EDITORIALS
5 Badass Reasons Why Fans Will Love The Green Lantern Movie
by Nick Valentine
October 7, 2008
Our local script expert is back again with a look at one of the most highly anticipated adaptations - Green Lantern. Superhero films always have a handful of those "badass" moments that make your jaw drop and make the film memorable. Whether it be Batman flipping Joker's semi in The Dark Knight or Tony Stark's first path of destruction in his Mark III armor, these moments will forever make moviegoers wish that they were the ones with the superpowers. Well, after taking a look at a draft of the upcoming Green Lantern script written by Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, and Marc Guggenheim, here is my list of five badass reasons why fans will love the Green Lantern movie when it hits theaters in 2010.
#5 - Respect for the Fans
It's hard to make a film adaptation when there is almost seventy years of source material to choose from. We all know that certain compromises have to be made because certain things don't translate well from the comic book to the screen, but the writers of the Green Lantern did a damn good job of respecting their source material. The film centers around Hal Jordan, the best-known Green Lantern, and his origin story stays respectfully accurate to the comics. Hal is a test pilot, which is a huge part of the entire script, and his willpower is the driving force of the entire movie. The writers also managed to craft a great story where other key characters in the Green Lantern universe have great roles. Abin-Sur is a big part of the film's first act, Thaal Sinestro, Tomar-re and Kilowog get good screen time as well.
When it comes to villains, well, I'll get to that later. But don't worry, the fans will be happy. There are also great cameos that will be nods for the fans including a quick glimpse of a football coach with the name "Gardner" on his back, and a mother of a reveal at the end of the film that I wouldn't dream of spoiling. It always makes me happy when writers include things in the script that only the fans will understand. There are plenty of badass moments in this film that will only be amazing to a smaller audience who has the knowledge of years of comic books. So if you were one of those people who got chills during Iron Man when Col. Rhodes saw the Mark II armor and muttered, "Next time baby" get ready for some spine tingling chills during Green Lantern. These writers have done a damn good job staying close to the heart of the Green Lantern universe. Don't be worried about "organic webshooter-like" departures from the comics in this.
#4 - A Killer Dogfight
Look, airplanes fighting other airplanes is badass. Dogfights just look cool. And in this movie, damn do we get a cool one. Hal Jordan's a test pilot and we all know he's supposed to be a damn good one. In this movie we're going to get plenty of flying goodness. So get ready for a scene in the first act of the film where Hal goes head to head with three other fully automated and unmanned "Sabre-Jets." It's like a chess match between a grandmaster and three super-computers at Mach 1 with missiles and bullets instead of bishops and pawns. Hopefully the filmmakers will be able to pull off the same level of excitement on screen that there is in the script. I'm trying to think of dogfights that aren't awesome. Sure, Stealth wasn't Oscar material, but when they were in the sky, everything was just so damn cool. So get ready to add Green Lantern to the list of movies that have a sweet arial showdown between billion dollar hunks of metal.
#3 - Power Rings
Of course this was going to contain power rings! It wouldn't be a Green Lantern movie without them. But after reading the script, DAMN, the things that the power rings do are awesome. While we still have a long time until that glorious moment when we see a trailer and see what they actually look like, I can assure you that the the things the rings DO are amazing. And yes, I said rings, plural. Start drooling now.
Hal will be summoning plenty of badass things from his ring including the classic green fist. But we also see nets, and tons of different weapons. Not to mention plenty of sheer blasts of energy, and one point in the script when Hal creates an entire city from the ring. It's a ring of seemingly limitless power, and we get to see tons of examples of it right from the beginning of the movie. Within the first fifteen minutes of the movie, we get to witness a battle between Abin-Sur and the most bad ass character in the whole script (I'll get to that next). The fight is going to be amazing. Ring blasts, shields, grabbing asteroids with the ring and slamming it around are all part of it, and as far as this movie goes, it's a mini-fight. The rings are the coolest things in this movie, as they certainly should be.
#2 - Legion
So let me get this straight. Legion is essentially the polar opposite of everything that is the Green Lantern Corps wrapped up in one golden yellow monster? Sign me up. Legion is so badass in this that my mind has a hard time wrapping itself around it. Imagine if you took every scary bad guy and combined them into one terrifying motherfucker covered in armor. He's Predator, Jaws, Alien, Mordred (from Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series), and an octopus all rolled into one. He's described as the size of a whale with the grin of a shark and tentacles of an octopus. Sounds a little cheesier than scary. Until I think back to any video I've ever seen of an angry octopus that kills everything - then give it a shark mouth and lethal blasts of yellow energy. When you see the concept art of this guy you're going to wet your bed for a week.
Legion spends all of his time on-screen killing. That's all he does. At one point you think he might take a break, but after lulling his prey into a false sense of security, he lashes out and destroys everyone. Legion is such a badass, that a splinter of his armor that gets separated from him creates the Earth-based villain. So if a splinter of this thing is capable of creating an evil telekinetic madman, I can't even imagine the level of evil that Legion is capable of. He is the reason that grown men might need to wear diapers to this movie.
#1 - Epic Battles
After reading this script, I can't stress enough how magnificently HUGE it is. Green Lantern comics have always dealt with far more than just our measly little "Earth problems." So why limit our fights between on super powered good guy and one super powered bad guy? So the writers went with the approach of including epic battles that could cause a popcorn shortage when this movie comes out. The best part is the scale of these fights. Hal Jordan isn't the only one fighting in this movie. The entire Green Lantern Corps joins in to fight Legion. So everything you imagined Hal Jordan doing as a Green Lantern is actually multiplied exponentially when you seen hundreds of Green Lanterns fighting at the same time.
The battles in this movie are going to be what you would get if you took the entire Roman Army from the opening battle in Gladiator and gave each of them a ring of limitless power, then took every member of the Barbarians they fought against and wrapped them into one huge and terrifying motherfucker (see above), and decided to have a half hour battle. Green Lantern deserves a galactic canvas on which to paint his badass-ness, and this script definitely delivers one. 2010 needs to get here. NOW!
54 Comments
1
HOLY MOSES I can't wait. Sounds fantastic. I know little of Green Lantern, but now I feel I need to find out more, since this movie sounds like a real explosive superhero flick
-Peter- on Oct 7, 2008
2
Um yes? It sounds bad ass, for me tho the Green Lantern has always been one of those Superheros that always been around, Ive read some of his comics, still have some, likes some stuff but was never really into because hes not that cool to me. I'm sure I will love the movie but I don't know that it will that great of an experience as some others we've seen for the comic fans in their 20-30s
Richard on Oct 7, 2008
3
Script sounds awesome. Now, too bad it's gonna have to scale back so it fits a proper budget. Don't start dreaming too much about those epic fights.
Darunia on Oct 7, 2008
4
Wow you made that sound awsome, I just hope your not the guy who said wall-e was a 10.
dac_fan on Oct 7, 2008
5
So Coast City gets destroyed in the very first movie???? Naturally then, the final reveal is that Parallax comes???? Goddamn do they have balls if they're going Emerald Twilight in the first movie.
Colin on Oct 7, 2008
6
Sounds like lots of action and fanboy inclusions (which is always welcomed) but is there a heart to it all... you didn't mention any character development or internal struggles... in my opinion, that's what made the Dark Knight/ X-Men 1&2 so interesting.
Drew on Oct 7, 2008
7
The only way this could turn out bad is if they overload on unconvincing CG for anything other than the rings powers, or if they decide to maniacally shake the camera whenever there is an action scene, I really, really hate that. I want to be convinced that what I'm watching is real, this is going to be 2010 so I hope I won't be able to tell when ever the CG is on screen.
Nunyo Biznez on Oct 7, 2008
8
Sounds amazing... if it sucks you owe me $20 for the theater tickets 😀
Daniel on Oct 7, 2008
9
I always thought the Green Lantern was black...seriously. Think about it. He is black right?
Daniel on Oct 7, 2008
10
On paper, it sounds amazing. But remember: Studio executives are like the color yellow to Green Lantern. Let's see how much of this makes it into the final movie. On the other hand(or appendage depending on species) it would be cool to see Mogo.
Luis M on Oct 7, 2008
11
If he's not he should be. Not enough black superheroes these days out there with big movies.( Excluding Hancock because it sucked)
Daniel F. on Oct 7, 2008
12
good job my friend! I just asked doc brown to make another time machine to send me to the premier! haha!
Ray on Oct 7, 2008
13
WB should go all in with this thing.
Heath on Oct 7, 2008
14
I had a Power Ring that turned green once. It also turned the finger that was on and the two adjacent fingers green as well. And that was the last time I bought "gold" out of the back of somebody's trunk.
kevjohn on Oct 7, 2008
15
Yes, I needed to here this. I have always wanted a Green Lantern movie since I had seen him in the Superman caroon series when I was younger. Why it has taken WB so long to realize the potential is beyond me, but it sounds like they are going to redeem themselves by making this movie right.
MrSammich on Oct 7, 2008
16
I'm sure they will get to the black-Green Lantern in the sequil like War-Machine in Iron Man, aftetr all chronologically Hal Jordan did come first.
MrSammich on Oct 7, 2008
17
This movie will be AWESOME! Just one question: The dogfight scene will feature Hal Jordan riding and airplane or fully costumed as Green Lantern?
Innukchuck on Oct 7, 2008
18
Sounds amazing! Thanks for the insider perspective!
Mostskillz on Oct 7, 2008
19
Sorry, but I love to nitpick... "Whether it be Batman flipping Joker's semi in The Dark Knight or Tony Stark's first path of destruction in his Mark III armor, these moments will forever make moviegoers wish that they were the ones with the superpowers." Neither Batman nor Iron Man have superpowers.
Viper on Oct 7, 2008
20
I'm gonna see it even though I'm not a fan of Green Lantern. On that note, roll on Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Teen Titans.
TrueBelieverX on Oct 7, 2008
21
Sounds amazing, but with this wide of a scope, if they don't have the means necessary it's gonna end up badly tacked together. So what I'm thinking is that either WB decides to go all out and do astounding special effects with space battles, space creatures, etc (which is a very high risk with a first movie)..... OR they narrow their scope down to just an Earth setting for this first movie, and save the Corps and the space battles for the sequel.
Alfredo on Oct 7, 2008
22
@4 Wall-E WAS a 10.
Blue Buttons on Oct 7, 2008
23
I think I just crapped my pants with excitement. I love Green Lantern. Always my favorite superhero!
Art on Oct 7, 2008
24
Blue.....Wall-e gets a 10 for production however Wall-E's message was a MINUS 10. GL and I go way back, and he was a white guy. If "they" can actually pull this off like the script says.....all I can say is "Holy Shit"!
D-9 on Oct 7, 2008
25
Ugh can I just say, No. No John Stewart as the main GL, cause he's not. I'm so tired of people thinking he should be the main Green Lantern in EVERYTHING! Hal Jordan is Green Lantern, done. Hal Jordan is even referred to by the Guardians as Lantern 2814.1, while John Stewart Lantern is 2814.2. John is Hal's James Rhodes. A great support character and I really like him as character but Hal is the greatest (not to mention original [silver age]) ring slinging Green Lantern! And yes there is Alan but we're talking about the silver age Lantern Corps not the golden age magic man. I mean come on! He has the feud with Sinestro that can be argued as one of the most super rivalries of all time! Sorry Danny boy but yay for these writers for getting it right!
KP on Oct 7, 2008
26
Oh please. Epic battles. The most epic fights i've seen were the ones in Transformers and the battles in Lord of the rings. There is no other movies that had epic fights other than those two.
Darrin on Oct 8, 2008
27
Ben Browder for Green Lantern please!
Brinton on Oct 8, 2008
28
^ I had a hard time following the movements in the Transformers fight scenes but they were awesome though. what about Incredible Hulk recently, the fight scenes with Abomination were fuckin sick!!!
Big r on Oct 8, 2008
29
Can Green Lantern fly? Sorry don't know much of his powers, but Nick made this sound extremely amazing...kudos.
peloquin on Oct 8, 2008
30
"Don't be worried about "organic webshooter-like" departures from the comics in this." and then: "#2 - Legion So let me get this straight. Legion is essentially the polar opposite of everything that is the Green Lantern Corps wrapped up in one golden yellow monster?" Never read the comics, eh? Legion = parallax? Sinestro Corps? Why change the name of the main baddies? Sounds like it's going to be a load of fail so far.
tiki god on Oct 8, 2008
31
Been a GL fan for years... Hal is obviously the best choice for the first movie, mabe expand a bit on the corps for a 2nd and third. sounds like he was talking about parallax i mean "yellow montser" and all. Just hope they are able to capture how hard it is to weild the ring... like in rebirth when green arrow uses the power ring and says something to the effect of "does it always feel like that (exhausted) and Kyle says, "every time" as he helps green arrow walk out of the room. i've been waiting for this movie for years... god help WB if they screw it up... a corps of unhappy GL fans may storm hollywood.
TranquilApe on Oct 8, 2008
32
@29....GL can do ANYTHING. Basically the power of the ring is pretty much limited only by the imagination and willpower of the wielder.
Joel on Oct 8, 2008
33
This sounds really good! Finally DC is giving us a superhero movie other than Batman or Superman (Batman being the only one they got right). Hey Firstshowing.net, any chance you guys can give the Thor script this same treatment???
Daas on Oct 8, 2008
34
#30: Legion has nothing to do with Parallax. In fact, in the comic origin, there's no such thing as Legion anymore now that Hal's origin has been retold. I'm a bit rusty on my Emerald Dawn, but Legion was an entire planet's worth of dead souls (hence the name) that came together and animated a badass suit or armour for the purpose of killing Green Lanterns. I think the GLs must have destroyed their planet, accidental or whatever the reason. Legion was yellow because they knew of the weakness; Parallax came years later, and the entire reason for the weakness, as it's yellow. Parallax is the yellow impurity.
Colin on Oct 8, 2008
36
Like we haven't seen an "epic battle" with hundreds of CG characters before. *yawn*
avoidz on Oct 8, 2008
37
i really want to see this movie and i have to say david boreanaz should be green lantern not ryan gosling - who is going to watch this movie? teenagers. david boreanaz played more roles that teenagers would know- buffy, angel, and bones. ryan gosling what is he known for? the notebook now how many teens watch some drama-romance meant for adult women?
Sammilky on Oct 11, 2008
38
Hmmmmmm. Sounds good but one problem. I think they might be throwing too much at once. I mean do not get me wrong. The GL movie sound s like it is going to be good. But if you put too much into one movie how you going to top it with part 2. Maybe take the concept and make it into 2 movies and expand more.
shadowlord on Oct 13, 2008
39
I'm a little worried. I like epic battles as much as the next guy, but bad things happen when directors focus too much on the special effects and epic battles while neglecting other small things like characterization and story integrity. Will they get Hal Jordan right. I 2nd Ben Browder for the role. An inspired idea.
Micha on Oct 13, 2008
40
Shadowlord: They have the whole Hal Jordan/Thaal Sinestro relationship to build one, besides many good villains, like the Star Shappires, the Black Hand, The Manhunters and the Sinestro Corps, to work on folowing movies. Don't worry. If they keep the Berlanti/Guggehein/Green trio, whe have all the ingridients to make Green Lanterns one of the best comic book movie franchises yet.
Innukchuck on Oct 14, 2008
41
Colin: You're right. In the comics history, the insectoid race Thck-Tchk wanted to take over the universo. The Guardians, knowing they could wow if they got the chance, created a green force field arround their planet, impeaching them of getting out forever. Angry, they commited mass suicide and put their essences on something know as ''The jar of souls'', that was conect inside a badass golden armor know as Legion, that was able to trepass the Force Field and started a killing spree against Green Lanterns arround the universe.
Innukchuck on Oct 14, 2008
42
Peloquin: Yes, the Green Lantern can fly.
Innukchuck on Oct 14, 2008
43
who would be a good voice for the ring? Its Hal, so you know the ring should talk at some point
TranquilApe on Oct 14, 2008
44
I always imagined the ring with a feminine voice. Maybe Julianne Moore, that kicked ass in "Eagle Eye".
Innukchuck on Oct 14, 2008
45
GL has been my favorite since Hal got the ring. I'd camp out NOW except ........ well anyway I can't wait. This could be better than Dark Knight.
MPD55744 on Oct 16, 2008
46
If I was "one of those people who got chills during Iron Man when Col. Rhodes saw the Mark II armor and muttered, 'Next time baby'," I'd fill my bathtub with battery acid and jump in.
Person who gets laid occasionally on Oct 16, 2008
47
.. Sounds like pure shite. I'm thinking about GL, and the majority of his villains are LAME. Sonarr, the Tattooed Man, Black Hand, Star Sahppire So this script skips them allthankfully but even Dr Polaris (the best along with Sinestro) for Legion, a giant monster. Why not Emerald Dawn? It's noce, concise and you'd want to see twice. Instead we will most likely get another over-involved Batman/Spiderman-type movie. ie too many villains, too much "stuff" and very little characterization. It's Hal Jordan vs Gojira. Great. I can see myself not going to this movie already. Couldn't we just get an origin and ONE villain, or perhaps a straight forward "save an alien world" plot? (Which is the CORE of the SA GL.) ..
Kirth on Oct 18, 2008
48
Easy there, Kirth. Take a chill pill.
Innukchuck on Nov 20, 2008
49
Maybe I'm out of it. But The ring Hal had was not without limitations. He had to Charge his ring with the lantern, and over-use would deplete it's power faster. I've checked the previous movies the writers have worked on, and I'm not impressed that they will be doing GL justice. Not saying that they aren't good at what they do, just not for this story. I mean man, they have an excellent writer working on the Blackest Night comic story line with Hal Jordan. The writers really need to care about this project for it to work since GL Isn't as well known as some. I've read an interview with one of the writers, Greg Berlanti, where he stated that anyone could be green lantern by simply getting the ring. Which kind of scares me for the success of this film, that the writer is not familiar with the GL origin. The man does not choose the ring, nor can he simply posses it. The ring selects the man by judging his worthyness. That's a simplified version anyway. But not just anyone can have it. And no, Parallax did not use a yellow powered ring, he was imprisoned in the Center of the GL battery which cuased the power to be useless against the color yellow. Hal was also taken over by Parallax and in essence became him. Sinestro was the GL that turned greedy and used the yellow powered ring as a villian against the GL corps. If you haven't skipped my reply yet, I just have one more thing to say... They really need to keep the oath in the script : In brightest day, in blackest night No evil shall escape my sight Let those who worship evil's might Beware my power, Green Lantern's light! I've read several posts saying that this GL oath is for kids under 8. But I do think it's part of the mythology and needs to be in the story, at least in the first story. The DC Universe has a lot of great heroes, but few box office hits. Anyone remember the line from superman returns? Does he still stand for truth, justice, and all that stuff? Please don't mess up another chance to put DCU back on the map.
Rick on Apr 12, 2009
50
not for kids under 8 specifically for all ages. i see this young up and coming actor play Hal Jordan/Green Lantern. Erik Fellows - look him up on imdb
Laney on Apr 23, 2009
53
#3 - Darunia, you're a pathetic sack of puss. Burn in hell.
SlashBeast on Sep 20, 2009
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