Your Thoughts on "Green Lantern"

I had extremely high hopes for this film after seeing the trailers, but I was really concerned after reading all of the poor reviews that it was receiving. I have been a big comic book fan ever since I first received my first comic book at five years old. I didn't really read them or understand them until I was older, but they've always been an important part of my life. Comic book films often differ from the source material because it's really difficult to get the general public to let go of reality and immerse themselves in fantasy.

Some films do it better than others, Batman had to sacrifice the tights and some of the more goofy members of his rogues gallery in order to be taken seriously as a film. In the films, Batman was largely rooted in reality, with believable situations and characters. All audiences had to forgive was that they were seeing a guy wearing a bat mask (that really looks very little like a bat anyway). In Iron Man, we're introduced to a character that creates a robotic armor suit for himself that looks like reasonable futuristic technology.

In Green Lantern, Hal Jordan uses the power of his ring to create whatever he can think of in his mind. Often he creates a giant green fist to punch his enemies, in one scene he creates a hot wheels racetrack in order to guide a crashing helicopter to safety. It sounds awfully goofy, and it completely is. You can argue that it was just the first thing Hal Jordan could think of in that desperate moment (and we do see the character playing with his nephew's toy race track just prior to this scene), but it is still very silly and overall seemed more like a complicated rube goldberg-esque plan to rescue this helicopter. Green Lantern is as hard to buy in the real world as Superman is, with his red and blue tights and underwear worn on the outside. But I really don't think that's the right way to watch this film. You have to really drop your guard with this film, to relax and not see this reality as the same one that we live in, as we comic book fans do when we read our comics. If you have seen a film like "Scott Pilgrim vs The World" and enjoyed it, watch this film with those same eyes and I think that you will find this film to be really fun. I definitely did, I enjoyed this film much more than "Thor", and I felt like a kid again seeing this film.

The acting impressed me. At times in this film, Ryan Reynolds showed himself to be capable of much more than the go-to class clown personality actor, the role he seems to be in every movie (and this one is no exception). I felt that he really put everything he had into this film and has a few really shining scenes. The best performance in this movie is Peter Sarsgaard's Hector Hammond. The character is undeniably creepy and insane. Mark Strong's Sinestro is great as well. I've heard a lot of negativity about Blake Lively's acting in this film but I really saw nothing wrong with it, she seems to be a capable actress. The character of Carol Ferris is a bland generic love interest that's no better than Natalie Portman's Jane Foster in "Thor" but I have no complaints for Lively's acting. I had no idea who she was before this film, so I had no preconceptions about her.

Although I think the mask still looks a little off, I thoroughly enjoyed the CGI in this film but I did not get the pleasure of seeing this in 3D because my local theater doesn't have that. I've never seen a film with so many aliens that are so numerous and diverse in appearance, which I think the ufophiles here at ATS might love. Kilowog, Tomar-Re, Sinestro and the Guardians are all perfect and come straight out of the comics.

2 thumbs up (and 2 more glowing green thumbs that I created with my mind!)

I too thought it was good fun and something different for a change - Kinda seemed like some of the Alien theories on ATS with the plot etc.

I am not familiar with the comic but would recommend it for a bit of fun. It´s not real remember that ! lol

It was ok...a bit heavy on the whole backstory....for non-comic fans...and I think that's why it got some bad reviews.

Was a bit too much CGI for my taste. I get that the constructs would have to be, but to have his suit be too? That was simply too much.

I did like how she recognized him through the mask though... (she's brighter than Lois Lane, hehe...)

I thought this was a good movie. The CGI was a bit much at times, which is hard for me to say because I am a fan. You are right about the race track I would think the first thing I would think of would be a net or a bubble of sorts. The scenes with the other green lanterns were awesome but I think they should have had a few more. As for the long back story I disagree. I have seen a few other superhero movies that spend half the movie in back story, the titles escape me at the moment, but this one is action from the start that keeps you focused and doesn't really take that much time to get into it.

reply to post by IPILYA


Hulk, Batman Begins. They're two that immediately come to mind when I read your comment about back stories taking half the movie.

I wanted to see it but the bad reviews and the tv spots put me off. I'll wait until it's on tv for free next year on the movie channels before I see it in case I'm wasting my money like I did with Battle: LA

reply to post by curious7


Thank you for the examples. If you want to see it now you can see it here... www.solarmovie.eu... just close the adds.

I absolutely love the green lantern, and lantern lore in general. I hope they didnt mess it up with propaganda like they did with iron man and the hulk.

Does it have anything to do with the middle east?

Please tell me they stuck to the original story..

reply to post by BanMePlz


Middle East=No
pretty close but modern. see my last post for the link and watch it.

Originally posted by IPILYA
reply to post by BanMePlz

 

Middle East=No
pretty close but modern. see my last post for the link and watch it.

i just might. thanks.

Thanks for the link, might give it a watch later on.

I honestly loved Iron Man. Second one not so much, cool seeing War Machine but I don't get why they had the Crimson Dynamo style suit at random for Whiplash (I know they based the movie version on both characters but that was a head scratcher) and it just seemed too slow moving.

I also recommend the animated movie "Green Lantern Emerald Knights", it features short stories focusing on different lanterns - Kilowog, Laira, Abin Sur, even Mogo. It's some really awesome animation, DC animated usually never disappoints.

I was pleasantly surprised. I am a huge X-men fan and couldn't wait for the First Class movie to come out. I hit the midnight preview and thought it was the best since the second film.

I went to see the midnight preview of Green Lantern and loved it better than X-men which most people couldn't believe, including myself. I thought it was spot on in backstory, CGI and the right amount of comedy from Ryan, much like in Blade (LOVED him in that. What a hot bod! )

What I don't get is how in the commercials for Green Lantern (and lots of other movies) they can say it's the "#1 Movie in America" in huge bold letters, despite the abysmal reviews and the fact that it just isn't a good movie. Seems like this happens a lot. I know it's just marketing, and they can't come out and say it's the "Worst Movie in America" in the previews. But it's strange to me how sometimes movies do that. It's like our cash...the only value it has is the value we give to it. Where is the line for false advertising actually drawn?