Green lantern movie

Okay so I work at a hotel and sometime's it's a midnight shift. Recently I started watching movies of the 'nerd comic' persuasion. One of those movies I recently rewatched was The Green Lantern. I am a fan of the Green lantern comics, so obviously I really wanted to like this film, but the failures of it were too far to over look for me. Now I know there are many reviews of this film so some of my opinions won't be new but it's nice to vent when you feel hollywood dropped the ball. 

First off, the film could have been great, in my opinion maybe even better than 'The Dark Knight'. The problem with DC movies as of late (Superman Returns, and Green Lantern, Jonah Hex) is that they miss the mark where Marvel Movies hit. Continuity, what I mean by this is with the Green Lantern could have been the movie that DC movies announce or hint at a Justice League. The issue is that DC looks at every comic film as the center of it's universe, which is good but they fail to look beyond the script. They fail to plan ahead. 

Another issue is that the movie was poorly cast. While Ryan Reynolds is a good actor, he wasn't necessarily playing Hal Jordan, he was playing Deadpool as Hal Jordan. In the movie Hal Jordan was a jerk in the early part of the movie, which is okay because of how he is portrayed in the comics. However the issue was that when Hal is suppose to make his transition as 'selfless hero' it wasn't believable. Hal still seemed fake, and I felt that I was almost wanting Paralax to win just to end the movie. While I think Ryan Reynolds could have done a better job with a better script, there was still something missing that I think other actors could have done a better job. 

Sinestro...where to I start, the acting was superb in this regard, but again the writing failed the character completely. Now while Sinestro was somewhat of a redeeming light of the film he still failed miserably. The reason why is his motives, he was suppose to be the 'dirty Harry' of the green lantern corps but ended up the confusing person without motive. In the movie the 'Guardians' were around Sinestro's finger. They basically did his bidding, they should have seen his ruthlessness, his black and white view and keep him in check, it would have made the end scene more believable. Plus his disregard for worlds, namely earth, should have been the final straw that the Guardians could tolerate. His character should have been more rounded, but yet he goes from being the 'hard ass' drill sergeant to the person who organizes three green lanterns at the end to save Hal from being sucked into the sun. 

Next is the special effects. Now while the movie was a great piece to show off CGI it overly used it to the point of making the filmakers look lazy. While many aspects of Oa had to be CGI'ed did the suit have to be? While this pet peave may have me wanting to see Ryan Reynolds in tights it also irks me as a nerd. I wanted to see a physical representation of the Green Lantern uniform, while the 'suit' that was used in the movie looked like photoshop on steroids it didn't impress me. I wanted to see something real, in this green lantern movie. Let's take other comic films, namely the Superman movie with Christopher Reeve, the director and production crew went to great lengths to create the suit with no seams and to get the colors just right. While this was due to the lack of modern CGI technology back then, it served the purpose of making the audience feel that this was a physical representation of the comic books. Reeve's looked like Clark Kent and Superman, and this was obvious to people who barely read the comic. Then there is completely the opposite with Tim Burton's Batman (yes this movie had it's flaws too but it was a great reimagined Batman world.), with this Batman, gone were the gray tights, and in was a body armor that accentuated Michael Keaton. This was believeable, and great pains were made to make this costume. These are representations of the two extremes comic book movies are, Superman the strict following of the comic vs. Batman the reimagining that worked for that particular Batman world. Green Lantern doesn't fit, it's as if it was made to like the star wars prequels in a sterile environment where all grit and realism are lost. I also want to make this point, in Richard Donner's Superman, Krypton felt real, it also felt as if it was a planet of superior intellect and power, where Oa seemed off, the imagination was not too much but was just what was expected out of hollywood and seemed like a cookie cutter planet that seems to be the norm for sci fi, and science fantasy movies. 

How could I end with out mentioning Paralax...trust me I tried to forget this character. Many people complain about the back story which is understandable, but it didn't bother me that much. What did bother me is how he didn't seem to be that frightening of a villain. And yes I understand that it's because we know that Hal will win the day, but at the same time when your basically a cloud it's hard to see the danger (unless it's a tornado that's heading your way). Again, I wanted to see something more real, something that would make be believe that this was a villain who could loved to destroy and was a serious threat to Hal, the green lanterns, Oa and earth. It just seemed too typical and not exciting. 

All in all this movie had it's moments, I think Hector Hammond was well played, and the voice acting was really good. The fact that we got Clancy Brown as the voice of Parallax was the only redeeming quality. However, this movie shows the failings in many Comic book films, or even sci fi films. The fact that the film makers don't take the subject material seriously as a form of entertainment or even at the underlying themes that Comics have. When the director's, writers, and even actors feel that the material is just for kids and for a cheap thrill we get crap like this, and it just well just sucks.