So I'm sitting here watching the Green Lantern movie and I wondering what is everyone's issue with it sure there is a lot of CGI but I'm kind of passed that. Sure there is a few issues I have but those are mostly story problems i.e. Hal Jordan getting fired for doing his job as a test pilot(that never made sense to me). So I have to ask, does people hate it?
Green Lantern Movie
- Thread starter Taggart3131
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I suppose it depends on what expectations you had when you went into watching it.
I mean, if you only saw it recently after hearing years of people saying this is one of the worst superhero movies ever, and killed off nearly any chance of WB making a non-Batman movie, then I suppose the fact that the film isn't an actual flaming pile of feces might be considered as something passable.
However, if we go back to when the film was first released, look at how the film was promoted, and the potential of what it could have launched, we get... Well, take over Bob.
I mean, if you only saw it recently after hearing years of people saying this is one of the worst superhero movies ever, and killed off nearly any chance of WB making a non-Batman movie, then I suppose the fact that the film isn't an actual flaming pile of feces might be considered as something passable.
However, if we go back to when the film was first released, look at how the film was promoted, and the potential of what it could have launched, we get... Well, take over Bob.
After I personally watched it roughly a month back... it's not really bad-bad, just overambitious in stuffing at least two movies' worth of material in one. If they stuck to just Sinestro or Parallax even, I reckon it could have received fairly generous ratings (for a super movie anyway).
I watched it a week or two ago. I am not a fan of superhero movies - I find them fun, but I can't get on with comics and so don't know a lot of the back-stories. My partner really likes superhero stuff (well, Marvel anyway), so typically I get a fun action flick and she gets the awesome fandom thing, then we have really interesting discussions for days afterwards. Ryan Reynolds is also one of my favourite actors.
We were both cringing the entire way through the movie. The sarcastic humour was misplaced, the scenes both cheesey and predictably clich? and the CGI bad and over-relied upon. If we weren't watching it because "it can't be that bad" and figured it would be fun to sit down with a bottle of wine and unwind, we would have turned it off several times - it almost became a point of pride that we were going to finish the abomination.
What possibly doesn't help is that we both think that the Green Lantern is an absolutely shit superhero to begin with, the entire concept stupid (his nemesis is...yellow?). Maybe it was never big in the UK, but amongst my nerdy friends I have never heard it talked about.
We were both cringing the entire way through the movie. The sarcastic humour was misplaced, the scenes both cheesey and predictably clich? and the CGI bad and over-relied upon. If we weren't watching it because "it can't be that bad" and figured it would be fun to sit down with a bottle of wine and unwind, we would have turned it off several times - it almost became a point of pride that we were going to finish the abomination.
What possibly doesn't help is that we both think that the Green Lantern is an absolutely shit superhero to begin with, the entire concept stupid (his nemesis is...yellow?). Maybe it was never big in the UK, but amongst my nerdy friends I have never heard it talked about.
I loathed the costume, but for the most part I just found it boring. It seemed like it could have done so many things and instead did something very dull, very forgettable.
That aside I don't actually care about the movie either way. I've seen far worse, but I have no intention on seeing it again.
That aside I don't actually care about the movie either way. I've seen far worse, but I have no intention on seeing it again.
What most people said, GL is one of the most unique and creative corners of comics, but they kinda just made it generic. Did really like how the constructs were done though and it's a shame Mark Strong didn't get the amount of kudos he deserved. If/when they cast Sinestro for the new 'verse, I hope they consider him.
The visual design is distractingly awful and often confusing. What is Parallax and what is it doing? The graphics would have been embarrassing for a PS2 game, and this was supposed to be a Hollywood blockbuster.
Hal Jordan in the comics is defined by his bravery, so for Hal Jordan in the movie to be a cringing, puling twerp can be upsetting to people who care about that kind of thing.
The storytelling is hamfisted and lazy; an example would be the introduction of a villain we have to be told is lifelong friends with the protagonist and his love interest because the movie can't show us that, and that friendship is meaningless anyway because nothing is ever done with it.
There is zero chemistry between the hero and his love interest, who has no personality to speak of.
It thinks the conflict of the movie is man vs. monster when the very nature of the ring relying on willpower makes it man vs. self; willpower is the ability to resist the urge to quit, and nothing we see on the screen ever establishes the difficulty of pressing forward. The training montage just tells him not to make swords and drivels something about fear that never actually resolves and seems to be contradicted by the several Green Lanterns who are defeated by Parallax; if fear is the enemy of willpower, then did they lose because they were afraid? Despite having been trained much better than Hal Jordan was?
Hal Jordan in the comics is defined by his bravery, so for Hal Jordan in the movie to be a cringing, puling twerp can be upsetting to people who care about that kind of thing.
The storytelling is hamfisted and lazy; an example would be the introduction of a villain we have to be told is lifelong friends with the protagonist and his love interest because the movie can't show us that, and that friendship is meaningless anyway because nothing is ever done with it.
There is zero chemistry between the hero and his love interest, who has no personality to speak of.
It thinks the conflict of the movie is man vs. monster when the very nature of the ring relying on willpower makes it man vs. self; willpower is the ability to resist the urge to quit, and nothing we see on the screen ever establishes the difficulty of pressing forward. The training montage just tells him not to make swords and drivels something about fear that never actually resolves and seems to be contradicted by the several Green Lanterns who are defeated by Parallax; if fear is the enemy of willpower, then did they lose because they were afraid? Despite having been trained much better than Hal Jordan was?
The main character was an unlikable "this loser is you" character, only he's a successful test pilot. The story is all over the place, the pacing was rubbish, and they had an interesting part (the GL corp, full of unusual aliens on a distant planet) which they dropped after a few minutes for the boring stuff that had dragged out the movie so far.
Only good part was when he finds out his stupid mask doesn't stop people who know him from recognising him.
Only good part was when he finds out his stupid mask doesn't stop people who know him from recognising him.
It wasn't bad. Wasn't good. Not worth watching a second time, but then again neither was Watchman.
So its about as watchable as Watchman ever was. Not saying much, but its at least better than GhostRider 2.
So its about as watchable as Watchman ever was. Not saying much, but its at least better than GhostRider 2.
To add on with what everyone else has already said:
Sinestro's plan made no sense (Paralax kills anyone with fear, so we will harness fear and kill him).
I don't even remember what significance Hammond was supposed to have.
It had the worst after credits Stinger until Amazing Spider-Man 2 came along.
That said, I liked the training scene on Oa and Tom Strong did a good job with what he was given.
Sinestro's plan made no sense (Paralax kills anyone with fear, so we will harness fear and kill him).
I don't even remember what significance Hammond was supposed to have.
It had the worst after credits Stinger until Amazing Spider-Man 2 came along.
That said, I liked the training scene on Oa and Tom Strong did a good job with what he was given.
I remember watching it and thinking at the end that it wasn't quite as bad as everyone had made it out to be, and this comes from someone who thinks the Green Lantern is a really lame superhero (a magical ring that lets him create stuff sounds like something 6 year old me would think of).
Still, the completely CGI suit was just ridiculous looking, and most of the rest of the effects weren't that impressive. Ryan Reynolds character felt all over the place personality-wise, and Parallax felt like a really lame villain (I'm sure he's better in the comics). But probably worst of all: it was just really forgettable. I pretty much forgot about the entire movie about 2 hours after I watched it.
Still, the completely CGI suit was just ridiculous looking, and most of the rest of the effects weren't that impressive. Ryan Reynolds character felt all over the place personality-wise, and Parallax felt like a really lame villain (I'm sure he's better in the comics). But probably worst of all: it was just really forgettable. I pretty much forgot about the entire movie about 2 hours after I watched it.
Yeah, the thing is, after all the hate it got, all it had to do was not be Catwoman to look good by comparison.madwarper said:
I mean, the movie had okay elements, but it's meh at best in my book.
The bit about this being the one that changed DC's tone to grim and dark is how much of the point it missed. People didn't hate it because it was too jokey, but because the jokes were awful.
Effectively, they'd been slowly changing his origin and the concept behind it for a couple of decades up to that point. They just codified the "emotional spectrum" in more recent times.MarsAtlas said:
Cringeworthy as it is.
I just thought it was utterly forgettable and overall pretty lame. I do think there's interesting things you can do with Green Lantern, but this movie didn't do any of them. I know diehard GL fans would probably be offended by this, but you don't *have* to go the route of always having him make giant cheesy constructs like golf clubs and baseball gloves. GL in the Justice League cartoon was pretty straightforward--he used the ring to make shields, lasers, and simple hard-light constructs. No need to make a gun and shoot it when you can just shoot right out of the ring. I also think John Stewart works much better as a dutiful space cop than Hal Jordan, who tends to be presented as a cocky douche and competing (and losing) to Wally West in the comic relief department.
This movie made a big deal out of the fact that Hal Jordan was "worthy" but never explained why. He and Hammond were basically exposed to the same type of power, but Hal was allowed to use it and Hammond was corrupted--despite the fact that in the start of the movie, Hammond was presented as being a much better person than Hal. Hal was a jock and a jerk and Hammond was a nice guy but a nerd--so Hal got the power and Hammond got turned crazy. MovieBob contrasted it with Captain America pretty well. It's almost like if the "bully" soldier who was in the super-soldier program with Steve Rogers got to the Captain America and Rogers had to become Red Skull because he was too nerdy.
This movie made a big deal out of the fact that Hal Jordan was "worthy" but never explained why. He and Hammond were basically exposed to the same type of power, but Hal was allowed to use it and Hammond was corrupted--despite the fact that in the start of the movie, Hammond was presented as being a much better person than Hal. Hal was a jock and a jerk and Hammond was a nice guy but a nerd--so Hal got the power and Hammond got turned crazy. MovieBob contrasted it with Captain America pretty well. It's almost like if the "bully" soldier who was in the super-soldier program with Steve Rogers got to the Captain America and Rogers had to become Red Skull because he was too nerdy.
Interesting videos. I must admit I still find the original origin story rather daft (not to mention, why have a magic ring that needs to be charged by a magic lantern that in turn needs to be charged on a specific planet - and the lantern looks goofy as hell too). I figured there were other coloured Lanterns in the story, they just never came up in the background - I still think that fear/yellow is a daft weakness, but it was cool to see the evolution. Love the last line of the second video, given how the movie ended up!MarsAtlas said:
In the flashback, Hal Jordan's eyes are blue.
In the present, his eyes are brown.
I think that says all you need to know about all the Don't GIve a Shit this movie had.
Though, with Batman vs. Superman out, I wonder if I'd honestly look back at GL with fondness.
In the present, his eyes are brown.
I think that says all you need to know about all the Don't GIve a Shit this movie had.
Though, with Batman vs. Superman out, I wonder if I'd honestly look back at GL with fondness.
I guess I remembered wrong or didn't pay that much attention. Honestly the overall plot escapes me now and I tend to confuse it with the (somewhat better) Brightest Day cartoon. I knew Hammond didn't get a ring or anything, but I thought he got some sort of power from Abin Sur's body somehow, so I guess I figured it was residual Oa power that he just got corrupted by. Thematically, though, the movie does try to draw a parallel between them. At one point Hammond tries to use the ring and Hal basically says, "Nope. You're not special enough" despite, again, never showing in the movie what makes Hal at all worthy of this power.Agent_Z said: