Green Lantern: The Early Reviews Are Bad. Really Bad.

Watch Nostalgia Chick's and Todd's review..

And pretty much every other reviewer agrees with me on this matter...

It's not that it was "bad" Everything was "passable" or "just below par"
As in if you were to rate every aspect in every little thing on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is crap, 2 is below par, 3 is par, 4 is good, and 5 is good almost all of it ranges between 2 and 3 with very little if any at all getting to a 4.

And that, right there, is what makes a really bad movie in a world of creativity, passion, and innovation. It shows they played everything safe and were just mailing it in without actually caring and trying to do something actually good.

That is a much worse offense than trying something (even it's really really bad) and the movie being complete crap because a movie without passion doesn't matter and the movie that isn't creative isn't really worth anything and if your not trying anything innovative you aren't providing anyone anything to learn from, definitely not yourself.

In other words, a movie who's entire production was done while the producers (as in the entire staff) were asleep deserves as much attention from me


Further the few things that go into the "4" rating like Kilowog, Tomar-Re, and Sinestro looking right... are over ridden by and there are much more numerous "1" rated areas. Like Tomar-Re's stupid "now we're going to fly" scene, the 5 minutes of film presence for all of them, the stupidty of suggesting the yellow rings, the Kilowog more or less randomly attacking hal, Sinestro attacking Hal, Hal magically appearing in a secret base noone knows about to battle Hammond... I could go on and on listing bad elements of the movie or just barely passible elements while I can only list maybe 2 or 3 scenes that are actually good about the movie and one of those shouldn't have happened, but whatever...


But more importantly I think you should be aware that what you said is not that the movie was good because it had good parts but rather that you found it enjoyable because it was just barely passable...and that, my friend, is a highly flawed way of looking at things because in the end all it leads to is things being stagnatingly mediocre rather than made better by being shown that mediocre is not acceptable and not taking risks is also not acceptable.

Because his ring obviously detected yellow energy beforehand given that it audibly notified him of it and he therefore must have tracked it to that location.

Probably. Just like tracking down that reviewer who complained that 'green is the color of will - who decided that, that's stupid' just to spend 12 hours bludgeoning them with a pika-hammer would be a waste of time. But at least they're wastes of times that I could derive *some* enjoyment from.

The ring that hal doesn't know how to use randomly started speaking off screen and told hal that it has been scanning for yellow energy... a thing there are no signs of it could do nor that it would be doing cuz noone asked it to and then told Hal where or how to find it... AND Hal who hasn't accepted his role decides to go and fight it despite not know what the ring would be meaning nor would it care that that there was "yellow energy" in the area.

You're also applying comic information which is clearly not the same for the movie...and further because parallax is not in the battery there is no yellow weakness so the ring wouldn't care in the first place.

Like I said it's bland at best and that makes it a worse movie than movies that are actually really bad. I also asked what was "enjoyable" which is the only thing that has really been said about it in various forms...and when someone answered they said it was enjoyable because it wasn't absolute crap.

So to me you are all able to deceive yourselves into believing you liked it because you want it to be good because you like GL or you have such low standards of quality that your taste and opinion aren't worthwhile to pay attention to. Either way it's not a very good thing. It's also a possibility that I'm wrong and not seeing something. If that's the case I'd like you point out what was good about it so i can appreciate it and I'd like to hear more than just the Abin Sur meets Hal scene, the End battle was decent, the fact Carol called Hal on mask as stupid was funny, and Waller randomly being in there which is the only thing I've heard people actually talk about, which is sad considering it was only like a minute at most.

Those scenes are what 10 mins of a 100 minute movie? And they are all shouldn't have been in there, had something bad about them, or just short pretty badly spliced into the movie.

*Dinged* audibly on-screen, actually.

No signs other than Sinestro saying that they detected traces of yellow energy where those civilisations were destroyed, that is.

Nope, just information that was given in the movie, for anyone who was paying attention.

The ring wouldn't care about a threat to the Sector?

They pretty much nailed all the good qualities of Hal Jordan without making him as unlikable as I've often found him in the comics. The ring-slinging was decent. Kilowog was appropriately a rowdy roughneck. Sinestro was well-done in the limited amount of screen time he got - he was shown to care about his fellow Lanterns and the protection of innocent life with an undercurrent of anger directed towards the Guardians. The story flowed pretty well. Indeed, I'd be harder pressed to find something that was not enjoyable about the movie - mayhap the lack of Mogo? Maybe a tad too much time was spent on Hammond's supervillainous transformation?

I certainly found the movie more enjoyable than any of the Spider-man or X-men movies (discounting First Class, which I have not seen).

Because that's talking v.v

I must have missed where he used his ring to detect that. Tomar-Re in the comic felt fear going towards the Lost Sector planet, but he never used his ring and I don't remember Sinestro ever saying or showing "I used my ring to detect yellow energy on that planet that i shouldn't be at"

And again I have to remind you no yellow problem with the rings so no reason to worry about fear.

So you are translating a ring "dinging" as talking, and Sinestro saying he detected yellow energy which he would have no business actively scanning for because yellow energy isn't a problem as he his ring detected it...

No because parallax isn't a threat by itself. No yellow impurity, no threat.
The ring would only know parallax is a threat is if it read his mind which it wouldn't do.
Further, even if the ring considered it a threat the ring can't just pull Hal wherever it wants unless by order of the guardians, the ring doesn't scan by itself, and the ring doesn't talk to report things as far as we know... and the ring if it had that intelligence would signal the other GLs and Hal would have likely done the same, or expected the other GLs to come take care of parallax.

You think that mangling of the character was good? wow... ok whatever

The rest I said in the previous post that those scenes do not make the movie enjoyable... even if they were OMG blow my mind, turn the dial to 11 unbelievably over 9000 awesome they were only like 10 minutes of a 100 minute movie.

so I'm just missing where you expain what is good about the other 90 minutes of the movie

If it wasn't for you, it wasn't for you. Which is extermely likely if you didn't like any of it. You not liking something does not mean it's automaticly bad. It's an opinion.

It's like me eating black twizzlers, I didn't like the first bite, Im not going like the other however many that follow. They are not for me. Doesn't make them bad, just not what I'm looking for.

I don't think anyone here overrated this film saying it was the greatest movie ever.(Then I'd get why you felt the need to know it down.) They said they enjoyed it. Gave it a C+ at best. So why the excessive nerdrage? It's not like we're talking about Raphael here. I think it's safe to put your red ring away and let this one go heh.

I'm sorry, I expect people to discuss things in a discussion.

He might not be able to hear certain plot points over the shuffling of popcorn and whispers that are no doubt disrupting the audio. Those bootlegs never seem to get the sound right.

Seems that all the critics saw the same movie I did.

And still haven't seen anyone explain how the other 90% of the movie "enjoyable"

Did I say the ring talked, or did I say it "audibly notified" him?

You're right. He detected it with his pink-skin-o-tron. That's how any Green Lantern would detect yellow energy. And if he's using his ring for some strange reason, it better damn well be spelled out in big blazing letters, because otherwise what kind of genius do they expect to connect those two dots.

If Parallax wasn't a threat, the Guardians wouldn't have been so concerned about it. It wouldn't have been sealed away in "The Lost Sector" by Abin Sur, (whose ring Hal inherited, and would certainly know Parallax as a threat). And given that the Guardians harnessed the yellow energy to begin with and were responsible for the threat...

Yes, I think taking Hal and removing that stick he has jammed up his backside makes him an enjoyable character. Scott Summers might do well with a stick-ectomy, also.

Ok. You want a full discussion of why I disagree with you then here you go. I did not find the rest of the movie boring and trite. I found it engaging and interesting. The only parts I didn't like were Hammond who was in my opinion played very poorly by Sarsgaard. I just plain didn't like the character. If others did then I'm not going to say that they are wrong. It's their opinion. It just doesn't match mine.

However also in my opinion you are beyond wrong when you say the Tomar-Re "Now we're going to fly" scene was stupid. Hal has to be introduced to the abilities of the ring somehow. You don't just assume that he will now be able to do anything he wants. You start with something that is simple for the ring but impossible without it. It serves the exact same purpose as the building jump scene in The Matrix. It introduces a character to what is possible. In fact it's likely that most recruits who try the flight wind up hesitating and also wind up pulling a Neo and falling. The difference is that for Hal flying was everything so he took to it naturally and instantly.

Sinestro and Kilowog randomly attacking Hal? There was a good strong reason behind each of their attacks.

Sinestro in the movie was just like he was in the comics. Maybe not the exact same history but the exact same attitude. Might makes right and those who are competent should lead while those who are not should get out of the way. No human has ever been chosen by the ring. And the race hasn't even achieved interplanetary travel let alone inter system travel. He considers them primitive and not ready for the ring. On top of that there is a powerful force attacking the corps and they just plain don't have time to be training noobs when their very existence is threatened. His whole idea in attacking Hal was to show the Guardians and Hal himself just how unworthy humans are. Especially considering that Hal had the ring of the greatest Lantern ever who was also Sinestro's trainer. He considered it an insult to the memory of Abin Sur that a mere human had his ring.

Kilowog attacking Hal had the exact same purpose as Tomar-Re's flight lesson. To show him what the ring could do. And it did point out exactly that. He got Hal to instinctively create a couple constructs. Showed him that his attention could not be focused just on creating the construction but that he rather had to be aware of the many possible dangers of space while simultaneously using his ring. And it showed him something that they have stated many times in the comic without the need to actually state it. That the ring will protect the wearer from harm even if he isn't prepared. Kilowogs surprise punch slammed Hal back into the ground but didn't even stun him. Lesson learned and emphasized. Be aware but don't be worried. Kilowog is a drill sergeant, not some welcome wagon carrying a fruit basket and pie for the new poozer.

The ring alerting Hal to danger? Try to pay attention to what is actually going on in the movie. Hal was told "Your ring will alert you to danger". I can't actually remember what scene it was right now but Hal was specifically told, just after his ring dinged twice that the ring alerts you to danger.

And how could you possibly think the ring wouldn't know Parallax was a danger? Let's see. The rings are all connected to the central power battery which feeds information to all of them. Thus they know when there is some event in a different sector or on Oa that they are expected to respond to. But even ignoring that there is another reason. This ring belonged to Abin Sur. You've heard of Abin Sur haven't you? He was in the movie? He's the guy who originally imprisoned Parallax. He's the guy who was attacked and fatally injured by Parallax? Saying that the ring wouldn't know that Parallax is a danger is like saying that Obi Wan wouldn't know Darth Vader was dangerous and would have no way of communicating that to Luke.

How did Hal find Hammond? How was Hal warned of Parallax? The same way as before. The ring alerts Hal to danger and probably does something to indicate the direction of the danger leading him in that direction. No there is no direct statement that the ring will point you in the direction of the danger but you can probably safely make that assumption. It's a sophisticated device. Not a smoke alarm with low batteries. Why did it alert to Hammond when he was an unknown? Because Hammond's power came from Parallax. Did you miss that part? Just in case you did Hammond was infected by Parallax when he pricked his finger on a bit of Parallax that was left in Abin Sur's wound. Multiple times we saw his blood being checked by himself or others and saw that the red blood cells were being coated by yellow crystals or perhaps yellow energy. This was part of Parallax and was where he was getting his power. So the ring detected him as having power coming from Parallax and so being a danger.

Hal would call the Guardians rather than attack Parallax alone? We saw Hal shown how to fly with the ring. We saw Hal shown how to fight with the ring. Did you see Hal shown how to communicate with the ring? even if he was shown how to use it why do you think he would call them? He had basically just told them "Screw you guys, I'm going home." He probably wouldn't expect any help from them. And even if he did call the Guardians do you think he would just wait around watching Parallax kill people until the other Lanterns showed up? If you do then you have no concept of what a hero is. Most especially a hero whose prime attribute is the ability to overcome fear.

So why didn't the ring place a distress call? Gee I don't know. Perhaps you missed the end of the movie. The part where the other Lanterns showed up too late to fight Parallax. Or possibly showed up in time to help fight but chose to watch and see how Hal was handling things. What did you think happened if not an alert from the ring? Did you really picture Kilowog saying "Yo dawgs. Let's go randomly hang out around Earth and see what Hal is doing."? Obviously something alerted them that Parallax was on Earth and that's why they showed up so soon after Hal started fighting. It was a matter of only a few minutes after the beginning of the Parallax fight that the other Lanterns showed up. They had to have been alerted in some way.

See what I mean when I say you don't pay attention? This is why I tell people to not bother arguing with you.

you

do

not

pay

attention

I saw it multiple times in the SGU threads where you would start jumping in and arguing about things that completely contradicted everything that actually happened in the episode. Heck, I even watched you arguing with people about how something was completely absurd and made no sense. And you hadn't even watched the episode but were just making assumptions based off of the previews you had seen the week before.

Plus, you assume that your particular like or dislike of a character must apply to everybody. If you don't like the way Sinestro's history was changed then nobody could possibly like it. But you are very very wrong Durakken. And there was actually very little changed about Sinestro let alone twisted as you seem to think. He was still an arrogant egotist who believed that leadership must be through power. The two things that changed were that he wasn't kicked out of the Corps before getting the yellow ring. And that he got the ring from a different source. Which I personally consider a vast improvement over the original comic book version. It eliminates the whole antimatter universe and the Weaponers of Quard which were not a very good concept to begin with.

It's actually a great relief to me that they eliminated the whole Qward subplot because when I see the sequel to the movie I don't want to watch the first 60 minutes be taken up with Sinestro floating around the antimatter universe and getting the ring from the Weaponers. I want to see Sinestro abusing his power, attacking the Guardians, and getting his butt kicked.

So here is what I am saying. You are capable of intelligent discussions. But there is no point in even attempting those kind of discussions with you in cases like this where you once again obviously only watched about half of what was going on and filled in the rest with your assumptions.

Now you have my counter points to your arguments. Feel free to counterpoint my counterpoints once you have actually watched the movie.

This. All of this.

So are you guys ever going to talk about the OTHER 90 minutes of the friggin movie. Read what you wrote.. All that is like 10 minutes of movie that you are talking about and it's not even a great 10 minutes. Come on man.

10 minutes in a hyperbolic time chamber, maybe. But here's much of what he didn't briefly touch on:

The beginning of the movie did a good job of establishing Hal's character and motivations - as well as the weakness of character he would have to overcome. It was a good, solid introduction to the character as the character was presented in the movie.

The brief introduction to Parallax and Abin Sur and Hal's consequent inheritence of the ring was well done. His discovery of the ring's ability and consequent removal to OA (through a wormhole that wasn't tiresomely explained to be a wormhole) was entertainingly handled.

Hammond's abduction, and indeed his character in general was admittedly rather weak. Throughout the movie, it seemed to be trying to make him out as a mirror of sorts to Hal. Hammond did alright in scenes that involved both him and Hal Jordan, though. The best scene with Hammond "alone", I'd say, was the scene between him and his father.

Hal saving Hammond's father was a fun scene that shouldn't have been spoiled by a fast food? commercial.

The one moment of illogic that made *me* raise an eyebrow was Hammond tearing up the secret military base and then sleeping/screaming in his own house/apartment afterwards. IMO, he should have been wandering down dark alleyways or something, as his own home should have been ransacked and probably under the kind of surveillance that would have attracted a small army and consequent battle if he showed up.

And the ring probably didn't even need to send out a distress call. Given that Hal visited the Guardians beforehand and they rebuffed his plea for help, but he requested they let him try to save his world rather than just let it be used as a sacrafice while the Guardians enacted their plan, his battle with Parallax was probably being monitored from afar.

Sinestro finally accepting/respecting Hal at the end was simple and well done.

The hero getting the girl and essentially riding off into the sunset is a good cliche to end on. Given that it also established a mended relationship between Hal and Carol as well as Hal filling out his role as a Super Space Lawman, it was not only a good cliche, but an appropriate one.

Sinestro putting on the yellow ring mid-credits was a good cue for a sequel. And it suited the character who had been pretty well established as someone who cared deeply about protecting innocent life/enforcing order to the point where he would readily pursue more power - even dangerous power - to get the job done.

Green Lantern parts pertinent to the story they were trying to tell...
33:30 minutes
This excludes the party scene, Hammonds/Hal fight at cadmus, and Hammond/Hal talk-fight

Time devoted to Carol and Hal's relationship...
14 minutes

Time Devoted to Hammond... (and still badly developed)
32 minutes

Time spent with Kilowog...
2 minutes

How bout this ones... Scene time where scenes are not messed up in any way, either by acting, editing, writing, directing, bad story, or bad graphics...
2:15

I actually thought there'd be more than that but i guess not... there is a lot of really badly placed comedy, bad editing, and characters not acting right...

46 minutes could have been just removed...the Carol and Hammond scenes


here's the full time line

Spoilers

00:00 - 03:44 = Parallax intro
03:45 - 06:14 = Abin Sur's ship destroy
06:15 - 08:49 = Hal Jordan goes to work. Talk about the Sabers.
08:50 - 12:19 = Hal & Carol dog fight Sabers
12:20 - 13:38 = Hal has Flash backs
13:39 - 15:48 = Hal ejects and gets a lecture
15:49 - 16:28 = Abin sends ring to find new GL
16:29 - 19:17 = Hal goes home and has familly issues
19:18 - 21:34 = Hal is taken to Abin Sur and gets the ring
21:35 - 23:30 = Hal Jordan calls his friend and comedy routine ensues as getting chased away
23:31 - 25:19 = Sinestro talks to the Guardians
25:20 - 28:04 = Hammond called to Cadmus
28:05 - 28:33 = Hal tries to get the Lantern to activate
28:34 - 28:47 = Hammond disects abin
28:48 - 29:19 = Hal continues
29:20 - 29:29 = Hammond continues
29:30 - 30:03 = Hal continues
30:04 - 30:11 = Hammond continues
30:12 - 30:49 = Hal continues and Carol shows up and they go out to drink
30:50 - 31:45 = Hammond talks to Waller
31:46 - 34:32 = Hal and Carol at bar
34:33 - 36:20 = Hal leaves randomly and gets in a random fight where he activates the ring randomly and starts journey to Oa
36:21 - 36:36 = Hammond has nightmares
36:37 - 36:49 = Hal's journey continues
36:50 - 37:06 = Hammond washes face
37:07 - 37:35 = Hal's journey continues
37:36 - 39:30 = Hal is scanned Wakes up on Oa
39:31 - 45:49 = Tomar-Re takes Hal to Corp meeting hall
45:50 - 47:46 = Kilowog shows up and bullies Hal
47:47 - 50:30 = Sinestro bullies Hal
50:31 - 51:06 = Hal Returns to Earth
51:07 - 54:34 = Hammond teaches a class. Attacks a kid psychically on accident. Examins his blood. Meets with father
54:33 - 54:43 = Hal looks longingly outs a window
54:44 - 57:31 = GLC challenge Parallax and Sinestro talks to Guardians
57:32 - 64:17 = Party, Hammond accidentally causes accident. Hal saves day as GL
64:18 - 65:25 = Hammond goes home and has a headache
65:26 - 67:31 = Hal's friend shows up and demands to be shown GL stuff
67:32 - 71:35 = Hal goes to Carol's place
71:36 - 73:53 = Hammond is creepy outside of Carol's place and then goes to Cadmus
73:54 - 74:33 = Hal remembers what people said
74:34 - 79:35 = Hammond attacks Cadmus and Fights Hal
79:36 - 81:23 = Hal talks with carol and friend
81:24 - 81:37 = Parallax talks to Hammond
81:38 - 84:28 = Yellow ring forged. Hal talks to the Guardians.
84:29 - 91:20 = Hal returns to earth and fight-talks Hamond
90:21 - 96:30 = Hal fight Parallax
96:31 - 97:58 = Hal is saved and Sinestro gives a speech
97:59 - 99:57 = Hal/Carol kiss scene