Green Lantern Post-Release Thread - Page 2

 

That's an interesting point. Hal has no catalyst. He has no dead parents, no shot uncle and he's never been kidnapped.

 

On the subject of Tony Stark; I remember John Cleese, when discussing Basil Fawlty, said that if a character can make you laugh you will forgive them anything.
 

 

It's o.k. not to have a catalyst. What's the catalyst for Indiana Jones or Han Solo? Sometimes, it's o.k. just to be a good guy.

 

Saw the movie yesterday. The biggest problem is the script. They all talk about Hal's problems, but it's hardly shown. It has all the depth of a kid playing with his action figures. Reynolds fares o.k. but he doesn't elevate the material. Lively has nothing to work with. Kilowog and Tomar Re are essentially exposition machines. Mark Strong is excellent, but underused.

 

Saarsgard probably does the most with what he has to work with. Parallax lacks personality, but comes off well as a threat. The final battle is worth a darn.

 

I thought the much argued about special effects worked well on the screen. Least of the films problems.

 

Editing is really funky at times. Campbell has tone control problems. Too much angst. There's more Spider-Man, when there should be more Star Wars.

 

It's o.k. It probably falls right in the middle as far as superhero movies, albeit with a higher special effects budget. It has the right ideas, it just doesn't know how to present them in a compelling manner. I think the failures on the film are on Campbell more than anyone.

I fear that superhero fatigue will set in with the public. They're going to kill the golden goose. Thor did decent business, but didn't seem to enter the public's consciousness the way Spider-Man or Iron Man did. X-Men FC was great, but did disappointing BO. Now this. Cap is next on deck. We'll see.

 

We have Spider-Man and Superman reboots on the way - but at some point the public will just say enough and the golden age of superhero cinema will end. I guess the trend couldn't last forever, but I will miss it. It's been great seeing characters I've loved my whole life on the big screen, even if the execution has been mixed.

 

 

Slow down on writing the autopsy there. The comic-book movie is going nowhere for a good long while.

I hope you're correct. I'm a superhero fan for life, and even though comic books themselves aren't read much, the fact that these characters are still marketable and socially relevant makes me happy. My friend's 3 year-old son and I had a long talk about Spider-Man bad guys yesterday - it was great - he seemed thrilled that I knew what he was talking about.

 

Didn't mean to threadjack - back to GL...

 

But is it too soon to hope maybe the trend will slow a bit, and studios will get smarter about it? Comic-based films have produced a very mixed bag WRT critical and BO success, and the studios have sunk a lot of money in them. GREEN LANTERN, which cost $300 million if the figures above are to be believed, is going to be hard pressed to make its money back or do more than break even.

 

 

Just look at the piranha swarm and the obituary writers firing up their pens to scribble the narrative...

 

Everyone's shit can be cooled. It's perfectly run-of-the-mill with a few particularly interesting elements. Not a bomb, not a winner. Silly in the ways so many of these origin movies are, but it has imagination and the kind of legitimate scope that Thor tried to convince you it had.

 

Trust no one with passionate feelings (in either direction) on this movie.

 

 

With a $300 million price tag, it will be safe to call this a bomb already. Perception has trumped reality, so there's going to be no middle ground as far as the film's reception. Given the massive (over)exposure, if you don't love this film then they have failed. They set the expectations. The marketing for the film has been non-stop and reeks of desperation. I don't hear anyone at my workplace talking about seeing the film. Out in the real world nobody knows who the GL is and the ads sure haven't give a reason to care other than if you love the color Green you are going to shit over this movie. I also wouldn't fault Martin Campbell, he's a yeoman, he does what he's told. Can you imagine the sheer amount of memos, script changes, and reshoots he was given? (I'm sure after a little while all the real dirt will come out).

Hopefully this will be the Emperor Wears No Clothes for Ryan Reynolds who has been forced down our throats as a Big Deal locking up films left and right with no box office clout to prove it. He must have a hell of a management team; actually no, Hollywood has just become more like the studio system of old embracing 'star' creation and a 'stable' of faces that can be used interchangeably. Again, out in the real world : who the hell is Blake Lively?

This is everything wrong with the internet.

 

It's like a perfect storm of the internet nerd's unearned arrogance.

I really hate that post. Like, fashion-a-shiv-out-of-my-own-thighbone-just-to-have-something-to-stab-it-with hate.

Man, can we stop slamming Ryan Reynolds? He seems like a nice guy, who's passionate about his work. I get that there's a lot of nerd anger because he's good-looking and he's been in several comic movies that turned out to be crap, but come on.

 

I can't help but feel bad for the guy. He really, really wants to be a superhero, but it's just not his niche. He's chasing a dream that he probably won't get another chance at, after this film comes out. But to say he's a big fucking phony that the studios have been trying to force on us for years is a load of resentful bullshit.

Charles Foster Kane is clapping right now.

Thank you, thank you.

 

If any other ridiculously rich and attractive people who are banging the likes of Scarlett Johansson need a boost of confidence, I'll be around.

Dang. It was just, like my opinion, man!

 

Just to step back a bit, how has Reynolds been "forced down our throats"? By taking that small role in Adventureland? By doing the blockbuster Buried? But, you're right. Casting him in Green Lantern is unprecedented. They only ever cast proven box office megastars as superheros.

 

Sorry, but any studio that spends $300 on a film that features a line like "Now let's take off these pants & fly some planes!" deserves to get butt-hurt at the box ofice.

 

It was his overbearing ten minutes of screentime in WOLVERINE that sealed the deal, I think.
 

 

Funny enough, Reyonlds is one of the few actors I can think of that could pull that line off.  I personally like him as an actor, I find him funny and full of charisma.  You compare him to an actor like Sam Worthington and there is no comparison. I just find that guy to be as interesting as a brick.

I think Reynolds is a perfectly fine actor, just was mis-matched here.  He would have made a much better Flash.  Allen or Gordon, either one.

 

So if has the Magic Words "Green Lantern", it's automatically a good movie???? I love fanboy logic.

Yeah, Reynolds is great & charismatic as hell...in the right role. He was actually really effective dramatically in Buried, I thought. But in all the footage I've seen of GL, there's seems to be a thick layer of detachment, as if he'd rather be texting pics of his abs to chicks while he suffers through yet another set-up/effects shot.

 

It was never a possibility but I'd always thought that James Marsden would've made a damn good Hal Jordan.

 

I agree with this 100%.

 

 

Act 2 really sinks what could have been a solid movie. The setup is fine. The climax is one of the better ones of the genre. But, the middle really just treads water for about an hour until Reynolds gets a magic pep talk from Lively. Seriously, go to the lobby after Sinestro kick's Hal's ass in training, linger there for awhile, and make it back with about 20 minutes to go and you'll not have missed a thing.

 

For someone agreeing with a fairly half-hearted defense of the film, that hardly sounds like a sterling recommendation. A whole hour of completely wasted screentime where absolutely nothing of interest or relevance happens in a movie that's... and hour and forty five minutes long was it? An hour of utterly tedious boredom bookended by I'm guessing roughly twenty minutes on either end with what even those defending the film are saying is only middle of the road summer blockbuster fare... that sounds a lot closer to a shit sandwich kind of a film to me rather than a "Meh, it was okay I guess" kind of a film.

 

Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely no stake in this film one way or the other; I'm just saying that from the standpoint of someone like me who's totally neutral on this film, you're not even remotely convincing me to ignore to the negative hyperbole and buy a ticket here.

I overstated the dead time, but a good chunk of act 2 doesn't work and there's no getting around that. OTOH, that does leave two solid acts out of three.

 

Still, I don't necessarily want to encourage or discourage anyone from seeing it. It has undeniable problems, but there certainly are things to like. It's a marginal like/dislike thing, IMO, not some hyperbolic crime against cinema that some people are painting it as. It's a mixed bag, which some will enjoy.

Damn, Dre wrote that only 1/3 of this film works, EvilTwin say's roughly half of it works. Maybe we take the 1/3 of Super 8 that works, combine it with this film, and have one whole movie!

 

 

Just got back. It's a masterpiece of mediocrity, like a piece of toast when you have a stomach virus: worth a look on HBO when you're housesitting or bedridden sick, but useless otherwise.

 

It's not blindsiding in how bad it is, you can articulate what's wrong with the film very well: the script is a top-to-bottom mess. Martin Campbell directs with zero personality (with the exception of the first two-thirds of Casino Royale, something we haven't seen since the dynamite combo of No Escape and GoldenEye). The visuals are unconvincing. Reynolds is miscast and tries too hard to be Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Far too many useless characters, and it's about as exciting as Andrew McCarthy reading The Iliad. Could have been surprisingly good, could have been a clusterfuck of cheese, and instead we got a dried out piece of toast.

 

One-word summary review: Toast.

 

 

 Someone photoshop the poster with that quote. STAT!

Here's our shit.

 

http://www.chud.com/57380/tag-team-review-green-lantern/

Saw this last night and it was solid, but completely unremarkable.

 

Blake Lively is a horrible actress and I didn't for one minute buy her and Hal being life long soul mates or whatever. All the throw-away dialogue about Carol, Hector and Hal being old friends (complete with Senator Hammond calling Hal "family" without any explanation or buildup) felt awkward and shoe-horned in. There was a real missed opportunity to not have a young Hector and Carol at the airfield when Hal's dad died, at least so then we'd have some precedent for where their relationship is in the present day.

 

Speaking of missed opportunities, why wasn't Hal's nephew one of the kids running off that school bus during the climactic final battle? Having a personal stake would have given Hal's sudden boost in confidence much more credibility, rather than the cringe-worthy speech about overcoming fear from Lively.

 

Everything that's been said about Act 2 is true: Hal quits the Corps, but they let him keep his ring? Then he mopes around for a half hour and hangs around with his girlfriend. How about he, you know, goes and fights crime!? Being a superhero and everything, and telling his "friend" (can't even remember the guy's name) he was going to look for trouble, never amounted to anything.

 

It's funny at times, the special FX are awesome, and Sintrestro is the best part of the movie with Hammond (a very sympathetic villain) a close second. Still, during the Star Wars-lite opening scene my girlfriend turned to me and rolled her eyes. I don't think this is going to play well with the norms.  

Watching this reminded me of the Louis CK routine about hyperbole and the irritating "story" from the two fat guys. His remedy is exactly how I'd describe Green Lantern.

 

"Hey, dude....Guess what I saw today?"

"Whoooooooooo"

"Green Lantern"

"That HAPPENED"

 

I mean, it's like a superhero movie made by Applebee's. People showed up. Did some stuff. It ended. The only remarkable thing is how you can have a movie just short of 2 hours with no connective tissue whatsoever. Hal's training lasted all of 5 minutes and never really comes back into play except for how Parralax is finally dispatched (a space native cloud of hate suddenly forgets that stars and planetary bodies have gravitational pull...yeah.....). His "history" with Hector and Carol? Out of nowhere. Sinestro's turn? Out of nowhere. 

 

i think I would much rather see the Green Lantern film supposedly so outright bad than to watch a bland concoction like this ever again. Just a complete waste of everyone's time.

I misspoke earlier when calling GL this year's Speed Racer. It ain't. It's this year's The Last Airbender,

The first review I have ever read prior to seeing a film I wanted to see.  Shite.

 

Emerald fucking Dawn.  Why the fuck if they were going to be

 

 

was Legion considered too much?  Were space clouds not deemed irrevocably retarded and fuck..fuck...fuck...

 

I want to win one of these giant 300+ million dollar lotteries and walk into WB and plop the fucking check down on the desk of whoever it needs to go to and tell them I want to make the right fucking movie for them for once in their shitty studio lives.

 

How can Marvel hit with enough regularity to make even their misses work and WB cannot get anything right except for one origin story and a "thank our lucky stars the lead villain croaked himself" lucky break?  Ridiculous.

It suffers from bad editing and the transitions from Oa/Earth aren't done as smoothly as Thor. It feels like it's a few drafts too soon and the connecting moments with Lively were too plentiful. Too bad. Keep trying, Ryan!

I saw it this morning. The movie's concept is inherently flawed: if your story is centered around a large group of superheroes with virtually limitless power, then you've shot yourself in the foot in terms of being able to generate suspense. There's no way that Parallax should have been able to break through that net (generated by a dozen Green Lanterns), and then be held back by Hal Jordan's little shield. And there's no way that a dozen Green Lanterns should have been taken out, when all Hal Jordan needed was a big green fist.

 

It's a comic book movie, so it may sound silly to say so, but watching this was like watching a Saturday morning cartoon. The bad guy is built up, and built up, and built up, and the hero suddenly wins in the last five minutes, for no other reason than the fact that he's the hero.

 

Reynolds was fine. The dude tries hard, and he comes off as genuine. It's definitely not his mega-stardom-making role, and I doubt there'll be a sequel, but I don't dislike the guy any less. Peter Sarsgaard and The Ass of Blake Lively give solid performances and come out unscathed -- both welcome additions to an otherwise bland film.

 

Sinestro's twist at the end made no godamned sense, and was some of the laziest comic-book-fan pandering I've seen.

Speaking of making no sense, how on Earth did that last confrontation between Hammond and Jordan even happen? He comes back from Oa, and on his way in, the ring alerts him to danger. Of course, there is no imminent danger whatsoever, so he just flies to Ferris Aircraft where a nice cozy subboss battle - fully furnished - is waiting for him. How did Hammond even know he was coming? Was he going to keep Carol suspended in midair all day if Hal didn't show up?

Aw man... this had such potential.  And it was so dull with a couple of bright moments that showed what could've been.  And even THOSE moments weren't as good as they could've been without better execution surrounding it. 

 

Sarsgaard was the most fun.  He was actually much more fun before he started going all AKIRA on us. 

 

Anything that could've given the story and relationships weight always felt arbitrarily tacked on.  Hal's fear.  Hammond's connection to Hal and girl.

 

Blake Lively.  Pretty and blank.  I dig her look (she looks good with darker hair) in general, so my hormones prevent me from saying anymore than that.

 

For a Friday afternoon showing, the movie was pretty well attended.  But there wasn't much reaction to anything other than Ryan Reynolds' snarky humor.  The movie ended.  Everyone got up and left.  No real reaction to anything.

The combination of everyone's complete self-seriousness with the downright Tex Avery nature of the Green Lantern powers made for really odd viewing. This movie needed to be directed by Sam Raimi, in all his cartoonish, hyperkinetic, goofball glory. And with Bruce Campbell playing Guy Gardner. Maybe Ted Raimi as Tomar Re. I would've watched the shit out of that movie.

 

I had a similar thought when Hal first gets picked up.  I thought, "Why now?  It would be nice if Hal showed some quality that could be seen by both the ring and the audience.  But no... he just gets picked up arbitrarily.  If I'm remembering correctly (the movie is fading from my mind FAST!), it was right after he finished having a heart-to-heart talk with his nephew (who we NEVER SEE AGAIN).  It's just the beginning of the movie and already it feels anti-climactic.

 

 

Hahahahahah... the movie didn't even have the 'decency' to let Sarsgaard look his best after accepting Reynolds' deal.  Whether it makes sense or not (like this movie makes any sense), it could've made for a stronger scene for Hammond.  Poor guy.  The movie really kinda bullies him.  Even at the start of the movie, he's just a guy who minds his own business... flawed the way real people are flawed.  When he learns that he only got his opportunity because of his connections, he talks about the people who have worked harder than him to get such opportunities. 

 

The "You could be me, you know" moment could've been interesting for both characters.  Instead, it's just kinda mean (as you said).

 

 

I wondered about this too.  Sloppy sloppy sloppy.  Hey!  I guess they'll save that for the sequel!  ...

 

 

When I first saw the trailers that showed Sinestro criticizing Hal's lack of imagination (swords), I thought the film could possibly build up a parallel relationship between will/courage and imagination: a relationship that could lead to a climactic moment where Hal overcomes his fear and unleashes THE POWER OF IMAGINATION!  Hahahahahah.  Shut up.  It's better than the Universe's Punched!

Green Lantern is...All Kinds Of Awesome!  I...Love, the final battle of...Green Lantern vs Parallax in space!  Blake is also very...LIVELY as Carol Ferris!  I definitely am...Green With Envy, over a possible Sequel!  GL, is now my favorite DC Superhero Film!  Even though Kilowag and Tomar Re, were only cameo's they were also...Awesome!

Lifelong Lantern fan.

 

Yep, it had willpower. Yep, fear was there too. The filmmakers forgot one thing: care.

 

Disappointment city. The pieces are there and at times there's moments of goodness, but the writers just didn't know how to properly adapt it. Can't say I hate it, but wouldn't say I love or like it either. So much wasted potential.

I saw it. It is not a good movie. It had some good bits in it, but they are swimming in a morass of bad bits.

 

Here's my story for what this movie does that makes it bad. In itself, it is a throwaway. But the movie does it a lot. Hal approaches Carol at a party and says complimentary things about something beautiful. Carol thinks he's talking about a plane she's looking at (I think... it's fading for me, too). Hal says he's talking about her dress. Aside from being horribly cliche, we never see the dress. The entire movie is like that.

 

I know Sinestro's mythology is that he was a good GL who goes bad, but dude's name is Sinestro. Who doesn't see the heel turn coming?

 

The scene where Carol recognizes Hal could have been funny if 1) she was a better actress and 2) she recognized him sooner and he didn't realize she recognized him. Seriously, who is the domino mask supposed to fool. If you can manifest a domino mask out of green energy, manifest a larger mask.

 

I thought Reynolds was fine in this. A decent, very charismatic actor with a very poorly written script.

 

 

That just isn't true. And look at you go in this thread. I know "killing The Road" is a tough feat to live up to, but let the opportunity come to you, man. Don't force it.

 

My reaction was closer to Renn's - not the end of the world, but the movie has SO MUCH origin to get out of the way. It had this rote, obligatory, "let's get Green Lantern 1 out of the way" vibe. And as I've said elsewhere, the one thing that makes GL unique among superheroes is the Green Lantern Corps, and they turn out to be a series of walk-ons while the rest of the movie xeroxes some mopey, lonesome Spider-Man/Superman Returns/Batman Begins self-doubt shit. Reynolds was game; had this dialogue crackled like Iron Man's everyone would be a little happier today.

Wow... this movie was bad on so many levels. And this coming from a guy who likes Ryan Reynolds. The story was a hodge podge of nonsensical moments and beats that left you scratching your head after you walked out. In a nutshell:

 

1) Already pointed out. How the ring selects Hal was ridiculously lame, like something you'd find out of a bad TV show.

 

2) The Green Lantern Corp was irrelevant. None of them come into play later on. And if you had over 3000 members, I think it kinda dilutes the uniqueness of the power, no? I know it's prob in the comic, but still. Not to mention how believable is it that only Hal was able to defeat Parallax? It's not like his "imagination" was anything special that took it down.

 

3) Hal had NO motivation to do what he does as Green Lantern. His whole backstory about his father and his feelings about it didn't work.

 

4) Best thing about the movie was Blake Lively's body. nuff said.

 

5) His speech to the Guardians was WTF? Let me save my planet? You already got the ring you dumbass! How are they "not" letting you save your planet!

 

6) Mask was by far the stupidest looking thing in comic movie history.

 

7) Why intro Hal's family if you're NEVER bringing them back???

Banging body, but what the fuck did they dip her in to make her so shiny....Dapper Dan?

 

Also, thanks for mentioning the "speech", which is probably the epitome of the movie's lack of tension and/or logic. He impassionately argues for them to not use the yellow ring. At no point do they say they won't. Then he argues for them to "let" him stop Parallax. At no point in the movie - even after he QUIT - do they try to reclaim the ring or control him. Then he argues for them to join him and get involved/ They say no, but fail to mention that they've thrown ALL of the best Green Lanterns at Parallax to no avail already! Who scripted that bullshit?

 

Worst of all, they let a golden opportunity pass in that scene to sow the seed for Sinestro's turn in the credits. Here's a "fearless" leader that was the only one to survive a Parallax attack (presumably because he ran like a little bitch as his squad got merc'd). Would have been nice to mention that and have Jordan question (or anybody, really) why only he survived. But nah....who cares? Obviously not any of the filmmakers.

Wary of spoilers, I read this to quell expectations. Consider them quelled. Don't feel that I was particularly spoiled either.

 

Loved the Sinistar reference, Nick.

I'm with this reaction, maybe a notch or two down. I didn't outright hate it, I just hated seeing all the potential wasted.

 

And it needs to be said again, that soundtrack was atrocious.

 

It's been said before, but Sarsgaard is so great in this. It's nice to just have a slimy, creepy villain in a comic movie for once. You can tell he had all sorts of fun with this..........but his character has no point in the movie. None. He's basically something/someone for Green Lantern to knock around until Parallax shows up (and I dig the look of Parallax, for the record).

But this was a frustrating film.......everything and everyone got short changed for too many scenes of Hal and Carol talking about NOTHING. Or Hal standing around in his apartment. Or Hammond screaming in bed.........sigh. So much wasted, filler moments in this film.

Sinestro gets screwed and his character twist can't make sense to anyone who has never read the comics.

Tomar Re looks great, and Kilowog look decent......but they each have 3 scenes for a combined 15 minutes at most?? And other than them and Sinestro....you barely see the corps or get a feel for them.

....I'm probably just nit-picking as a fan boy. I don't think this movie is terrible, but it is frustrating. It's the Fantastic Four of the DC movies, but not as cheap looking......hell, Thor did more with less.

Disappointed, but didn't hate outright.  The most annoying thing to me was that the marketing was so unafraid of showing all the balls out space stuff, but then the movie apparently was.  Every time the movie went to Oa or something with the Corps (other than Sinestro's talks with the Guardians) it seemed like it was in a hurry to get that shit over with so it could get back to Earth.  Hal's 'training' is probably the biggest sin in this regard.  That should have been the entire second act.  Maybe even throw in Sinestro showing Hal his own sector (planting the whole 'Sinestro is actually a fascist' seed for his turn). 

 

Hector Hammond shouldn't have been in the movie at all, frankly.  Or at least not as full-on super villain.  If you've got a giant soul-devouring space menace who has killed numerous Lanterns and destroyed entire civilisations, mutant telepathic guy who hates his father and wants to bang Blake Lively is small potatoes.