Cowboy Pete Lights Up “Green Lantern”

It’s challenging when one sees a film that is getting slammed by hostile reviews, because it gets into your head and you start looking for everything that’s wrong, because if everyone else saw it, then you figure there’s something wrong with you if you’re not seeing it as well.

Okay, well…there’s something wrong with me. I saw “Green Lantern” and thought it was a perfectly good movie about Green Lantern.

Great and believable leading man in Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan. Check. Cosmic scope. Check. Incredibly impressive sequences on Oa, replete with various popular Green Lanterns and the Guardians doing their whole wise-but-detached thing. Check.

I’m not sure why every major character in the film had to have father issues.

Many fans are yelling that they disliked the notion of Hal having to struggle so much with self-confidence, overcoming fear, and feelings of inadequacy. I dunno; those were exactly the character beats I played back when I wrote the character for “Action Comics Weekly,” so it seemed a natural direction to go in for a film, particularly if you want to present a character arc.

I skipped the 3D version, because I didn’t want the glowing green diminished. Overall, I had a great time.

Wish people weren’t bìŧçhìņg about it so much.

PAD

106 comments on “Cowboy Pete Lights Up “Green Lantern”

  1. It had a lot of problems, sure, but I had a good time. And plus it had maybe the best line of any superhero movie, ever (the one about the cheekbones). I’ve been waiting practically my whole life for someone to say that to a superhero.

  2. I’m with you, Peter. My son (age 8) and I saw it Friday night and we both thought it was spectacular. I see friends, other comicbook fans, complaining about it and I just can’t imagine why. It doesn’t help that I have yet to see anybody actually say why they didn’t like it.

    We did see it in 3D and while there wasn’t anything that jumped out of the screen it did add, well, dimension to the image. I know a lot of people poo-poo 3D but Alex & I haven’t seen a 3D movie that we didn’t like. We have not, however, seen any movies that were converted after the fact.

    1. Jeff, I’m not sure what you mean by converted “after the fact,” but most 3-D movies use a post-production conversion process including Green Lantern. Avatar is still the only film that I’m aware of that was actually shot in 3-D.

      1. Lots of recent movies have been filmed in 3D. They actually outnumber the ones that were converted in post-production.

      2. A quick (incomplete) list of recent and upcoming 3D films, and whether they’re native 3D, or post-converted.

        Also keep in mind, 3D camera rigs just cannot do some things yet, so even movies shot in 3D will still use post conversion for some aspects. Also, making CGI in 3D is just a matter of re-rendering with an altered angle, so even elements that were not originally 3D can still be “true” 3D (such as the FX in mane live action films, or the late conversion of the first 2 Toy Story films).

        Alice in Wonderland – converted live action, CGI – filmed
        Alien Prequels – filmed
        Alpha and Omega – filmed
        Avatar – filmed
        Captain America – converted
        Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader – converted
        Drive Angry – filmed
        Ghost Rider 2 – converted
        The Green Hornet – converted
        Green Lantern – converted
        Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II – converted
        Jack Úš 3D – filmed
        Legend of the Guardians – filmed
        Megamind – filmed
        My Soul to Take – Converted
        Piranha – converted
        Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – filmed
        Priest – converted
        Resident Evil: Afterlife – filmed
        Rio – filmed
        Saw 3D – filmed
        Tangled – filmed
        Thor – converted
        Transformers 3 – filmed
        Tron Legacy – filmed
        Yogi Bear – filmed

    1. Well, first of all, I think they’re going in with an attitude of, “Okay, all the ‘good,’ A-list heroes have been done, so now we’re on to be B- and C-list heroes.” So there’s negativity going in.
      .
      Second, it’s kid-friendly and it had an in-your-face message about fighting fears that gave it a more juvenile feeling when God forbid a film about a comic book superhero should be kid-friendly.
      .
      PAD

      1. If they only stuck with what the general public knows as “A-list” super-heroes, then we’d get nothing but Superman, Batman and Spider-Man movies. The average person has an absurdly shallow knowledge of comic book super-heroes and which ones are a big deal.

        I also wonder if maybe people are starting to really feel a sense of “superhero fatigue” after all these movies. If so, then it’s unfortunate. It’s the licensing deals that lead to movies that are keeping the superhero comic publishers afloat.

      2. I was wondering if everything comic book related nowadays had to pass the “Batman Begins” litmus test when it came to origin stories and that was part of the problem. I don’t know about the fighting fear part because “Batman Begins” was all about that. Sometimes it’s just hard being green.

        Maybe it should have come out on St. Patrick’s Day, it wouldn’t have gotten pinched so much 😉

  3. At the beginning of the year, when the Super Bowl commercials highlighted just how many big budget, big franchise movies were coming out this year, I came to the conclusion that at least one or two were going to be disappointing. I didn’t know which ones, but the statistics of these things suggested they couldn’t all be winners.
    .
    I wonder how many critics did the same thing, and turned it into a self-fulfilling prophecy. “Green Lantern” just had the misfortune of coming up in a slot when people were ready for something to flop.
    .
    Or perhaps a film that merely satisfied expectations seemed inferior shortly on the heels of a film that surprisingly exceeded expectations (namely, “X-Men: First Class”).

    1. Oh, and Happy Fathers’ Day to PAD and any of you other fine gentlemen to whom it applies.

    2. yeah, I expected to really dislike “first Class” based on what I’d read about it.
      I did find that if you could ignore the fact that it pretty much shattered any sense of comic continuity, it was a pretty good movie.
      I left that movie thinkingm yanno if the books were written like thta I’d probably buy more x-books more often.
      So here we have one movie that is pretty much not like it’s “source material” very much getting good reviews and another which is very close to it’s “source material” and getting blasted.
      and we cant blame the general public for this. Most people I know, comic readers and non seem to either think it was ok or better. I dont know anyone who has hated it as much as these so called critics.

  4. I feel the same way, I enjoyed it and have no idea why so many are trashing it.

    1. the main thing I keep seeing repeated in the reviews I’ve read is: A.) there are so many characters and the CGI looks so fake it reminded people of “Phantom Menace”.
      .
      B.) The CGI for Reynolds looks fake and it looks like his face is simply pasted on.
      .
      C.) The CGI (notice a recurring pattern here?) made Reynolds spend 90% of his screen time talking to a blue screen and his detachment is evident
      .
      D.) It spends so much time trying to be taken seriously it forgets to be fun.
      .
      E.) The villain is lacking.
      .
      I don’t know how accurate these observations are, but they seem to be common threads in most of the reviews I’ve read.

      1. Hmm. Some of that reminds me of the Ang Lee Hulk film and the problems that film had.

      2. Oh, lord no. Believe me, I know the Ang Lee “Hulk” film better than anyone here; I did the novelization, remember. This was just lightyears better.
        .
        PAD

      3. Well, the Ang Lee Hulk film certainly had a villain who was lacking. Nor, imo, did Bana seem particularly into the role the way Ed Norton was.

      4. But apparently Ed Norton just wasn’t friggin’ good enough for some folks. *eyeroll* Bûggër all, I really liked his Hulk movie, I’m really upset he’s out for Avengers.

      5. Well, it sounds like Norton is out of the Avengers not because of Norton the Actor, but because of Norton the Bit of a Control Freak.

      6. Not to keep this too far off topic, but for the Ang Lee HULK’s faults, I *really* liked the novelization and thought it worked well as a novel in its own right. It was almost the Hulk as a psychological horror story, which I thought was really effective.

  5. I saw it last night and thought it was fun. :^) I finally started buying and reading Green Lantern comics from ComiXology after seeing that film. I started off with the beautifully drawn GREEN LANTERN #76-79, and I look forwards to reading more. ^_^

    I hope the film does well enough that the Powers That Be greenlight a sequel.

  6. Thank you! I liked the film. It wasn’t the greatest super-hero movie, but it certainly wasn’t the worst.

    I wish I had passed on the 3D. I thought the CGI aliens and Guardians looked hokey though.

    1. I haven’t seen it yet– but I think the hokeyness could have been overcome if they just had Erick Avari and/or John Lithgow playing Guardians.

  7. Liked the movie. To me it suffered the same problems Thor did, it’s an origin story and gets bogged down in the introduction of all the cast. Which comic movies tend to suffer from being most of the time they are trying to compress decades oh history into 2 hours.

    My main problem though was that the costume design made Hal Jordan in uniform appear as if he had been castrated. I know it is a family movie and you can’t have the natural buldge that would happen with something so freaking tight. It was just disturbing.

  8. I think the problem for a mainstream press was that a “Green Lantern” movie is really, really hard to work outside of hardcore sci-fi/comic fans. I haven’t seen it yet but I loved the trailers, while at the same time thinking to myself “nobody who doesn’t read ‘Green Lantern’ (which is not a lot of people) will get this.”

  9. I liked it, but:
    1.I thought it was a bit too jokey.
    2. I thought it seemed sloppily edited. For instance, the “place the ring in the lantern and speak the oath” line was in the trailer, but not the movie. So you’re left to wonder, in-movie, how he knew to do that.
    3. A number of lines just fell completely flat. “You’re a super hero. Don’t they always get the girl?” and “I’m uncomfortable with the word hero”.
    4.That all the characters had known each other since childhood was a bit too convienient for me.

    I thought the bits on OA worked much better than the bits on Earth. Hal telling the Guardians they were afraid of being afraid was great stuff. One thing I don’t get though. If the ring never makes a mistake in who it chooses, and if the Lanterns believe that, then why should Hal get any grief, from anyone, as to whether he can hack it or not (his self doubt I can understand, but there’s no excuse for Sinestro). This occured to me during the two GL animated films that have been made, too. What’s the point of a marine boot camp structure to training, said structure being at least partially designed to weed out those who can’t measure up to standards, when the fact that you have a ring means that you DO measure up to standards?

    1. I thought it seemed sloppily edited. For instance, the “place the ring in the lantern and speak the oath” line was in the trailer, but not the movie. So you’re left to wonder, in-movie, how he knew to do that.
      .
      I didn’t wonder, because Abin Sur told Hal what to do in the film. Abin Sur’s dying words instructed Hal to touch the ring to the lantern and speak the oath. Hal even quotes Abin Sur’s instructions to his friend as they frantically drive away from the crash site.

    2. 4.That all the characters had known each other since childhood was a bit too convienient for me.
      .
      That’s using the current history for the character, though. That scene with young Hal watching his father’s test flight (and Hal and Carol knowing each other as kids) is straight from the comics.
      .
      On the one hand, the film does change some details, so one can argue that should have been changed too; but on the other hand, we as fans always say we want the films to be as true to the comics as possible. So personally, I applaud the things they keep the same, and if any changes are made I ask myself, does it make sense in this continuity? If the answer is yes, I just go with it, because really the comic continuity is constantly being changed anyway. (Which brings me full circle to Carol and Hal knowing each other as kids!)

      1. Well, that explains it, but it doesn’t really excuse it. Nothing would be lost if Hector Hammond had been a complete stranger to Hal and Carol, especially given that their relationship together is given lip service and no actual development. Maybe it was given development in the comics, but it wasn’t given any on the screen. Even less would have been lost if Parallax, for instance, possessed one of the Ferris Aircraft workers afraid of losing their jobs beacause of Hal’s actions and Hammond was left out entirely. The only reason Hammond’s there is beacause he’s a prominant Green Lantern villian; his specific presence doesn’t mean anything to the story itself.
        I feel for the makers of comic book films, I really do. Comics fans are just about the original unpleasable fanbase, given that they’re very passionate and used to seeing what they love completely bowdlerized. But defending elements that are poorly executed on film that are given depth in other media seems like a poor defense for shoddy filmmaking. I, too, enjoy it when they keep elements from the comics, I just wish they’d do a better job of it.

      2. The rumor going around the net is that there was a scene (said to be 10 minutes long, but that seems a little excessive to me) of Hal, Carol and Hammond as kids that was cut from the film. The IMDB credits do list a “Young Carol” played by Jenna Craig (a girl born AFTER the release of The Phantom Menace…man, I am getting old).

        I’m not sure if young Carol appeared in the flashback scene that was shown in the movie. If not, then that is strong evidence that another flashback scene was filmed. Although the IMDB credits do not list a “Young Hector.” Given how nonchalantly the film introduces the fact that Hal and Hector know each other and that Hector is a romantic rival for Carol, I find it hard to believe that there is NOT a cut scene somewhere that was supposed to have established these facts sooner.

  10. I saw GREEN LANTERN today (shameless review plug: http://thearmchaircritic.blogspot.com/2011/06/green-lantern.html ) and I found it very disappointing. First, I thought Ryan Reynolds spent so much of the movie in the “I’m worthless, it’s a mistake, I’m pathetic (but charming)” mode that the transition to hero didn’t ring true. Second, I thought the pacing was often dull, possibly because it bounced back and forth so much between Earth and space. (Hal’s talking to his roommate. Now some Lanterns are flying after Parallax. Now Hal is in a bar. Now Sinestro is talking to the Guardians. Now…) Third, given how creative a power ring should be, they should have it used a lot more. And forth, this movie could have the most pathetic training sequence in cinema: Hal flies, gets his ášš kicked by Kilowog, gets his ášš kicked by Sinestro, feels pathetic and leaves — and from that he can beat Parallax when a squad of actually-trained GLs can’t.

    There were a lot of “what the?!?” moments that seemed to make little-to-no sense to me. Specifically (spoilers follow):

    — Hal let that crashing helicopter both crash and skid around for a while before stopping it. Why? It’s not like he was fumbling for the ring or was in the bathroom when it went down.

    — Considering that Parallax was created by a Guardian trying to harness the yellow power of fear, you’d think they’d have learned that creating a weapon to harness the yellow power of fear would end badly.

    — When facing off against Hector, removing your ring is THE LAST THING YOU’D WANT TO DO! And what guarantee was there that only the chosen could use it? Did Hal learn that during his five minutes of training on Oa?

    — And why, during the semi-post credits part, would Sinestro go for the yellow ring? There’s nothing in the movie to suggest he was cowardly, or evil, or dishonorable, or power-hungry; heck, he even seemed to like Hal by the end. So why (apart from the hope for a sequel) go to the Dark, er, Yellow Side? (Then again, as the demotivational poster says, “Seriously, why the f**k would the Guardians give a power ring to anyone named Sinestro?)

    (Incidentally, this seems to be the first merchandised superhero movie where there are no figures for the villains, yet there are figures for characters who appeared for minutes or seconds.)

    1. Random thoughts…
      SPOILERS
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      .
      – Hal let that crashing helicopter both crash and skid around for a while before stopping it. Why? It’s not like he was fumbling for the ring or was in the bathroom when it went down.
      .
      No, but Hal is both human and a GL n00b in this film. He also froze up during an earlier crisis in the film — when his plane stalled. I’m sure he’ll have better superhero reflexes as he gains experience.
      .
      – Considering that Parallax was created by a Guardian trying to harness the yellow power of fear, you’d think they’d have learned that creating a weapon to harness the yellow power of fear would end badly.
      .
      Right. Hal points out two things at that point in the film — that decisions made out of fear are not always the best decisions, and that the “fearless” Guardians and Sinestro refused to admit they were afraid and acting out of fear. The Guardians went ahead anyway, deluded that they were making a rational choice.
      .
      It didn’t help that the power of will alone had already tried and failed to stop Parallax. Sinestro said what the Guardians were thinking: “Well, this power-of-will thing’s not enough. Let’s give the enemy’s power a shot…”
      .
      When facing off against Hector, removing your ring is THE LAST THING YOU’D WANT TO DO! And what guarantee was there that only the chosen could use it? Did Hal learn that during his five minutes of training on Oa?
      .
      The film established early on that the ring grants each Green Lantern telepathic access to the Oan version of Wikipedia. Hal completed one of Tomar Re’s sentences with knowledge that no human could have known without that Wiki-access.
      .
      On top of this, the other Lanterns repeatedly told Hal that the ring chooses its wielder. Between the Oan Wiki and what he picked up in training, Hal made an informed decision.
      .
      And why, during the semi-post credits part, would Sinestro go for the yellow ring? There’s nothing in the movie to suggest he was cowardly, or evil, or dishonorable, or power-hungry; heck, he even seemed to like Hal by the end. So why (apart from the hope for a sequel) go to the Dark, er, Yellow Side? (Then again, as the demotivational poster says, “Seriously, why the f**k would the Guardians give a power ring to anyone named Sinestro?)
      .
      Throughout the film, Sinestro does what he thinks is right. Terrifying new enemy? Gather the best Lanterns and go defeat him. Useless human Lantern n00b? Put him in his place so he doesn’t get in anyone’s way. Enemy kills off your best Lanterns? Try to harness and master his power in order to defeat him.
      .
      Sinestro didn’t try to harness fear because he wanted to be evil — he wants to improve the Lantern Corp’s ability to do good. He makes the exact same mistake Krona made. Sinestro just thinks he can succeed where a Guardian failed.

      .
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      END SPOILERS

      1. “Sinestro didn’t try to harness fear because he wanted to be evil — he wants to improve the Lantern Corp’s ability to do good. He makes the exact same mistake Krona made. Sinestro just thinks he can succeed where a Guardian failed.”

        But that’s not shown in the film and that’s my problem with that scene. It would have been better just to have him eyeing it because the interesting thing would be to have the next movie show his decision and “corruption.”
        .
        From a writing standpoint, that was an even more poorly and amatuerishly executed turn than Anakin in the Star Wars prequel movies. They could still save the next movie by having him still a GL in the beginning but secretly using the yellow ring, but it just comes completely out of left field for anyone that is not familiar with the characters and history.

      2. But that’s not shown in the film and that’s my problem with that scene. It would have been better just to have him eyeing it because the interesting thing would be to have the next movie show his decision and “corruption.”
        .
        Since it was, after all, just a teaser for a potential sequel, I’d be highly surprised if such motivations aren’t looked at in any GL2 that might be made.
        .
        After all, the teaser at the end of Thor featured events that weren’t even hinted at in the larger movie.
        .
        –Daryl

    2. Parallax was not “Created” by the Guardian, parallax just took over the Guardian.

      As for Sinestro, I thought it was in character just as much as it was in the comics. He’s a bit of an egotist and feels like Guardians arent proactive enough. That there needs to be a more active powerful force in “saving” the universe.
      He doesnt see the Yellow as being evil or “dark” anymore than the Guardian who became the embodiment of Parallax.
      It’s the whole use evil to do good type of thing.
      None of the Spectrums aren’t inherently good or evil, it’s all in how it’s used.
      There have been “fallen” GL’s who have abused their power but they were still able to access the power of the ring.
      The same is similar with Sinestro. Sinestro doesnt really think of himself as a villain, just a “good” man who isnt afraid to “get messy” in order to save the universe.

  11. I’m afraid that I, too, found it very disappointing, particularly as it felt there was a very good movie buried in there somewhere.
    I really liked the cast, LOVED the first 20minutes or so, and thought the fearlessness/courage/self-doubt theme that PAD said others had trouble with is a very strong one…but I thought that it was undermined by a poor structure and flat, overly expository dialogue.
    The film also seemed very small in scope, particularly on Oa(seriously, are those two platforms the only places on that planet?) and the lack of imagination in ring usage.
    There were lots of threads that didn’t go anywhere (Hector’s memory power, Hal’s relationship with his family), and Hal’s arc was poorly sketched.
    I’m not sure we saw enough charm in Hal (despite Reynolds having oodles of it in real life) to really want to root for him. He occassionally came off as creepy in thr romantic scenes.

    Anyway, I don’t want to rant too much….there was some real gold here (the balcony scene, the final fight with Parallax, the relationship between Hal and Tom) just not enough for me to not feel bored, or worse….that I felt I was watching a superhero film from the ’90s.

  12. I went to see it yesterday and thought it was awesome. It might just be my attachment to the source material, being I grew up as a DC Comics kid, but I came out of the movie feeling like an excited kid. I can’t remember the last movie (superhero or otherwise) that’s done that.

    “I’m not sure why every major character in the film had to have father issues.”

    Well, that started with Emerald Dawn in the comics. Hal had father issues about how his father died. They just expanded it out to Hector Hammond too. I don’t think Carol really had any daddy issues, though.

  13. I absolutely LOVED it. It was everything I’d been hoping for from a Green Lantern movie. I saw it in 2D for the same reasons, but I plan on going to see it again in 3D later this week.

  14. Thank you! I felt the same way. My husband grew up reading the DC comics – I didn’t. He’s been really looking forward to this movie.

    I tried to block out ALL the reviews because I didn’t want anything to be colored by them. I thought it was a delightfully entertaining movie about a guy becoming a superhero.

    My husband also liked it, and he’s a Green Lantern fan. I LIKED having the bits of humor in it. I liked the guy having doubts about becoming a hero.

  15. I’m not a fan of DC comics… but everytime i hear the Green Lantern oath… i get goose bumps. I thought the movie was pretty good… up until the last battle with the big bad… I made me feel like Hal’s allegiance to/ faith in the corps was a bit rushed/forced. But all in all i enjoyed it… especially Sinestro.

    Grey

  16. My wife, son and I went to see it Friday night, and loved it. Saw the 2D, mainly because of timing issues, and don’t think we missed out on anything by not seeing the 3D. A small thing that impressed me, writing- and consistency-with-the-comics-wise were the brief flashes we saw of Amanda Waller’s history fitting perfectly with her comics history that led to her formation of Task Force X.
    .
    I’d definitely love to see it again.
    .
    –Daryl

  17. I saw it with my family on Friday night (forced them to go as my Father’s Day present ;).

    I enjoyed it. No question about it. The rest of them were more mixed.

    I loved Ryan Reynolds and Mark Strong’s performances. I liked the CGI and all the scenes on Oa.

    In fact, the biggest change I’d have made if it were me would be to remove most of the Earth scenes after he gets the ring and heads to Oa. Maybe have just one where he talks to Carol after quitting and gets talked back into rejoining. The remainder of the Earth scenes and setting the Parallax battle on Earth were the parts that I thought weren’t needed and made the film less unique.

    Overall, I definitely enjoyed it.

  18. I thought the film was excellent. Two minor details bugged me a bit, though:

    1)Why were all the lights turned off for Jason Jordan’s birthday party? What the hëll kind of kid’s party is that?

    2)Hal Jordan’s power battery looked too much like a cross between a wine bottle and a See-N-Say.

  19. Thank you, PAD! Even with a 52 million dollar opening weekend, “experts” are saying “well, it’s not as good as the opening weekend of ‘X-Men: First Class’ or ‘Thor,’ so it’s probably done.” It’s as though they WANT the film to fail. It’s driving me buggy. Or maybe I’m just reading too much into it.

    1. Well, on a $300 million dollar+ budget (including marketing), a $50 million opening is pretty disappointing, given that most films end up with a final take approximately 3 times opening weekend in most cases. The mediocre word-of-mouth will likely mean it’ll bring in a bit less than 3x.

      They may or may not want the film to fail, but these days, with the exception of strange outliers like Avatar, a films final take can be estimated fairly accurately after the opening weekend. If Green Lantern holds to this pattern, which by all indications it will, don’t hold your breathe for a sequel is all.

  20. I didn’t buy the characterization of Hal Jordan a bit. He came across more as Kyle Rayner. I think Geoff Johns did a far better job of balancing how a ballsy fighter pilot could have issues with faltering out of fear in his “Secret Origin” arc. I wish they had adapted that.
    .
    Instead, they took a few storylines’ worth of plot, some of which were rather epic, such as “Rebirth” and the “Sinestro Corps War” and crammed them into one film, without any of the sense of depth that this should’ve warranted. Both the yellow impurity and the familiar motiff of the rings speaking the the wearer to note how the rings’ power were depleted were both missed, which means this was never an issue as Hal defeated Parallax almost single-handedly, simply by applying a point that Kilowog had made during his training—even though a dozen of the best GLs apparently couldn’t think to do this when they went up against the entity earlier in the film.
    .
    This, along with Blake Lively’s awful acting (who the hëll cast her?), made for a rather mediocre film.
    .
    Pass.

    1. You nicely summarized most of my problems with the film here. I was also thinking that they could have just adapted Johns’s Secret Origin story and had a much better movie. I still enjoyed it for what it was, but the more I think about it, the more I think how many missed opportunities the movie represented. Although, I will give them credit for not rushing the story by making Sinestro a third villain. I actually thought they would do that, and was surprised and gratified to find that they were saving it for a sequel (I was also surprised they had the confidence that there would be a sequel).
      .
      And yes, Blake Likely was awful, and miscast. Peter Sarsgaard was excellent, though, so that kind of made up for it.

    2. a dozen of the best GLs apparently couldn’t think to do this when they went up against the entity earlier in the film.
      .
      That’s because they almost all died as soon as they met Parallax, who fed on their fear. Unlike Hal, the other Lanterns and Guardians refused to admit that they had any fear.
      .
      Hal Jordan was able to recognize and overcome his own fear, denying Parallax a dinner. So Hal survived long enough to execute a plan.

    3. I enjoyed the movie, but I can understand why the “comic fans” were disappointed with it after reading Geoff Johns “re-boot.”

      Speaking of projecting a future GL villain, did anyone else catch Carol Ferris’s “codename” posted on her flight helmet? Hmmmm…

  21. Over all I enjoyed GL. There were only one thing that took away from my over all enjoyment of the movie:
    Let’s say you run a police precinct filled with the best of the best. Riggs and Murtaugh Harry Callahan, John Mcclane, , Robocop, etc , etc. and you learn that one of the worst criminals your team has ever captured has escaped. All your cops are at the station. You know where the bad guy is going. How many of your officers do you send? One…a rookie. In fairness there may have been some exposition that explained why they only sent one but If it was there I missed it.

    1. They didn’t “send” Hal at all. He knew that Parallax was coming to Earth and wanted to act right away. But the Guardians wanted to think and consider their plan of action (seeing as how sitting and thinking seems to be the one thing that the Guardians excel at, even in the comics). It was Hal that suggested that he just go in alone. Really, the Guardians and the Corps were afraid of Parallax and not willing to admit it. Hal was afraid but was willing to face it down.

  22. I thought it was good but not great. In comparison with other superhero films, I’d compare it to the FF movies, especially the second one. Both featured a smokey cosmic menace. Both had a perhaps too-young female lead. Both had some great moments and moments that fall flat.

    Many aspects of the movie felt rushed. Too many characters to introduce in too short a time. Hal overall was handled well, though. I actually haven’t read any GL stories featuring Hector, so is origin was fresh and interesting. You could say some of the conversations with Carol helped Hal’s turn to hero. You don’t get one dramatic turning point that leads to Hal being a hero, but there are some smaller moments that help.

    I liked Hal’s transformation into GL, especially the eyes. I thought he would transform into another green hero at one point. The constructs were handled well. Some scenes on OA were great, some were a little too obvious they were green screen.

    Some of the editing was confusing. At one point, Sinestro is expected to be somewhere else, but ends up in another place just a few moments later, then back to the place you thought he would be.

    The dumbest scene has to be a crowd that’s in danger and they are just standing around.

    I thought the cast was strong (not just Sinestro, heh). The movie dumps a lot of info on the audience, and I thought Thor handled that and jumping back and forth between two worlds in a smoother fashion.
    I would have liked to have seen more of Hal’s family, as that scene was handled well. This movie was good, but needed better editing and an additional ten minutes to flesh things out to be great.

  23. PAD if you did the novelisation of Ang Lee’s The Incredible Hulk, are you able to tell me what the hëll happens at the end of the fight with his Dad?

    I for one am looking forward to not getting around to seeing GL, just like I didn’t get around to seeig Thor, Xmen, or pretty much every other film I intended to see, comic related or otherwise. Man I suck 🙁

  24. Thank you, thank you, thank you, sir, for the first good review I have seen of this movie. I was starting to wonder if I had seen the same movie as everyone else! I don’t really understand any of the complaints I’ve read, from the special effects/CGI, which I thought were dazzling/seamless; to the acting by Blake Lively, which was not brilliant–I mean, sure, she’s going to suffer by comparison to, say, Gwyneth Paltrow, but who wouldn’t?–but more than adequate; to the humor. That last one is particularly puzzling to me, since humor has been a big part of many of the big blockbuster comic book movies going all the way back to the first “Superman” movie. And in “Green Lantern” the humor primarily consisted of wisecracks by Hal Jordan, which was the moviemakers’ way of depicting a young guy who was desperately trying to paper over his insecurities by being a charming wise-ášš, and fooling nobody. I think if they had sacrificed the wisecracks in favor of more hand-wringing, the movie could quickly have turned into a bummer. And sure, there was some hokey dialogue, but as a Star Trek fan (and who here isn’t?) I could almost picture Captain Kirk delivering that speech to the Guardians about humanity not being the smartest or strongest species, but we’re worth saving.
    Anyway, my point is, I freakin’ loved it, and I can’t wait for the sequel.

    1. I mean, sure, she’s going to suffer by comparison to, say, Gwyneth Paltrow, but who wouldn’t?
      .
      A big hunk o’ wood?
      .
      (Sorry…I’m just not that impressed by Paltrow. Enjoyed her musical numbers on Glee, but I don’t think she’s all that great an actress.)
      .
      –Daryl

      1. Have you seen Proof? I think she’s amazing in that movie. But I adore her in everything so I’m probably biased.

      2. Can’t say that I have, Robert. But then, I’m at a point with her that, if I see her in something, it’s despite her casting (see: the Iron Man movies and the aforementioned episodes of Glee). A quick examination of Proof’s info on IMDB seems to indicate that she’s the lead. If she’s the lead, that tends to automatically drop a movie to the bottom (or off) of my “must see” list.
        .
        But, that’s just me.
        .
        –Daryl

  25. I haven’t seen the movie yet, mainly because when I started reading comics, Kyle Rayner was just starting and he felt like MY generation’s Green Lantern. Hal felt like a old boring uncle or something and I was glad he went crazy. Kyle’s artist background and coming-of-age fears were right up my alley where Hal didn’t do anything for me. Truth be told, I still feel that way. Even the name Hal/Harold and test pilot background sounds so dated. For years I felt Reynolds would make an awesome Kyle if they ever made a movie. As Hal? I just don’t see it. Then again, I haven’t uh, seen it. I’ll probably see it this week and I’m going to do my darnedest to stay impartial walking in.

  26. BTW, for those of us who disliked/hated the movie, here’s the Topless Robot “Best” scenes from the movie http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/06/topless_robot_presents_the_best_scenes_from_the_gr.php#more My favorite:

    Abin Sur: Hal Jordan. The ring has chosen you because you are fearless.
    (1 minute earlier)
    Hal Jordan: I’m afraid of being in this crazy green energy ball!
    (10 minutes earlier)
    Hal Jordan: I’m afraid of dying in a test plane like my dad!
    (15 minutes after getting the ring)
    Hal Jordan: I’m afraid of intimacy!
    (25 minutes later)
    Hal Jordan: I’m afraid of being a Green Lantern!
    (20 minutes later)
    Hal Jordan: I’m afraid I suck!
    Blake Lively: You do suck. Hard

    1. I didn’t actually like the movie, but I feel the above kinda missed the point…the idea was OF COURSE he felt fear. It was his ability to OVERCOME it that was important. And Hal’s discovery of that was the backbone for the plot….

  27. I thought GL was terrible and so poorly written it was laughable at times. I am actually amazed you liked the film, Peter. Here are just a few examples of why I was incredibly disappointed by most of the film: 1) Parallax is imprisoned in such a low-security prison that an extraterrestrial explorer club sets him free by falling down a crevice… 2) Tomar Re launches into a description of Oa and the Guardians RIGHT after Hal receives a mind dump of information via the ring and demonstrates he has new knowledge of the universe. So, info. on the originators of the ring and their planet isn’t part of the standard mindnitiation procedure? 2) Hector Hammond took up a lot of screen time but he was only in the film to do one thing – give Parallax a reason to attack Earth. And it’s one of the lamest and laziest set-ups I’ve ever seen in any film. Parallax attacks earth… because Hal Jordan has the ring of the dude who imprisoned him?! A dude he already killed?! 3) Hector gets a smidge of fear energy in him and becomes a mind-melded henchman with super-brain powers, but Parallax never uses that incredibly powerful ability again in the film to, I don’t know, create an insidious army and spread fear amongst his enemies. 4) Hal Jordan gets a talking to from Miss Lively on why he’s special and immediately goes to Oa to school the Guardians on how to overcome fear. “Hey immortal beings of ultimate power, I just realized something important when I was talking to my almost girlfriend…” 5) Hal is given the thumbs up to defend Earth alone against Parallax even though the entire universe and the corps is being threatened. What an honor to be drafted to team lantern… Long live the corps! 6) Hal outsmarts Parallax all by himself (which actually makes sense given the intelligence-challenged Plax) and all our favorite lanterns just happen to be hanging out in the milky way, presumably watching Hal fight impossible evil on big screen HD constructs, just in case he passed out near the sun and they could do something.

    1. I understand you didn’t like the film. I’m not trying to change your mind. I’m just addressing these individual issues. 1) Parallax was imprisoned on a dead, abandoned world. Those aliens were not explorers, but had crashed and were trying to leave when they fell through the sinkhole and happened upon Parallax. Had they not crashed, he’d still be there. 2) Perhaps, but then we, the audience, would be clueless. We have to get the information somehow. 2.1) Hector was there because he’s in the comic. Why they had to give him daddy issues is beyond me. “Secret Origin” does a better job of making him an interesting character. 3) Parallax didn’t know about Hector. The fear energy that infected him was residue from Abin Sur’s wound, and not a trap that was waiting to be sprung. 4) Have you ever seen a child figure something out and go tell his parents about it? That was Hal’s reaction to figuring out his own issue. I agree that the Guardians were being really indecisive throughout the movie, but they were going through doubts of their own, it turns out. 5) They didn’t send him, or even give their blessing. They let him go, believing that it wouldn’t help Earth’s chances. 6) Last-minute saves are endemic and cliche, I’ll grant you. Thor has two, for example. I just think that it took those guys a while to realize “we just got schooled by a rookie on how not to be afraid.” In the comics, Hal’s induction is sort of a wake-up call to the entire corps, and his inspiration leads to a sort of renaissance of commitment to each ring-wielder. I really wish they hadn’t tried to do so much with the first film. Had they gone either all on Earth or all in space, it would have been a tighter movie.

  28. The pacing is very Silver Age, which is probably part of what put the critics off. Not a lot of lingering on scenes, or leisurely transitions. A lot of the “little stuff” is taken as read.

    1. Probably one of the reasons I liked it so much. I’m getting tired of superhero stories that always seem to take six months to tell (and that’s just me watching the movies :p).

    1. Sorry, that was just bad. Were those the best jokes they could come up with?

      1. I thought it was pretty dámņ funny, which is why I put the link here (as opposed to “Wow, these jokes are terrible. I should post a link to them on PAD’s website!”)

        Different tastes, I suppose.

  29. I took my daughter and my grandson. The three of us enjoyed it immensely. It had everything we were looking for.

  30. Why did the flick have to keep dropping giant exposition bombs every five minutes? Why was Peter Sarsaagard chewing scenery in every scene? It made me laugh, yes, but it wasn’t exactly menacing, it was just downright silly. Same goes for Hal choking in the middle of his flight with his extremely, uh, loud, flashback to his daddy blowing up. Overall Hammond ate up way too much screentime with Sarsgaard breathing heavily to himself when we could have gotten more aliens, or hëll, more of Parallax since he spends the whole movie off screen which basically makes Hammond a filler bad guy for the middle of the movie. The flick’s paint-by-numbers hero’s quest felt lazy when you compare it to how different and unique X-Men First Class and Thor were. I dug the expansive vistas and the cool FX but I wouldn’t say “realism” was the movie’s strong suit when it came to the FX. It looked neat, but very disconnected because the actors basically looked like floating heads on CGI bodies. Mark Strong gets one good bit with him smacking around Hal whilist talking smack but aside from that he spent most of his time hanging out with the blue headed guardians.

    I didn’t hate the movie, but I was pretty darn disappointed. Had it’s moments here and there, Parallax sucking out souls at the start was pretty awesome and there’s probably one of the movie’s few, fun, original bits where Carol see’s through Hal’s disguise in about 30 seconds. The problem with the movie isn’t that it’s something nobody has ever seen, it’s something we’ve seen way too many times before.

  31. I saw Green Lantern today and liked it alot. I don’t get what the critics have against it. Maybe, like you said, its because its more kid friendly (not a dark movie). I also think it might be because of all the CGI. It seems like critics tend to knock movies that have a ton of CGI (*cough*Avatar*cough).

    Anyway, really fun movie. Everything I wanted in a GL movie. And I’ve been waiting quite awhile now to see them do this movie. They did a great job. I hope there is a second movie, especially after that end of movie teaser!! 🙂

    Thor & GL are both great. Wish I could have seen X-men: First Class, but I’ll have to wait till it comes out on dvd. Ditto with Captain America (I gotta see Harry Potter 7 Part 2 next month). Glad I got to see GL.

    1. Most critics loved Avatar. If you really want to know what the critics have against it, you could try reading what the critics have to say.

  32. I do have to comment on the portrayal of amanda waller in this movie and in the smallville TV series. in the comics, she’s a heavyset woman, though you get the feeling the heaviness is due to muscle, not fat. surely, they could’ve found someone closer to that image than angela bassett or pam grier.

    1. While I was at work tonight, it hit me that the perfect person to play Amanda Waller might be Chandra Wilson, who plays Dr. Bailey on “Grey’s Anatomy.” A little short, which could be fixed by her standing on something and camera angles. She’s shown she can certainly play tough.

      1. That’s so funny, I was just thinking the exact same thing. She’s VERY short, but I think she could make it work. Being one of the best actresses on TV doesn’t hurt either.

  33. What really kills me is the scene in which Hal’s plane is in a steep dive and he sees the photo of his dad and has a flashback to watching his dad die. That scene was funny for a couple of reasons. First the plane didn’t even take off, it blew up when it was like two feet off the ground. Also, they don’t let crowds of people near a jet when it takes off. You see jets exert thrust. This thrust propels a multi-ton vehicle forward at such a velocity that it takes off at a great speed. So to be anywhere behind a jet is to be in the path of thrust of such force that a human being caught in the backwash would be hurled like the Hulk throwing a Barbie doll. Also jets really go fast down a runway. In order for the jet to get off the ground it would have traveled hundreds of yards. There’s no way anyone could have gotten near it, much less a little boy. Also tests of jets are not public events. Things go wrong and who wants to see that in the papers. This crash of Hal’s dad is a perfect example of why it’s not a public event. Also military jets, even post cold war, are you know military secrets. But get rid of all this nitpicking and you get to my second point.

    I found the scene to be a rip off of that Charlie Sheen classic Hot Shots. They even say Topper Harley is suffering from Paternal Conflict Syndrome. I mean it’s one to do a riff on Superman – Hero saves girl from chashing helicopter, hero visits girl later that evening to “check on her” but this time girl figures out secret identity in five seconds. I actually liked that bit. It was funny and clever.

    But to rip off Hot Shots, man that’s weak sauce. It’s almost a scene by scene rip off. That’s funny but not in a clever kind of way. Also Hal was a douche. I found myself agreeing with everything Carol said to him and wondering why such a together lady would give him the time of day.

    1. Well, the people you should complain to about all this stuff, ranging from the innaccuracy of Hal seeing his father’s crash to the suggestions of ripping off Hot Shots would be writers Christopher Priest, Keith Giffen and Gerard Jones who first came up with all that stuff for Emerald Dawn in 1991. Then you should have a talk with Geoff Johns about how he kept all that stuff when he revised Hal’s backstory in his Secret Origin story.

      The truth of the matter is that it’s hard to make a movie that’s better than its own source material. Green Lantern has never been the smartest, most logically executed comic book. Most of the stuff that people are complaining about are things that I wouldn’t say anything about if I saw it in a comic, but apparently rankle people when put on film. I can’t wait to see how people respond to a Flash film. That comic tends to stretch internal logic even more than Green Lantern does.

      1. But it’s clearly stated in the comic-books that Hal sees the crash because he sneaks up in the Ferris installations through a hole in a fence, and he enters the “forbidden zone”. The “safe side” of that fence is where the rest of the people are watching the flight test, and there are no civilians there (in Green Lantern #29, we can see just Carol and Hal when they were little kids and some suits from Ferris: no civilians).

        Moreover, Hal is there just because his father works there, and Hal just goes where he shouldn’t go just because that’s the way the character is, and he spends his whole life doing what he shouldn’t do… well, because that’s Hal Jordan for you. It seems stupid to me that someone points the character “shouldn’t be there and shouldn’t see that” because that’s just the point of the character.

        Perhaps Jim S is right when he states nobody else should be there, but it’s made perfectly clear in the comic-books -at least in SECRET ORIGIN- that the rest of the few people that are watching the flight are in a “safe zone” during the test and that Hal Jordan sneaks up into Ferris Aircraft through the fence, and… yes, he’s where he shouldn’t be when the jet explodes (in the comic-books, the jet explodes because the proptotype fails and his father takes it away because he wants to save everybody else from the explosion).

        I’m sorry about my English, but that’s what I got from the comic-books. And for me these things are perhaps questionable, yes, but they are not “glaring mistakes” that prevent me from enjoying the fiction.

  34. Yeah, and what about this movie about a rich couple and their little kid walking out of the opera alone through the backdoor and getting themselves killed by a simpleton? Are they retarded or what? I can’t believe these people had no security detail, no limo waiting for them just at the entrance, no common-sense for risking the life of their little kid like that (with the woman exposing her jewelry in the middle of that dirty street!), etc. And I can’t believe the killer just let the boy live to tell the story! Retarded, just retarded. These “mistakes” in a movie kill me, too.

    I saw this “glaring mistakes” in a movie called BATMAN BEGINS. Therefore, this Batman character should’nt exist because his origin was awful and the movie warranted no sequels.

    See? It’s easy to play the GREEN LANTERN game with every single super-hero movie out there. But let’s continue playing it just with GL and bashing it to death, pretending no other super-hero movie has anything like that. Why does Parallax escape and defeats Abin Sur so easily? (It’s perfectly explained, but this is a “mistake” for some.) Why there are no Blue Lantern Corps in the movie? (This is a “mistake” for others.) Etc., etc., etc.

    1. When everyone starts to nitpick, it’s because something is wrong. THOR and X-MEN: FIRST CLASS also had a lot of absurdities and some plot holes, but people were willing to overlook it because THOR had a lot of charm, enthusiasm, and good acting and great chemistry between Thor, Loki, and Odin, while X-MEN had heartfelt drama and awesome chemistry between Charles and Magneto.
      .
      I suspect that GREEN LANTERN lacks this chemistry that made people overlook the flaws in THOR and X-MEN.

      1. You know, I actually tend to nitpick when a movie’s either moving too slowly or when I just don’t like the protagonist (like how I nitpicked at the mythology in the Clash of the Titans remake not because of the innacurate mythology but because I thought Perseus was a jerk). Basically, I do it when I’m not having any fun. Green Lantern was actually one of those movies where I didn’t do that at all. I didn’t notice half of the things that people complained about when I was watching it

  35. No, sir, I did not like it. Everything felt rushed and underdeveloped. You hear talk of a universal corps and billions of years of history, but what you see looks like the staff of a company celebrating fifty years in business on a soccer pitch. The rings can give you access to any language, impossibly fast travel, a means of surviving in space…but not the ability to blur your features enough to disguise yourself effectively beyond a mask. It shouldn’t take billions of years for someone to discover and correct this problem.
    .
    I also have a hard time understanding how a film that features a guy getting stabbed in the eye with a needle or the immolation of two fathers can be considered family friendly.
    .
    As much as I didn’t care for the presentation of the yellow energy’s story, I did get the impression that the only reason Sinestro survived the encounter with Parallax was because the yellow energy wanted him to do so. Unfortunately, that makes me feel that Parallax was a red herring sacrificial pawn, which diminishes Hal’s accomplishment in beating him–not that there weren’t already problems with that, touched upon by earlier commentators in this discussion.
    .
    The actors were fine, though too often wasted on what they were given. Sad to say, that’s probably enough for me to give a sequel a chance.

    1. >I also have a hard time understanding how a film that features a guy getting stabbed in the eye with a needle or the immolation of two fathers can be considered family friendly.
      .
      Or the words “bull****”, “rhymes with witch”, and ***hole. I’m glad I decided my kids shouldn’t see this movie.
      .
      Which I finally got to see today in one of the two theaters it’s still playing at. In general I liked it but agree that Hector Hammond should’ve been cut to allow more time for other story developments. I liked the switching between Earth and Oa, because GL as a concept works great in both settings, as clearly seen in the comic over the past fifty or so years.
      .
      I don’t understand the complaints about a lack of variety in the ring constructs. I had heard about them before I saw the film, and was quite happy with the variety used — giant fist, Hot Wheels, guns, swords, rubber bands, water, etc. — plenty of variety for me.
      .
      What really pulled me out of the whole movie, though, and kept me from getting back into it, was when Hal appeared — with no apparent reason — in the lab where Hector was beating on Waller et. al. I couldn’t figure out how he knew the lab was there, how he knew that was the right time to go there, etc. It’s like the director wanted Hal to make an entrance so he cut the part where Hal figures out to go to the lab from the final cut. That left a really bad taste in my mouth.

      1. “What really pulled me out of the whole movie, though, and kept me from getting back into it, was when Hal appeared — with no apparent reason — in the lab where Hector was beating on Waller et. al. I couldn’t figure out how he knew the lab was there, how he knew that was the right time to go there, etc.”
        .
        Yeah, I didn’t get that, either. I thought I must have missed something, both because it was such a glaring plot hole and because I haven’t seen anyone else mention it. But I thought it was really bizarre.

    1. That was one of the few things I liked about the movie. One of the most common Willing Suspension of Disbelief parts of comics is not just that a relatively small mask and change of voice will disguise you, but also that it’ll fool peopl ewho have known you for decades. (Heck, if you go the SUPERMAN route, simply removing glasses and changing your hair slightly will fool PROFESSIONAL REPORTERS who work side-by-side with you on a daily basis.)

      Considering how everyone at the party seemed to know Hal, I’m surprised more folks didn’t point at him and say “Hey! Hal’s got a weird green costume on!” when he appeared. His hair didn’t change, and we didn’t see him run away right before GL “appeared.”

      (BTW, why make Carol Ferris a pilot AND the boss’s daughter AND a potential businesswoman AND Hal’s ex-girlfriend? Why wasn’t one of those things enough? If there’s a sequel, will she also be a diplomat who peforms brain surgery on the side?)

      1. The reason why Carol was all those things is because she currently is all those things in the comics.

        In fact, most of the things that people are complaining about are things that have been accepted in comics for ages. I suppose that makes this a better comic book than it does a movie, but I still enjoyed it.

      2. (BTW, why make Carol Ferris a pilot AND the boss’s daughter AND a potential businesswoman AND Hal’s ex-girlfriend? Why wasn’t one of those things enough? If there’s a sequel, will she also be a diplomat who peforms brain surgery on the side?)
        .
        No, but there is potential for her also be Star Sapphire.
        .
        As in the comics, just like the rest of her character.
        .
        –Daryl

  36. My main problem was some of the hokey constructs Hal created (REALLY!?! A Hot Wheels racetrack to stop the helicopter REALLY!?!) And I had problems with some of the character developments & the use of Parallax, but that’s due to me liking GL since the Gil Kane days up through his alchie problems.

    As a side note to the removing the ring, once or twice in the comics Hal has “removed his ring” because it was in turn a ring construct w/ the original ring willed to be invisible.

    1. I remember from Rebirth onward there were times that Hal took the ring off and put it in his locker before he went flying.

      It looked more a drag racer that something from Hot Wheels. I suppose it could have been a trampoline or a giant net. I would have liked it to have been a giant salmon smacking the helicopter to the ground 😉

      1. The Hot Wheels track was a nod to Hal’s nephew, as we’d seen Hal play with one in the kid’s bedroom. It could symbolize that family helps us focus will, but one scene with family wasn’t adequate to bring that out.

  37. Yeah ok, nothing’s perfect but I REALLY enjoyed the film.
    I went away thinking that this was something I’ve been waiting for since I was a kid. It wasnt dumbed down much to be palatable for the general audience, most of the material from the movie is stuff Green Lantern fans are familiar with from the last several years or more with being too repititious.
    I saw it on opening day and then went back the next day to see it in 3-D which i thought was a pretty good use of the gimmick.

  38. For the record, I agree with you. I enjoyed it and I tell my friends who have similar tastes to me that if they think that Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are “A” movies, and that Spider-Man 2 is a B or B+, then Green Lantern is about a B- or C+. It was fun, light, and something which I have no qualms about taking my ten year old daughter to see.

  39. I thought it was a respectable comic book adaptation, just not an exceptional one. I think the bashing has been overdone, but now the bashing of the bashing is beginning to get overdone too. Some reviews were harsh, the most offensive being Christy Lemire’s who called the entire concept of the ring “stupid.” However, the consensus among critics seems to be a C grade while the consensus among viewers is a B.

    Ultimately, the movie was just too top-heavy with exposition to be entirely satisfying. While the Oa stuff was very original and visually interesting, the earth stuff was so dialogue-heavy that I think it could translate almost directly into a radio drama. The story wasn’t conceived in as visual a way as a movie should be.

    Think of other movie visuals like the fear hallucinations in Batman Begins; the way you saw Peter Parker’s vision change as he took his glasses on and off; Spider-Man’s costume hanging out of the trash can a la Amazing #50; Superman taking Lois for a sightseeing flight above the city; or the vision of Cerebro navigating the mutant landscape in X2. Instead of dramatic visuals like that, Green Lantern gave us lots of dialogue. When powerhouse actors like Mark Strong and Angela Bassett were delivering it, it was compelling. But while Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively were likable leads, I don’t think they successfully infused their dialogue scenes together with the same kind of dramatic weight.

    The good news is that the exposition was very faithful to the comic book mythos and set the storyline up perfectly for future sequels. The bad news is that, unless the movie’s box office trajectory recovers faster than Hal’s jet fighter, it might not hit the necessary level to justify a sequel. That is, unless CGI special effects start coming down in price like the industry thought they were going to start doing a decade ago.

    I really think 10 more minutes of a true battle royale at the end of the film would have done wonders for saving its reputation. There is a rumor that action involving more of the Green Lantern Corps was filmed but cut from the ending. I wonder if they just couldn’t afford any more special effects after a certain point, or ran out of time to complete them.

    The true folly from a production standpoint on this film was apparently the decision to make Hal’s costume out of CGI. It sounds like that turned out to be far more difficult, time-consuming and expensive than they expected. Certainly that money could have been better spent on extending the action scenes or expanding Hal’s experience on Oa (Hal’s training scenes are also rumored to have been cut down). I’m sure the filmmakers could have created a physical costume that looked close enough to the CGI one to capture the energy-powered look they were going for. After all, the costumes in either of the Tron films weren’t CGI and still looked appropriately electronic on film.

  40. Wasn’t terribke, but sure could have been better.

    Suffers from poor pacing. Yes, it ws an origin fuilm. So was IRON MAN, but it worked a lot better on that front.

    Some of my gripes are subjective – for example count me in as one who felt the training should have lasted longer. I expect there are those who felt it should have been shorter, but … Also, Hammond was, in the words of a certain malfunctioning Starfleet computer, “nonessential personnel”. They haven’t learned from the mistakes of SPIDER-MAN 3 and X-MEN 3 not to keep things streamlined and uncluttered as possible. Let’s throw in other villains who tie up screen time to no good end.

    But there are objective ones about details they have no excuse for screwing up. For example, how is it the flame thrower construct shoots real flames?! Since when can a ring do that? Now, if we’d seen Hal scoop up fuel somnewhere to put in the construct, but I sure don’t remember any of that. Or the jet constructs. How is it they had normal jet exhausts? Again, shouldn’t this have been green flames? Sloppy work there.

    **************

    Spoiler?

    Too, one could see why Paralax was as powerful as he was, he had a Guardian at his core. Fair enough. But there were several other Guardians out there. Why didn’t they simply absorb the Willpower force and together dogpile Paralax? He might have nailed a few, but the rest should have been able to overcome him by sheer weight of numbers, especially with the thousands of Lanterns backing them up. The Paralax effect appeared to be a relatively short range thing. OK, have the Lanterns all feed their willpower to the massed Guardians who then add their energy and use it as a Doomsday Machine-like planet-killing beam aimed at Paralax from several hundreds of thousands of miles away. I can think of various reasons why it would work, including Paralax’s arrogance and waiting until they got to where he could scare them up close and personal, not expecting such a long range attack.

  41. These critical experts in fûçk us the superhero movies… Nothing seems, nothing satisfies, nothing fits in your sacred and highbrow pussy. All frames of all superhero stories are the same:

    A larger story runs over the life of a young kid who grows or adapts to fulfill the role of the hero who saves the whole story with his super skills gained in a matter of who knows what fiction or fantasy with which given a fists to his nemesis and his gang making that his woman is with the pussy wet of see the enigmatic figure of the superhero male and while he despises the nerd withdrawn or plaboy disinterested that is the alter ego of the superhero macho man.

    So what is the problem, I know I will see in the cinema, the Movie Transformers 3 and Cars 2 is in the other theater.

  42. anyone ever offered you to write an X-Factor Investigations movie? if ever, i hove you cast jerry o’connel as madrox… unless you have a better idea for the the part. and who would you cast for the x-factor members?

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