Green Lantern - what went wrong? ...and the sequel...

[GeneralFROSTY]

io9.com has an article up on their site explaining why a Green Lantern Sequel is a bad idea.

io9.com GL Article

Sequel hook at the expense of character = :angry

I doubt the movie would pick up with Sinestro already evil. The scene could be placed later in the movie, or perhaps we will see Sinestro struggle with wanting the power throughout the first act of the film.
No one knows at this point, but the sequel to this movie can't be worse than Attack of the Clones:lol

 

[Solo4114]

I still haven't seen the film, but from the sound of it, they're pretty closely following Geoff Johns' approach to Hal and his background, at least in the script. Hal's not a screw-up in the sense of being incapable, but he's a screw-up in the sense of not respecting authority and regularly sabotaging himself by acting out -- even when the authority figures recognize his innate talent. Think "Maverick" in Top Gun. That's Hal during the Geoff Johns run in terms of his background. Joining the GLC gives him greater meaning in life than he had before. As I recall, his relationship with Sinestro is also a surrogate father relationship, or at least a very close friendship almost as brothers, which is why the inevitable "HAHA! Now I'm EEEEEEVIL!" turn has meaning.

Anyway, sounds like this one really suffered on the "inside baseball" end of things, which in turn produced a less-than-stellar outing for an otherwise pretty cool and fun character who should be a no-brainer for a summer blockbuster.

 

[Jeyl]

I doubt the movie would pick up with Sinestro already evil. The scene could be placed later in the movie, or perhaps we will see Sinestro struggle with wanting the power throughout the first act of the film.

He didn't look like he was struggling with the powers when he put the ring on. And if they're going to push the scene back, doesn't that kind of ruin the potential build-up since most will have already seen it happen?

 

[GeneralFROSTY]

He didn't look like he was struggling with the powers when he put the ring on. And if they're going to push the scene back, doesn't that kind of ruin the potential build-up since most will have already seen it happen?

You may be right - I guess I'm just hoping you're wrong
We will see I guess. There is alot of untapped drama to be had between Hal and pre-evil Sinestro and I hope the studio sees that when working on the second film. Some of the best moments in the original script were between Hal and Sinestro so I hope that will be utilized....

 

[Kerr Avon]

What went wrong? Picking a commedian who doesn't know how to do anything else as the hero.

 

[Jet Beetle]

He didn't look like he was struggling with the powers when he put the ring on. And if they're going to push the scene back, doesn't that kind of ruin the potential build-up since most will have already seen it happen?

Hal dreamt it -- Tells Sinestro who assures him no Yellow ring was ever created, but Hal is now suspicious of Sinestro's character. Sinestro has to visit Earth to get Hal (Sinestro is training him) Sinestro is disgusted by how unorganized and chaotic Earth is. Sinestro takes Hal to visit a world that is run with perfect order -- Sinestro's homeworld - there Hal find a people who are being oppressed by Sinestro who rules with an iron fist . Sinestro assures Hal that this is how his people have lived for thousands of years -- there has always been a dictator. Hal takes on Sinestro who demands the Guardians take away Hal's ring as his arrogance blinds him to the cultures of others. The Guardians agree with Sinestro and take away Hal's ring and Hal is returned to Earth. Then, they discover that Sinestro has not only been ruling over his people, but he's used to ring to execute those who stepped out of line -- The guardians hold trial for Sinestro who is kicked out of the Corps (he blames Hal for this). Sinestro forges the yellow ring- fulfilling Hal's dream. Hal gets his ring back and fights Sinestro

 

[GeneralFROSTY]

That sounds like a good story to me!

 

[dualedge]

That sounds like a good story to me!

Ditto. I'd go see that based on that description alone.

 

[Solo4114]

Yeah, but minor problem: the ring won't let you kill someone.

Well, not until the "War of Light" timeline, anyway.

 

[Jet Beetle]

Yeah, but minor problem: the ring won't let you kill someone.

Well, not until the "War of Light" timeline, anyway.

Even better - Sinestro has tampered with his ring allowing it to kill, force behavior on others, invade thoughts -- giving a great base that he knows how these rings can be manipulated or reforged - his knowledge of this gives creditability to him making a yellow ring. Also, tampering with a ring is a big no no - so the charges against him are even bigger, getting him kicked out of the Corps.

 

[MooCriket]

Hal dreamt it -- Tells Sinestro who assures him no Yellow ring was ever created, but Hal is now suspicious of Sinestro's character. Sinestro has to visit Earth to get Hal (Sinestro is training him) Sinestro is disgusted by how unorganized and chaotic Earth is. Sinestro takes Hal to visit a world that is run with perfect order -- Sinestro's homeworld - there Hal find a people who are being oppressed by Sinestro who rules with an iron fist . Sinestro assures Hal that this is how his people have lived for thousands of years -- there has always been a dictator. Hal takes on Sinestro who demands the Guardians take away Hal's ring as his arrogance blinds him to the cultures of others. The Guardians agree with Sinestro and take away Hal's ring and Hal is returned to Earth. Then, they discover that Sinestro has not only been ruling over his people, but he's used to ring to execute those who stepped out of line -- The guardians hold trial for Sinestro who is kicked out of the Corps (he blames Hal for this). Sinestro forges the yellow ring- fulfilling Hal's dream. Hal gets his ring back and fights Sinestro

That is awesome. I'd pay to see that. I love GL but am happy based upon all that I have read that I have not wasted my time seeing the version that is out now. I'll stay contecnt with my comics for now. With the way things go in Hollywood, I would not be surprised if we don't end up with a sequel, but rather end up with a reboot in a few years to erase the failures of this film.

 

[timelordjedi777]

Sorry for those who felt my post was too long to bother with. I just had a lot to say on the matter.

I read the whole post and you are dead on.

 

[Prop Collector]

This movie sucked. It felt scripted. Now I know you're thinking "Duh, it's a movie", but nobody was inspired at all. Everything was flat and devoid of life. And the story was just boring. And then they added the yellow ring teaser at the end that just made no sense. You could tell stuff was chopped out.

 

[GeneralFROSTY]

This movie sucked. It felt scripted. Now I know you're thinking "Duh, it's a movie", but nobody was inspired at all. Everything was flat and devoid of life. And the story was just boring. And then they added the yellow ring teaser at the end that just made no sense. You could tell stuff was chopped out.

I agree you could tell things were chopped out - but to say everything was flat is not totally appropriate; Peter Sasguard and Mark Strong delivered some of the BEST performances in the movie and were very strong characters despite the cuts that were made. And also, I feel Reynolds pulled of Hal quite well - again, despite the cuts.
The biggest fallings of this movie were the lack of space/alien interactions and more super heroics.
One thing that REALLY slowed down the pace were the lovey dovey scenes with Hal and Carol.
The end of the movie built up a great momentum as Sinestro commends Hal with all of Oa watching....then that momentum falls flat once we cut to another boring scene with Hal and Carol.

 

[timelordjedi777]

I think that they need to go to the fans for an awesome movie. They should have showed it to die hard fans and then got their reaction. Any one of us could have told them what was missing. Maybe they should have Jon Favreau do the next one. He did do a good job with the first Iron Man.

 

[Vaderman]

I haven't seen this yet (or Thor... I am a little behind! :rolleyes)
But I think it is clearly time for a "re-boot" of this GL franchise.

 

[Prop Collector]

I disagree. A good Director's Cut release and a strong second movie could make up for this. You should get on Thor, though. Fantastic movie.

 

[JasonCash]

GL was one of the most boring movies I've ever seen. Once he became the Lantern they made him look to cartoony in some scenes....

 

[hydin]

My main problem is the WTF editing that happens in the movie.

for example, You go from a epic battle scene (well, a battle scene) to "waking up in bed" with literally NO follow through.

It was badly edited, and just... sucked. Really should have waited for the DVD on this one :unsure

Chris

 

[Harmonic_Distortion]

I read the original Berlanti script and there were more than just a few scenes missing. It was an ENTIRELY different movie!!!

I swear if they had just not touched what was on those original pages, they'd have had an exciting, endearing, breathtaking, substantial, amazing movie!

And let me just say...I know some people think it's a gimmick...but WTH...why not use 3D for a superhero that makes 3D constructs?????!!!?!?! I mean the glove should have punched out of the screen...as should have all the other constructs. This "3D is only for adding depth" crap is bull$.