Review of GREEN LANTERN: A mis-focused but fun movie!

Maybe I should disclaimer this by admitting that before going to see the movie, that I bought a Kilowog action figure just so I could have a Green Lantern power ring to wear while watching this flick. Well, that and to also have an action figure of Kilowog to pose on my desk, 'cuz he's my favorite member of the Green Lantern Corps.

But I don't think that would be enough to subjectively color my perception of this movie when I say that I for one enjoyed the heck out of Green Lantern: the live-action adaptation of one of the most classic and revered superheroes in the DC Comics stable, which opens today. But I would also have to admit that this movie is far from perfect, or what it should be at a minimum.

Green Lantern is mis-focused far too much for the film that it should be: about a high concept cosmic mythology. Thor pulled that trick off beautifully when it opened last month. Unfortunately the high concept mythos is there in Green Lantern but doesn't get played up nearly as much as it ought to be. The scenes on Oa, and our glimpses of the Corps and of the Guardians of the Universe and the bits about how green is the color of willpower and yellow is the color of fear, etc... I loved that stuff!! Heck, I could have sat for the entire 114 minutes of this film's running time with nary a glimpse of Earth...

...because we get Earth too dang much in this movie about Green Lantern. That's my biggest beef with this film. And it's sadly ironic: that for a story about choosing to be fearless, director Martin Campbell (who also directed Casino Royale a few years ago for the James Bond franchise) and his crew were afraid to let their baby take off and soar out into the larger universe where Green Lantern belongs.

Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, the human entrusted with the Green Lantern ring by the dying Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison, perhaps best known for playing Jango Fett and his zillions of clones in the Star Wars prequels) pulls off the role admirably, if also with a touch of clunkiness. The thing about Jordan's fear after the freak accidental death of his father, resonated with me with all the grace of a rusted cowbell. It was definitely something that could have benefitted from some rewrite and better editing (or being excised completely). Come to think of it, quite a bit of this film could have been edited away and it would have felt much slicker. I also liked Blake Lively as Jordan's girl/boss Carol Ferris. Tim Robbins also appears as a United States senator and Angela Bassett plays Amanda Waller (a DC Comics character and I'm wondering if Waller's turning up here is helping to set things up for the Justice League movie I'm hearing whispers about, much as Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury has been crashing almost all the Marvel movies of late).

But by far the worst of the human characters, and the single most distracting element of Green Lantern, is Hector Hammond, played by Peter Sarsgaard. I don't necessarily blame Sarsgaard himself but... well, there's no way around it: Hector Hammond sucks. He's a character more at home in a David Cronenburg film than in a blockbuster comic book adaptation. But that Sarsgaard plays him like he's channeling Seth Brundle from The Fly doesn't help matters any. At best Hector Hammond comes across as just too powerful for his own good and at worst, like Rick Moranis' nerdy accountant in Ghostbusters after becoming the Key Master. Too much crap like this and not nearly enough of the Green Lantern legendarium...

...but when we do get pure-D Corps, the movie is an absolute hoot to behold. Michael Clarke Duncan is firing on all cylinders as Kilowog, the Green Lanterns' drill instructor. And for Sinestro, I really can't see any better than Mark Strong as the Corps' respected warrior, soon to become worst enemy. That doesn't happen in this film, but the setup is there (stick around during the credits). I'm looking forward to seeing Sinestro going full-tilt against the Guardians in the sequel (which, based on this film I do believe is merited).

The special effects in Green Lantern are CGI intensive, and at times a bit cartoony... but given that this is a Green Lantern movie, I can forgive that and even say that it's about what I expected. James Newton Howard turns in a fine score. Conceptually, the scale of this film is vast. It's just not exploited to the fullest hilt. As I said, Thor made it work and there's no reason why it can't in a Green Lantern movie. Maybe in the follow-up we'll see Hal Jordan hanging around on Oa more and on Earth less (and speaking of Oa, I thought the Guardians were handled magnificently: elder beyond reason and yet a vital and breathing component of the Green Lanterns' realm).

Green Lantern isn't the best superhero movie that I've seen, and it's somewhat frustrating that it's not the film that it could and should have been. But neither is it the train wreck or the bomb that I'm seeing too many other critics panning it as. I went in to see it braced for anything. Coming out, I realized that it is what it is: a fun summer popcorn flick. I won't say that I'm gonna give it my highest recommendation, but I will say that Green Lantern is worth considering plunking down some coin at the box office to see.

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Guess what chilling line of dialogue has made it into the WATCHMEN movie!

EXTREMELY encouraging word from the Watchmen panel at New York Comic Con yesterday. The thousands in attendance were treated to the first 18 minutes from the movie, which shows the fight between Edward Blake and his assailant, and then a montage of the Watchmen world's history playing out to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are-A Changin'", followed by Rorschach's initial investigation of the murder.

And then, the audience at New York Comic Con got to behold something that I know for darn near certain that every Watchmen fan has been hoping and praying would make it into the movie...

Two words: "Prison Cafeteria".

And yes: Rorschach says it. We are finally going to get to hear him say the line, on the big screen.

I've a lot to do tomorrow, but I plan on spending a little time seeing if there's a theater in Greensboro that's gonna have a midnight premiere of Watchmen. It'll be worth staying up late, just to see that scene along with a few hundred other rabid Watchmen fans, and watch everyone go crazy when he says it.

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No joke: THIS is what Storm Shadow and Baroness will look like in G.I. JOE

Words fail...

There are many more pics of the G.I. Joe actors in their costumes over at What Would Tyler Durden Do, including additional pics of Rachel Nichols as Scarlett, Ray Park as Snake-Eyes, and also Dennis Quaid as Hawk... who looks like a cross between Solid Snake and General Bernard Montgomery.

I haven't seen that many tight butts and rubber nipples in a movie since Batman and Robin: is Joel Schumacher an executive producer on this thing?

Seriously though, I look at these characters, and I feel no attachment to them. No empathy with them at all. The G.I. Joe characters from the Eighties franchise were well-grounded personalities: most of them (other than Snake-Eyes) we were given their names, where they were from, a bit of their history. Their individual costumes were not just a reflection of those characters, they helped to define them too. I see these "G.I. Joe" movie characters, and all I can think of is "They've become nothing more than toy soldiers."

And where is that big crimson Cobra sigil on the Baroness's outfit?

More at the above link.

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This is NOT Scarlett!

Somebody doing marketing/promotional work for the upcoming G.I. Joe movie has screwed-up bigtime. Because this cannot possibly be what Scarlett is going to look like...

That's so much black Spandex, how can there be any left over to use on the Baroness? She's got the cute ponytail and crossbow (which are iconic to the character) but this outfit is all wrong. I was really looking forward to the original, classic Scarlett getup: the tan and gray one, which would have been a great contrast to Snake-Eyes... which if you know anything about those two characters would have been very fitting.

I just don't like it. But I'll be willing to overlook this, if the designs for Destro and Zartan end up looking sweet.

Oh yeah, and Scarlett needs to speak with a Georgia accent in the movie.

Credit goes to JoBlo.com for the otherwise great find :-)

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TRANSFORMERS: THE SCORE is still a hot seller

And over the past week it's actually become more popular (some of that might be due to Christmas shopping, no doubt). While a few days ago it was ranked around #260, the CD of Steve Jablonsky's amazing score for the movie Transformers is currently #184 in Amazon's music sales. It's also #4 in the Orchestral Pop category and #8 in Movie Scores (behind the Sweeney Todd soundtrack - which I got for Christmas - at #1 and The Polar Express at #7) and #12 in overall Classical.

I still haven't heard anything about that 2-disc set that we were told might be in the works if this album sold well. I'll say this though: my own copy of Transformers: The Score has easily been the most played work of music at the Knight household during the past three months. And ever since I got my new car, there've been darned few trips that I've taken in it that I didn't crank up this CD, especially "Arrival to Earth", "Decepticons" and "Scorponok" (which I still have to be careful listening to while driving).

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TRANSFORMERS: THE SCORE charts on Billboard in debut week despite limited store release

NOW can we see a wider release for this thing?

After its first week out, Transformers: The Score, Steve Jablonsky's orchestral soundtrack for the blockbuster movie, has debuted at #172 on the Billboard 200 chart and is #13 on Billboard's Top Soundtracks. This comes in spite of what MTV has noted was a limited store release with about 4300 scans at the cash registers.

Meanwhile, the Transformers score CD continues to do well at Amazon, where it is now #39 in overall music (having increased in rank in the past few days) and is currently #5 in soundtracks.

Someone... probably a lot of someones... at Warner Brothers Records needs to very strongly consider getting this thing out to a lot more outlets. They are sitting on a goldmine with this CD and the demand is only going to get bigger now that the DVD is out and folks who didn't see Transformers during its theatrical release will be just now discovering both the movie and its beautiful orchestral soundtrack.

Don't make us have to start up another online petition now ;-)

Thanks to Transformer World 2005 and Seibertron.com for the heads-up!

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