Look, here's the real problem. The bar has been set high, real high. Iron Man allowed Robert Downey Jr. to be...well, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Thor had a classically trained thespian direct it...and Anthony Hopkins as Odin! The Dark Knight is just a much a classic heist film as it is a superhero movie, and Christian Bale with Michael Caine? That's gold, my friends.
But I'm also from the generation that had to sit through Dolph Lundgren as the Punisher, with a special guest appearance of Lou Gosset Jr. I've seen the Roger Corman Fantastic Four and the failed Justice League pilot. Add in George Clooney as Batman and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl. I actually like the Birds of Prey TV show, though.
Sometimes, I would just like to sit and see a classic superhero come to life, get an origin story, see some decent effects, be entertained, and hope for more to come. Green Lantern delivered that.
Yes, the script is clunky. It meanders. It drags on some slow scenes and cuts some cool stuff short. But the actors are likable, and above all, it tries it's very best to bridge the whole "space cop" mythology with an Earth bound hero.
I try to remind my friends...for all the brilliant Green Lantern comics that have come out over the past 4 or 5 years, there are 40 years of some real junk to weed through as well! The movie tries to bridge that as well.
Cold CGI? How else are we going to bring to like a ring that can animate anything from your imagination? Cel animation? Stop-motion? Perhaps, but we'd complain about the jerky effects there as well.
Let's keep a little perspective here. No, it's not as good as some of Marvels' most recent efforts, but let's also remember that we had to sit through Peter Parker bemoaning his existence through the first Spider-Man in order to get the outstanding Spider-Man 2...and then we got Spider-Man 3 so the whole thing is null and void. The third X-Men film decided to forget some of it's main characters and desecrate their memories. Even Iron Man 2 is 'meh' compared to the first film, even if it does have Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johansson.
DC's other efforts...wow, we sure all recall how awesome the Chris Nolan Batman films are but let's not forget how nearly terrible Superman Returns was...or the fact that only the mature Vertigo properties get it mostly right (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Constantine, The Losers). Have we forgotten Jonah Hex (and I like that character), or the fact that apparently the Wonder Woman reboot is so awful, even NBC won't put it on it's network????
For what Green Lantern is, and how he began, and his back story, it's really quite good. Go see it and give it a chance....even if it is just to hear Geoffrey Rush as Tomar Re and Michale Clarke Duncan as Kilowog, but don't sell Mark Strong as Sinestro short....poozers!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
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