Jeff's Review: Green Lantern

I love that they're making so many comic-based movies...it really really really makes me appreciate the books soo much more. For the last 6 years or so, the Green Lantern book has gone from fledgling staple to an absolute must-read for the majority of comic book readers. Love him or hate him, Geoff Johns has re-created a mythos that was already totally cool and turned it on it's ass, making it fuck itself until impregnated with the seed of creation and then exploded at birth all over our faces. That may sound harsh but that's exactly what happened. The Green Lantern Corps feels like the real deal and Hal Jordan is finally an interesting character, surrounded by even more interesting characters. This took years to accomplish and took place over a wide variety of stories through two books, "Green Lantern" and "Green Lantern Corps". Many were giant crossover 'event' books, yes, but through it all, you learned a lot about various characters and their drive to succeed as Lanterns and Hal's cartoonish villains were updated to fit the 21st century.

The Green Lantern movie I just saw had four screenwriters. Think about that when you watch the film. It took four people to write, and agree upon, a finalized script that took decades of careful storytelling and throw it out the window.

This movie is an origin story, sure. It opens with a voiceover that explains the history and role of the Guardians in about 30 seconds...I feel like the same could have been done with Hal's origin. "One day, an Earth-man was gifted one of these rings, this is his story.." and get right into the action. What we got instead was an hour and a half of cocky jet pilot Hal Jordan suddenly deciding he's not cocky at all, he's a little pansy man who's scared of responsibility. The entire film deals with his inability to overcome fear of becoming a 'space cop' and not living up to the role left behind by Abin Sur (his predecessor). In the comics, when offered the ring, Hal's first words are pretty much "Hell yes" and we're off to the races. The book origin is more about proving to his fellow Lanters that he deserves the ring and he shows it in classic Hal Jordan style. Watching a movie about a Hal Jordan that doubts himself (after proving he doesn't doubt himself at all earlier in the movie) makes this movie a little painful to watch. It contradicts itself with that plot thread.

Also, this is the story about how one person protects an entire sector of outer space. How about he is forced into a war on another planet and sees firsthand how difficult this job is really going to be? What a wasted opportunity simply having the lazy plotline of him just thinking he can't do it right.

Parallax is a recent addition to Hal's enemies, having been possessed by him for years in the books, Hal and the Corps' history has only now been laced with a history with the villain (in the movie, he is a disgruntled Guardian, not the actual entity of fear as in the books). The movie absolutely didn't need to have Hal face off against his greatest enemy in the history of the comics right off the bat, especially since I heard they had a trilogy in mind. Parallax would have been a great villain to lead up to and end on.

Other nitpicks:
- Carol Ferris' pilot handle is "Sapphire". If you read the books, you know why that's a stupid throwaway.
- Upon failing to save a life in one of his first battles, Hal is quite upset for two seconds. In the next scene, he and other character related to this person have completely moved on.
- Oa/Earth-hopping, it seems a Green Lantern can be on Oa at a moment's notice and address the Guardians directly without an appointment. In the books, they're pretty busy and don't have time for conversation.
- Hal's constructs. Creating something from your mind into a solid form can't be easy, yet Hal does it almost instantly with (how ironic) computer-imaging precision! The constructs he first creates here should be weaker and certainly less detailed.

I can see why people will be (not could be, WILL be) disappointed in this movie. It doesn't have anywhere near enough action (or cool graphics) based on the material it draws from. It also fails to successfully make me want to see more (though it tries to set me up for it, see 'spoilers' down below). Though it was GREAT to see a Green Lantern movie made and it wasn't as horrific as I'm painting it, they really screwed the pooch on this one. The editing was awkward and some of the effects were what I would call "Smallville-level" (Hal often flies away off-screen with a 'whoosh' sound....like, really?).

- *SPOILER ALERT* Hector Hammond doesn't survive the film, which is sad, considering he's a great psychological presence in the books.
- *SPOILER ALERT* Sinestro spends the film understandably upset that his friend Abin Sur has not only been killed but replaced by a human. He has a chip on his shoulder but soon comes to respect Hal's choices and see him as a fellow Lantern. With that, the film ends...but we are then treated to a post-credits easter egg! It's a shot of Sinestro stealing the Guardian's only existing yellow power ring and putting it on. His suit changes to yellow and his eyes glow with power. WTF?? Based on his actions and dialogue in the movie, this is completely out of character. By the end of the movie, Sinestro is still a good guy and then with absolutely no motivation at all, he becomes evil Sinestro? Why?! The ONLY way they can save this HUGE mistake is to start the next film with Sinestro still a Lantern and that exact post-credit footage is shown again later in the movie when he officially turns on the Guardians (so what I just saw was a preview of the next film, not actual footage laced with the movie I just saw).
- *SPOILER ALERT* Hal finish Parallax off with a giant fist punch to the face. I wish I was making that up.

- Jeff