Sly Bald Guys Forum
Various Non-Bald Discussions => Entertainment/Events/Music/Movies => Topic started by: Arnie on June 27, 2011, 12:09:05 PM
-
I really think Marvel owns the critics...
...because I enjoyed Green Lantern and many of my friends have.
Decent flick...would be cool to feature a Sly Lantern.
-
Meh. It was alright. (And I'm a pretty big Green Lantern fan.) The special effects were cool -- kinda too cool, in a sense; I was actually distracted by all the eye candy and not paying as much attention to the dialogue. They did a great job staying true to the sense of the original material. And the pace of the film kept things moving along nicely. All-in-all, a good bubble-gum summer action flick.
But there were a couple of things that sort of weighed the film down from being really great. First, it takes time to explain all that mythos. Thor had this problem as well. This is different from other superhero films.
- Batman? Guy whose parents died and he's driven by this unsatisfied quest for vengeance/justice/whatever. Got it.
- Spider-man? Kid gets bit by a radioactive spider and gets super-powers. Got it.
- Iron Man? Spoiled rich guy gets humbled, uses his abilities & money to build a super-suit, and begins to rebuid his life with a bit more maturity. Got it.
But Green Lantern? Well, there's this planet called Oa, see. And thousands of space cops who wear rings. And they get their power from these portable lanterns, which in turn get their power from this giant lantern over on Oa. Oh, and they're based on willpower, as opposed to fear, 'cause those two things don't mix. And... well... it's just a bit more complicated so that takes up a lot of potential plot time to explain.
But the biggest thing that drags down Green Lantern is the poor character development of the hero. I'm not sure how much of that is Ryan Renolds (who always seems to play smartmouth jerks) and how much of it is the screen play. But Hal Jordan starts off as a big jerk. However, he kind of ends the film as a jerk. There really isn't a redemption of his character. Now, Tony Stark over in Iron Man? He starts off as the same kind of spoiled, egotistical jerk. But he changes, and we actually care about him. He ends his story with the same sassy attitude, but it's somehow different because the audience has developed compassion for him. Hal Jordan, however, never gets that same character transformation. Had they only had the liberty to skip through some of the mythos set-up and add a couple of scenes in which Hal becomes a really humble, likeable, more "heroic" guy, I think the film would have resonated with critics better.
Just my two cents...
-
Can't wait to see it, I will have to beg the wife to take me.