Green Lantern

Green Lantern introduced me to this hero for the first time. My knowledge was limited, so I had no idea what to expect. The risk in putting incredibly powerful superheroes on screen is that the battle they must fight would have to be tremendous and still believable while avoiding taking viewers out of their realm of understanding. I would venture to say that most viewers had about my level of Green Lantern knowledge.

So, let's check how they grounded the GL character. Ryan Renolds, check. Few actors bring grounding to a performance like he does and still be so likeable and interesting. His ability to show a wide range of human emotions really helped. He just appears genuine, all the time. It works in every movie I've seen him in.

Cool girlfriend. Cool best friend. Check. Both dynamics worked well and created an empathy wedge for a vast portion of the audience to connect. The writers seemed to know it would be difficult. Aliens. Will. Fear. Thought magic. So many of these factors dehumanize the movie. My wife said it best 2/3 into the movie when she declared, "That was all plot setup." They took their time, and by the end, I cared about all of it, even the weird alien lantern cult.

The villain was a creature of fear who seemed to use others' fears to consume their souls. He grew in size every time and became large enough to engulf entire cities like a giant space octopus. I had flashbacks to Fantastic 4 and Galactus, where I didn't really care about the planet eating space cloud coming to Earth. However, when Parallax was growing, and I knew his condition and his power (because the movie explained it to me) the threat felt real and my suspension of disbelief was supported. Then when I realized he was going to go building by building over the entire Earth and eat everybody, then the movie really had it's hooks in me.

And when Hal said, "At least let me try to defend Earth," I became a fan. He wasn't going to thwart their plans. He was asking to have a chance to save Earth or die trying. Then they could put their plan into motion. No buffing the system that was obviously bigger than him. No going against their wishes. Just a plea for a chance. Thank you for that, Hollywood.

This type of writing made me like the movie.





PS. The following thought didn't flow in my rant, so I'll drop it at the end here. Superhero movies have a problem that's becoming more and more obvious. In order to tell the story properly, they need to show violence. Yet the PG-13 line comes quickly. Crossing that line means a smaller viewer demographic. Yet not showing the violence tames the movie in a boring way. I cannot find what GL was rated upon release.

I enjoyed some of the violence they showed in GL, for the mere fact that if I were a sniveling villain who just acquired ultimate power, that's exactly how I'd behave. Showing the violence brings much greater risk to the heroes in viewer minds, if we are made to believe the movie doesn't care about such lines, then the risk is more palpable to us.

Let me illustrate with a stream of consciousness reenactment: That man just killed that woman and his own father in a terrible manner. I didn't even really care about those people. When the climax of the movie comes, in order to outdo itself, the movie is going to throw something even more horrible my way.

I wasn't disappointed when it didn't happen, because the feeling was there all the way to the end. That emotional ride is what I enjoy the most in a movie (besides tight plot points, a sweeping plot concept, and witty dialogue). It wasn't the greatest movie and it wasn't supposed to be, but it did well for me. They creatively handled what I thought were insurmountable plot obstacles by crossing a few lines to make it feel more dangerous.

Thor

Ten minutes after this movie ended, I forgot I'd watched it. Literally.

A month later when I realized I'd forgotten, I saved this blog post as a draft with just the title Thor, so I'd not forget again. My forgetfulness means two things. First of all, Thor was not a great movie. Secondly, Thor was not a bad movie. I'd place it solidly in the Meh category and would not say more about it, except that a couple thoughts niggle the back of my brain.

Why did Thor fall in love with with the girl Jane Foster? Love comes about when one person takes a measurement of many factors regarding another person. This usually takes time and experiences together. Sometimes it occurs quickly, but what did she ever do for him? What drew him to her? After he returned her research, then he's done with her (except as a dalliance), right? She's small fry even in our world and he's top dog in his. Anyway, the story wasn't even romance, so let's move on.

Why should I care about Thor's world? Actually, the question is a little misleading. I cared about his world. I cared that Loki set up an ultimate trap to destroy the ice bad guys. I applauded his stepping in to make big choices to destroy an enemy who would attempt to destroy them.

(Let me step aside for a second and address this further. Hollywood writers, please bear this in mind: when something threatens your world, take them out. Captain America and Green Lantern killed villains with ease, don't forget. In watching some of your movies, I'm learning that some superheroes are just dumb (I'm looking at you Batman and Superman). Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a dumb, powerful hero with powerful noble ideals that just don't work out for the innocent bystanders. The problem is when you writers equate being dumb with being noble. You must give me a reason why the hero shouldn't kill the villain. (Vader is Luke's father, Green Goblin is Spiderman's mentor and a friend's father, Spock and Kirk are friends in an alternate time stream, etc., I mean come on, anything would be good here.) Just don't try to tell me that killing bad guys who would kill indiscriminately is bad, which conversely means not killing these bad guys is good/noble. The bad guys will continue to kill innocent people until they are stopped dead, literally. Please don't argue that the good guy would become bad by killing. There is a line in the mind between justice and preemptive defense versus vigilante, retribution, "making them pay," and revenge. If a hero cannot see the difference, then the hero is already too close being a psychopath and should not be out on the street.)

Back to the question: Why should I care about Thor's world? As the plot builds, I actually do come to care for Thor's world, with Thor not in it. His poor brother got gypped when Thor returns, and I feel sorry for him. I kind of liked the idea of Thor being banished. That idea, fleshed out, would have made the movie great for me. Instead Thor breaks a road that I don't understand and don't care about. Loki is mad for good reason. Remember that Loki only acted in his planet's best interest. His methods might be uncouth, but they were effective. Now if he'd have turned his gun against Earth, which was not a threat, then Loki would have been a bad guy. Do you see the difference?

The movie was good enough to watch, but other than major themes that Hollywood often bends out of shape, the movie was forgettable. It was worth the Redbox rental.

Captain America

Captain America surprised me. The writers introduced me to this noble, weakling guy. They make him powerful. Then they put him where he was most effective: on a poster. Propaganda was powerful during WW2 and seeing them put a superhero in action only as a figurehead fit the time, scenario, and kept me believing in the movie as a whole

The best part about the situation. The best part of the situation: they were right and Captain America understood and went along with it. He was a smart guy all the way through the movie. Then when the prisoners needed rescuing and nobody would be able to do it, that's the moment he began to shine as a hero.

I don't have much to say about the rest of the movie. Everything felt smart and tight. The mix of future tech with old tech in the battles was wonderful. The snappy dialogue had me glued. Tommy Lee Jones...enough said. Actually, no, not enough. This cast was awesome all the way through. I couldn't believe that I kept recognizing actors, even minor characters.

Good stuff, Hollywood. More please!