basically amounts to them bumping into each other and going "Oh, hey. What's up?" And speaking of Hector, I have no idea who this guy was. He's infected pretty much immediately after we meet. Am I supposed to like him? see his flaws? see how he could be susceptible to fear? I don't know! Near the end, Sinestro describes Hal as brash and opinionated "just like Abin-Sur." Would have been nice to have actually see that quality in Abin instead of just being told at the end.

Actors in nothing roles- Tim Robbins and Angela Bassett do nothing of note playing cardboard characters with nothing to do but further the plot and add some cred to the cast. I'm not overly familiar with Blake Lively and I left with basically no impression of her. I won't blame her as she had essentially nothing to work with.

The Corp- Speaking of doing nothing, the Corp and the Guardians do nothing either. This is all tell and no show. Tomar-Re is Basil Exposition, Kilowag trains Hal for what seemed like 2 minutes and then more or less vanished, the Guardians sit on their thrones making bizarre, head scratching decisions and they have a serious case of the CG rubber lips. I started to perk up when Sinestro led a small regiment of Lanterns to fight Parallax, but it's a 30 second non-fight with one projection, 5 seconds of zipping around, and then Sinestro looking shocked after characters we "met" in 2 second cut-aways are dispatched with ridiculous ease by Parallax.

Oa- one of the biggest let downs for me. If you've seen the trailers, you've pretty much seen all this movie has to offer with this world. Some rocks, a purple sky, and Lanterns standing around doing, you guessed it, nothing. Asgard was a far more visually interesting place and forget about it even coming near Pandora.

The rest of the people on Earth- After Green Lantern makes his first appearance, there's a shocking lack of attention. There's a news report in the background of one scene "going who was this hero who saved the day?" as if that's the big story, and not a mention of, gee, I don't know, all the crazy energy constructs he created!

The credit cookie- Not earned in the slightest. The reason Sinestro puts on that yellow ring had zero to do with what was established throughout the entire rest of the movie (and for what it's worth, Sinestro works well with his small amount of screentime and Mark Strong brings as much gravity as his humanely possible to the role). This was nothing but cheap fan service and teeth grating plot contrivance.

Thor was a much more entertaining ride, and I thought Thor was merely good. Forget about it even coming close to Iron Man, Superman, Watchmen, or Nolan's Batmans. But, is it terrible? No. I'll watch this again before I go near Wolverine, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, or Kick-Ass again. By a long shot. It didn't suck, but I just can't say I liked it either and I wanted to so bad. Big disappointment.

5/10

 

[Anno_Domini]

Or the next Phantom or Spirit...as in....






.....

Well Phantom got a thing on SyFy a year or so.

This thing could bury Green Lantern, Flash and all the others outside Batman indefinitely.

Makes you wonder if that "safety" approach will be put to the test in Man of Steel now.

 

[Tron5000]

I enjoyed it. It was pretty much what I thought it would be, and what I was expecting: A fun movie with loads of cool effects, a Hal Jordan I could root for, and exciting and interesting secondary characters.

Yeah, they took some liberties with the storyline. Yeah, I would've liked more Oa and Green Lantern Corps. But this was a Hal Jordan movie, not a GLC movie. Hopefully we'll get more of that in sequels.

I very much liked trying to pick out all the unnamed Lanterns during Sinestro's big speech, such as Stel and Bzzd. And am I wrong, or did I see an Arkillo Green Lantern?

Anyway, I didn't set my expectation level too high, and the movie met and surpassed them.

Great job by Peter Sarsgaard.

 

[Man of Tomorrow]

Yeah the score was bad.

They kept playing that same damn generic stock acoustic guitar music during all of the 'emotional' Earth scenes.

Felt so artificial.

Usually I don't care about scores, but something about this one felt like a TV production.

 

[Nokio]

I enjoyed it and this is coming from one who still reads the comics. I see the frustration that some had but I think it was to standard in a sense like there was a checklist of things follow. Origin or hero, hero doubts himself, them mans up to the occasion, love interest, save innocents and blah blah blah. It had flaws but it by far not a horrible film. It suffered from studio interference. GL had moments of greatness that proved the writers and director may have been bogged down by the suits. Even with being said in typical suit fashion the entire creative team will be replaced if the film makes enough to get a sequel. I hope it does, cause I saw the potential. The problem some of these comic films face is there is never a powerful enough director that has clout allowed on these projects. The studios would never give a James Cameron a property like this because they know he would want to much control. The problem is always the business execs who job it is to run the company getting involved in product development and creativity. This is an aspect that is problematic today in all major businesses, from the US car industry to Hollywood.

 

[Passdom]

I dont understand the score

How can the awfulness of Shyamalans last Airbender inspire such incredible music from JNH, yet here he does absolutely nothing?

Its baffling. I can't believe this movie was released in its current state.

 

[Nokio]

They kept playing that same damn generic stock acoustic guitar music during all of the 'emotional' Earth scenes.

Felt so artificial.

Usually I don't care about scores, but something about this one felt like a TV production.

There was no score. GL should've had a good score. That can take Way from a movie.

 

[KalMart]

I enjoyed it and this is coming from one who still reads the comics. I see the frustration that some had but I think it was to standard in a sense like there was a checklist of things follow. Origin or hero, hero doubts himself, them mans up to the occasion, love interest, save innocents and blah blah blah. It had flaws but it by far not a horrible film. It suffered from studio interference. GL had moments of greatness that proved the writers and director may have been bogged down by the suits. Even with being said in typical suit fashion the entire creative team will be replaced if the film makes enough to get a sequel. I hope it does, cause I saw the potential. The problem some of these comic films face is there is never a powerful enough director that has clout allowed on these projects. The studios would never give a James Cameron a property like this because they know he would want to much control. The problem is always the business execs who job it is to run the company getting involved in product development and creativity. This is an aspect that is problematic today in all major businesses, from the US car industry to Hollywood.

Yeah, you can tell they're kicking themselves for allowing Nolan so much control over Batman. They sure don't want THAT to happen again.

 

[Underoath]

bunch of pessimists in here, script was meh but overall it was a good movie.

 

[Octoberist]

Well Phantom got a thing on SyFy a year or so.



Makes you wonder if that "safety" approach will be put to the test in Man of Steel now.

man of steel has a safety net: Nolan.

 

[moviedoors]

Double post.

 

[moviedoors]

The studios would never give a James Cameron a property like this because they know he would want to much control.

On the contrary, I think just about every suit in the world we sell their soul to secure James Cameron on a superhero project. The guy is pretty much guaranteed box office gold.

 

[maenalus]

Another thing that bothers me a LOT.

This movies kept building side stories that kept going NOWHERE. Like Hal and the problems with his family and his care for his little cousin. I felt the death of his father hunting him was barely touched. Everything about the Green Lantern Corp and how they operate. His nerdy friend was literally just f*****g there, and so many others.

And yet they decided to stick with the love story, wich was dull as it gets.

You're right that the the strained relationship between Hal and his family went nowhere, but I would of had them just get along like they did in the comics rather than spend more time on a lame standoff with Hal and his family.

Also I liked the the love story, and their emphasis on it was true to the original Broome and Kane comics.

 

[The Morningstar]

bunch of pessimists in here, script was meh but overall it was a good movie.

If the script was meh how can it be a good movie?

Oh it had cool SFX and action scenes!?!? Wow, that redeems it then!

 

[Octoberist]

I dont understand the score

How can the awfulness of Shyamalans last Airbender inspire such incredible music from JNH, yet here he does absolutely nothing?

Its baffling. I can't believe this movie was released in its current state.

So you have a talented composer, a talented cinematographer, the costume designer from Lord of the Rings, and Neville Page. And the movie still underwhelming? Incredible feat!

 

[KalMart]

So you have a talented composer, a talented cinematographer, the costume designer from Lord of the Rings, and Neville Page. And the movie still underwhelming? Incredible feat!

Damn you, Comic-Con!!!!!

 

[moviedoors]

Also, to comment on box office projection and audience reception, there were less people at the midnight screening than there was for Thor and no applause at the end. Hell, the GL trailer got applause when I went and saw Thor. The dead silence for the movie itself is not a good sign.