Got to see Green Lantern: First Flight yesterday, and… well, I kinda give it a thumbs in the middle.
Actually I’m being unfair and should give it a thumbs up, because on all technical levels the film is superb. The animation is definitely the best so far of the DC straight-to-DVD films; it’s visually exciting and looks great. The voice acting is strong throughout the film; Christopher Meloni is bland as Hal Jordan but then again Hal Jordan is Captain Bland so that’s all right. Victor Garber is dead-on as Sinestro, and Tricia Helfer’s work as Boodikka is engaging as is Michael Madsen’s Kilowog. The only downside in the voice cast is Kurtwood Smith as Kanjar Ro, and that’s not because Kurtwood Smith is bad but because his voice is so recognizable that I kept expecting Kanjar Ro to threaten to break his foot off in Foreman’s ass.
My problem with it isn’t even the plot, which is perfectly reasonable. My problem is that in terms of story and pacing and how they treated all the various elements, it felt much less like a movie than a comic book that was made to move.
Let me explain: in the movie, Hal Jordan gets his ring in the opening sequence (which is fine, in media res, I’m happy with that), but then in the next ten minutes there’s a huge infodump about the Green Lanterns and the Guardians and Oa and blah blah blah spacecakes and it’s all treated as very normal, right down to a Guardian complaining about how humans smell. I can’t say that there is anything wrong with this, and frankly all the gags work. As the plot advances, Sinestro gets revealed as being crazy ol’ Lawful Evil Sinestro (and they jump to Sinestro being the obvious villain far earlier than I would have liked, but it’s not badly executed), and the Yellow Ring shows up along with the Yellow Battery, and it all ends with a ginormous fight sequence and blasting rings and so forth. It’s honestly reasonably entertaining, which is why my issue with it is definitely one of personal preference and should be considered as such.
My problem with it is this: of all the DC franchises, I think Green Lantern, when translated to film (or cartoon), should feel the absolute least normal and comfortable. The Guardians and other Lanterns shouldn’t be humans with funny faces; they should be as weird as all fuck, and that has to be emphasized because they are goddamn motherfucking aliens and the universe is a deeply strange place. That doesn’t mean they can’t be funny or empathic, but they should be strange.
The Guardians are the Little Old Men From The Dawn of Time, not Smurfs with badder attitudes and superpowers. Kilowog is Kilowog, but if you met Kilowog your first impression would not be “he says “poozers” and that is funny, poozers poozers poozers” but instead “oh my god he is ENORMOUS and he is going to eat me isn’t he.” Tomar-Re is a scary looking giant beak thing. Ch’p is a talking fucking squirrel, and worse, on film he probably shouldn’t look quite like a squirrel but just squirrely enough to make you uncomfortable. And that’s before you get into the really weird Lanterns. I mean – Salaak? Walking squid thing. Olopet? Plant with a billion tentacles and one large eye. Chaselon? A walking diamond. Flodo Span? A bag of glowing goop. You can only really mention Dkrtzy RRR.
Sinestro should come across as sympathetic initially because he’s so human-like and familiar. Hal should make friends with him before the inevitable betrayal not just because it makes sense for the maximum dramatic impact but because Sinestro becomes a relative point of sanity in all this. And the betrayal should come two-thirds of the way through into the flick and not be telegraphed at all; suddenly Hal’s only common point of reference, the guy he thought he understood, is actually a crazed tyrant desperate for order at all costs, and Sinestro of course thought Hal understood too so he’s just furious at Hal for imagined betrayal as well.
First Flight doesn’t do any of this. It’s a film written by and for people who already know about Green Lantern; it’s perfectly accessible to newbies and even entertaining. But it could have been so much more; it could have made the Green Lantern concept truly distinctive, and explain why the concept might deserve to be on a level with Superman and Batman. It doesn’t do that.
EDIT: Steven, among others in comments, notes:
The problem with slow-rolling Sinestro as the villain (which I agree is the better way to do it) is that he a) looks like the Devil and b) is named SINESTRO.
“So what do I call you?”
“Si’nezz-traaaagh.”
“Sinestro.”
“No, you’re not rolling the prtz syllable enough. Extend it.”
“Sin…esssss…tro.”
“Look, I know you only have one tongue, but that’s no excuse.”
“I honestly have no idea how I’m saying it wrong.”
“…humans.”
Make it a joke and it’ll work just fine.
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“Kurt Lockwood as Kanjar Ro … I kept expecting Kanjar Ro to threaten to break his foot off in Foreman’s ass.”
You mean Kurtwood Smith, surely.
Yeah yeah yeah.
Hey, Kurt Lockwood did porn after he was on MTV news? I didn’t know that!
Oh sure. His career arc:
a) edit Rolling Stone
b) star as the villain in Robocop
c) MTV News, BITCHES!
d) porn
e) retire
f) gay porn
Look, just tell me this — are they still galactic police men without galactic criminals or is there some hint a GL writer finally picked up a copy of Lensmen or New Jedi Order?
The problem with slow-rolling Sinestro as the villain (which I agree is the better way to do it) is that he a) looks like the Devil and b) is named SINESTRO.
Maybe if you shave the pencil thin mustache, tone down the pointy ears and red skin, and just call him “Lefty” for the first two thirds of the movie, you might fool some of the audience, but for most people it’s going to be as obvious as Edward Norton in a heist movie that he’s going to betray the hero before the second act break.
“And the betrayal should come two-thirds of the way through into the flick and not be telegraphed at all;”
Except for the fact that the guys name is Sinestro. And he has a mustache that screams “bad guy”. Right?
There. What you described, right there, is a problem I have with the way aliens are presented in a good 90% of popular fiction. Whenever I find out that the alien is even slightly humanoid, I’m always disappointed, and it makes the work much more unbelievable in my eyes.
That’s one of the reasons why ‘The Thing’ was so cool.
I haven’t seen the movie yet (want to) but it sounds like it is exactly like the 6-issue comic series of the same name. If you have read the comic, did you get that feeling?
Jason B.: While I agree with you completely, I once read an explination as to why Transformers are, by and large, humanoid in there robot form which I think will help with this. Basically, because the humanoid form is so effecent, robust, strong and durable it makes sense that you would see the same form repeat itself multiple times over across the Universe.
But really it’s just because it’s easier to build a suit someone can easily and fairly comfortably get inside that this happens. Also, lazy.
“Plant with a billion tentacles and one large eye.” Isn’t there a (“a”, hahaha) hentai movie that stars this guy?
I’ve always been a Marvel guy, and the Green Lantern Corps is one of the reasons I find DC off-putting. MGK is right, it IS a weird concept. Whenever a comic or cartoon marches right in and tries to make it all seem normal, all I can think of is “Ah, I see. This is for the DC comics geeks.”
I saw a preview for First Flight, and to me it looked like the Justice League cartoon molded into the perfect geek wanking material, and I had no interest in seeing it at all.
I kind of feel the same way about the Flash’s Speed Force and the multiple Earths of the DC Universe as well. They’re very strange and alien concepts, and they have such a profound and well-established history that most modern writers assume readers know all about them and are totally cool with them. On the rare occasions I pick up a DC comic though, I just see an impenetrable wall of dorkitude with a sign taped up that says “Newbies go home.”
Yes, newcomers and the mainstream CAN enjoy these things. The medium is crammed full of explosions and badass fights, so duh. But will any of them be intrigued enough to pick up the next installment?
karellan: I understand where your coming from being a Marvelite like yourself. When DC published that dollar DC Universe comic to introduce new readers to DC and get them ready for Final Crisis, I flipped through it thinking “What the fuck is going on?”. As an introduction it was atrocious because it was just a series of events with no cause or reason I could decipher.
That being said I think your giving DC too little credit. The Lanterns are no different to the Nova Corps. The Speed Force is like the Captain Universe energy. Marvel too has a multiverse; the Exiles comic is built around this idea. Granted most of these concepts are not a part of Marvel’s ‘mainstream’ comics with the Fantastic Four the only ‘mainstream’ comic that handles these on any regular basis. Still, it seems hard because it’s different and with no idea where to start it seems impossible.
But as I said before DC isn’t trying to make it any easier when they publish dreck like DC Universe.
On a more personal basis I don’t think Grant Morrison is the correct person to be “head writer” for the DC Universe. Whatever his positive merits most writers can’t follow his lead, partly because I think he’s the only one that understands what he’s doing, coupled with the failure of DC editorial (Countdown? Death of the New Gods?). Now I don’t think Brian Bendis is good as Marvel’s “head writer” either, but that’s mainly because I think his idea’s are lame and simple. Civil War? (it was his idea that it be hero vs hero). Dark Reign? (bad guys take over). Secret Invasion? (The most anti-climactic ending I’ve ever seen. So Osborn just shoots her? With a big gun? Christ).
I dunno. If you were a person with little fear and much bravado, and already had received a power ring from an alien from a guy that seemed OK, how much weird would Kilowog or Tomar Re or the Guardians actually seem?
In the 50’s-60’s, I could see your point of view. But once you get to Star Trek and Star Wars and a host of other sci-fi shows that I’m not including because I’ve forgotten them being part of the general pop culture knowledge, I don’t think the default point of view has to be (or should be) aliens are scary, especially when you have other pieces of info to help you acclimate.
There’s arguably a subconscious bit of xenophobia lying around, with the idea that just because something isn’t humanoid means it’s creepy. Sentient life is sentient life. [Individual Aliens may be creepy because that the type of sophant they are, but they should be judged on an individual basis.] I’m willing to give MGK and others the benefit of the doubt on this.
Thok: I think MGK’s point is more along the lines that First Flight plays it safe by having the humanoid Lanterns take the lead when in the comics the aliens on display are so varied and strange that the movie seems boring in comparison. I remember seeing a page from a GL comic on /co/ were they are featuring a GL that is a sentient mathematical equation. Then you’ve got Kilowog, which lets be real, is a big guy with a funny face. The concepts on display between those two characters are light years apart.
On the Sinestro point: I think it’d be easy to throw in a reference about how Sinestro means something like “honored warrior” in his native language. For bonus points, you could pull something like the “Belgium” bit from the Hitchhiker’s Trilogy and have some bland, inoffensive human name mean “Lucifer McCorpsefucker” in an alien tongue.
Or just give him another, non-obvious-villain name and have him switch to “Sinestro” after his heel turn.
Nah, that would contradict a story John Broome wrote for kids in 1961. Better go with complicated explanations and obscure in-jokes.
To the “Marvelites”: to each his own but Marvel has just as many weird- and similar- concepts, as others have already mentioned. *cough*Nova*cough*
I understand where MGK and others are coming from in regards to the GLC, but the argument could be made that Hal is (I assume) coming from a version of Earth where aliens being real isn’t exactly a new concept. When you have people like Superman flying around and making the news everyday to the point where it’s considered normal, I guess being taken into a police force made up of the Mos Eisley Cantina regulars isn’t as huge a shock as it normally would be- especially for someone like Hal who is supposedly hard to phase anyway.
Plus, with the 90 min. time restriction and a live action movie in production I wouldn’t be surprised if Bruce Timm and crew were rather limited on what they could and could not include and do in the movie as well.
And that’s fine if you want to make a substandard movie. If you want a good movie, you take your wondrous creations upon which you and your staff have slaved for months and you make damn sure that your audience understands they are fucking amazing, and the best way to do that is have your lead character be IMPRESSED by alien life, which for crissake is not so hard a concept, is it?
Actually, if you put Sinestro in a pair of aviators and a trenchcoat they could pass him off as Matches Malone after a weekend in Miami.
“And that’s fine if you want to make a substandard movie. If you want a good movie, you take your wondrous creations upon which you and your staff have slaved for months and you make damn sure that your audience understands they are fucking amazing, and the best way to do that is have your lead character be IMPRESSED by alien life, which for crissake is not so hard a concept, is it?”
I don’t disagree, though it does, again, make me wonder if restrictions- running time, WB Studios, or both- were the reason why they didn’t do it more. Considering, in particular, that the live action movie is supposed to be covering this very same ground they may have skipped over that aspect of it for this version. After all, as has been mentioned already, these PG-13 animated movies are really aimed at fans who are already intimately familiar with the concepts. When you’re only allowed a 90 min. total running time and another movie is going to be made about the same subject, it could have been one of the aspects they decided could be glossed over in favor of other areas of focus. Again, I’m not disagreeing with your point, just wondering if these are potentially reasons why they chose to go in the direction they did. It’d be an interesting thing to ask Timm in an interview.
He had to do something while the Corps was out of commission…
Yeah, you just never see the Cthulu-looking Green Lantern, or the spiders with power rings. (It just occurred to me, I would love to see a Predator GL.)
But, I suppose the non-humanoid GL’s may tend to not associate so much with the humanoids, and vice versa. If for no other reason, bathroom and dietary needs.
The difference between Marvel’s Nova Corps, Captain Universe energy, multiple universes, etc., and DC’s previously mentioned weird crap is that I’ve been a huge follower of Marvel comics for years, and could go into great detail about the history of Spider-Man and the X-Men and the Avengers, but I’ve never read a Nova comic, or Exiles, and my only experience with Captain Universe is from when Spidey briefly had the powers way back when.
Marvel tends to keep the super-far-out stuff in its own niche, where it belongs, and lets the iconic flagship characters hold up the main Marvel universe.
DC’s iconic characters, aside fro the big three, are all totally fucked up. Green Lantern, the Flash, Hawkman… these are all primary Justice League guys that even the mainstream knows from the cartoons, and man is there some weird stuff going on there.
“DC’s iconic characters, aside fro the big three, are all totally fucked up. Green Lantern, the Flash, Hawkman… these are all primary Justice League guys that even the mainstream knows from the cartoons, and man is there some weird stuff going on there.”
I guess “weird” in this instance is pretty subjective as I don’t see anything in DC that’s any farther out of left field than what Marvel does- it’s just done differently with a different focus. Then again I’ve been raised on sci-fi and fantasy all my life so the concepts don’t seem as “weird” to me. I don’t find the Flash or GL as difficult concepts to grasp at all- and I came into comics reading both Marvel and DC equally.
DC just tends to be more action/serial focused storytelling compared to Marvel’s more character driven story focus. It could be said that DC takes a more pulp sci-fi approach- aliens, powers coming most often from alien/technological/magical sources- while Marvel does most of it’s stuff from a more realistic/scientific perspective- the focus on genetics and powers being derived from mutation or scientific accidents.
When they make the live action movie, four words: Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
The problem with aliens is that people are WAY too prepared to assume they’re stand-ins for extant human racial groups. I mean, seriously. People think all of the prequel aliens are just fucking racial stereotypes, and they went with the whole “WHOA ALIENS ARE WAY DIFFERENT BRO” schtick.
Have to agree with Randy B. here, despite not reading many DC Comics. Marvel’s flagship comics frequently involve ‘weird’ aliens and beings (perhaps not as consistently as Green Lantern, of course. Two of Spiderman’s most famous enemies are humans fused to alien symbiotes, which came to Earth when Spiderman was fighting alongside a bunch of other superheroes on an alien planet for the benefit of an omnipotent being. And the X-Men backstory is full of aliens, like the Brood and the Shiar (hell, Cyclops’ dad is a space alien); indeed, Joss Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men I disliked precisely because it brought yet ANOTHER alien race into the picture, when the X-Men are already cluttered up with enemy horrors from beyond the Earth’s moon. (Also why I enjoyed Morrison’s run: despite its high weirdness occasionally, and questionable characterizations of Magneto, at least it was thematically about issues central to the X-men: prejudice, racism, etc.)
As for the lack of amazement with alien life, this is very much a larger problem with television and movie science fiction. I think ‘Star Trek’ occasionally did the ‘sense of wonder’ at aliens well (even in the TNG premiere, what with the jellyfish aliens and the swelling score and all the reverence), and ‘Farscape’ certainly did well in its first season of making the human centre at least be constantly amazed, frustrated and terrified of his new surroundings (and making the aliens, used to space travel and other species, blase and fed up with his ‘sense of wonder’).
Even with the Jim Henson Creature Shop, ‘Farscape’ used ‘aliens with funny hair and faces’ too often, and it’s most interesting non-humanoid character, Pilot, was underused; on the flipside, they did a wonderful job of making their four-armed immobile arthropod alien interesting, sympathetic and complex, and I give props to any show that makes a living space ship, that can’t communicate with the characters except through beeps and bloops and whose interaction is mainly through the sets, something the viewers actually grew attached to.
“DC’s iconic characters, aside fro the big three, are all totally fucked up. Green Lantern, the Flash, Hawkman… these are all primary Justice League guys that even the mainstream knows from the cartoons, and man is there some weird stuff going on there.”
Whereas with Marvel it’s nice and simple. “They’re all mutants. ALL OF THEM. Yes, even the robot.” 😛
Cameron: “hell, Cyclops’ dad is a space alien”
No, he isn’t. He was a human, kidnapped by the Shi’ar and became a pirate captain of a crew of aliens to get revenge for his murdered wife. As far as I’m aware Corsair was never an alien or had his DNA mixed with an alien (unless you count all those times he had sex with Hephzibah, teehee) or whatever scfi/comics cliché/retcon that’s out there that would make a human into an alien. If this did happen I’d be interested to know though.