The Official Green Lantern Review Thread - Part 3

[cryptic name]

Just saw this, really enjoyed it. Not a masterpiece, but really fun to watch and a damn fine adaptation of the comics. Good flick, nice job WB.

 

[Son of Coul]

Another thing I noticed- they're way too self-deprecating of the source material in this, almost apologetic. Almost any of the goofy stuff they bring to light in most of these movies as of late are played in a nudge-nudge way but aren't all ironic about it. 'Cept little things like Hulk's purple pants, but there was heaps in this. Poking fun at the concept of Abin Sur giving him the lantern and telling him to speak the oath and mocking the mask & suit and "Green!" and all that. If they had Hal just deliver that one line from the trailer, "I, Hal Jordan, do solemnly swear, to... pledge allegiance to a lantern... that I got from a dying, purple alien..." that's one thing and feels appropriate as it all hits him how ridiculous it is. But they overcompensate so much, like "Let's get you to a hospital, they have... purple blood... purple... you're a purple alien... with a ring... it's so OUTRAGEOUS!"

Then the scene where his friend complains that he made a racetrack for his first heroic stunt feels like they're acknowledging how it's sorta lame, but they still do it! Just didn't feel like they embraced it, other than of course when they were on Oa, where the tone tended to set right again.

 

[mace1]

Another one.
POSTIVE REVIEWS

Green Lantern Movie Review

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T1htfyPqz8

 

[The Riddler]

just got back from watching it.

i am truly baffled as to how badly this movie has been lambasted by critics. there are notable flaws; dialogue isn't great at times, oa is only given a cursory glance, and the plot seems rushed (especially the last 35 minutes or so). however, the cg was really quite good (the suit surprised me; it looked really nice in most shots) and the movie was a lot of fun. constructs were quite inventive, and the acting was pretty good all around. this really isn't even close to thor in my book; it's far more entertaining.

i really hope it makes enough money to warrant a sequel. there is a lot of potential here; a few tweaks, a stronger script, a longer running time, and a more dynamic/responsive villain (likely sinestro) would make a sequel a potentially great film.

 

[Spade]

Green Lantern was a disappointment. Lots of potential, but nothing gelled. The biggest issue was tone. The movie tries to be funny and/or serious at the wrong times. Second was its editing; things just happened without good reason. The budget, too, felt squandered. We didn't need as much focus on Earth and the small supporting cast as there was.

I could go on for a while about what didn't work. I did like some of it. I didn't recognize Parallax, but he had good lines. Reynolds and Strong sold Hal and Sinestro's relationship. The final fight was when I finally thought "this feels like a Green Lantern movie." For the most part, though, I laughed aloud at the dumb parts and yawned through most of the rest.

Warner Bros. burnt more money on this than the Joker did in The Dark Knight, and for all the effort I'm not sure they got a profitable franchise out of it.

 

[The Morningstar]

All i will say is that this wasn't a movie... it was a sterile, 100 minute long toy commercial.

The writing was just sooooooooooooooo bad. It seems they tried to paper over the cracks with cool SFX. But sorry, the best SFX in the world don't mean **** if the writing is crap.

 

[J.Howlett]

The script's not that bad. It's just missing a few pieces that I'm sure got chopped off in the editing room to streamline the flick.

Like Thor, the cast makes up for it.

 

[The Morningstar]

I can't agree. The script is horrendous. Hal's "journey" is a billions times worse than Thor's.

Basically, Hal is a failed Green Lantern who runs off home. He sulks a bit, is told by his friends everything he needs to hear instead of learning things himself...

... then he defeats a being that destroys civilisations and killed the greatest GL ever in Abin Sur.

That is horrendous writing, no matter how you cut it.

I also can't agree about the cast. Reynolds does his best with the appaling script. But it's like he is awkward and embarrassed or something. Can't quite put my finger on it. Strong is awesome as Sinestro. But he gets about 10 minutes screen time, ZERO development, then the character gets ruined in a sequel bait after credit scene. Sarsgaard is laughable. But i guess you can't really blame him too much. Lively is basically just a plot device, there to tell Hal all the things he needs to know and do. His friend? hahaha no. Tim Robbins and Angela Basset look embarrassed to even be involved in this shame of a movie.

 

[J.Howlett]

Hal's not a Green Lantern yet when he runs home. Sinestro scares the **** out of him.

And Sinestro is not ruined by the end credits sequence. Clearly, he's curious about the yellow ring...especially after he gets the backstory on Parallax. Sinestro, very subtly, is kind of fed up with the Guardians way. He openly chastises in the film.

Don't be surprised one bit if he's still Sinestro at the beginning of the sequel with Hal starting to see that this guy is a little "off."

 

[LostSon88]

At the behest of another group of my friends, I went and saw it a 2nd time tonight with them.

And you know what? I actually found myself enjoying it a bit upon a 2nd viewing.

Having attended last nights midnight show and knowing what to expect, just sitting back and watching it play out, it just seemed much more watchable to me.

Last night, when I reviewed it I commented at how 'bored' I was while watching it. And although those same issues are still there, I didn't feel as strongly about it as I did last night.

Even the final fight seemed better to me. I think when I took some time and just thought about my initial criticisms, I felt that even I was overeacting a tad.

...but that's not to say that this is a great movie. It still isn't. But for me, its much more enjoyable than it was for me 24 hours ago.

So from my initial score of 5/10 last night, i'm going to bump it to a 7/10.

Better than DD and the F4 movies but probably around the same level of Wolverine and X3, which believe it or not are two CBMs that I don't find to be as terrible as many others make them out to be.

 

[The Morningstar]

Exactly, he's a FAILED Green Lantern. He got his ass kicked in his one and only training session (don't get me started on the lack of Oa) he goes home, sulks, is spoon fed what he needs to hear from one dimensional plot device characters...

Then all of a sudden he's a world saver? WTF?

 

[J.Howlett]

He does a bit more than just sulk after he leaves Oa. He has a heroic moment that's not about him. It was a selfless act on his part.

 

[dark_b]

I think the problem is that this movie was converted to 3D and not shot like Avatar so i dont think there was planning to make the constructs pop out. But seeing all the space scenes in 3D was freaking amazing.

they knew that itwould be in 3D. they started working on this 4 months after Avatar was out. they knew it would be in 3D and they knew that they would post convert it.

 

[LadyVader]

I asked on the last page but nobody answered. Is the galaxy divided into sectors in the movie (and Earth is in sector 2814) or do all the GL's just like to hang out on Oa all the time?

 

[The Morningstar]

True. But most of the time he's all angst ridden about not being worthy enough. His "journey" as a character is just terrible.

It also makes Abin Sur out to be a chump.

 

[J.Howlett]

It's better than the Last Stand and Origins Wolverine.

Yes, it has some serious issues in the character arc department. It's not that it doesn't have it. It's how it's employed in the finish product.

We know why Hal's afraid but we also know why he's fearless. It's just that it's told too many times. We see his fearlessness twice in the film.

 

[Ponyboy]

A

Better than DD and the F4 movies but probably around the same level of Wolvering and X3, which believe it or not are two CBMs that I don't find to be as terrible as many others make them out to be.

My wife and I just got in from seeing it at the Roxy Theatre around the corner.

What LostSon said is pretty much spot on. Parts of it were enjoyable. The CGI wasn't as poor as expected. The story was extremely rushed, and I felt part of that reason is perhaps they weren't sure if they'd get to do a sequel. Mark Strong as Sinestro is a dead ringer. Perfect.

I'd give it a 6.5/10 Maaaaaybe a 7. Maybe. Go see it for yourself. Oh, and I saw it in 2D.

 

[The Morningstar]

It's better than the Last Stand and Origins Wolverine.

Yes, it has some serious issues in the character arc department. It's not that it doesn't have it. It's how it's employed in the finish product.

We know why Hal's afraid but we also know why he's fearless. It's just that it's told too many times. We see his fearlessness twice in the film.

Well in Wolverine Origins we at least are shown a semi decent reason as to why Wolverine snaps. With the love of his life being killed an all.

In GL he basically just gets a pep talk then becomes a different person.

It's just that Wolverine is never made out to be an animal... other than a ***** cat heh.

And i mean, people constantly label Daredevil a terrible movie. But in that Matt Murdock actually went through a true character journey. He went from a guy who didn't have problems with killing criminals... to a guy that learnt that he doesn't have to kill them. And it was well done, the part where he was beating that guy nearly to death whilst his kid was watching was a powerful moment. Green Lantern has nothing coming anywhere close to that in terms of emotional resonance.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Just saw this, really enjoyed it. Not a masterpiece, but really fun to watch and a damn fine adaptation of the comics. Good flick, nice job WB.

I don't really get why people write this about movies sometimes. I'm sure I've even wrote it once or twice but really it means nothing. Nobody was expecting a masterpeice I think that they were expecting a better film though. And despite me not hating GL yet, I know that this film could have been miles better. Asking for a better film is not asking for a masterpeice. You'd be disappointed with almost every film ever made if your standards were that high.

I just wanted a solid epic adventure movie that had a little heart and that wasn't too stupid. I felt that I didn't get that.

 

[cryptic name]

I asked on the last page but nobody answered. Is the galaxy divided into sectors in the movie (and Earth is in sector 2814) or do all the GL's just like to hang out on Oa all the time?

there are the customary 3600 sectors and earth is indeed in 2814 t:

 

[J.Howlett]

Yes, Hal got a pep talk about his courage but we already saw his courage when he saved the citizens at the party.

We saw his fearlessness during the test dog fight sequence.

Thor gets a pep talk from Loki, becomes a better person, only to realize that Loki tricked him. Him sacrificing himself for Jane kind of doesn't make sense. He should be really pissed instead of somber at that point.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I asked on the last page but nobody answered. Is the galaxy divided into sectors in the movie (and Earth is in sector 2814) or do all the GL's just like to hang out on Oa all the time?

Hal sector number was shown.

 

[cryptic name]

I don't really get why people write this about movies sometimes. I'm sure I've even wrote it once or twice but really it means nothing. Nobody was expecting a masterpeice I think that they were expecting a better film though. And despite me not hating GL yet, I know that this film could have been miles better. Asking for a better film is not asking for a masterpeice. You'd be disappointed with almost every film ever made if your standards were that high.

I just wanted a solid epic adventure movie that had a little heart and that wasn't too stupid. I felt that I didn't get that.

it's a pretty common colloquialism, not meant to be taken literally. my post wasn't in response to any others, just my thoughts on the flick.

 

[craigdbfan]

I don't really get why people write this about movies sometimes. I'm sure I've even wrote it once or twice but really it means nothing. Nobody was expecting a masterpeice I think that they were expecting a better film though. And despite me not hating GL yet, I know that this film could have been miles better. Asking for a better film is not asking for a masterpeice. You'd be disappointed with almost every film ever made if your standards were that high.

I just wanted a solid epic adventure movie that had a little heart and that wasn't too stupid. I felt that I didn't get that.

Exactly this. I wish this could be pinned on every SH page.

The "It isn't a masterpiece but..." schtick has gotten really tiresome to constantly read. It's as if its asking to much for a film to just be good or great.

 

[The Morningstar]

Yes, Hal got a pep talk about his courage but we already saw his courage when he saved the citizens at the party.

We saw his fearlessness during the test dog fight sequence.

Thor gets a pep talk for Loki, becomes a better person, only to realize that Loki tricked him. Him sacrificing himself for Jane kind of doesn't make sense. He just be really pissed instead of somber.

Loki doesn't give Thor a pep talk though. Loki doesn't tell Thor "you need to be more humble and less arrogant".

Loki lies to him about Thor being responsible for his fathers death etc. He doesn't tell Thor what he needs to do.

It's Thor, HIMSELF, learns what it takes to be a hero. Loki's lies just make Thor realise he is in fact a bit of a *****e bag. But the journey is still Thor's. Hal Jordan doesn't have that, because Carol spoon feeds him what he has to do.