Of the plethora of superhero movies coming out this summer, I had the lowest expectations for Green Lantern. The marketing bounced back and forth between good and bad trailers so often I was convinced the movie would be a disaster. Strange aliens, outer space, a giant cloud taking over a city? Could even action maven Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Casino Royale, Mask of Zorro) pull this all together into a coherent and interesting movie? Surprisingly, Green Lantern is far from a catastrophe. It’s certainly not transcendent, but it’s imminently watchable entertaining summer fare that surpassed expectations.

After a ton of exposition setting up the history of a group of intergalactic warriors known as the Green Lantern Corps, the film whips through space and shows the demise of Abin Sur, the Corps’ best soldier who crashes on earth and instructs his energy ring to find a worthy successor. Enter Hal Jordan (Reynolds), a test pilot for Ferris Industries with a chip on his shoulder. See, his old man was also a pilot and went down in flames, so he’s cocky, brash, arrogant – you know the type. Sound a bit like Top Gun? The comparisons don’t stop there. A flight simulation early in the movie was so close to Tony Scott’s iconic imagery that the filmmakers may as well have inserted footage directly from Tom Cruise’s dogfight sequences into Green Lantern and called it a day.

And though this movie has shades of “we’ve seen this before,” it eventually goes to some interesting places. Hailed as a “space opera” since its inception, the film lives up to that description by following our newly-minted hero to a planet called Oa. Home to other green lantern members – including the Guardians of the Universe and Sinestro (Mark Strong), the hardass leader of the Corps – Oa is a home base for Hal Jordan as he trains under the tutelage of a hulking alien named Kilowog (voice of Michael Clarke Duncan). And while the “power gaining/training” sequences in superhero films are almost always the most plodding plot points, this one is surprisingly cool. The Green Lanterns (Hal Jordan is the only human, but there are thousands of others across the universe) harness the energy of willpower, and their rings allow them to create whatever their minds can imagine. So in this training sequence, what should have been a fairly boring segment of the movie as we wait for Hal to fight the real bad guys was actually entertaining; by setting up they can create anything from their minds, the audience never quite knows exactly what’s going to be created, so we’re always at least a bit surprised with what we see (which is more than some superhero movies can say).

The plot details aren’t worth hashing out here – it essentially boils down to an intergalactic war between willpower and fear – but Martin Campbell and the four screenwriters are able to take a difficult premise and condense it into easy-to-digest summer entertainment. You probably won’t see anyone referring to Green Lantern as “the greatest superhero movie since The Dark Knight” (as some did with X-Men: First Class), but it’s far better than it has any right to be. Why? Ryan Reynolds. The man is just so damn charming, it’s impossible not to root for him. I think he may be the perfect mainstream movie star. Those who witnessed the rise of Tom Cruise may disagree, but I think Reynolds has more charisma and screen presence than Cruise, one of the biggest movie stars in the world.

Blake Lively, on the other hand, has none of Reynolds’ charm or comic timing. As Carol Ferris, she’s Jordan’s childhood sweetheart; though the character is ostensibly supposed to be a strong powerful female figure, she’s basically just the same old love interest we’ve seen time and time again. Don’t get me wrong – she’s serviceable in the role, but she doesn’t elevate the material nearly as much (or as effortlessly) as Reynolds. She stands around and looks hot, providing the occasional “I’m disappointed in you” speech to our hero to spur him into action.

The rest of the cast is mostly wasted: the voices of Geoffrey Rush and Michael Clarke Duncan are used briefly during the training scenes on Oa, and the versatile Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes, Kick-Ass, RockNRolla) scowls his way through about 15 minutes of screen time. Perennial favorite Peter Sarsgaard does some interesting work as scientist Hector Hammond. While examining the body of Abin Sur, Hammond becomes infected with a part of the Parallax consciousness, allowing him to read minds but unfortunately expanding his head to disgustingly monstrous proportions. Add to this the fact that Hammond has been jilted by Carol Ferris since childhood in favor of Hal Jordan, and you’ve got a motive for vengeance. Academy Award winner Tim Robbins is perhaps the most underused of all, playing a politician that could have been played by just about any male actor with a pulse. My roommate brought up a good point in our post-viewing discussion: he was hoping Robbins would provide the type of gravitas that Jeff Bridges brought to the role of Obidiah Stane back in the first Iron Man film, but sadly that character wasn’t given the opportunity.

To me, the most impressive aspect of Green Lantern is the disparity between the visual effects in the trailers and the finished effects in the movie. On many a GeekTyrant podcast, my cohorts and I discussed the strengths and weaknesses of Reynolds’ suit, a completely CGI creation. It works much better than early looks indicated, though the mask is still the most laughable aspect of the costume (and the film thankfully addresses this). Parallax, the villainous cloud that uses fear to consume souls – and that’s not a joke, by the way – is rendered beautifully. Never has an evil space cloud looked so good. Scenes in which it rampages through a city looked cheesy in the trailers, but work fairly well in context. Even the 3D is effective, truly utilizing the vastness of space to enhance the experience and giving the audience a sense of distance that was lacking even in the other world-spanning superhero movie released earlier this summer, Marvel’s Thor.

I’d imagine any film version of Green Lantern was always fighting an uphill battle between balancing the comic book lore for fans and spreading the appeal to a wide audience, and though I still hold to my beliefs that Ryan Reynolds would have been a much better Wally West (aka The Flash) than Hal Jordan, I believe Martin Campbell was able to use him to strike that balance to a successful degree. The action is fun and interesting to watch, the heart of the story is straightforward, but there are enough visual flairs in place to separate it from the seemingly never-ending stream of superhero films we’ve been getting since Singer breathed new life into the genre with X-Men back in 2000. This is as mainstream a version of this story as we’ll get, but for fans of the character (and fans of this genre in general), I imagine that will be enough. Until next time…

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Ever since Justice League: Mortal failed to get off the ground people have been under the impression that DC instead decided to follow Marvel’s route by making movies with each of the individual characters before teaming them up for one big movie, in Marvel’s case it’s The Avengers.

Warner Bros. has Green Lantern next year and is already developing the script for The Flash with the same writers, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Green Lantern and The Flash will cross paths. According to Diane Nelson, President of DC Entertainment, they have a “different attitude” when it comes to handling their properties.

From IGN:

“People make an assumption that we’re going to mirror Marvel’s strategy, for example with Avengers,” Nelson told us. “We do have a very different attitude about how you build a content slate. And it isn’t necessarily about connecting those properties together to build into a single thing. We think we’ve got great stories and characters that will lend themselves to great standalone experiences, and that’s the way we’re focusing on it.”

The perception among fans is that DC is playing catch-up to Marvel in terms of its feature film output, but that’s not a notion that Nelson agrees with.

“You know, it’s funny… I really enjoy the healthy competition that exists but also the competition that people assume and, to some extent, project onto us,” she said. “There is a healthy competition as there would be in any business. But we do not spend our days thinking about what Marvel is doing. Listen, I’ve said before, the success of Marvel, or any publisher, is good for us, and ours for them. We want to support the retail business together and there are a lot of things we can do together. But there is not a single thing we’ve done that has been reactive to Marvel from the creation of DC Entertainment to today. People can speculate, but they are wrong.”

It looks like those expecting a big Justice League movie in 2015 with Green Lantern, The Flash, Wonder Woman etc. may be disappointed. Unless, of course, DC just doesn’t want to admit Marvel has a cool idea they wish to follow. Nobody want’s to declaring their strategy is the same as someone else’s, so it’ll just be a case of seeing what DC does with their characters. Wonder Woman, The Flash and others have been sitting dormant while Marvel has been dominating over recent years. They need to strike before the possibility of superhero fatigue.

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Over the next few years we will once again see Batman and Superman on the big screen, but for those waiting for a Justice League movie this DC Universe Online game may keep you occupied while Warner Bros. gets the ball rolling with Green Lantern, The Flash and Wonder Woman.

A six minute cinematic trailer for the MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) has been released, and it’s quite excellent (although the game itself will look normal).

You can pre-order DC Universe Online, which will be released in November, via these links:

PlayStation 3 | PC

I’ve often wondered why we haven’t seen a computer animated superhero movie. Obviously we have The Incredibles from Pixar, but we have yet to see an animated feature based on a well known superhero. There are a few advantages to this, one being you can do practically anything with a computer. Action scenes deemed too expensive for a normal movie can be added significantly cheap and easier with CGI, however there can be an emotional disconnect from audiences who prefer to see real human faces.

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Nicolas Winding Refn, the Danish director behind the excellent Pusher trilogy and last year’s Bronson, was rumored to be in the running for directing duties on a Wonder Woman film for DC Entertainment. Movieline scored an exclusive interview with Refn, and asked him specifically about his potential take on how he would handle the mythical Princess Diana in a big budget film.

Wonder Woman, I really want to make. That, I’m hoping, will be my $200 million extravaganza — if I even get close to it. That’s why I say, “Well, let me go make Drive [a thriller shooting soon with Ryan Gosling]. Let me start the ball rolling within the system…The real origin of Wonder Woman is: What if women were more powerful than men? What would the world be like? That’s a subliminal theme…And where Wonder Woman on one hand is a great female character who can be included in many great fight scenes, she doesn’t have great villains against her. OK, so you create some. She doesn’t have a Joker or those classic Batmankinds of guys. But she does have her whole world that she comes from, which is fascinating. The whole idea of a woman who is basically more powerful than any man — and who will always be that, and comes from a society of women who are more powerful than men — is an interesting theme that I think can be very contemporary.

(Head over to Movieline for the full interview.)

Sounds like the director has a solid handle on his vision for the film. I think Refn would make a great addition to the superhero directors club; he could certainly add something to the genre we’ve never seen before. With the recent formation of DC Entertainment and the shifts in positions over there, I know the execs want to see a Wonder Woman film on the big screen. But will Refn be the one to direct it, or could this turn into another Joss Whedon fiasco? (Whedon famously wrote a script for the film and fought to get it made, but the project kept falling apart.)

Are you interested in a Wonder Woman movie directed by Nicolas Winding Refn? Sound off in the comments below. (And seriously – check out the Pusher trilogy if you haven’t seen it.)

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If you’ve always dreamed of seeing live action Batman stage show, then you’re in luck. DC Comics and Warner Bros are in the early stages of development on the tentatively titled “Batman Live“. Heat Vision reports that rather then a traditional play or musical, it will be “an elaborate arena production aimed at kids and families” much in the same vein as the recent Walking with Dinosaurs show.

If you, like me, are a bit hesitant to have confidence in any sort of arena production, the news that Batman: The Animated Series writer Alan Burnett is allegedly working on the script should help to regain your faith. If his previous work is any indication, he knows how to make an accurate adaptation of a Batman comic.

However, if one considers the previous failures of superhero stage adaptations, he has a long road ahead of him yet. Take for example the many short lived attempts at a Spider-Man show, or the various cheesy arena productions of our youth (remember when everything was inexplicably on ice?). Not to mention the monstrosity that was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show.

Despite this rather dismal track record, Warner hopes to have it ready by the time Christopher Nolan releases his third Batman movie in 2012. While I’ve never been inclined to go to one of these things before, I might just have to reconsider in this case.

Be sure to share your own opinion in the comments section below.

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Warner Bros. may have one of the most successful comic book franchises in Batman, and it may be about to launch a potential new one with Green Lantern, however Marvel are leaps ahead in the movie department. As we already know, they’ve got plans up until 2012 and beyond with The Avengers and possible sequels to Thor, Iron Man and Captain America.

DC, on the other hand, cancelled production Justice League: Mortal (for a number of reasons) and the rights to Superman are currently in a bit of a legal mess. However, things may be about to change. Time Warner announced today that Networks and Film businesses posted record profits this quarter, and a few hints as to where the DC films are headed were dropped in their conference call.

Tuna Amobi – Standard & Poor’s Equity Group

“…on the DC comics initiative it seems like you have a bunch of paddles in the [works] right now can you talk a little bit about the upcoming release strategy there I know you are working on Green Lantern then The Flash, Wonder, Justice League those titles any time frame and how you see the economics of the overall comics really this kind of affect in the studio margins as a whole and any multi platform implication would also be helpful for that area.”

Jeff Bewkes – Chairman & CEO

“If you go to your question on DC, we are going to have a fairly interesting set of announcements and presentations pretty soon like in a matter of weeks I think. About our plans for DC and basically if you look across the title of the whole band of hits whether its Batman, The Dark Knight, Green Lantern coming up, Superman, there have been a huge number of franchised films that have been part of the Warner [tent pole] strategy that’s been the reason for Warner’s unparallel high and consistent earnings advantage over the other studios and DC has already been a part of that and we are now going to outline an even more expansive plan for that in the coming months.”

It will be interesting to hear what they have to say in their big announcement, but it seems they are taking a leaf out of Marvel’s book and are working their way towards a big team movie with the Justice League. The next decade should be a good one for comic book movie lovers!

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Despite having a wealth of characters from the DC world, Warner Bros have only managed to make Batman profitable with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Catwoman had the wrong creative team and Superman Returns didn’t meet expectations. More recently they have been trying to follow Marvel’s road by having a team movie, the Justice League. However the main problems were that fans didn’t particularly want it, and neither did Australia.

From Variety:

“We’re not off the notion of a Justice League,” Robinov says. “There’s a massive interest and knowledge in the comicbook industry and it takes time to sort of catch up and understand the characters and the history, where they’ve intersected with each other and what their worlds are. That’s part of the education that we’re going through.”

“These are big, iconic characters,” [Greg] Noveck says. “So when you make them into a movie, you’d better be shooting for a pretty high standard. You’re not always going to reach it, but you have to be shooting for it. We’re going to make a Justice League movie, whether it’s now or 10 years from now. But we’re not going to do it and Warners is not going to do it until we know it’s right.“

This is the best thing that could happen. Batman and Superman already have their franchises (well Batman has anyway), so to cross them over and mix them up would be stupid and it wouldn’t work.

So where do DC and Warner Bros go from here?

“We’re having a lot of internal discussions on it,” Horn says. “We haven’t committed to any change at DC at this point,” adding that both Warners and DC are committed to turning “the properties into viable movie product in an intelligent way so that we introduce them like planes on a runway. They have to be set up the right way and lined up the right way and all take off one at a time and fly safe and fly straight.”

So they have decided to do what Marvel are doing. Marvel have launched Iron Man, rebooted The Incredible Hulk, and will soon be giving us Thor and Captain America. All of these will then join together for a big old bash in The Avengers movie in 2011.

DC’s first solo movie off the blocks will most likely be Green Lantern, which already has a script and is apparently ready to go.

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Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and Robin may not be getting any action in the movie world (yet), however in the gaming world they are taking over. A trailer for DC Universe Online is now up, and if you are a fan of creating your own superheroes, online multiplayer games and DC characters then this game is made for you!

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DC Comics are known for their villains such as The Joker and Lex Luthor, however some villains are underused and therefore less known. Take Tyrannosaurus Reich, the Nazi Dinosaur for example. He only appeared in one comic but from the looks of things he should have been in more.

T. Reich was pulled to earth through a dimensional portal from a dimension of Nazi dinosaurs. He briefly wreaks havoc in the downtown before being driven back to his home dimension by a housecat which changes sizes when agitated.

If they used him more often I’m sure DC could have made a movie out of him. A cross between Jurrassic Park and Schindler’s List maybe?

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The last thing we heard about the Thor movie back in December, was that the strike had halted things, and when the strike was over production could begin. However, fast forward to now and the writers strike is well and truly over, but it seems production hasn’t started as we were told. Stardust director Matthew Vaughn told Empire Magazine:

“We’re in a holding pattern at the moment,” he said. “It’s up to Marvel, they have to decide if they want to make the movie and then we take it from there.”

From what I recall the script has already been written, it may just need a polish. Screenwriter Mark Protosevich said that audiences will be “pleasantly surprised” by this interpretation of the character. Yet now Vaughn doesn’t even know if it is happening. He also said:

“Well, the main role is going to be played by someone totally unknown,” he said. “It can’t be a star, it’s got to be someone totally unknown.”

“I think you have to respect that it is comic book and silly to be frank, so you have to combine that with a modern style and hopefully come up with something fresh. I think we can come up with something special.”

I am glad they are planning on an unknown as it will make things more believable, rather than ‘oh look that’s Sean Bean standing on a bucket with prosthetic muscles’. Not that Sean Bean has been cast, I just think he looks a bit Thorish.

It is now up to Marvel, whom I truth will make the right decision.

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