Special Edition Podcast
Show Notes
We’re back for another comic book movie special edition podcast, and unlike the last one, this discussion of the eagerly awaited Green Lantern movie isn’t as gushy. While Josh Flanagan, Conor Kilpatrick, and Ron Richards are in agreement that while the movie isn’t as bad as some are making it out to be, the movie certainly has its problems…
Running Time: 00:25:21
It all comes down to this for DC Entertainment! Will the movie-going public warm up to a DC Comics hero that doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of cowardly and superstitious criminals or isn’t a strange visitor from another planet? DC Entertainment sure hopes that John and Joan Q. Public warm up to Ryan Reynolds’ Hal Jordan as much as they did Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark.
Will it work? We’ll know soon enough!
In a summer full of comic book movies, Green Lantern is certainly the riskiest, possibly the priciest, and the one met with the most pre-release derision. Hell, Warner Bros. has already admitted to bungling the pre-release marketing.
But now that Green Lantern has finally hit screens none of that matters. The most important concern is: will the film be good? But for everyone who wants to see a Flash movie or a Wonder Woman movie or a Hawkman movie or a Justice League movie the most important concern might just be: will the film be popular?
Are you going to see Green Lantern? Of course you are! So let’s talk about it!
If you haven’t seen the movie yet be forewarned — there be SPOILERS ahoy! So don’t scroll down any further if you are sensitive to that kind of thing.
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HOPE.
RAGE CATS.
Fear! seriously, it’s got the bad buzz, I feel Fear
All will be well? …
Saw this last night. I kind of liked it. I felt it was faithful, if imperfect. I can see why people wouldn’t like it, but in no way is it as bad as the RT score would make you think.
At first I wanted to say it was okay, and my mate said he really enjoyed it, but I left feeling about as good as when I walked out of ‘The Incredible Hulk’, was kinda fun but not overwhelming. After thinking about it a bit, I was more disappointed.
They tried to tell too much in too short a time, focused too much on the Carol relationship, which could probably have been done better in a shorter amount of time with some better beats. Ryan Reynolds didn’t play it confident enough, this could have been because of the script, but was still too much Van Wilder not enough Harrison Ford swagger, he was still one of the best parts of the film. Hector Hammond was a wasted character. The Green Lanterns kind of come across as a bunch of toy soldiers who are throwing their arms in the air every day too scream ‘For the Corps’, which explains the constant bouts of green light being shot out of the planet…… and MAN is their training on the cheap. Mark Strong as Sinestro was awesome but he wasn’t given anything to work with other than a few speeches. Parallax was neat, but under emphasized, should have shown the other planets/systems being destroyed so when he shows up in act 3 he felt like more of a threat, could have done with less smoke monster more yellow rock/light itself similar to how to show the creation of the Yellow ring….. The structure of this didn’t work for me, there were just certain story beat decisions that hindered the overall quality of the movie….
Loved all the cameo appearances, especially Bzzd, and I was looking Cundiff Cood (the giant head GL) but couldn’t see him anywhere…. but there are A LOT of GL’s and only a sec or 2 on each shot.
Unfortunate, but I’m sure they’ll get a sequel, hopefully they can make up for it then. For now I think I’d give it a rocky 3 out of 5 🙂
@rafterman Agreed on the RT score. If one actually reads the reviews, most say something like, ‘well, it was okay. Not very good. Lots of missed opportunities.’ This is one case where the reductive logic of RT does not tell the whole story about the reviews. Seems like the reviewers gave straight C-‘s across the board. Not terrible, but not well appreciated.
Still gonna see it at a weekend matinee.
Four minutes and counting … Mountain time …
There is a lot of negative buzz all over the net today. I am not a fan of Reynolds, but I would like to start seeing some DC success outside of Batman.
I actually keep thinking about it, and it has me energized to go read some more of the comics. This will either be something I like more as time goes by or something I find more flaws with. I just hope it does well enough to bring on a sequel which would hopefully improve on this. It has a lot of origin movie problems.
I felt the movie was okay, but messy. The various approaches to the material -like the space-opera, fan service stuff and the more traditional super-hero movie- never seemed to gel, and the pacing made the movie feel choppy and un-organized. I did like most of the Oa scenes, and the origin was handled well. However, the Hector Hammond parts seemed too silly in comparison to the Parallax storyline. As a fan, I loved the fact I was watching Tomar-Re, Sinestro, and Killowog and the big screen, but I don’t think anyone not familiar with the characters will find much interesting here. I’d give it a C+. A passing grade, but I doubt I’d go out of my way to see it again or recommend it to a non-fan.
Honestly this was just a bad movie. I will say the after credits scene was better than everything before it. Ryan Reynolds is totally miscast. I will admit the cg came off a lot better than I thought it would. I also enjoyed Sinestro and such but the Corp was so incredibly lame I rather not discuss it. Let me just say it made a whole lot of sense that the Corp of courage sits by so the villain can kill off an entire planet and gather the strength to destroy them all. I want to see sequels for Sinestro but I also rather see it totally redone in a few years. While Hal is my favorite in the comics I think John Stewart would work much better on screen and I’m upset I didn’t see a cameo from him.
I rather enjoyed it for what it was, but I still say Ryan Reynolds just…wasn’t really right for Hal. I don’t know too much about GL, so my opinion on much of the story isn’t worth the time it takes to type it, but as far as it just being an enjoyable movie, I left feeling I got my moneys worth.
Ryan Reynolds is trying his hardest, but every other aspect of the film is just weak. Pedestrian direction, a cliche-riddled script, terrible acting…
The only part that started to work was Hal’s introduction on Oa and the all-too-brief training sequence. And yeah, it’s probably more fan service with Kilowog than a compelling scene on its own. Sinestro is interesting but he’s so removed from Hal and the earthbound (zzzzzzzzz) story that the space opera stuff just suffers.
Parallax was just an empty villain force and an unneccessary complication for what was a rather by-the-numbers hero journey. Plenty of exposition with the Corps and the Guardians and the rings and willpower… adding in fear and yellow was a mistake.
And the Sinestro post-credits scene… not earned at all, and fan service at its worst.
I thought Ryan Reynolds’ performance was the best part of this movie. Definitely flawed, but there were enough cool moments to keep me engaged.
Speaking as someone who has read maybe one or two Green Lantern stories in my entire life, I felt like it wasn’t a movie that I would rave about, but it wasn’t a stinker either. A part of me wonders that if I did know a whole bunch about the character from the comics then I might have been disappointed with the movie. But I don’t know. There wasn’t anything in the movie that I intensely disliked, but for some reason it felt kind of disjointed. I felt like there was enough here of all the different elements (Green Lantern Corps and the bigger more epic space/sci fi story, Hal Jordan’s back story, etc.) for me to take in without being confused. The movie felt more like an introduction to … something … than a self-contained, coherent, complete, finished whole. And, yes, all the characters were interesting to me. But at one point I couldn’t help thinking, “so this is what the Phantom Menace felt like to someone who had never seen a Star Wars movie before.
The Green Lantern has always seemed to me like a different kind of superhero that I just couldn’t really relate to, and I guess that is why I’ve never read it. The movie left me feeling like I want to read more Green Lantern though. It may not have turned me into a diehard fan, but leaving a viewer/reader wanting more is a good thing, right?
Going into this film, I was feeling like it would be an apples and oranges kind of thing to compare it to THOR. The two universes are just so different, IMO. Comparison to other DC superhero films felt more appropriate. So … here goes …
Green Lantern vs (the first Christopher Reeves) Superman … no brainer, Superman wins hands down …
Green Lantern vs (the third Christopher Reeves) Superman … also a no brainer, Green Lantern wins hands down …
Green Lantern vs Routh Superman … Green Lantern easily wins, but not by much …
Green Lantern vs the two most recent Batman films … the Batman films rocked … no competition …
Green Lantern vs the Schumacher Batman films … hmm … those Schumacher Batman films just SUCKED …
I’ll be curious to see how this movie does in terms of sales … I don’t think the Rotten Tomato rating is accurate. Out of five stars, I’d give Green Lantern 3-1/2 … probably a four if I hadn’t watched it in 3D.
The way I see it, if you didn’t see Green Lantern in 3D, then you didn’t see the same movie that I did. Going into the flick not having read hardly any Green Lantern stories, I still felt it was a great movie. I mean, come on guys, Hollywood takes everything they get a hold of and twist and manipulate it into what they want it to be for the most part, so I am not going to be as harsh against the movie for it not following this or that storyline, because to me, it was just a very entertaining movie, and me and my son enjoyed the crap out of it!
Those who say it was terrible or a bad movie IMHO have a very low threshold for these sorts of things. @LukeB and @EAGLEBAUER were closest to on-target. I’m a little kinder and give it a C+/B-. As a couple others here have said, there were more than a few missed opportunities for expanded scenes. And I felt the Hector Hammond story (and ‘acting’) was way too ham-handed. Reynolds was good and the costumes worked.
I was rooked into seeing it in 3-D, though I didn’t pay more. The extra effect came in handy a few times, like in deep space, but by in large, I would have rather seen it in 2-D.
I remain cautiously optimistic that this is just one of those films that critics don’t get. It’s got a dodgy rating on rotten tomatoes until you look at the audience score which is 81% positive (4.1 out of 5) off of 60,000 ish reviews.
Maybe just a case of overly pretentious critics not being able to engage their fun side.
7 out of 10
While the movie itself was servicable, it was definitly held back by the fact that it was an origin. And i want to be clear, this was one of the first true nothing but origin movies. We journey with Hal from being Hal Joardan to ending the film being Green Lantern, The lantern we know and love. I think the fact that GL/Hal is, to the fans, one of the most definable characters in comics. By the end of this film, Hal has become that character, but the journey there is unsettling to us, “Hal Jordan, scared?”, even typing it feels wrong.
I do agree Hammond becomes kind of a throw away roll, but he did a good job with what he had. I like to think that this has the potential to have an Amazing follow up film featuring Sinestro with a Yellow ring and/or Hal dealing with after affects from A) being exposed to Paralax while not wearing the ring or B) Hammond wearing the ring while infected with Paralax.
Good:
Sarsgard plays up the creep factor
Strong rocks Sinestro
Oa training
constructs in general
and IMO, Reynolds does a great Hal
bad:
romance subplot
Lively acts like a cardboard cutout
Hal Jordan is too fearful earlier on
And in other news, the Hawkman movie script was just lit on fire, stomped on by 1000 elephants, and buried at sea so that it may never be made.
Which reminds me, some of that dialouge was just bad. Why they didn’t have Geoff write this script back before he was the architect of Dc, i’ll never know.
I definitely agree with @ed209AF. While I love the origin of Green Lantern his stories are best once he’s an established character and they can just let him loose in the wide open realm of space. I thought for the most part this was a good movie. I had fun watching it and walked out with a smile on my face (possibly because of that after-credits scene…). The romance fell a little flat for me and seemed stretched thin. The scenes on Oa and the fight scenes in general were awesome and exciting and the final battle was definitely satisfying in its grandiose.
Sinestro was way underused but Mark Strong nailed the character and I can’t wait to see more with him. Sarsgard also nailed Hector Hammond and I think the movie in general handled Hammond really well. My audience laughed everytime he came on the screen but can you really blame them? Sarsgard was sufficiently creepy and intimidating at the same time and handled the humor of the character really well.
When I first left the film I was iffy about whether or not Reynolds was the right pick for Hal. He seemed a little too cocky at the beginning and a little too frightened in the middle. The Hal that appearred in the end of the movie though was pretty much perfect. He doubted himself a little but knew he had to do what was necessary to save the day and was going to do everything in his power to beat Parallax.
I was the same way with some of the changes made (i.e. Parallax, Abin Sur’s death, creation of the yellow ring) but after thinking about it for awhile, the changes were explained well and seemed very plausible. A lot of it was simplified for the non-comic reading audience but it didn’t feel dumbed down. The long time readers can still get a lot out of the movie.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie. It definitely wasn’t what I expected or what I necessarily wanted but it was fun and exciting and big. I would recommend going to see it but I would also recommend going in with an open mind. Don’t try comparing it to The Dark Knight or Iron Man, judge it on it’s own merits.
I am actually going to bump my rating from last night up a bit and give it a solid 7.5 out of 10.
And now that I’m done writing my serious review… OMG THAT AFTER CREDITS SCENES!!!! XD I ALMOST SQUEALED LIKE A LITTLE GIRL!!
Oh and the 3D is pointless. Not distracting but it didn’t add anything.
That after credits scene was amazing for any green lantern fan.
Deadline is saying that Green Lantern made $3.35 million on midnight screenings which I’m a bit shocked by because my midnight screening was EMPTY.
Seeing it tonight in 2D. Fingers crossed that it entertains. My hope is that the 8-18 group digs on the movie. Most of the time I can’t figure out why they like what they like, but any comic book movie that resonates with the seeds is a good thing.
me and Wheelhands saw it last night. As credits rolled he turns and says “hey there is no post credit sequence”
…
i believed him
@ed209AF oooooooo that’s rough…
Like a lot of people have said it was okay. I loved the parts with Sinestro thought he was awesome. I think the next one with him as the villian has the chance to be really cool. On another subject there is this fan film about the Flash that is pretty cool, it’s called The Flash Heroes Are Born, it’s on youtube you guys should check it out.
First time poster,
The Green Lantern rebirth actually got me back into comics after years of being gone. I was burned out on Spider-Man, Wolverine, Batman, etc. so Green Lantern seemed like good character to start out with. I read the Rebirth, Blackest Night, Brightest Day and am still enjoying GL books and really looking forward to the movie!
Going to night at 6:50 to watch the 2D version with two other folks. Hope it’s a fun ride!
I really enjoyed the film overall 🙂 I would give it a 9.5 out of 10. I wished they would have built up Parallax to be a bigger threat and showed him doing more in the final fight sequence.
Maybe I’m just too excited to have seen GL on the big screen, and that’s warping my view of it, but I thought it was a lot of fun! The CG wasn’t as awful as it seemed in the trailers and clips, though I still would have preffered an actual costume on Ryan Rynolds than what they did.
Blake Lively also wasn’t THAT bad, but definitely could have been a better character if given to a different actress. It could have been worse, could have been played by January Jones.
I really enjoyed the glee that Skaarsgard brought across as Hammond. He played it a little more sassy than I expected. Sinestro, Kilowog and Tomar-Re felt spot on, and I have to say…Ryan Reynolds was a fantastic Hal! He hit all the beats and was charming and a bit of a d-bag at first but really grew into a hero by the end.
I’m excited to see this again! I’d say it’s above Thor in terms of FUN and below First Class in terms of quality.
There was certainly room for improvement, but I enjoyed it. It felt a little rushed, but they had a lot to cover. I think it would have benefitted from being longer. I saw it in 3D despite my reservation of 3D movies in general. I felt they did a pretty good job. I certainly enjoyed it.
The problem is the movie company/producers are too conflicted on what they want to make. THey are not yet “ready” to make a “completely fantastical” full blown “comic book” movie so they tried to make as much of the movie as earthly, serious, and pedestrian as possible around the comic bookey aspects of the film.
It’s almost like the producers/movie execs are still secretly embarrased and ashamed of the comic book source material for this film and so they tried to make a film about a human who joins an intergalactic police force who use cosmic rings that give them super powers…by NOT making a film about it!
The people who made this film has gone on and on about how closely they stuck to the source material but it is really only from a “technical” standpoint. The writers and producers stuck closely to what THEY got out of Geoff Jonh’s SECRET ORIGIN story as an isolated entity but this doesn’t mean in any way that they embraced Green Lantern as a comic book or any other part of his universe.
why is everyone surprised it’s mediocre at best?
@conor my midnight show was absolutly slam packed full. There was 5 theaters with four being full. There were 10x the people that came out for Thor. I saw more Green Lantern shirts and rings last night than in all the Corps. One of the reason it probably made that kind of money is my theater is ONLY offering it in 3D. I read that some didn’t like their 3D experience but my copy was crisp and clear and add to the movie.
it had Amanda Waller people, this is a set up DC Universe movie. Now they have to tie Superman into this and we are off into it!
@ccarney – Where did you see it? Just curious. Conor’s in NYC but not sure in which borough he saw it.
Speaking as someone who is probably close to John Q. Public for this movie (I don’t read superhero comics, and I’ve never read or been inclinded to read Green Lantern), I have no interest in seeing this movie. The only thing that would drive me into theaters to see this is word of mouth…and so far it isn’t good. That probably doesn’t mean much for opening weekend, but I think it does when we see if this movie “has legs”.
BTW, for those who have seen it, were the final effects better than in the trailer and the clips that have been released. B/c those looked terrible compared to what’s out there these days.
I went and saw the first screening in Whakatane, 10.45am, there was only me, my mate and 4 other people. We were the first to arrive and we were almost late, the others didn’t come in until the commercials were well underway.
I kinda wanna go see it again later tonight (it’s 5.45am atm) to see how busy it is on a weekend.
I went into it with low expectations (I wasn’t impressed by any of the trailers), so that probably saved me from being too disappointed. Parts of it worked okay, parts didn’t. The tone was all over the place, as were some of the performances. I kinda wish we had been introduced to the ring and the Corps through Hal’s eyes – start with him, then he finds Abin Sur, THEN we learn (along with him) what the Corps is and where they came from, etc. I don’t think that info dump at the beginning did the movie any favors.
And, um, I didn’t know there was a post-credits sequence…anyone care to share?
@SkipSpacer Sinestro puts on the yellow ring (while flying) and gets his new suit, he does a cool smirk and his pupils morph to yellow
@LukeB: Thanks! Bummed that I missed that. I guess these days, I should just assume there’s going to be something after the credits and stay put. Lesson learned.
Meh. I was pretty underswhelmed. They tried to get too much in here and left everything coming up short. Not much in terms of plot or character work, and Blake Lively, while easy on the eyes, was hard on the ears.
@LukeB Damn … sorry I missed that … but it was a kind of expected development given the direction of the film, right? I mean, even folks who haven’t read the comics (like me) should have seen that coming … ;P
@SkipSpacer It actually wasn’t post-credits; it was mid-credits. Post-credits was an ad for Green Lantern comics.
This was maybe the comic bookiest comic book movie yet. It did not shy away from the more traditionally fantastical comic book elements in favor of “gritty realism”. We have dvd’s of THE WIRE for such things. I wanted a comic book brought to life on the screen and I got exactly that. Helicopter Hotwheel racetrack save for the win.
It’s definately not as bad as the reviews have made it out to be but also not the home run that DC needed. They’re already outnumbered 3 to 1 in movies this year and made a good but not great movie. I enjoyed it more than Thor but I wanted this to be a knockout. I can see this being a big hit with the younger crowd though. It’s a DC movie which doesn’t have a dude that’s missing half his face.
@conor heh, we didn’t get the ad for the comics 🙂
i saw it at midnight and thought it was great. i see the flaws but i still enjoyed it. i had my ring. i saw a couple of people there (my comic shop owner and a couple of writers.) all in all in was a good night.
I saw this at a sold-out midnight showing in 3D. FYI – I am a long-time reader of GL comics, from the early 90s at least, and a big fan. Overall, I give this a B.
This is a decent representation of the GL mythos and origin for non-comic readers, which is kind of the point of the movie. There is not way they could have ben slavish to the comic and made a movie that would go over with the general public. That said, it is not so far from the comic that it disregards the source material. Changes are made to make things tighter and to fit in the running time of the film.
The Good:
Ryan Reynolds – he did a decent job. He was cocky when he needed to be, but not overly so. Not as much as Hannibal King or Deadpool.
Sinestro – Strong was awesome, if under used
The other GLs – They looked good on film and were well acted. Again, under used.
Effects – It looked great, the constructs were cool.
Skarsgard – creepy throughout the movie.
The Bad:
-There were several times in the movie it seemed like a scene had been cut, or things were edited in an order that didn’t seem to make sense. For example, Hal just shows up at HH’s lab to stop him, but how did he know to even go there?
-Not enough time training
-Not enough time on other Corps members
-Not enough action – very few action/fight scenes, which surprised me
-Didn’t like the depiction of Parallax. Thought it was rather stupid looking, to be honest.
-Much of the threat of Parallax occurs off-screen. We hear about planets being destroyed, but we never see that happen.
-The handful of Corps members battling Parallax was too brief and poorly done.
-Hal defeated Parallax too quickly.
-Too much back-and-forth between Oa and Earth
-Too much time spent on romantic plot
The Meh:
-Blake Lively – She’s very, very attractive, but sort of flat as an actress. Not horrible, not great.
-Changes to the story from the comic did not always make sense. Parallax was once a Guardian? Doesn’t work for me. Sinestro was behind the creation of the yellow ring, which was then made by the Guardians? Err, no. I realize this tightened the story up to fit in one movie, but that could have been done better.
In the end, I did have fun with it. Not the GL movie I would have made, but not nearly as horrible as the critics have made it out to be. Way better than Jonah Hex, on par with Thor, not as good as X-men First Class. Nowhere near Nolan’s Batman films.
I accept that the movie had a ton of flaws. Not the least of which was cramming way too much into one movie. But I had fun with it.
This could mark the beginning of the downfall of superhero based films. Hollywood will look at the numbers and think twice before green lighting the next one.
i just saw the movie a few hours ago.it was extraordinary.truly great action sequences,great acting especially by ryan and mark strong and michael duncan clark.the movie did a great job of establishing the green lantern corps to the general public.
@Apotheosize I think that’s a bit of a stretch. While it’s not getting great critical reviews, the fans are having a generally positive reaction. And it made $3.35 million just from Midnight screenings and is on track to make $50-60 million opening weekend. So far it’s doing just as well as X-Men: First Class and Thor.
It’s Father’s Day weekend, and thus I’m hoping to leverage a chance to see the movie. (All I want are pancakes and a GL movie ticket.) I’m eager to see it, but fear it won’t live up too Thor and X-Men: First Class (both movies I liked).
@SteenAR I hope you are right. I will always be a sucker for these films but am concerned that the general public will reach their saturation point sooner than later.
@Apotheosize
With both Thor and X-Men First Class making good money comic book movies will still get made even if Green Lantern is a complete bomb.
I’ve been sitting here at work attempting to type my thoughts, and I just can’t for some reason. Maybe I’m tired from the late night. Maybe I’m chasing the dragon of superhero movie hype. Maybe there’s nothing I can say that hasn’t been said. Maybe no one’s saying the right things and I wanna make sure I convey my thoughts perfectly. I just don’t know. I’m more conflicted on this one than I think I ever have been.
I feel like I’ve unwittingly just taken a double shot of watered-down Jameson, and I’m still waiting for the buzz. It tasted like Jameson, it smelled like Jameson, but my chest has yet to get warm. This looked like Green Lantern, it sounded like Green Lantern, but I’m still waiting for it to excite me half as much as any issue I’ve ever read.
I’ll get back to you.
I’m pretty disappointed. Caught a matinee with a friend of mine. Not a good way to introduce him to Green Lantern. Weird changes and not enough action. The depiction of parallax was strange as well.
Disappointed. Piss-poor characterization. Halfway through the movie everyone’s character just changes, with no actual development. They just somehow grow new personalities. Not to metion the hatchet job on Parallax, Krona, and most of the mythos of how the Green Lanterns were formed. Hopefully they’ll reboot it and actually think about the screenplay, screenwriters, and cast.
It wasn’t terrible, but come on. They had GREEN LANTERN to work with. Cops in space that can do whatever the hell they want as long as they can imagine it and not wet their pants. They have fantastic source material, they just didn’t put it to use well.
It was a fun movie and thats wa enough for me. All it needed was some Larfleeze, of coarse every movie should have him in it.
Bottom line is…..if it does well there will most likely be other dc movies down the road. therefore just go see it….unfortunately money drives this machine. im sure this was a great learning experience for dc. Betcha it does better than x-men
If you’re worried that the negative reviews will mean it makes no money, I’d remind everyone that Revenge of the Fallen was slaughtered even worse by critics and still made Harry Potter level money. Now, it might suck that most don’t like this movie but if you’re worried that DC will stop making movies, the movie is making decent money so far and that’s all Hollywood cares about.
This movie isn’t bad because it’s Green Lantern. It’s bad because the script and direction were flat, a lot of the performances were hollow, and most of the characters were empty shells with virtually no substance or reason for me to care about them beyond what I know from the comics.
There are a number of great writers and directors that could have done a far superior GL film with ease, and I’m not even talking about any of the big names. This just didn’t impress me at all.
The best part for me was Ryan Reynolds in tight jeans and underwear, and punching out three guys at once with a cloud of energy. I can’t remember the last time I saw a superhero movie and was this bored.
Very disappointing.
ok it wasnt that bad.i had very low expectations and am a huge green lantern fan.one thing i will say is they spent very little time developing the relationship between sinestro and hal,if they would have taken a little time now it could have paid off big time next movie.its not the dark knight but it aint punisher war zone either.
I saw the 10 am showing this morning and when I walked out of the movie I was a bit undecided. As the day has gone on and Ive been thinking about it. I think I liked it more than initially thought I did. It’s exactly what is advertised…a Green Lantern movie.
@spacegrass DO those movies have something in common that I don’t know about? Or is it a scale of great adaptations to extremely shitty?
I am sorry to hear that so many people don’t like the film, but I am going to see it anyway for three reasons. One: I want to be able to judge it for myself. Two: I could be one of the few who like it because I did like Spider-man 3, X-Men 3, Iron Man 2 and Daredevil. And most of you keep saying it is like those movies. Three: I want to support DC comics so future DC Comics movies can be made like Wonder Women and The Flash. I hope to god I like it.
Peter Sarsgaard was the highlight of the movie for me. It reminds me of X3 and Spider-Man 3 in that there’s really no reason they shouldn’t have been able to make a great movie with the raw elements they had to work from…until they let way too many people stick their hands in the pot and suddenly there were too many stories being told and so none could be told well. GL is all over the place like it doesn’t know what its own plot is. I saw Thor twice and X-Men First Class 5 times. I won’t be going back for a second shot at this one. I wanted to love it, and I hate having to say that I didn’t.
Reynolds gave it a go but so much of the script felt like it was concerned with keeping the budget down.
Instead of exploring Oa and the Corps. (which might have needed more budget than reusing the same few shots, even the key shot of the Lanterns projecting their light into space was used twice which completely undermined its resonance) we are lumbered with a perfunctory love interest sub-plot. Will Hal get the girl? Do we care?
Blake Lively is ridiculously statuesque, and emotes like a statue.
Apparently the writers are big fans of The IT Crowd and Richard Ayoade as Hal’s fleeting “best friend” is surely a less funny American version of Moss?
Tim Robbins tries to be the most underused actor in a film for this year but Angela Basset beats him to it.
Mark Strong brings easily the most powerful performance. If only this film had been what it was initially said to be: Training Day in space. Watching Hal learn from Sinestro, seeing the mentor turned towards an evil path due to wishing to protect others, would have been a much stronger narrative thread than what we ended up with.
The film would have made much more sense if the whole of the 2nd act had been set on Oa. Give Hal time to be trained rather than one minute to be told a) he’s crap b) this is how gravity works (except it isn’t) and gee I wonder if this might be important later. Have him ask to leave Oa to save his home when he learns of the threat heading towards it, through his training he demonstrates the same kind of thinking that allowed him to win the early dogfight but he doesn’t have the focus to pull it off. However when Earth is threatened he leaves Oa and through fighting Parallax (his trial) he realises what has been holding him back all these years.
The fact that Ferris sorts out Hal’s mental block without him earning it himself is a terrible choice. Hal shows his ability to think outside of the rules and back it up with the ability to overcome his fear in the opening dogfight. It is a well-done scene because it sums up what can make Hal a great Green Lantern, but it is ignored so his realisation can come from the prompting of his love interest and so make her necessary to the film, which is typical of the shortcuts to characterisation that are made throughout. Even the mid-credit sting is an example of a character doing something because that’s where the film wants them to be rather than it happening organically (mind you it looked hellaciously cool).
So much of the script could have been just removed to allow the important parts of the film to breathe, for Hal to earn his emotional resolution rather than have it handed to him.
There are fun moments when Hal uses the ring, some comedic touches work (Carol recognising Hal) and there were scenes that showed a lot of the potential for the property.
It was hindered throughout by a script without imagination or conviction. Which is ironic considering the subject matter.
Sorry if this is scatterbrained, I’m half asleep.
One more thing that just popped in my head: when Hal punches a normal bloke through a brick wall, didn’t he kill him?
I really enjoyed the movie.
the Tiki
So not good. After watching it all I could think of “This is the best they could do?” I won’t add to what’s been said above except to say that the only thing that will help ease my suffering will be the IFANBOY special edition podcast. It can’t come soon enough.
I watch the new ‘At the Movies’ on PBS, which Roger Ebert runs but doesn’t do the reviews most of the time, and it got me a bit angry seeing the review. It was negative as to be expected but the two reviewers (who I like btw) were tossing around ‘nerdy’ and ‘stupid’ in the same sentence. I don’t know I think it was a bit of a negative look in the view of fanboys just because the film was bad.
Maybe it’s just me.
Looks like it’s slated to pull in around 60 million this weekend according to Movieline. 22 million for Friday, which I guess is better than expected.
I think I will likely wait and maybe see this at the discount theater in a few weeks. I’m glad it’s not a complete bomb for DC, and hopefully they will learn from some of the criticism
Here’s what Mark Millar had to say about the flick:
“I hereby declare Green Lantern the worst superhero movie ever made. And yes I count The Phantom and The Shadow as superhero movies. Green Lantern was the cheapest-looking 300 million dollar movie I’ve ever seen. Why didn’t they give that money (to) Africa? It had a couple of good moments, all coming from Mark Strong. But oh man. It was just such an ODD movie. Like it travelled here from a parallel universe where they made a Green Lantern movie in 1995.”
” I could be one of the few who like it because I did like Spider-man 3, X-Men 3, Iron Man 2 and Daredevil.”
@SamIAm: If you liked those movies, this one will be Citizen Kane. Enjoy.
@j206: Did he see Wanted? What an asshole. I really wish Millar would just shut the fuck up and write comics.
I find myself in agreement with the majority here, that the film was okay but it just didn’t give me the sense of having seen something special as did THOR. To be honest, I thought the scenes between Hal and Hector rang truer and had more emotion than those between Hal & Carol. There were a couple of moments where they clicked as a couple, but mostly she just seemed like a necessary plot device who added little to the overall film. In THOR you actually felt the characters learned to love and respect the other. Personally, I hope in the sequel (the plot being pretty obvious if you sit through part of the credits), that more time is spent on Oa and with the Corp than on Earth. Love to see more of the other GLs, with Hal helping them out on missions and eventually joining to fight ‘you know who’.
I did like the moment when Carol realises that GL is Hal, despite the mask. Something every woman in comics never seemed capable of figuring out regarding their co-workers or boyfriends, at least in the Silver Age.
I give it 3 out of 5, compared to the 4 I gave THOR.
@TheNextChampion While I generally enjoy Ebert’s new show, I am not sure I am a big fan of either of the two reviewers he chose. I don’t argue their qualifications, but do think they sometimes have a smugness that Roger never showed, even when he was slamming a movie. I’d almost rather have a show where others read Eberts reviews with occasional pieces on various films and directors. It’s Rogers reviews for which I tune in to begin with.
i guess millar forgot about the loom of fate
@spacegrass Wish I could…
I think we all agree that the most positive thing to take away from this is that if the film garners enough success to warrant a sequel, it could very well be spectacular. The cast and overall production design were not the glaring problems here. With a new screenwriter (ONE new screenwriter), and (I hate to say this because I’m a fan of Campbell) possibly a new director, everything is in place for a potential follow-up that could blow people’s minds (IF they can get the average movie-goer back into the seats). With a steady focus on the relationship between Hal and Sinestro, plenty of well choreographed ring slinging, less focus on Carol, and Oa as the main backdrop, I see no reason why it couldn’t be a great success. Now the problem with that is it’s tough to be excited about a sequel to such an underwhelming first installment.
I might be wrong but wasn’t this film very much rushed through production? Given the criticisms I’ve heard about not fully fleshed scripts and unspectacular effects, it sounds like the crew just didn’t the time to really polish it out.
@WheelHands I really have no optimism regarding a good sequel. They really fucked this up.
FRIDAY BOX OFFICE, NORTH AMERICA
1. GREEN LANTERN – $21,605,000
2. MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS – $6,400,000
3. SUPER 8 – $6,005,000
4. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS – $3,350,000
5. THE HANGOVER PART II – $3,180,000
was fun.
Oa and green lanterns looked great.
killawog was great.
bad script bad 3d.
good friday numbers hope for flash ect films.
Liked the scenes with the CORPS.
Was anyone else dissapointed that Abin Sur didn’t say “a human, I neve thought I’d live to see the day”?
Saw the movie twice. Once at midnight with comic friends and another time Friday afternoon with my girlfriend, who asked to go. I liked the movie. Was not a classic, but was entetaining. The costume and effects looked great (slightly brighter in 2d), seeing Hal and Sinestro and Kilowog brought to life was awesome. The romantic subplot was weak and the training sequence WAY too short, but I think the movie mainly suffered from two bad villians in Parallax and Hector Hammond. Mid-credit scene was awesome, but there isn’t really a reason (in the movie) why Sinestro puts on the yellow ring.
All in all, I give it a 7.5 out of 10. Give me the Sinestro Corps (and less Carol) in the next movie, I will be there.
I feel somewhat vindicated after reading Entertainment Weekly’s review. Mt C+ is now a B- and solid. We’ve got nowhere to go but up [fingers crossed].
@conor – Thanks for the box office update.
Taking the Mrs. to SUPER 8 this weekend and round 2 w/GL sometime this week for a second look.
P.S.
May see it again with ‘she who must be obeyed’ soon. The RR factor, don’t cha know.
I’m happy to see that some people enjoyed the movie but I hated it. I actually thought about walking out about half way through and sneaking into X-Men: First Class. Several people here have already touched on the negatives. One too many villains, action scenes were lacking, special effects were lacking, acting ranged from good (Sinestro) to mediocre (Everyone else), the guardians were useless, the other Green Lanterns were useless, Parallax was not threatening, some of the jokes landed but a lot of them missed, and the most aggravating thing is how under utilized the rings were.
Does Millar consider it worse than the first Captain America movie? Also, if the movie isn’t worthy of the budget send said budget to Africa. What an asshat.
After seeing, I liked the movie. I would give it a C+?B- To me it seems like everyone is over thinking this movie. It is a movie too watch were you turn off your brain and enjoy. Pure fun.
@WheelHands- I love movies man, but The Citizen Kane thing was a low blow dude.
OK, I saw it again (“AGAIN?!” some of you must be thinking) tonight in 2D. Story-wise, I thought it was good up until the part where they explained the origin of Parallax and the yellow ring. From that point on, the movie floundered. There should have been more of the other GLs, more fighting against Parallax, more planets shown being attacked and destroyed by Parallax, less of the earth stuff… Could have been a lot better in those areas.
I finally figured out what bugged me about the mask – he looks like Ben Stiller when it’s on!
I think they should have changed it from the point of explaining Parallax to: Sinestro trains Hal more, he’s found out to be a fascit, he’s kicked out of the GL corps but gets the yellow ring, that ties into Parallax as the entity (not a Guardian), he fights Hal as Parallax attacks Earth, hundreds of GLs come to help fight for earth, Sinestro defeated and imprisoned until the sequal. But hey, what do I know? Non-comic readers might not have liked that any better…
Went in with low expectations, and they were exceeded. Ryan Reynolds was fine, but couldn’t hold a candle, or shall we say, lantern…to Mark Strong or Peter Sarsgaard. I was thoroughly impressed with the visual look of this film, and really enjoyed the way Parallax, the Gaurdians, and the constructs were handled. Between the Hector Hammond issues and everything back on Oa, I thought they tried a little too much for one film, but they resolved things successfully, and give it four stars out of five. If anyone’s interested, you can check my more thorough review at:
http://thewolfmancometh.com/2011/06/18/green-lantern-2011/
My wife really liked it. Um…ya. I was entertained but not that impressed. I have been a fan since the 90’s so I kept my expectations low. Blah blah grumble grumble. I am glad GL fans got a feature film; but I think the TV series will be the real pay off.
Just came back from seeing the 2D version and I must say I liked it a lot. Many thumbs up from a GL fan. Looking forward to the sequel!
I had a lot of fun with it. As I’ve said, it’s not the most sell constructed film but I had a blast.
I saw this in 3-D & it was a spectacular visual feast for the eyes. IMO I thought that the movie was really solid to borderline great up until the helicopter scene where from there it dabbled a bit back & forth, but it still had successfully accomplished such a daunting task to transform the GL comic history that many non-comic readers may be apprehensive about into a film that is fully accessible to the general public. It does try to be Star Wars & in some moments they get really close, but this is more like Fifth Element but with better acting (stand-outs are Mark Strong & Peter Sarsgaard) & some incredibly awesome FX!
@kennyg What you just described would have been a far better and more focused story. I really wish that they had made that movie instead.
Hindesight is 20/20 but seriously, what were DC/WB Thinking when they approved this script/ Final Product?
@SamIAm: No offense intended. I honestly meant that if you liked those other movies (which I obviously did not), then you’ll probably think this one is pretty decent. And it looks like I was right. Maybe I was a little sarcastic, but it was nothing sinister.
I admit I am probably a bit older than most of the critics that hated this movie (okay a lot older). But I remember when the best we could hope for from a superhero movie was a paunchy Adam West as Batman. Even Tim Burton’s Batman and Donner’s Superman had flaws, bad special effects and bad acting (yes I know that’s sacrilege but there I said it). Yet still I LOVED these movies.
Green Lantern is no where near as bad as most of the negative criticism I have read. I encourage anyone who loves superheros to go see this movie and judge for yourselves. The price of the movie is less than what you would pay for the trade paperback or the back issues of Secret Origin. If these movies don’t do well Holywood will stop making them.
The movie does nothing wrong, it just doesn’t do everything right. I give it a solid “B”. In my opinion the weakest link in the movie is Blake Lively’s Carol Ferris and the whole Hal/Carol relationship. Sinestro, Kilawog, and Tomar-Re are spot on if a bit too brief. For those that wanted more of Sinestro I say you’re wrong. This was Hal’s origin not the origin of the corp. Audiences not familiar with Green Lantern need to know who Hal is and that’s exactly what we got. Sinestro is obviously being set up for the next movie and that’s when we will get more of his back story and the rest of the corp. Any more about these characters would have shifted the emphasis from Hal and his story and made the movie much too long.
This movie properly concentraits on Hal and his story here on earth and I think perfectly sets up the potential for future movies to concentrait on the corp., the Guardians, and more cosmic events. I think there was just enough of these characters because it left me wanting more of them and gives me high hopes for what is to come. Remember a good story always leaves you wanting more. I shouldn’t walk out feeling that I’ve seen it all I should say wow I want to see more. And this movie does that.
Don’t believe what you’ve heard. Ryan Renolds is a decent Hal Jordan. Who he is begins here on earth. Who he will become lies out there in space on Oa. We only got a taste of that and I want more! The bigest flaw is the pacing. It definately doesn’t flow as well as it should. The second biggest flaw is that in an effort to be true to the source material they tried to include too much so some of our favorite moments seemed rushed and incomplete but this is not a reason to trash the whole movie. I would like to see what was left on the cutting room floor. I look forward to a director’s cut that includes deleted scenes and perhaps improves the pacing a bit.
First 30 minutes, I honestly had zero gripes. Then it became this huge, unweildy mess and started pulling in too many directions. Hal spent too much time moping and not enough ring slinging.
The Big Giant Scrotum…I mean, Hector Hammond was laughable as soon as he got Parallaxed. Seriously, way too many scenes of him lying on his bed and grunting.
3 stars at a push – when it’s good, it’s very good. When it’s bad, it’s farcical.
GOOD
any action scene
BAD
any part where there was any character development or “acting”
@Bigblue: Those of us who wanted more of Sinestro are not wrong. We’re very right. I can’t speak for everyone else, but what I mean by “wanting more of Sinestro” is not his origin story or the origin story of the corps (which was handled just fine IMO), I mean more of a focus on the verteran/rookie relationship between he and Hal. Sinestro is absolutely integral to Hal’s origin story and has been for years. Therefore this was the chance to firmly establish that. Not a sequel.
All it would’ve taken is replacing one or two of the many Carol scenes with a scene of Sinestro seeing some potential in Hal, and choosing to guide him and educate him on what it means to be a lantern. Or a scene in which they recognize that despite their differences, they have something in common. When you have an actor like Mark Strong, you use him. It seems clear that he was everyone’s favorite character in the film (as I suspected he would be), and he was certainly mine. To favor the frankly weak love story rather than build the friendship between Hal and the man that would someday become his nemesis, his Magneto, was a missed opportunity.
Wow, amazing drop off in business on Saturday. Word of mouth choked it.
Here is what I said about it on the show: They should have completley skipped the whole Hector branch of the story in order to give us more character development. It felt very hollow when Hal made his “change” in the Guardian chamber. This film would have also benefitted greatly from SOME KIND OF GREEK CHORUS. Maybe thru Tom’s eyes.I dont know.
All that being said, my 16 year old daughter went with me, and as of me typing this, she is actually reading Johns’ Secret Origin story. And she has NEVER had ANY INTEREST in reading ANY COMICS before. So… there is that!
Yikes, all this hype and it still did less business than X-Men First Class despite having a much higher budget and waaay more advertising and internet promotion. And the reviews were terrible.
I like GL (the comics), and I like Johns, but at some point we’re going to have to realize that the quality of the GL property peaked a few years ago. If some people liked this, and if it got a random kid or two into comics, that’s cool. But this was supposed to be a tentpole of comics movies, DC in general, and the GL property. It’s failed to meet any of those goals and it’s being spoken of as one notch above the Catwoman movie.
Man I don’t understand why so many people hated this movie, it really wasn’t that bad….was it great? Lord no, but I thought it was fun and honestly a few minor changes would have made all the difference. I think a sequel with less orgin, none of Hal resisting being GL, and a bit more imagination could be really good if not great. Honestly this was better than I expected, even before the negative reviews started coming out, but then again maybe my low expectations made me like it more than it deserves….3/5 for me.
Traditionally speaking, grosses go up from Friday to Saturday, but Green Lantern‘s box office is dropping. It went from tracking below Thor and above X-Men: First Class on Friday to below both.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE – NORTH AMERICA (ESTIMATES)
TITLE – FRIDAY – SATURDAY – SUNDAY – TOTAL
1. GREEN LANTERN – $21,570,000 – $16,815,000 – $14,300,000 – $52,685,000
2. SUPER 8 – $6,005,000 – $8,019,000 – $7,226,000 – $21,250,000
3. MR. POPPER’S PENQUINS – $6,400,000 – $6,525,000 – $5,275,000 – $18,200,000
4. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS – $3,350,000 – $4,400,000 – $3,750,000 – $11,500,000
5. THE HANGOVER PART II – $3,220,000 – $4,010,000 – $2,405,000 – $9,635,000
Actual numbers on Monday.
Source.
Where’s this podcast at fellas? I’m aching to hear all your thoughts. I’m also bored out of my skull at work. Entertain me, dammit!
🙂
@conor The overseas tally is going to have to bring in some bank for the flick to make its money back. Production budget of $200 mil and tens of millions spent on advertising.
@ghettojourno From reports it’s actually appears to be closer to a production budget of $300 million and an ad budget of $100 million.
The movie wasn’t bad. All of the non-comic readers I saw it with enjoyed it. It just felt like the pilot of a TV show instead of a film. The teaser during the credits made no sense given the final dialog on Oa. It seemed like they cut certain parts out that would have strengthened the movie. Plus, they needed more giant, green hand constructs.
@conor I’ve been hearing a lot of rumors with those high numbers but I just can’t believe them. The movie certainly looked expensive but those are James Cameron movie budget numbers. I can’t even imagine what $400 million looks like.
@WheelHands Thanks for clearing that up. By the way, The Citizen Kane of superhero movies is The Dark Kinght.
This was a 300 million dollar movie?!? REALLY??? It totally didn’t look that good. I mean, it looked good, just not 300 MILLION DOLLARS good. To me it had the look of “Let’s do the best we can visually while staying within budget.”
@SamIAm: Well of course.
@SkipSpacer As post-production went along, they actually added money to the budget. Go figure.
Can Marvel Studios make the next DC movie? Maybe then it won’t be boring as hell.
Cool podcast. Man, the movie was so bad.
In the post-credits, I thought it was Sinestro experimenting with the yellow ring–almost like a drug addict. He didn’t disown the green, just tried on the new one. Thought it was a cool angle.
Great work fellas. You hit all the major points. I think it’s fascinating that almost every one of us feels the same way about this one. Like Conor said, it’s almost worse when one of these isn’t great, isn’t terrible, just disappointing. And somehow it unifies what is typically a very opinionated community. There’s a message here somewhere. If you’re gonna commit to an adaptation like this, you’ve got to have balls. You have to take risks one way or the other. Otherwise it just comes out bland and forgettable.
I like GL but haven’t seen the movie and really am not in a hurry, I like the cast for the most part but Parallax looks like another Galactus smoke monster, cheap, cop out. Cap will save me.
Didn’t think it was bad at all, just nothing special and ultimately forgettable. The mask/suit didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would based on the trailers. It was really short and they never spent enough time in one place to care about anyone or anything. They constantly jumped around from one scene to the next so fast that you never got a chance to try and enjoy anything.
It was entertaining……but changed a few things that I didn’t like. I was hoping for some more action……but was ok.
At first I was likE this is a movie, and then I was like this is a movie about green lantern then I went back to my original thought that it was a movie just with green lantern. Were 4 robins in 5 years really necessary?
All i needed to hear was that this was on the same level as the fantastic four movies – I’m not seeing this
@edward – it was better than fantastic four .. but not that much better
Good podcast! Thanks for acknowledging that it is no where near as bad as the haters ate portraying it. Is it the Dark Knight? No! Was anyone expecting it to be? I doubt it! Was it Batman & Robin? Hell no! I got what I was expecting and I’m grateful we got to see a decent live action Green Lantern!
Here’s hoping it can have some box office legs and be rewarded with a sequel like Batman Begins got, and not become WB’s next red headed stepchild like Superman Returns!
great podcast you guys hit it on the head.green lantern is to me what the x men are to ron,he lived long enough to see a real good x men movie.for me hope springs eternal
It’s funny, this film just had a slightly bigger budget then Fantastic Four. So the comparison is spot on actually.
Nice job C to C- is about what it deserves, I wonder if we’ll get a reboot or a better sequel
I feel that peoples reactions to this movie say a lot about DC’s characters. They are bigger than life, mythic, and iconic. Expectations were high no matter who you are just to see if the material could even be visually captured. I thought with 90% of all comic movies being origin stories green lantern set itself apart because its visuals were unique and good. I think a sequel will blow iron man 2 out of the water. It wasn’t spectacular but still a good time and has potential to create a good franchise.
@Bigblue: Hey, this is my first post (Hello Everyone!). I saw the movie last night and I agree with everything Bigblue says about it. Geoff Johns’ version of Hal and the Corps has been my favorite interpretation of the characters since I’ve been reading comics (and we’re talking over 30 years of comic reading). The movie was so spot on to a lot of the beats that have been shown in recent stories that I can’t see how any DC/GL fan could have NOT liked this movie! As moviegoers, a lot of us have just become too spoiled and jaded when it comes to comic book films. I remember a time when we were lucky to get a film based on a comic/cartoon character every 5 or 6 years and then HOPE that the characters were PARTIALLY true to the source material! Think about it: back in the day, you would only see “big name” characters like Superman, Batman etc. on the big screen. Nowadays, we are living in the best of times for comics to live action/animation interpretations. The fact that there have been five X-Men movies should be testament enough that we are experiencing a true renaissance.
I didn’t like Hector Hammond and Carol Ferris either….but then again, I don’t like those characters in the comics either! This movie (in my opinion) is one of the best comics to films I’ve seen when it comes to staying true to the source material. I really think some of the haters need to lighten up. I can’t wait for Green Lantern II – the Sinestro Corps War!
@CarterHall The thing is, I wasn’t watching the movie because I wanted them to be “spot on” about adapting the characters the way they were presented in the comic.
I wanted to be told a coherent story regardless of the source material or what anyone in the audience “knows” about the characters and their histories. I didn’t want to feel like I barely knew who Movie Sinestro was or why he did some of the things he did. I didn’t want to feel like I was being shoveled a bunch of emotionless exposition (whether I knew it already or not). I wanted a satisfying story with interesting, well-developed characters in a vividly established world. I got maybe half of one of those things.
If I judged comic movies purely on whether or not they adapted the source material “correctly,” then honestly, most of my favorites would not be favorites. For me, the movie worlds are not (and sometimes should not be) the same as the comics, because sometimes that’s just a better way to tell this version of the story. Or at least it can be categorized as “different, but still good.” This one, for me, was just kinda plain and boring.
@1aurien Well said.
Agreed. Not terrible, but could have been light-years better.
On the question of adapting source material.
I think it’s a lot like screwing with nature
Sometimes you find just the right gene splice and a greta hybrid is born.
And sometimes you have an aborted monster.
There’s a reason these characters survived the way they did- b/c it worked.
Go mucking around with them too much and you loose the formula that made it special in the first place.
This movie felt like it was made by a hollywood machine- it tasted bland and it was wrapped in a shiny package.
Now I think calling the story incoherent is a little harsh. I took my 9 year old with me and he got the story. I think my knowledge of the source material is exactly why it may fall short in places. For example, take Sinestro. I had no problem understanding him and his place in the movie. Instead the problem is DUE TO my comic knowledge of him and the obvious intentions for his character in the sequel, I knew he was much more than we got to see in the movie therefore I wanted to see him fleshed out more.
That’s why I’ve repeatedly said that even though I really liked the film, to me the biggest gripes are structural problems.
Now in the podcast the guy’s made a great point that the movie never stayed with any group very long. It didn’t take more time to invest in the characters. For me, this movie’s major faults could have been cured with the simply addition of about 15 to 20 minutes more added to the picture. Spend that time on character development, especially Sinestro. Also use it to have a better tie-in betweeon Hector and Parralax (speaking of incoherent). More time used well really could have helped this movie.
Anyone concerned about the reviews should just go see the movie. It’s not the greatest thing since “Gone with the Wind” but it is entertaining. Quite frankly I was more disappointed with “Super 8” (which, for the record, I also liked). “Super 8” suffered from many of the same problems. It was way over hyped, it had a rambling plot, character flaws and plot complications that made no sense. But after I got over my initial disappointment, I liked the overall movie. “Green Lantern” suffers from the additional problem of having legions of fans that know every detail of the Green Lantern mythology. Make no mistake about it, if the movie had strayed too far from the source material there would be calls for lynchings from the fans. “Green Lantern” suffers from damned if you do and damned if you don’t syndrome. Fact is they stayed TOO close to the source which ultimately made for a weaker movie. Weak but not bad. They have set up all of the elements for a really terrific sequel and it will be a shame if it doesn’t get made.
If you read the above reviews most say that it’s not nearly as bad as the critics would lead you to believe and most said they enjoyed it. So go, don’t expect TOO much, and be entertained.
The movie’s problems have little to do with its connections to the source material.
I disagree Paul-
I think trying to cram 7 different story arcs into a 2 hour movie is definitely a sin against
the source material time line.
That is as much related to source material as to whether or not Carol Ferris is a 24 yr old aeronautics executive.
Can we have a moratorium on a few things?
Firstly, the word “hater” is almost exclusively used as a summary dismissal of an opposing viewpoint. If someone disagrees with your opinion it might be because they have reasons, not that they simply want to disagree to annoy you, most likely (definitely) they didn’t have you in mind when reacting to the film.
Secondly, do not assume the age of other posters as being younger than yourself in order to lend authority to your opinion. I’m in my late-30s yet apparently my viewpoint has been seen as substandard due to my dew-laden youth. Even if I was 12 surely you cannot dismiss any genuine opinion, particularly if the reasons were well presented?
Thirdly, a dissenting opinion will not hurt your perspective of the film. If someone likes/dislikes Green Lantern with an opposite perspective to you they have not made it a different film for you, therefore there is no need to respond as if it is a personal attack. It isn’t. Art is subjective, each response is individual, which is why debate can be fun: it’s a meeting of differing viewpoints.
And finally to criticise criticism for being critical is about as redundant as you can get.
disagreed with Paul on some points but he did a fine job of illustrating his view of the film and gave a detailed but not overly-fastidious account of his reasons why. In other words he did an exemplary critical review, which is his job.
Some of the ways people dismiss others annoys me senseless. Not purely because it is the way of the Internet but because I see it more and more in the media and in real life.
Here’s the thing, at the end of the day, the film is boring. And boring is worse then bad, if all it takes for some to like it is just a man in a green suit to walk on screen and say “I’m Hal Jordon” then great. But for me, I wanted a good film, adapatdation or not, entertain me, and this movie didn’t do that.
Some of you guys are being way too easy on this movie. It’s terrible. Badly edited, the script is all over the place, half the characters could be (and should have been) cut with no consequence, and I can’t believe we’re this many comments in without mention of the fact that the villain looks like a giant pile of poop. Around the house now if we have to change the baby’s diaper we say you’ve been lantern’d.
There are a few good moments, but they only serve to point out how bad the rest of it is.
I love Green Lantern. I dearly wanted it to be good. I want a Sinestro movie now. But saying this flick is anything other than a steaming pile of Parallax is being generous.
Pretty good movie. I think the bad press is gonna kill it though, just too many other options out there for people who want a thrill ride for a movie. For my taste the story was crammed into the time frame, but my Dad loved every second of the movie. Just hope GL makes enough for a more sensible GL 2.
I think I would have liked this movie a lot more if it came out before Thor.
Thor wasn’t the best movie, but it took an absolutely ridiculous character and made him work on screen. It was a movie that had to split it’s time between an alien world and Earth. It was a movie that had to introduce a character that the general public knew absolutely nothing about in addition to setting things up for future movies later. It also had a cast of supporting characters that responded realistically to Thor, and had a lot of interesting and hilarious moments together.
Green Lantern failed on all of those accounts for me.
– I only started reading comics a couple of years ago, but I never though Hal Jordan was a straight up douche bag. All I think of when I see him is him endangering other people’s lives to wrap up a present, while calling other people names. Thor was an ass, but it mades sense since he was a god. Hal Jordan was incredibly unrelatable.
– I never believed the Corps was the awesome organization as it was suppose to be. They get rocked by the cloud of death the first and only time they do anything in the movie.
– There wasn’t enough time spent on OA and training to be a Green Lantern. He seriously spent only one day getting there, training, and coming back. It wasn’t even real training. It was just Kilowog and Sinestro giving him lectures. Apparently all you need to be told to be a Green Lantern is to focus.
– Hal Jordan’s first real action sequence with powers made absolutely NO sense at all. Hot wheels? Just catch the plane! There is a difference between inventive and unnecessary.
– The movie was unashamed sequel bait. It had way too much packed in together, and it felt a lot like Spiderman 3 to me in that sense. It wasn’t as bad as that movie of course, but it was felt rushed.
These are just a fraction of the things that made this a bad movie. Then there are the things that made this a bad Green Lantern movie.
– Does Hal Jordan just tell everyone he’s a Green Lantern? Coming from every other super hero movie, this was just really strange to me that he didn’t even think twice about it on multiple occasions.
– Was that even Sinestro? I feel that they changed his character almost as much as they did Paralax. Speaking of which…
– CLOUD???? Did we learn nothing from Fantastic Four?
@ericmci It’s a film with fundamental storytelling problems that go deeper than any adherence or removal from comics continuity, is what I’m saying.
@PaulMontgomery This is just my opinion but the parts of the movie I liked the least can be traced to the source material. If you assume that “Rebirth” and “Secret Origin” are the source material. Hal’s defeat of Paralax is disturbingly easy and brief in “Rebirth” and the movie. I agree that Sinestro is the best character in the movie but plays only a modest supporting role in the books as he does in the movie. Hal’s training on Oa lasts only about 5 pages (in a six issue storyline) and is also equally brief in the movie. Hector Hammond is useless and pointless in both the books and the movie. Hal’s relationship with his brothers is nice but an unecessary distraction in the movie. The pacing of the movie is flawed but very much follows the pacing in the books. The pacing might work for a six issue comic story arc that took six months to unfold but doesn’t work for a two hour movie. I honestly think that an extensive re-editing would vastly improve the movie.
I do agree with many of the other critisims as well, I just don’t think they hurt the movie as much as the slavish devotion to the source material did. Yes there is too much emphasis on Hal’s relationship with Carol and what they chose to include from the books slows the story down. While Carol is important in Hal’s origin story she barely appears in “Rebirth” which is Hal’s battle with Paralax. I assume this and Ryan Renolds as Hal Jordan was to get the girls into the theater. That was definately predictable and a mistake. I think a two minute scene of Hal and Carol as children showing the friendship/rivelry between them (straight from the books) would have done wonders to explain their relationship more so than the pointless dancing in the bar scene.
The worst non-source material flaw with the movie was casting Blake Lively as Carol. Her acting was flat and she is vastly uninteresting for all of the screen time she takes up. Ryan Renolds, although not my first choice (or even second choice), was just not that bad. Sorry, I didn’t hate him. A little more Sinestro would have been okay but since he is clearly the focus of the next movie I am content to wait for “Green Lantern II” which hopefully will happen. Too much Sinestro in the first movie would weaken his impact in a sequel.
As far as special effects go, aparently I am not as jaded as the critics. I thought they were just fine and wouldn’t have been possible 10 or even 5 years ago. I enjoy the CGI but I am glad this wasn’t “Avatar” which was just a glorified cartoon. I prefer to see real people not computer annimation.
Overall I still feel the movie was good even though, like most fans, I wanted great. I hope people will see this movie and enjoy it for what it is and not what they wanted it to be. I still say the bones are there for a great sequel.
@Bigblue Disliking something doesn’t make someone “jaded”.
@Bigblue I don’t know what I wanted the film to be. As for what it was, what is was was not enjoyable.
I’m not jaded. I’m eating Lucky Charms without irony at this very moment.
Couldn’t agree with your reviews more.
Sorry @conor didn’t mean to imply that anyone who just disliked the effects was jaded but many of the comments do sound a little snarky. Perhaps this is a function of my age but I thought they were awsome. As I went on to explain these things weren’t even possible only a few years ago and a decent Green Lantern movie would have been impossible. Many of todays younger movie goers seem oblivious to that fact. Many of the criticisms seem as much a matter of taste or style as to an actual flaw. It’s much like the difference between two artists. Some artists I like and some I dislike but I know that that’s just a matter of my particular taste. Most of what I have read is more personal preference rather than actual criticism.
@Bigblue Personal preference is the basis of criticism. And just because superhero movies were an impossible dream 20 years ago doesn’t mean every superhero movie should just be accepted, regardless of quality. That does a disservice to everyone involved. If we want comic books to be seen as just as valid as any other form of entertainment then we have to hold the movies to the same standard we would any other and not give them a thumbs up solely because they exist.
@Jardan Agreed whole heartedly. I refer to my age only to give perspective not gravitas to my opinion. You are absolutely right I should not assume everyone is younger and I do not dismiss their opinion even if they are. On the contrary, I refer to my age only because I know my opinions seem rather naive. I don’t think I’m right and they’re wrong I’m just trying to explain my perspective. Fans today are far more sophisticated than I ever was. I am so greatful that a serious superhero movie is even made let alone four in one summer and these movies are vastly superior to anything we had in my day. This doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.
hey, another great show! I was hoping maybe you’d discuss what this might mean for the future of DC movies etc…?
@GloriousGodfrey That’s hard to say until we see how much business it does.
I can appreciate everyone’s comments and criticisms. I think, for the most part, it is a movie of missed opportunities, and a crammed stories. Despite all that, I still enjoyed it. Once things started getting wonky, I just filled my brain off and enjoyed it. If they get the chance to do a sequel, I think they have a strong foundation to build a great movie off of. We’ll have to see.
@conor I don’t necessarily disagree with all of the negative critism, merely the degree to which it effected my personal movie going experience and overall opinion of the movie in total. And God knows I had plenty of negative comments of my own. Nowhere did I ever say superhero movies should be given a thumbs up solely because they exist. I was only trying to give perspective to my own opinion. My opinions are just that, my opinions, and they were not specifically directed at you or Paul or wheelhands. I only referenced you because you all felt the need to specifically responded to me. I am not discounting your opinions they are all valid. Mine are just different than yours and should not be invalidated because my perspective is different. To be honest I don’t think I even read your criticisms until you commented on mine.
I stand by my use of the word “jaded” as it was only refering to the way everyone seems to accept CGI and special effects as normal and I am still awed by them. To me this seems jaded and that’s my opinion. For what it’s worth I am also awed by Lucky Charms. How do they make them so magically delicious?
I agree with y’all that Sinestro was the best part of the movie. I would just rather see him as the main villan with an extensive roll rather than a supporting character. It’s not “wrong” for wanting more of him. I just feel it would be “wrong” to overexpose him in the first movie which would make the second movie a bit of an anticlimax. In my opinion.
@Bigblue No one said your opinions are invalid. This is a discussion. It’s the whole reason why this website exists.
@Bigblue – So were you “awed” by Transformers 2 as well? Are people who found that movie horrible “jaded”? Sorry, bro. Not buying the “CGI is an amazing thing that should be cherished and how dare people not be in awe of it” take you’re trying to sell. CGI is impressive. But it’s old hat at this point in film making. And even if it wasn’t, is not an aspect that trumps a narratively poor film.
@j206 Wow! Did I say any of that? I don’t remember. Guess I’m older than I thought. Was I awed by the CGI in “Transformers 2”? Yes, actually I was. Did I like the movie? No. Did I hate the movie? No. Am I a Transformers fan? Could care less. I know I enjoyed the first movie. It was fun. Liking the movie and appreciating the special effects are two different things. And thank you! Your comments prove my point exactly. CGI is old hat …to you! Sounds rather jaded to me. The technology is only a few years old. I’m still amazed by it. Never said CGI makes or breaks a movie. Personally I feel it’s overused but movies like Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Green Lantern wouldn’t be possible without it.
I don’t object to anyone saying they didn’t like something. That’s a subjective opinion and we are all entitled to our opinions. What I object to is people saying that the special effects were awful or bad and leaving it at that. That’s not an opinion that’s very specific. Awful in what way? Bad as opposed to…what exactly? It’s like an incomplete thought. There may be very valid reasons why you feel that way. Saying something was awful doesn’t tell me anything. I admit I know nothing about CGI. It might as well be magic. What specifically was bad about the CGI in “Transformers 2”? I know what was wrong with the story (there was none). Could the special effects have been improved? Probably but I don’t know enough about it to know for sure.
This is why I said it seemed that the people that didn’t like the CGI in “Green Lanten” were jaded. In my uneducated opinion I saw nothing wrong with it. Maybe it was bad I don’t know. The criticisms I read were more a matter of style or taste. If it was bad, what was bad about it? Did someone’s head not match up to their CGI body? That would certainly be bad. Did you not like the green flames in the background of the Lantern logos on their chests? (which was cool by the way.) That’s more of a style issue. Not necessarily bad, just not your taste.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (NORTH AMERICA) – ACTUAL FIGURES
1. GREEN LANTERN – $53,174,303
2. SUPER 8 – $21,472,020
3. MR. POPPER’S PENQUINS – $18,445,355
4. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS – $11,933,524
5. THE HANGOVER PART II – $10,071,339
Source.
Shocked about that Hangover number. To each their own…
I just watched the movie and the big thing I took away from it is I think this movie doesn’t understand what its Hal’s arc is. This Hal’s problem isn’t that he’s afraid, its that he’s unfocused. The first ten minutes of this movie is all about how unfocused he is and it never goes away. When Hal’s getting knocked around by Kilowog and Sinestro, it’s because he’s not paying enough attention on what’s going on; he’s just running in blindly. His constructs are weak because he doesn’t concentrate. Whenever he talks about being afraid, I’m puzzled because that’s not his problem at all. This movie, I feel, should be about Hal thinking, “I can overcome fear, I got this” and failing against Parallax (like if he were in the party against Parallax on that one world) because he’s not focusing. An arc phrase could have been “Overcoming fear makes you a Green Lantern but learning to focus your will makes you a great Green Lantern. It should be once he learns to pay attention and prioritize that he wins against Parallax.
Of course, focus in general is this film’s problem so there you go.
I just had a thought while I was taking out the trash. Since this movie basically packed so much into it, if we ever get a sequel, I’m thinking that possibly movie number two could be the beginning of the Sinestro Corps War with number three finishing it out. That could be cool.
Take the time in the second movie to establish Sinestro/Hal relationship (the mid trailer scene doesn’t necessarily mean he’s all the way bad; maybe he’s just testing the waters and it becomes like a drug). Show Sinestro’s fall from grace. End the second one with a whammy and then finish out the war in the third. That could be pretty cool, if pulled off right. Maybe this might mean a creative shift, but hey, it could be cool.
@cahubble09 You give a film you wouldn’t rave about a 3 1/2 to 4 stars?
@bigblue & @CarterHall – I agree with you guys!
Glad to see the ACTUAL numbers were a bit higher than the estimated ones..
NEW QUESTION/ TOPIC CHANGER/ WHAT IF…
Instead of making a movie about Hal Jordan, they had made it about John Stewart and it stars ohhh i dunno… Will Smith?
DOES IT MAKE A $100 million instead of $53… I bet it does! But I’m happy with what we got honestly.. i just hope we get a sequel!
Ryan Reynolds was Ryan Reynolds. He wasn’t any good in Blade III, he wasn’t any good in Wolverine, and what did people expect here? This was not Hal Jordan, it was just Van Wilder in spandex. He simply shouldn’t be allowed to do anything but smarmy one-liner films like “Waiting”. Sorry, I just had a big glass of Hatorrade.
I don’t know much about how much money a movie needs to make before it is seen as a success, but was $53,174,303 a good showing? Even though it is not a great movie, how much does it have to make to be a success? I just want it to do well so we see other dc heroes on the big screen besides batman and superman.
@SamIAm It was a showing below expectations, which for Hollywood is bad.
Ryan Reynolds was great in Adventureland. That is all.
@SamIAm It depends on the movie, but for big summer tent pole release. You have to look at the budget (Wikipedia or boxofficemojo help there). Then with big blockbusters, add 100 million give or take for advertising. And then you have to times that number by about 2. Because movie theaters and studios split the money percentage wise. First week studios get more (which is why they want the first week to go really well) but as the film plays more and more movie theaters get more (Which is why movie theaters don’t like VOD or movies that come to DVD to soon). Also studios want movies to do well in America commonly, once you get into overseas they will see some of that money but not as much. Of course there’s always DVD/Blu-ray purchases which have helped many films get sequels. Point being that with a budget and ad revenue adding up to near 300 to 400 million (that’s the word on the “movie street” as to overall cost) the movie would have to make BANK for WB to start seeing some money.
You’re all full of crap. This was awesome!
Would have been great if Hal made a Spectre construct.
Ok, so I’m really really late to this so i feel like this is probably too late but yeah, this had some problems.
I feel like they could have made the first act of this movie this entire movie.
all in all though I think this was only a little worse than the first x men movie. so i sorta hope they do a sequel.
I liked it! highly enjoyable movie, way better than X-men First Class. it wasn’t perfect but it was very enteraining, and unlike X-men First Class I didn’t feel like I needed a nap 2/3rds of the way through
yes my attention span is short, so the jumping around bit only bugged me a little, kinda reminded me of Speed Racer a bit
I loved it! and a think the sequel will be even better.