I had the occasion to take a look at Green Lantern again
recently through my ongoing DVD rentals for this blog and I thought I would do
something a little different this time. Part of what I am going to do is review
the film itself but I am also going to talk about what I think should be the
next step in DC Comics and Warner Brothers attempts to get a cinematic universe
off the ground, because I believe that in order to get anywhere, they do have
to include Green Lantern in the process.
Recently, Zack Snyder, director of the highly anticipated
Man of Steel was asked about the possibility of a bigger plan like what Marvel
did with The Avengers stemming from the afore mentioned Superman movie Man of
Steel. He said that at the moment Warner Brothers and DC Comics were more
interested in getting their cinematic superhero characters in order before
looking into something like that but that they were open to it. And with recent
reports of attempts to get a Justice League movie off the ground, one can only
assume that the idea of where this all might be heading is in the executive
minds. But I think he was right to say that they need to get their cinematic
superhero house in order first.
This is evident by taking a look at things like Superman
Returns and Green Lantern, they may have been really well done but they left
much to be desired from both non-fans and fans alike given their general
reception. They did well in the theatres but in the world of superhero movies,
doing well at the box office just isn’t good enough. You only need to look as
far as Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Legend trilogy to see what it’s like to
do well at the box office AND be widely praised by anyone who might go to the
theatre. Green Lantern had such a problem. I thought very well of it as someone
who doesn’t know the character that well but is a big fan of superheroes, but I
didn’t love it. As a filmmaker, I could see many of the things that they were
trying to do and in some places they succeeded, but overall the story elements
just didn’t click as well as they needed to so that they could really shine.
Where I think they ultimately failed is in the use of fear
as their primary driving theme. It’s a great theme as many who went to see
Batman Begins will attest to, but it’s because of its use in Batman Begins that
it ended up falling flat. They wanted to show that fear was not the only
element or tactic that you need to use in order to be a hero, but the
characters were so often bogged down by fears that were never really
articulated well enough that they made a serious impact on the story. Not to
mention, fear is not the only emotion that needs to be put forward when doing a
Green Lantern movie. Recent years in the comics have introduced numerous other
Lantern Corps based on different elements of the emotional spectrum. I am by no
means suggesting that you should come out of the gate with all these different
Corps in a new movie, but the elements were all there in the previous movie.
There was love, hope, courage, greed, anger, compassion, and potentially even
life and death.
All of these other elements took a backseat to fear,
although there has been some suggestion that the others might make an
appearance in future installments, as a way of in some ways seeming to compete
with Batman and the powerful themes and ideals that are pervasive in
Christopher Nolan’s films even if that wasn’t their intention. This was a
mistake, and one they need to rectify if they are going to move beyond their
fear of Batman being their only superhero at the box office.
Will power, or the will to act, is often either fueled by or creates a bi-product of emotion. If I have felt the power of love, I find the will to act out of love. If I have felt anger, I find the will to act out of anger. And often doing so leads to other emotions from which to draw strength. All these elements were in the film but were not fully realized in the story itself. So I say...
In brightest day, in
blackest night, where should Green Lantern shine his light next? Into a broader
emotional spectrum of themes.
Will power, or the will to act, is often either fueled by or creates a bi-product of emotion. If I have felt the power of love, I find the will to act out of love. If I have felt anger, I find the will to act out of anger. And often doing so leads to other emotions from which to draw strength. All these elements were in the film but were not fully realized in the story itself. So I say...
