I don't think you've been paying very close attention. I know at least a dozen posters that were disappointed with this movie that were very invested in its success prior to seeing it.
Including me. Up until a couple days ago, I had this pegged as the next big franchise since Spidey. I'm not even a huge GL fan and I was incredibly excited to see it soar past all the recent superhero properties.
Needless to say I'm now contemplating whether to even dive into the comics again. I am genuinely crushed at how bad this movie was, and I fearfearfearfearfearfearfearfearfearfearfear that turning into a comic fan will only make that pain more severe.
The acting was good and I was satisfied in that area. Ryan Reynolds was good, Lively was pretty decent, Strong was good as well. The special effects were well done. Liked the action.
First half of the movie was its best, running through Hal's story up until end of his Oa training. Someone had said Coast City wasn't mentioned at all...it was on the tv screen during the news report of Hal's crash: Coast City, CA. Really digged it a lot.
And then the second half started and we were like..."What?" There were moments of potential that got cut off too quick. The Corps attack on Parallax ended too quick, Hal's first appearance as Green Lantern too short. And Hal beating Parallax without longer training was ridiculous.
As someone said, the script was weak. A lot of cliches, and the word "fear" was overused. It's not the first time that's happened but annoying nonetheless. My friend had the same complaint that he had for Thor: the movie didn't play up the epicness of the mythos.
However, it didn't detract a lot from my enjoyment, so I'll give this a 7. Some audience members clapped, others really clapped for Sinestro and Yellow Ring. Speaking of which...
And the mid-credits scene was cool. I didn't see it as Sinestro turning, only satisfying his curiosity, like it was a temptation since he nearly got to wear it early on and all the talk about how powerful it is.
I'm hoping that a sequel can happen and there's an overhaul with mistakes being learned. This could be the Star Trek: Motion Picture to a Wrath of Khan. But who knows if it'll happen. I'm hoping Warner Bros. doesn't give up on putting secondary characters on film. I really want to see more of DC Comics on the screen.
I also think Geoff Johns should be relegated as consultant/ideas man for these projects. He may have been too much of a fanboy in this production to notice the flaws. He's the guy you want when it comes to comic book knowledge but not the one for scripting and story. He's probably like David Goyer in the sense he needs someone to keep him in check and reign him in.
After all of the bad reviews I was kind of worried going in, but as I had the $8 off coupon from buying the Superman movie Anthology,the $3.50 I paid was going to temper or minimize any potential dissapointment. Guess what? it wasn't bad at all! I like Thor better 8.5 to 9/10 but I'd give GL an 8. I want to see it again so it can't be that bad. Sure it isn't perfect, but how many of these films are?
Just got back. Look, I'm not going to take the "all the critics are idiots" approach here, but I have to say that this is one time when I really don't know why they hated the movie. I mean, this movie has a lower RT rating than G.I. Joe. That's flat out INSANE. GL was an infinitely better movie.
I went to see it with a friend who isn't really into the genre (she hated Batman Begins, though she did love TDK) and she thought it was decent but just found it predictable and formulaic. But I don't know that you can really get around that when you're trying to tell an origin story. And what the movie does is tell Hal's origin... and follows it pretty damned closely to be honest. Sure, I would have liked the Oa scenes to be a little longer, but the ones we got were cool. I thought Reynolds did a stand-out job as Hal - and even though the film portrays him as a guy who overcomes fear rather than a guy who simply doesn't have it - I still felt like I was watching the Hal we've read about in the comics. I thought Lively also did a good job. She had good chemistry with Ryan and I thought the scene where
she recognizes Hal in his mask was hilarious
. I also have to say DAMN she looks good as a brunette. Sarsgaard was also very good. I honestly felt sorry for him. People thought he was Razzie-worthy in this? Well then you'd better retroactively give a Razzie to Willem Defoe because his Green Goblin was 1,000x cheesier. Mark Strong absolutely NAILS Sinestro, and seeing the
creation of the yellow ring totally made me geek out
.
The other performances, though small, were also solid. Rush and MCD do good voice work and I thought Tomar Re and Kilowog looked awesome. Taika Waititi was funny as Tom. Tim Robbins and Angela Bassett did well in their roles (though they weren't in it much). Didn't see the guy who supposedly played John Stewart. Was he in the movie somewhere?
Not everything works as well as one would hope... the Guardians look cool but when they spoke, the CGI was rather obvious. And Parallax speaking didn't quite work for me either. I thought it would have been better if we heard him "speak" through a psychic connection or something. But really, some of this is just nitpicking. When I watch these movies, I try to look at the core aspects and determine whether they got them right or wrong. And honestly, as a huge GL fan, I really think they got most of it right.
So I truly hope people aren't put off by the bad reviews and at least give the movie a chance. I'll admit, I went into it not expecting much, so it might be possible that my lowered expectations just made me like the film more. But I would say it's just as good a film as Thor or Spider-Man (and I like those films). Sure, there are some cheesy moments, but there are cheesy moments in ALL of these movies (yes, fellow Batman fans, even in The Dark Knight).
As for why some people hated it? I don't know. Maybe it is a bad movie and I just have bad taste. But I've liked plenty of critically acclaimed movies too, so I'm not sure that's the case. I think we might be getting to a point where people in general aren't satisfied anymore with the standard origin story. But how can you circumvent that, especially with a character like Green Lantern, where 85% of the audience out there doesn't know his backstory? You can get away with it with Superman or Batman, but not with a lesser known character.
But at the end of the day, it's all a matter of opinion, as cliche as that sounds. So go see it, and decide for yourself. All I know is, I've been waiting for this movie since I was a kid, and as lifelong Green Lantern fan, I'm satisfied with the finished product. I don't know that it will be successful, but I certainly hope so, because I'm dying to see
I don't think you've been paying very close attention. I know at least a dozen posters that were disappointed with this movie that were very invested in its success prior to seeing it.
Including me. Up until a couple days ago, I had this pegged as the next big franchise since Spidey. I'm not even a huge GL fan and I was incredibly excited to see it soar past all the recent superhero properties.
Needless to say I'm now contemplating whether to even dive into the comics again. I am genuinely crushed at how bad this movie was, and I fearfearfearfearfearfearfearfearfearfearfear that turning into a comic fan will only make that pain more severe.
I don't think you've been paying very close attention. I know at least a dozen posters that were disappointed with this movie that were very invested in its success prior to seeing it.
I don't think you've been paying very close attention. I know at least a dozen posters that were disappointed with this movie that were very invested in its success prior to seeing it.
Including me. Up until a couple days ago, I had this pegged as the next big franchise since Spidey. I'm not even a huge GL fan and I was incredibly excited to see it soar past all the recent superhero properties.
Needless to say I'm now contemplating whether to even dive into the comics again. I am genuinely crushed at how bad this movie was, and I fearfearfearfearfearfearfearfearfearfearfear that turning into a comic fan will only make that pain more severe.
Theirs some great stories, I loved John's Sinestro Corp Wars, Secret Origin, & Rebirth.
I was pretty crushed after the movie, being a huge fan of GL, it's just not what I expected. I still want to see it again. Because sometimes I don't really like a film until multiple viewings. I would have loved this film if the pacing was better, that felt like the main problem to me. The script needed a little work. This is from somebody who's been hyped for it since the announcement. I think a sequel could fix pretty much everything though. So I really hope they can move forward with it.
I'll definitely be picking it up on Blu Ray though.
I've often wondered if superhero movies may be more enjoyable when you're not a comic fan. I'm not a comic fan...and I can't say I like a lot of superhero movies...but I will say it's easier to let go of bad ones since there's no fan pride at stake.
Sometimes it's quite funny and even insightful to see how comic fans take these movies...other times a bit ridiculous. But I do sympathize with fans when their favorite's movies aren't good...as long as they don't look for other reasons than it just not being good. The 'you're a DC/Marvel %$#@' I could do without.
Just got back. Look, I'm not going to take the "all the critics are idiots" approach here, but I have to say that this is one time when I really don't know why they hated the movie. I mean, this movie has a lower RT rating than G.I. Joe. That's flat out INSANE. GL was an infinitely better movie.
I went to see it with a friend who isn't really into the genre (she hated Batman Begins, though she did love TDK) and she thought it was decent but just found it predictable and formulaic. But I don't know that you can really get around that when you're trying to tell an origin story. And what the movie does is tell Hal's origin... and follows it pretty damned closely to be honest. Sure, I would have liked the Oa scenes to be a little longer, but the ones we got were cool. I thought Reynolds did a stand-out job as Hal - and even though the film portrays him as a guy who overcomes fear rather than a guy who simply doesn't have it - I still felt like I was watching the Hal we've read about in the comics. I thought Lively also did a good job. She had good chemistry with Ryan and I thought the scene where
she recognizes Hal in his mask was hilarious
. I also have to say DAMN she looks good as a brunette. Sarsgaard was also very good. I honestly felt sorry for him. People thought he was Razzie-worthy in this? Well then you'd better retroactively give a Razzie to Willem Defoe because his Green Goblin was 1,000x cheesier. Mark Strong absolutely NAILS Sinestro, and seeing the
creation of the yellow ring totally made me geek out
.
The other performances, though small, were also solid. Rush and MCD do good voice work and I thought Tomar Re and Kilowog looked awesome. Taika Waititi was funny as Tom. Tim Robbins and Angela Bassett did well in their roles (though they weren't in it much). Didn't see the guy who supposedly played John Stewart. Was he in the movie somewhere?
Not everything works as well as one would hope... the Guardians look cool but when they spoke, the CGI was rather obvious. And Parallax speaking didn't quite work for me either. I thought it would have been better if we heard him "speak" through a psychic connection or something. But really, some of this is just nitpicking. When I watch these movies, I try to look at the core aspects and determine whether they got them right or wrong. And honestly, as a huge GL fan, I really think they got most of it right.
So I truly hope people aren't put off by the bad reviews and at least give the movie a chance. I'll admit, I went into it not expecting much, so it might be possible that my lowered expectations just made me like the film more. But I would say it's just as good a film as Thor or Spider-Man (and I like those films). Sure, there are some cheesy moments, but there are cheesy moments in ALL of these movies (yes, fellow Batman fans, even in The Dark Knight).
As for why some people hated it? I don't know. Maybe it is a bad movie and I just have bad taste. But I've liked plenty of critically acclaimed movies too, so I'm not sure that's the case. I think we might be getting to a point where people in general aren't satisfied anymore with the standard origin story. But how can you circumvent that, especially with a character like Green Lantern, where 85% of the audience out there doesn't know his backstory? You can get away with it with Superman or Batman, but not with a lesser known character.
But at the end of the day, it's all a matter of opinion, as cliche as that sounds. So go see it, and decide for yourself. All I know is, I've been waiting for this movie since I was a kid, and as lifelong Green Lantern fan, I'm satisfied with the finished product. I don't know that it will be successful, but I certainly hope so, because I'm dying to see
I know this has been brought up before, but the plot for Green Lantern First Flight was infinitely better, more intelligent and more well laid out than the plot for this movie.
First Flight did a better job at showing the Lanterns being the police fore for the galaxy, than this film did. In fact the one time we see the Guardians give Sinestro a mission, we're given all of 3 seconds before Sinestro is back explaining to the Guardians why the mission failed.
Theirs some great stories, I loved John's Sinestro Corp Wars, Secret Origin, & Rebirth.
I was pretty crushed after the movie, being a huge fan of GL, it's just not what I expected. I still want to see it again. Because sometimes I don't really like a film until multiple viewings. I would have loved this film if the pacing was better, that felt like the main problem to me. The script needed a little work. This is from somebody who's been hyped for it since the announcement. I think a sequel could fix pretty much everything though. So I really hope they can move forward with it.
I'll definitely be picking it up on Blu Ray though.
I said it a little earlier, but I'm very conflicted as to whether I'd be interested in a second shot at this. On one hand I like the cast and a sequel could very easily fix many of the issues in this film, so long as they roughly ignore a better part of what just transpired. Start anew without having to go with an origin. It's doable.
But I've been so turned off by the lackluster product they delivered, I almost don't even want to give them a chance to redeem themselves. It's very frustrating to root for a team and have them completely disappoint you. I can't imagine what the diehard GL fans are feeling right now. If I'm feeling down, you guys must be in a depression.
I've often wondered if superhero movies may be more enjoyable when you're not a comic fan. I'm not a comic fan...and I can't say I like a lot of superhero movies...but I will say it's easier to let go of bad ones since there's no fan pride at stake.
Yup. If it's bad, no biggie. You move on. Once you have a stake in it, all bets are off. That s--t stings long after you leave the theater. Worse is coming to the realization that you may just as well have lost your only shot at glory.
On a brighter note... man, it feels really great to be a Batfan around now.
Just got back. Look, I'm not going to take the "all the critics are idiots" approach here, but I have to say that this is one time when I really don't know why they hated the movie. I mean, this movie has a lower RT rating than G.I. Joe. That's flat out INSANE. GL was an infinitely better movie.
I went to see it with a friend who isn't really into the genre (she hated Batman Begins, though she did love TDK) and she thought it was decent but just found it predictable and formulaic. But I don't know that you can really get around that when you're trying to tell an origin story. And what the movie does is tell Hal's origin... and follows it pretty damned closely to be honest. Sure, I would have liked the Oa scenes to be a little longer, but the ones we got were cool. I thought Reynolds did a stand-out job as Hal - and even though the film portrays him as a guy who overcomes fear rather than a guy who simply doesn't have it - I still felt like I was watching the Hal we've read about in the comics. I thought Lively also did a good job. She had good chemistry with Ryan and I thought the scene where
she recognizes Hal in his mask was hilarious
. I also have to say DAMN she looks good as a brunette. Sarsgaard was also very good. I honestly felt sorry for him. People thought he was Razzie-worthy in this? Well then you'd better retroactively give a Razzie to Willem Defoe because his Green Goblin was 1,000x cheesier. Mark Strong absolutely NAILS Sinestro, and seeing the
creation of the yellow ring totally made me geek out
.
The other performances, though small, were also solid. Rush and MCD do good voice work and I thought Tomar Re and Kilowog looked awesome. Taika Waititi was funny as Tom. Tim Robbins and Angela Bassett did well in their roles (though they weren't in it much). Didn't see the guy who supposedly played John Stewart. Was he in the movie somewhere?
Not everything works as well as one would hope... the Guardians look cool but when they spoke, the CGI was rather obvious. And Parallax speaking didn't quite work for me either. I thought it would have been better if we heard him "speak" through a psychic connection or something. But really, some of this is just nitpicking. When I watch these movies, I try to look at the core aspects and determine whether they got them right or wrong. And honestly, as a huge GL fan, I really think they got most of it right.
So I truly hope people aren't put off by the bad reviews and at least give the movie a chance. I'll admit, I went into it not expecting much, so it might be possible that my lowered expectations just made me like the film more. But I would say it's just as good a film as Thor or Spider-Man (and I like those films). Sure, there are some cheesy moments, but there are cheesy moments in ALL of these movies (yes, fellow Batman fans, even in The Dark Knight).
As for why some people hated it? I don't know. Maybe it is a bad movie and I just have bad taste. But I've liked plenty of critically acclaimed movies too, so I'm not sure that's the case. I think we might be getting to a point where people in general aren't satisfied anymore with the standard origin story. But how can you circumvent that, especially with a character like Green Lantern, where 85% of the audience out there doesn't know his backstory? You can get away with it with Superman or Batman, but not with a lesser known character.
But at the end of the day, it's all a matter of opinion, as cliche as that sounds. So go see it, and decide for yourself. All I know is, I've been waiting for this movie since I was a kid, and as lifelong Green Lantern fan, I'm satisfied with the finished product. I don't know that it will be successful, but I certainly hope so, because I'm dying to see
I was going to give it 8.5 as well, but kinda chickened out and typed 8 lol! I wish this had the theme from Green Lantern:First Flight. I think it was much better than JNH came up with, but perhaps with more listenings his main GL theme might grow on me.
Ended up seeing it, thought it was decent but it ultimately fell victim to probably not having enough money to really pull off what most people were hoping for. For me I'm not crazy about seeing the whole corps fighting (and realistically we were never going to get that) so I was glad they kept it on Hal and his story.
For some fans who read the comics I can see where the disappoint lies because the comics are just that much more epic in scope.
I did notice that the film felt really choppy. They needed more time fleshing out hammond and carol and the relationship between all three characters. I watched the B-roll footage and there was a shot with Hector teaching a class and making a kid fly out of his seat. Also in the original script there was a bit more with hammond and they really needed to flesh out why he wanted to be like Hal and why his life was miserable. They really dropped the ball there.
I was pleasantly surprised with the CG, because they avoided going full on with the corps.
I wouldn't be surprised if they honestly just couldnt finish the fx for time or money reasons and thats why the film suffered from being choppy. It needed an extra 15 to 20 minutes. Also, hal needed some interaction with his family. In the original script hammond used Hal to kill people with his ring and that made Hal question if he was cut out to be a lantern. I think the film was missing a key moment like that.
I'm not so convinced this is the worst comic book film ever and I enjoyed it but it has its problems. Like i said before, even though I'm sure no one would care for 15 to 20 minutes of character interaction and earth stuff, I really think that would have helped the film. I would give it a 6/10, it had potential to be really great, hopefully there are deleted scenes.
I just got back from seeing it. I wasn't sure what to expect....I hadn't actively read GL since the Neal Adams run in the 70's. I only read the GL forums when called in because someone was being naughty. I started hearing all the bad talk and reviews the last couple of days. But hey....I like comic book movies, so I wanted to see it.
Am I ever glad that I make a habit of not listening to fanboys on here about the quality of things. I had a wonderful time. It was funny, exciting, scary, and had good action and FX. Was it the best comic movie ever...no. Was it the worst comic movie ever....no. Was it a fun couple of hours that took my mind off of the crap I've had to put up with in real life this week...you're damn right it was. And that's what I ask from my movies.
I just got back from seeing it. I wasn't sure what to expect....I hadn't actively read GL since the Neal Adams run in the 70's. I only read the GL forums when called in because someone was being naughty. I started hearing all the bad talk and reviews the last couple of days. But hey....I like comic book movies, so I wanted to see it.
Am I ever glad that I make a habit of not listening to fanboys on here about the quality of things. I had a wonderful time. It was funny, exciting, scary, and had good action and FX. Was it the best comic movie ever...no. Was it the worst comic movie ever....no. Was it a fun couple of hours that took my mind off of the crap I've had to put up with in real life this week...you're damn right it was. And that's what I ask from my movies.
I just felt over all it had poor direction. The film should have been 2.5 hours long, and really focused on more of the characters. I felt Sinestro, Carol, and Hector were just crammed in, they kept hinting towards they had some past together (but I never felt the emotion behind it) At times Ryan was amazing, other times it was like Martin did not know what to do with anyone. Blake was bland, really did not care for her. Some of the SFX was amazing, some not so much.
Trying to explain how I felt about this movie was hard. Green Lantern deserved way way way way more then it was given. The first few minutes was great, then it just became medicore the entire time. Nothing really sucked in the film, but nothing was really good. It had so much potential The Green Lantern universe is one of the best and has so much to offer. I just wish they would have done more. The editing, and story flow was quick, but in terms of story it hurt it, they just had no connection with characters, no scene tried to sit and settle with you and it just ruined what could have been a great movie.
Mark was perfect as Sinestro, but just was not given any material, I did smile when he held the yellow ring, kinda a wink and foreshadowing for fans of GL. I know it sounds common, but I really hope it makes money, and they reboot this. GL deserves way better.
Bottom Line: Nothing was bad. But nothing was good. I truly felt just...nothing while watching it.
Okay, so on my second viewing of Green Lantern tonight(and in 3D!) and this is my review...
The good -
the actors...now, I think everyone did their best, but it's just the lackluster script that fell through and showed the cracks of each actor during the film. The emotional parts felt like an overdone chicken and the only worthwhile segment of emotion was with Hal and that kid WAY more than any Hal/Carol part.
The effects...I actually didn't mind the CGI from the beginning and this movie just showed off the finalized and polished CGI and it looked marvelous. Now, that doesn't mean I really enjoyed Oa. Oa could've and should've looked different. I guess I would've done things different, such as the buildings...I don't know, but those buildings felt too much Asgard(albeit a darker color, lol). After seeing a beautiful Asgard, I guess I had hoped for Oa to look way different, ya know?
Parallax...was...just....awesome. The combination of Legion, Parallax and Krona all into one was nice, imo. Parallax being a Guardian that was seduced to the yellow element was nice and proved himself to be a great villain. It was definitely nice to see that Hector was pretty much guiding Parallax to Earth, but Hector just became a useless villain in the end. And how Hal defeated Parallax so quickly...I get that Hal was meant to be the greatest Lantern of them all, but they did things so quickly on making him the "greatest", that the Parallax/Hal battle just seemed like the Iron Man/Iron Monger fight.
The bad -
the script...obviously the greatest letdown of the film and when the script is dumbfounded and somewhat shallow, it only means that WB, if they want to do a sequel, they better do a great overhaul and get some better writers. I'm a fan of Berlanti and etc., but they don't seem to know their GL mythos.
Hector Hammond...he should've been more in this film, and while his parts were pretty good, he just became a nuisance and then he became useless. He should've been more than just some pawn for Parallax.
Carol Ferris...sure, Blake Lively is hot, but there was WAY too much Carol for my taste. If there is a sequel, then they should reduce the Carol Ferris screentime.
And on a sidenote....this movie could have done without Amanda Waller.
But, overall...I give this a 7/10. Last night I would've given GL a 5 because I was 50/50 on what I felt, but, I'll give this movie a GENEROUS 7. I am hoping for a sequel though to rectify some bad areas seen in this installment.
Edit: I would like to mention that...my second time around, I can guess on why Sinestro wanted the yellow ring so much as he seemed to want to fight fear with fear and wanted to just fight with using fear, but even if that's the case...Sinestro's character was rushed way too much and without that much development.
Yeah, I've heard. It's okay. Gives me something extra to look forward to when I buy the Blu-Ray and/or see it again in theaters. I made the same mistake of leaving too early with Fast Five. I swear, I'm staying until the end of the credits of EVERY movie I see in the theater from now on.
I was going to give it 8.5 as well, but kinda chickened out and typed 8 lol! I wish this had the theme from Green Lantern:First Flight. I think it was much better than JNH came up with, but perhaps with more listenings his main GL theme might grow on me.
Yeah, I still have to see First Flight. I don't watch many animated films, but I've heard that one's great. I liked JNH's score though... it might have been a bit "standard epic," but that's fine with me, to be honest. One thing I can't stand is when the score is distracting, which it wasn't here. The best (worst) example I can give of this was in the movie Troy. The cheesy score in that film pretty much ruined the movie for me. It was just so annoying it had me craving silence.
I just got back from seeing it. I wasn't sure what to expect....I hadn't actively read GL since the Neal Adams run in the 70's. I only read the GL forums when called in because someone was being naughty. I started hearing all the bad talk and reviews the last couple of days. But hey....I like comic book movies, so I wanted to see it.
Am I ever glad that I make a habit of not listening to fanboys on here about the quality of things. I had a wonderful time. It was funny, exciting, scary, and had good action and FX. Was it the best comic movie ever...no. Was it the worst comic movie ever....no. Was it a fun couple of hours that took my mind off of the crap I've had to put up with in real life this week...you're damn right it was. And that's what I ask from my movies.
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I think a sequel could fix pretty much everything though. So I really hope they can move forward with it.
Damn, I knew I should have hung around a bit. 
