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For the majority of
comic fans and society in general, the Green Lantern film was seen as a flop.
It did make a profit (just) but fans of the comic were not happy with the way
Hal Jordan was presented and the effects on the CGI suit. I did not have
any of these complaints and quite enjoyed the film, but I am not here to
discuss that. I am here to show you how the franchise could be resurrected and
how what was meant to be part one to at least a sequel but more likely a
trilogy of films could still work out with a soft reboot.
Lets look at the facts
of Green Lantern the film. I think everyone would agree that the events on Oa
were impressive and it was a shame that we did not get more of this. I think
the biggest problem that people had with the film were that they thought a guy
with a magic ring was stupid (be prepared for Iron Man 3 with the Mandarin),
they did not like the effects nor did they feel like they really got to know Hal Jordan. So for part 2 we need a soft reboot. It needs to do a lot of things that
a typical origin film does again, just like The Incredible Hulk did after Hulk.
We don’t need to see how Hal became a Lantern once more; instead we need
characterisation.
In my opinion, it was
obvious that part 2 was going to be The Sinestro Corp War and this would have
been spectacular. If we stay in this universe then we have Sinestro taking the power
of fear and therefore we should keep with this. But we don’t need to go into a
fully fledge war to start with. This film should be a blend of early Sinestro
Corps War, The Road Back and the critically acclaimed Green Lantern/Green Arrow
series. The Road Back was a story set in the 1980s when we saw Hal Jordan go on
the road and finds himself once more to become Green Lantern. This would work
perfectly as our opener part to this film as we would start to bring real depth
to the character. As an interlude I would start with a scene in space. It could
be a sleazy little city on a planet where a sinestro ring starts to make
recruitments, just like they did in the comics. I think this would be a
beautifully subtle way to start the film and build intrigue. Further add many
of the ideas from Green Lantern/Green Arrow (GL/GA) here and I think you have a
winner. In GL/GA, Hal and Ollie are on the road and as they go along they
witness many of the great injustices in society. From fat cat
businessmen making money out of the poor, to the Native Americas losing their
land, to even drug abuse - this was a fantastic run and I urge anyone to read it.
Also, I would have Hal hardly use the ring in this opening act. He needs to show
the audience what he can do without the ring, and show who he is. Hal Jordan is
fearless and would not step down from a fight if he thinks it is the right
thing to do. He has often risked his life (and lost it) to do the right thing
and therefore I think this is a key thing to make clear to the film audience.
Hal Jordan is fearless and is a utilitarian; he does what is best for the many
when it outweighs the few.
From here we could
have Killowog coming down to Earth to plead for Hal to return because of the
threat of Sinestro. With Hal’s return to Oa he could go through more training
and we could see him becoming the Lantern we all know and love. The final act
is a battle against Sinestro - not his entire corps, not yet anyway! Here we can see
Sinestro try to destroy the Green Lantern Corps (GLC) and has Hal try to shout
him down from his stance. Finally Hal, with help from the corps, will knock
Sinestro down and be victorious. This learning path will make Hal realise he
wants to be a pilot and return home to Coast City. The final scene of the film
should show the army that Sinestro has built and even though the GLC have
locked him away in a psi-cell the worst is yet to come.
In my opinion by doing
this wee bit of rebooting, you could have a great film for everyone to jump
onto and would lead nicely into the final act of the trilogy: The Sinestro
Corps War.
...
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