First 'Green Lantern' trailer promises cosmic scale, comic Ryan Reynolds
Big FX and wild design makes Martin Campbell's DC hero a standout
Ryan Reynolds stars as Hal Jordan in next summer's mega-budget superhero film 'Green Lantern'
It's a big week for trailers, and of course all of these trailers are hoping to make a splash with filmgoers who pile into theaters over the holidays. I'm sure that if you go see "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1," you are going to see the trailer for "Green Lantern." Sure of it. Every studio has the option of attaching a trailer to a print for their own movie, and this is the most important movie for Warner Bros. next summer. It doesn't just have to work as a movie… it's also the first step in building out a very particular DC Universe on film.
Can DC play the same game as Marvel? Can they play it as aggressively? Can they get the general public to buy into what looks like a very big, very stylized comic book reality?
This is a very different thing than what Christopher Nolan's been doing with the Batman movies. There's a broadness to the approach… and there has to be, frankly. Ryan Reynolds has been looking for the right role, and as far as I can tell, this is it. This looks like a big crowd-pleasing hero role, and he's got the charisma (and the physique) to fill the suit.
What sells it for me is the scale of it. I've seen some truly terrifying "Green Lantern" scripts over the years, and to see this… a cosmic space opera, a "Star Wars" with superheroes… is something I genuinely never thought would happen.
I want "Green Lantern" to be a film I can take my kids to see. I want it to be a film that plays to adults and kids in equal measure. I don't want some uber-dark film for the sake of it. This seems ambitious in a way that intrigues me. As cool as the trailer is, I'm also intrigued by the artwork that is up on the iTunes trailer page. I love the design of that giant cliff with the symbol, and I love the Green Lantern Corps gathered below. That's something we've never seen in one of these movies. That's something new that only DC can bring to the table, and if they play to that, to their strengths, it could be really special.
Our own Greg Ellwood went to the set for the film, and he'll have more on that for you as we get closer to release. For now, check out the film's trailer at Apple.com, where I recommend the biggest HD version your screen can handle. It's impressive, and I get the feeling it'll be love or hate based on how big and bold the choices they've made seem to be.
"Green Lantern" is in theaters June 17, 2011.
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Comments
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupMatt Cafaro
November 16, 2010 at 11:08PM EST Reply to CommentTo quote Jay: "Dude... I just FILLED the cup!"
My favorite superhero EVER is FINALLY getting the big screen treatment he deserves.
While I worry about Blake Lively's "acting" in the way Star Wars fans bemoan Natalie Portman's "acting" under Lucas, I have no doubt that Martin Campbell, a hidden gem amongst the directors of big budget films, can pry more than one emotion from her stoic face.
Sinestro. Tomar Re. Kilowog. And I even heard there will be a John Stewart and Guy Gardner cameo!!!
Plus, I so totally love the idea of [redacted by me] being introduced in this film and being the source of [again, redacted by me]'s powers.
If you must know the redacted parts, go check out Geoff Johns's seminal work on Green Lantern over the last 5 years. Specifically, "Secret Origin" "Rebirth" and the "Sinestro Corps Wars."
Michael Stat
November 16, 2010 at 11:16PM EST Reply to CommentIs this the first step towards an all-out sci-fi Justice League film? If this is a huge hit (it looks like one), then after Snyder's Superman and a rebooted Batman with more comic-booky elements, I can see a JLA film by 2016 or so.
Dave I Why would you need (or want) to "reboot" Batman? You've created arguably the most successful comic book franchise and rendition of probably the second most famous comic book character ever. Why not just roll with it, but have him adapt to being thrown into a Justice League setting? Keep the same version, give Batman some reason to be in that setting, and give him the tools to work in that kind of group.
November 17, 2010 at 11:17AM ESTSorry, I just hate reboots. Just let the character live as you've created in this "DC Universe" but allow him to grow, evolve, and adapt based on the events going on around him. He can have tools that make him relevant, his brains and detective skills can add something other than just another smash-em-up presence with a cowl and a cape, and you can contrast his dark/brooding nature with the Boy Scout that is Clark Kent, the arrogance and confidence of Green Lantern, etc., etc.
I don't see the need to reboot the perhaps most successful comic-book-to-film character ever. Of course, it might also depend on how far they stray from The Dark Knight and which comic-booky elements you are hoping to add to Batman. Still, he was successful the last two movies for a reason. I am reluctant to go along with some hypothetical reboot to make him more "comic-booky" particularly so he fits into a JLA film. To me Batman has always worked best as a somber presence with smarts, detective skills, and when necessary, reasonable-but-not-godlike and at least somewhat scientifically-believable gadgets to help make him capable of not just getting squashed.
Just one opinion.
-Cheers
Dryden Dave, I believe Michael is saying reboot because it's highly unlikely (as in, they already said no before) that Nolan and Bale would come on board a Justice League film. I think Warner Brothers looks at that and says, "Yay, another excuse for us to be able to make a new, cheaper Batman when Nolan moves on after Dark Knight Rises! Print more money!" Warners gets another version of the franchise under the guise of doing a more outlandish version.
November 17, 2010 at 3:28PM ESTChuck
November 16, 2010 at 11:35PM EST Reply to CommentThis looks terrible... hate to say it but it's true...
November 16, 2010 at 11:42PM EST Reply to CommentI love Green Lantern, and this looks amazing.
Captain gay testing 123
November 17, 2010 at 12:08AM ESTJason R
November 17, 2010 at 1:17AM EST Reply to CommentI've got a bad feeling about this...
November 17, 2010 at 4:06AM EST Reply to CommentHmmm, wasn't really as blow away by that as I was hoping I would be. Here's hoping the full length trailer will have more "must see moments". Also, I understand why the suits all CGI but they couldn't have just given him an actual mask?
gregel
November 17, 2010 at 5:25AM EST Reply to CommentPleasantly surprised by CG, but disappointed by Lively and Reynolds as a funny man is just wrong for Hal Jordan. Sigh. It's not Iron Man. It's Green Lantern. There is a big difference.
Matt Cafaro Greg,
November 17, 2010 at 11:25AM ESTIt HAS to be the big mystery of this film, right? How the hell does Blake Lively score Carol Ferris over age appropriate and more accomplished actress Keri Russell (who is equally if not more beautiful, anyway?).
It makes no sense. It's the one big thing that could stop this film cold. Didn't Warners learn from the Kate Bosworth Disaster and what her casting did to Superman Returns, which could have been at least a bearable film with say, Jennifer Connolly or Liv Tyler as Lois Lane?
It seems they did NOT learn their lesson.
JoeK
November 17, 2010 at 10:51AM EST Reply to CommentInterest in the IDEA of this movie is high and that no doubt leads to the amount polarization out there but it still distresses to see people, in a general sense, obviously getting what they claim they want (a big budget GL movie, with an earnest attempt at faithful adaptation for the screen) and still feeling fully entitled to dismiss it reflexively, if not pile on it mercilessly.
As much as geeks fantasize about seeing their ephemera filmed they do lose or lack perspective on how it looks and plays outside of the theatre of the mind, particularly to nobelievers, who do count when the movie you want is propped up with megamillions. Not so long ago we all pined for this stuff and now that we are absolutely feasting as genre fans a very spoiled element of fandom simply turns up their noses and arrogantly goes Strasberg on mere seconds of quick cut performance footage from a trailer.
The movie may indeed not deliver in the end but once again the internet movie crowd, which desperately demands relevancy, continues to marginalize itself and give back the amount it has claimed to date.
Tonally this one veers back and forth I'd agree but I see nothing to engender the outright dismissal that pathetically already isn't too hard to find online.
Mulderism
November 17, 2010 at 2:07PM EST Reply to CommentI was a bit underwhelmed by the trailer. But then I wasn't expecting much.
GL is going to be a tough sell. He's a second tier hero not well known outside of comic book fans. I could make that same claim about Iron Man but Marvel made it work.
I will definitely see GL and I hope it does well but I have a feeling it's not going to resonate with the general movie-going public who are more familiar with Superman and Batman.
And I really hope that DC keeps their characters separate and doesn't try and do a team-up movie ala Avengers. Nolan's Batman should be in his own universe fighting normal humans.
Manian
November 17, 2010 at 2:39PM EST Reply to CommentEh I dunno.
Mulderism
November 17, 2010 at 3:21PM EST Reply to CommentIs a mask over your eyes REALLY an effective disguise?
All the modern super-hero films have updated the costumes to some extent from the comics. Iconic costumes like Spider-Man, Superman, Batman and Iron Man haven't deviated much from their comic book roots. GL's costume is updated somewhat but it still somewhat retains the color scheme and look of the comics.
But the mask looks silly. I don't think a mask translates well from the comic book to the screen. It works for Spider-Man, Iron Man, Batman and Captain America but in these cases the masks make more sense.
In GL's case it doesn't make much of a disguise and it seems it was kept in just to appease the fans.
To me it looks silly.