How to Fix the Green Lantern Franchise

Many have pointed out how when it comes to the silver screen saying that the DC properties are lagging behind Marvel. The way things are going Rocket Raccoon will be featured on film before Wonder Woman. Hoping to reverse this trend Warner Brothers moved into production for a Green Lantern film faster than you can recite a solemn oath. The results are what one could expect from a film slapped together this quickly with the clear intent of it simply being a launching pad for a franchise. Critics shunned it and audiences were lukewarm. This may seem like the yellow colored bullet that would kill any franchise hopes before things got going but if sequels such as; The Wrath of Khan and reboots like The Incredible Hulk have taught us anything is that fans will forgive and forget previous wrongs as long as the sequel blows them away. As a fan of the Emerald Ring Slinger I would love to see Green Lantern get another shot at cinematic greatness and I am willing to offer my free advice on how to get it right.

The Plot: Hands down the biggest complaints fans had about Green Lantern was the fact that the plot was all over the place. Each point in the story was glossed over and unexplored because there was so much ground to cover. Any sequel should focus on a cohesive plot that can be easy to follow for everyone from fans who can recite the Oath verbatim to those who don’t know Green Lantern from Green Arrow could follow. Remember a sequel is not a guaranteed thing, you may not have time to tell all the stories you want, instead filmmakers should focus on getting it right the first time.

Villain: Green Lantern featured two villains to threatened Ryan Renyolds. Hector Hammond succeeded in being odd looking and confusing many movie goers as to his relationship with Hal Jordan

and Carol Ferris. While Parallax took a page from Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer playbook and played the part of an ill defined mass that floated around space. Needless to say neither of these antagonists were particularly menacing or memorable; and without a great villain Green Lantern looked quite mediocre and unheroic in his first outing. While elsewhere in the flick Mark Strong was perfectly cast as Green Lantern’s arch nemesis, Sinestro with his hidden evil strongly hinted at. For a sequel they should go for broke and slap a yellow ring on Strong’s finger and let him go to town. If the filmmakers still want to hold off on turning Sinestro, the Green Lantern mythos are full of great villains that will look great onscreen; Atrocitus, the Manhunters, and Black Hand could all work well.

Characters: I find it odd that Ryan Renyolds and Blake Lively are married in real life as they showed little chemistry onscreen together. While GL mainstay Tom Kalmaku, was simply relegated as Hal Jordan’s comic relief buddy. If Green Lantern 2 comes to fruition the people behind the scenes need to focus developing the characters onscreen, they can turn to the decades of source material if they need to learn the strengths and weaknesses of these people and learn why the fans love them so much. Bonus points would be awarded for cameos from; John Stewart or Guy Gardner.

Costume: The clothes make the man, and while a completely CGI suit seemed like a good idea on paper, onscreen it did not wow anybody. Instead they should put Mr. Renyolds in an actual suit, this is a move that may motivate a great performance out of the actor as he would now be wearing a true super hero suit and not a green unitard covered in tennis balls. While of CGI enhancements to the suit would be cool, it should not overpower the coolness of the Green Lantern costume.