Escape to the Movies: Green Lantern: Extended Cut

[TheDrunkNinja]

*watches whole episode waiting for some shocking revelation to justify another Green Lantern episode*

So the shitty dvd release of the shittiest movie of the summer is shitty.

Thanks for the clarification, Bob. Next time, devote that to an Intermission article and not a goddamn episode.

 

[Bluecho]

When I went to see Green Lantern, I went in with an open mind. I immediately dropped any expectations of the movie getting everything right about the GL mythos, because a theatrical movie wasn't going to be able to do that. The mythos is just too big, and relies too heavily on other aspects of the decades of comic continuity at DC for a movie to fit in. So while I did think the inclusion of Parallax was a stupid move, I did give the movie leyway for at least trying to fit things in.

But that this Extended Cut didn't solve many of the plot holes in this movie is just inexcusable. I've been clamouring for a cut of this movie that fills in some of the holes obviously made by the studio, but apparently they didn't even fix a few of the plot problems.

...and yet, I'll probably go to see that sequel they're apparently still making despite going absurdly over budgit.

 

[Azurian]

I wanna see Green Lantern just because it is so god awful. I have already seen almost every bad comic and video game movie.

 

[Yojoo]

Enjoyed the episode as usual, Bob, but if there's nothing to review, isn't there something else you can do with this week's episode?

I mean, don't get me wrong, I enjoy hearing you rip apart bad movies. But you already convinced me not to watch this one several months ago. Amusing as the episode was today, I got nothing new out of it.

On a week like this, how about giving us a review of a movie that came out a couple years back that you skipped, perhaps one that very few people saw? Any good limited-release movies come out this year that flew under your radar? Or how about evaluating some of the upcoming movies based on their trailers, letting us know which seem good and which you'll be skipping?

I dunno, I watch your show both to be entertained and to be informed. Today, only the former half was satisfied.

 

[DTWolfwood]

i just like watching superhero movies, good or bad, but in all honestly, Green Lantern to date was the only one i actually fell asleep watching.

I just didnt care for any of the characters...

 

[Frostbite3789]

My last comment is something ive been lamenting for awhile but really glared at me a couple of days ago. Why is it DC cant make a live action property that does justice to the original source material, save Batman, but their animated movies not only do justice but have great action and storytelling to boot. I watched Batman: Year One a couple of days ago and IMHO it is bar none the greatest adaptation of a comic to visual media to date. The art may have been updated slightly(for its time the comic was good but the movie brought out so much texture and feel to it) but almost every story element and character design was ripped straight from the comic. Their other movies like the Superman/Batman ones, or the Green Lantern and Wonder-Woman ones where either inspired by or took heavy inspiration and narrative from the comic lore. What the hell is so hard about doing the same for a live action property/

Money. Plain and simple. The amount of money put into producing an animated feature that's straight to DVD against the amount of money spent on a full length, live action theatrical release isn't even a comparison.

Movie studios have it in their mind that Average Joe Movie-Goer can't handle complicated plots and deep characters for the most part. And that AJM-G sees comics as dumb and action-y. Something for kids. If he gets something other than that, he gets mad or just avoids it altogether. Look at Watchmen, it was great. But it didn't all that well in the box-office, because it wasn't big dumb action-y comic book movie.

It has to do with expectations and money. they don't think they'll get enough of a return on their investment if they were actually true to the source-material. So they dumb it down. Even the Batman movies for as good as they are leave a lot of the comic source material out in favor of gritty realism. Which is a blessing and a curse.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

you quoted two good (one great) movies and one terrible movie and claimed to be confused that they could be treated differently.

But keep digging your hole mate.

Please do tell, which of the movies do you think is great?

Not that it matters, I'm just curious.

Since no one else has been able to explain this to you, I'll say it.

The truth of the matter is that superhero movies aren't being judged on their levels of ridiculousness by any means. The fact of the matter is that, in this day and age in the movie industry, the concept of comic book heroes on the big screen has been widely accepted. It isn't so much about getting past the absurdity of an alien space marine corps with magic rings or the god of thunder ripping it up in El Paso. That was the hard part. Now, superhero movies are being judged in the same way any movie is judged: the narrative, the progression of characters, how tightly written the dialogue is, the underlying messages--Green Lantern fails to bring any of these attributes to the table skillfully or even subtly for that matter.

Now, I'm not going to go into the how on the level of shittiness in regards to Green Lantern since that's not the point I'm trying to make. If you honestly thought that each of those aspects I listed were executed just as badly in Thor and Captain America, then there's no point in me trying to convince you of anything. I'm just giving you the reason why everyone was so upset about it.

First, there's the butchering of those attributes I mentioned. The second is what it did to movies about DC superheroes. Warner Bros to a bit of a gambit on Green Lantern, and they lost. They lost a shit ton. It showed them that the only comic book character worth their time was Batman, or at least anything Christopher Nolan shoves out. It showed them that next time they have to play it safe. I don't know if you noticed, but DC has been in the toilet compared to what Marvel has been shoving out in regards to blockbuster movies. The Dark Knight was a fantastic movie, but not even Batman can compare to the unstoppably blockbuster machine that is Marvel. Warner Bros took a chance to give Green Lantern the same millions it would spend on The Dark Knight, and it failed. Horribly. The next DC movie is The Dark Knight Rises, and every time it shows something new, it leaves people with mixed feelings about the direction of the film. Since he can't recreate what he did on the Dark Knight, Nolan is in troubling waters with the Dark Knight Rises, and Batman alone can't compete with the leading to the Avengers movie, a move so anticipated it needed five films to build up to it.

All of this, because of Green Lantern. That's why.

 

[Red Roark]

I'm a big time comic fan and Green Lantern fan in particular and I hated the movie. My mom doesn't know anything about comics and she liked it. I'm glad she did so I didn't spoil her fun, but overall it's hard to justify the plot, terrible dialogue, chunky transitions into action etc. I don't know, the writing really sucked the worst imo, and the same guys are writing Green Lantern 2 and Flash. From what I've looked up they seemed to be really passionate about the source material, I don't know what went wrong but I really hope they get their act together for the next two movies. I do think getting rid of the director was a good move, who made everything look like grey foggy ass. I'd like to see brighter and colorful OA with a more adult story with no plot holes. I still have a blue light in my heart about those GL2 and Flash.

I'm looking forward to seeing bob dissect this movie, it needs treatment similar to what Red Letter Media did to the star wars prequels.

 

[XDravond]

I saw green lantern and well it was bad and nothing could really help it. A "its a comic book movie, what ya expect.." just isn't enough. But it really was not so bad that it deserves 2 ep... It deserves only to be laughed at and then just move along...

Some people here argue about Thor and Captain America was just the same thing well seen those to and whilst not being great (as in best movie ever) they where at least not extraordinary boring or had really silly looking CGI.. They had action and explanations to the action (not realistic but still).
Things that did bother me in them were for example: I know a bit to much about airplanes to believe the "air thing" in Captain America actually could fly and that "giant robot" in Thor worked a bit to weird... On the other hand they had several way stupid reasons (for why they did save people etc) and so called explanations to make them great, but enough booms to be fun---

Hmm when thinking about it explosions (at the right time) might be the thing that makes a fun action movie... Green Lantern did lack any kind of "fun" explosions that I can remember anyway (way to boring to be able to tell anyone what it really was about...)

 

[tehweave]

"Can this movie be salvaged by a more expansive running time and a judicious re-jiggering of scenes?"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Then why did you review it? The Big Year, Footloose, both of these came out last week and we could have used a review for them. So why not do that instead of re-iterating how shitty this film already was?

Plus, what about the ones that came out this week? Three Musketeers, Paranormal Activity 3? You could have done those as well? Why do another review of a film we already know you hated?

 

[vxicepickxv]

I was thinking of watching the Green Lantern movie, theater version, today, for free.

I decided sleeping was a better use of my time.

 

[GunboatDiplomat]

Actually i thought the Green Lantern was pretty good. Silly but fun. I men what do you expect from a superhero movie.

It was certainly far better than Captain America which melted my brain with its stupid plot holes, historical illiteracy and ridiculous implausibility.

 

[SnakeoilSage]

The moment I saw Hal Jordan's eyes blurring into his mask and the fact that they had to give him white-blue irises so you can even see where his eyes are told me all I needed to know about this film. I went and saw Thor and had a much better time of it.

And really when you think about it, Thor and the Green Lantern have very similar plots. Both have clear-cut jocks as their main characters, both have antagonists that share a kind of sibling-jealousy angle, both deal with alien technology so advanced they are arguably magical in nature. Both are arguably silly movies but Thor is much less insecure about this fact, allowing itself to be light-hearted about certain aspects while still blending a surprisingly good narrative about space-gods with magic hammers.

The difference is of course the quality of both. Green Lantern flits about with terrible effects, laughable acting and a sloppy script that allows none of the important details to come to light in time for us to get invested in them. Thor meanwhile has the complete opposite, with impressive visuals, surprisingly good acting and a script that doesn't weigh itself down with lots of soul-searching B.S.

This summer belonged to Marvel, folks. DC had a chance to make a superhero movie other than Batman (or a painfully dated Superman) and they dropped the ball so hard it fell through the floor and killed the landlord's mother.

 

[Red Roark]

The ting that annoys me the most about the Green Lantern film is that the latest Green lantern comics (read: Geoff Johns taking over) have been fucking awesome. Like spine tingling, goosebump raising amazing.

Couldn't agree more. If they could do a green lantern movie correctly it could be the biggest thing since star wars. I thank god Mark Strong is playing Sinistro and hope for the best.

 

[moviedork]

seriously? Another "review" on Green Lantern. He can't use the excuse that a movie like Paranormal Activity 3 wasn't screened for critics because it was (movies that have a 75% on rottentomatoes are guaranteed to be screened). Pure laziness on Bob's end, pure laziness!