The Adventures of Captain Otter

Oh, we have fun news today.  First of all, guess who almost directed Green Lantern?  Quentin Tarantino.  Sure, the guy seems like someone who would love reading comics.  But directing it?  I don’t want to imagine what that would have turned out like.  Is Tarrantino even capable of making a movie that isn’t rated R?  Warners had offfered him the job before the script was done, and he turned them down.  Thank god.  He’s a great director, and movies like Pulp Fiction are classics.  That being said, I just can’t see him making a superhero franchise.  These movie have to be aimed for kids as well as adults.  I don’t think the man could have done that.  Here is a pic of the director in a somewhat Green Lantern-esque attire.

We also have Ryan Reynolds taking about how pumped he is for the movie.  After seeing the finished costume, he realized that this movie is really happening.  After seeing a finished Green Lantern uniform, I would probably demand to try it on right away, but that’s just me.  It is strange though.  They have to start filming soon, and it looks they have alot of the preproduction finished.  And yet we havn’t heard any extra casting info.  They have their star, but they still need the entire supporting cast.  Decisions are going to have to be made soon.  Reynolds also talked about the script, saying that it wasn’t a full origin story.  The movie won’t “begin in the third act”.  In some ways, this sounds great.  Iron Man didn’t see Tony Stark in the Mark 3 until far too late in the movie, and I was wishing for more of those gorgeous action scenes.  If Hal Jordan starts busting up aliens half an hour in, I’m all for it.  I am worried that they don’t properly deal with Hal adjusting to his job.  Origins stories arn’t always great, but they have to be told.  Hal isn’t going to get his ring and then go off to business.  He’s going to be freaked out by the existence of aliens and all these cosmic powers.  And you can’t give him the ring in the first five minutes of the movie.  You do have to show a bit of his life before he gets the ring, or else the transformation he undergoes is pointless.  So, as much as I enjoy the willingness to ignore the get past the origin story, that is a big challenge with a character like Green Lantern.  I’m confident they can do it, but I’m a tiny bit skeptical.

And we also have another Hawkeye update.  Jeremy Renner commented on the direction they’re taking the character, and remarked that they’re not going to with the classic costume.  A good choice.  Like Wolverine, Hawkeye’s costume looks great in comics but would struggle to work on film.  Instead, they’re going to give him some kind of cool vest and sunglasses.  Sounds alot like…..Ultimate Hawkeye?  Yes, yes it does.  I completely called this from day one.  Score one for Captain Otter.  Renner hasn’t been cast yet, since they don’t have a director either, and don’t want to pick the entire cast before they get the guy in charge.  I do think that Renner is a perfect choice, and he does seem interested.  I say Marvel should try and grab him.

Most DC movies seem to be cursed in one way or another.  Batman 3 isn’t coming out for a while, the Flash can’t get a script, Superman is facing legal trouble, and Wonder Woman has been in movie hell since the 90s.  But hey, Green Lantern is good to go right?  A lead actor, director, script.  What could possible go wrong?

No, not that.  But close.

The movie had run into some problems with its filming site in Australia a little bit ago.  The government wasn’t willing to give the right tax breaks, and exchange rates are less than stellar.  Hmmm.  Maybe the Ausies are Spiderman fans.  It doesn’t help that the director has made a bunch of changes to the script.  Changes that proved to be phenominally expensive.

Expensive script rewrites?  Those are the best kind!  That means we can probably expect some more visual effects or fight scenes.  Either way, with higher prices, Warners is looking for a new studio.  Word has it that the production might be moving to Mexico.  I don’t know if this means anything for production.  Considering much of the movie will be set on Oa and in space, it’s mostly about the location of the studio rather than the environment.  I don’t think it matters too much for the movie itself, and is more of a numbers thing really.  One would think with the economy the way it is that governments would be willing to do just about anything to get a big studio spending money in their country.  Anyway, I just hope they get to work on this thing and that all goes well.  Even though there are more than enough superhero movies coming out, Green Lantern is one that really deserves a shot.

I guess Green Lantern just can’t escape Blackest Night.  Even in our world, the forces of darkness are acting against him.  There is a distinct possibility that the camera for the Green Lantern movie will see only…black.  Wow, that comparison sounded alot better in my head.  So what’s really going on?  It had been announced that the Green Lantern movie would be shooting in Australia this January and released in 2011.  The problem?  Seeing as the economy is kind of a mess right now, the value of the Austrialian dollar has changed.  Long story short, costs to make the movie will skyrocket and put a damper on production.

This could potentially have an easy fix.  Shoot the movie somewhere else.  Maybe a country where costs arn’t going to be insanely high.  This could happen, and we could see the movie shot in a new location.  Doesn’t matter to me, as long as the movie is good.  The problem might be that they’ve already started working on sets, and might not be able to change location.  Even though shooting is a few months away, work on this stuff starts way in advance.  This means they could be stuck with huge costs and might be forced to scrap the work they’ve already done.  There might be potential delays, and at the very least studio costs are going to rise.  If nothing changes and no solution is reached, Warners will have to pay between $15 and 20 million. 

Somehow I feel responsible for all this.  I think a part of me wants this movie to fail, so that way Ryan Reynolds will only play one comic book hero.  When he announced that he was playing the character, I know that Deadpool must have felt betrayed.  Why did DC have to ruin all that?  Now I feel guilty about all this.  Don’t worry readers, I’ll find a way to make this right.  Somehow…..

I’m a big fan of the Green Lantern mythos and just how epic it is.  No other character has quite the same opportunities for epic battles for the fate of the galaxy, which we’ve seen in the Sinestro Corps. War and the current Blackest Night.  So when an animated movie comes out, did you honestly expect me not to run out and pick it up?  I did, and watched it today.  All in all, it wasn’t bad.  The story revolves around Hal’s induction into the GLC and Sinestro’s betrayal, culminating in a final showdown between the student and the teacher.

 So is the movie loyal to the mythos?  For the most part, yes.  You can’t expect a short feature like this to cover the depth of backstory without feeling like a history textbook.  It would have been fun to see some of the emotional spectrum stuff from the current volume emphasized, and we do get some of it.  They just couldn’t fit all of willpower and fear stuff.  The movie is roughly 75 minutes long, so this is all understandable and not a problem.  They do throw in alot of references to the bigger story, which is good fun.  Most of the characterizations are spot on, with one exception.  Boodikka is a very different character than she is in the comics, although she is more likeable and alot less whiney.  Sinestro is portrayed amazingly, and it feels like this is more his story than it is Hal’s.  We see Sinestro make all the important choices while Hal just reacts to what’s going on.  I’m pretty sure that Sinestro has significantly more dialogue as well and I never felt like Hal developed throughout the story.  They leave out the death of his father, and Hal gets used to becoming an intergalactic cop pretty quickly.  I would have thought that seeing aliens for possibly the first time in your life would be surprising, but Hal doesn’t seem to care.  I don’t know if he’s just that cool or just that stupid.  A good Green Lantern story is about Hal overcoming his fears, but this story feels like a series of fights without a solid theme.  If anyone undergoes character development, it’s Sinestro.  I’m not saying it’s bad, but the live action movie better have some real development.  You know, emotion and stuff.  The movie captures Hal’s personality well even though we should be seeing Hal as more of a rookie.

If the story had any slight story problems, the animation more than made up for them.  Everything looks great and it’s hard to be disappointed.  The action sequences have a few minor flaws, like when a veteran Green Lantern acts like a deer in the headlights in the face of a scary weapon, but are still well done.  All of the imagery feels like it’s right out of the comics, and I mean that in a good way.  My favorite aliens of movie were the Weaponers of Qward, who just plain rock.  Victor Garbel makes a perfect Sinestro and completely steals the show.  Everything about him works.  I actually think this guy should be considered for the live action movie.  He was that good.  Christopher Meloni makes for an interesting Hal Jordan and sounds confident without being too cocky.  The only voice problem I could find was with Kilowag.  Kilowag is undeniably the greatest lantern of them all, regardless of what anyone else might say, and I was really excited about Michael Madsen voicing him.  After watching it, I couldn’t help but think he wasn’t the best choice.  I’m sure there is a voice actor somewhere who could have nailed him, and this Kilowag feels a bit too gravely for the character.  He does a good job, just not a great one.  I’m not sure why the voice director chose to go with almost exclusively well known actors, but the results don’t lie. 

If you’re a Green Lantern fan, chances are you’re going to buy this.  You won’t be disappointed, just don’t expect something as epic as the comic book in a 75 minute movie.  For people new to Green Lantern, this movie could serve as a fun introduction to Hal Jordan and the awesomeness of Sinestro.  I wouldn’t call First Flight a “can’t miss” but it’s definitely worth checking out.

Blackest Night has been a big topic of discussion here at Captain Otter.  The basic premise of zombie invasion is kind of fun, but what really sets this event apart is how epic it is.  Geoff Johns has been planning this thing for quite some time and this is setting up to be one hell of a fight.  Johns had incredible success with the Sinestro Corps. War, where we saw the Green Lantern Corps fighting for surivaval against an army of the nastiest baddies the galaxy has to offer.  Sinestro, Parallax, Superman-Prime, the Cyborg Superman and the Anti-monitor put the Corps to the test and made up one of the best collections of villains put togheter.  Each had a unique personality and motive, and with such powerhouses, you wondered how the GLC were going to pull this one out.  But who will the Lanterns take on in the Blackest Night?  With the war starting up right now, I’m going through a quick run through of some of the worst the newly founded Black Lantern Corps has to offer.  If you havn’t been reading Green Lantern or a bit new to comics, this will give you an idea of just how scary a time it is.  All of these (save the last two) have been confirmed, but we can always look into them more.  Im not too well versed in DC lore, so I can’t list off who will come crawling out of the grave, but here goes.

The Black Hand

The Black Hand is the baddie responsible for this big mess.  Death itself seems to be guiding him, and he has the backup of a former Guardian of the Galaxy named Scar.  You know those little blue guys who run the Corps?  One of them went evil.  Scar had been wounded the Anti Monitor in the SCW and now has an obsession with death.  The Black Hand has more than a few grudges against Hal Jordan, and we can certainly expect to see them go at each other.  The Black Hand is also much nastier since their last encounter, and I can’t help but wonder if Hal will make it out intact.  So far, I havn’t been too big a fan of William Hand.  He seems too much like some perverted creep with a morib obsession.  While villains like Dr. Doom or the Joker inspire real dread, this guy just disturbs me.  I’m not fully caught up on GL, and maybe hes ready to take on the universe.  But right now, I think even I have a good shot at beating this creep up… if he doesn’t have his zombie army.  Speaking of which…

Zombie Aquaman

Yeah, Aquaman is dead.  No other character seems to get made fun of as much as Aquaman.  The whole water based powers thing doesn’t get too much respect from us land dwellers.  But as a nightmarishly powerful zombie overlord?  Expect big things.  I want to see him summon a horde of undead sea creatures, including zombie sharks and zombie squids.  This might not happen, but I can dream.

Zombie Martian Manhunter

I’m looking forward to this one.  Martian Manhunter has a great set of powers and is pretty unique in alot of ways.  He died very recently during Final Crisis, so the heroes probably havn’t recovered from his death just yet.  I think he’ll make a great Black Lantern, and will have some striking visuals.  MM will be one of the stronger foes for the heroes to face and I also can’t help but wonder if we’ll see his return when this is over.

Zombie Earth-2 Superman

Superman.  From a parallel universe.  But dead.  And greater powers.  We might expect him to be unstoppable, but the Cyborg Superman had not only a power ring but an entire army of Manhunters as back up and he was taken down.  He’ll be a scary dude even if he’s not invincible.  But against the last contender, there is no hope.

Super Powerful Zombie Batman

Let it be known that I coined this term.  Just say it out loud.  Super Powerful Zombie Batman.  I’m going to throw that name out there as often as possible.  Even if Batman isn’t completely dead, he has left a corpse.  The Black Hand is all over Bruce’s grave (literally) and we can count on Bats to have some role.  The Black Hand surely recognizes Bruce’s obsession with death.  Bruce’s entire life has been shaped by the death of his parents, something he has never been able to let go.  For a Corps. fueled by Death, Batman would fit right in.  I don’t want to comprehend just how powerful this character will be.  Bats was able to hold his own without any powers to speak of.  All he has is his mind, which is what fuels the power rings.  Batman has had a noticeable role in the main Green Lantern series so far, and a conflict between him and the Corps would be a fight to remember.  I have to say the Hal doesn’t stand a chance against his old friend if he becomes the most powerful black lantern, but our boy might have a few tricks up his sleeve.  Can you think of a better showdown than a White Lantern (more on that later) Hal Jordan and Black Lantern Super Powered Zombie Batman?  No?  Thought so.  But will Super Powerful Zombie Batman last?  Bruce’s soul is still out there, and will it allow his body to used like this?  Chances are no, and we might see the first steps towards bringing Bruce back.  Don’t expect anything too big, since this a Green Lantern story and no one elses, but maybe something.  And this is Hal’s story.  It has to end with one more lantern to really put terror back into the man  with no fear.

Zombie Papa Jordan

The death of Hal’s dad has been a driving force in John’s run.  Almost too much.  It feels like all of Hal’s development has somehow related to the death, and we can’t go more than 2 issues without being reminded of it.  Hal has no fear because after the day of his dad’s demise, there was nothing left to fear.  Seeing a Zombified version of your long deceased father is going to tear you apart, and if Hal can overcome this, then he’ll be ready to take on any zombie horde.

So there we have it.  I couldn’t help talking about Super Powerful Zombie Batman, but we can count on seeing plenty of more zombies.  My biggest question is whether or not these zombies will have sentience, and if so what kind of personalities will they have?  Usually zombies are mindless, but I think the main Black Lanterns will have full personalities.  They’ll be far too dull if not.  But then what will they be like?  Evil versions of what they normally are?  But no matter what, I can only expect Super Powerful Zombie Batman to be the most terrifying creature in existance.  Get ready, because the Black Lanterns are here.

Oh, and did I forget Black Lantern Captain America?  I still say its the best way to bring him back.

Today I was looking forward to talking about Super Powered Zombie Batman, but am once again interrupted by casting announcements.  Over the past year, I’ve heard almost nothing but good news.  Kenneth Branagh directing Thor, Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, Samuel L. Jackson playing Nick Fury a staggering 9 times, and a full blown Deadpool movie.  I was even thrilled about Chris Hemsworth playing Thor.  But I don’t know how to feel about today’s news that Ryan “Deadpool” Reynolds will be taking up the mantle of Green Lantern.

Just for the record, this was the only picture of Ryan Reynolds I could find with his shirt still on.  Anyway, Reynolds must really love comics.  He played Hannibal King in Blade 3, briefly pursued a role as the Flash, is spearheading a Deadpool movie, married the Black Widow and is now the Green Lantern.  This Green Lantern business is all a bit sudden, since the first rumor of him taking the role popped up yesterday.  I still feel that an actor should find one comic book character and stick with it.  If they start taking multiple roles, they will struggle to be an icon.  When I think of Ryan Reynolds, will I think of him as Deadpool or Green Lantern?  I’m also still unsure of the timing of these things.  Both movies are slated for 2011.  I known GL is hitting the big screen in the summer, but I don’t know when Deadpool is coming.  If Deadpool comes out in fall or winter, it might work.  Even then, I hope that the two movies can be made without sacrificing any shooting time.

But will Reynolds make a good Lantern?  I’m absolutely certain he will be able to pull off Deadpool, and that he is the only man for the job.  He’s got the right blend of wit, style and insanity that Deadpool needs.  But Hal Jordan is a very different character.  Hal has a sense of humor, but I never thought of him as laugh out loud funny.  I should have seen this change coming actually.  The script was compared to Iron Man’s in terms of how it felt, with a much more positive tone.  I guess this also meant that they wanted to make Hal a funny guy like RDJ did for Tony Stark.  If they want to give Jordan a sense of humor, I guess Reynolds is a good choice.  But I was thinking of a guy who looked a bit tougher as Jordan.  I wanted Sam Worthington for the part, who looks like he could play an Air Force Pilot turned galactic guardian.  I didn’t see him in the new terminator movie, but my brother says he did a decent job, even if the movie itself wasn’t great.  Worthington also seems to be having an up and coming career, and will be starring in James Cameron’s uber-expensive Avatar and Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans remake.  His name had been thrown around a bit, and I probably would have given him the Captain Otter seal of approval. 

So, Deadpool is destined to patrol the stars as a Green Lantern.  Reynolds wasn’t my first choice for Jordan, but I think he has enough charisma to make it work.  I’m still dying to see the movie as long as it doesn’t interfere with Deadpool.  I would love to see Deadpool come out after Green Lantern (which looks to be the case), and for the movie to reference Reynolds playing GL.  I think it would be hilarious.  Well Reynolds, you said you wanted to kick Captain America in the nuts.  Now you’ll get your chance, since Green Lantern comes out the same year as Cap’s movie.  But he’ll also have to contend with the God of Thunder.  So 2011 is looking to be one hell of a year, and might just be able to top 2008’s onslaught of comic movies. 

I had planned on talking about Blackest Night today, but after checking out the rumor bin I found another piece of Green Lantern info worth sharing.  The Hollywood Reporter states that there are three actors still in the running to play Hal Jordan in the upcoming Green Lantern movie.  We have Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds, and the one and only Justin Timberlake.

The Bradley Cooper rumor is nothing new.  His name has been flying around for some time now, and after the success of the Hangover I think he has an even better shot of getting it.  That would make it the first hangover that got someone a job.  The rumor never did much for me since he just doesn’t feel like Hal Jordan.  Maybe when I see the Hangover it will change my mind.  I had thought that Cooper was moving away from the project, but I might be wrong. 

It’s the other two names that get me.  Ryan Reynolds is a great actor who deserves to play a superhero.  But he already is a superhero.  Reynolds has been instrumental in getting a Deadpool movie up and running and has been a part of the project for so long.  All of his focus has gone towards doing this movie.  Reynolds playing Green Lantern makes no sense.  If the movie plans on being released by 2011, they have to start shooting pretty soon.  I can see this coming into conflict with Deadpool pretty easily.  That, and do we want this guy playing two heroes?  For instance, Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man.  He can’t play another comic book character, and if he did people would wonder what Tony Stark was doing on screen.  Playing more than one comic book character never works.  Even though Reynolds has already played a comic book character, I’m sure we can all forget Blade 3.  The only way I’ll support this is if they make a joke about it in the Deadpool movie.

The Justin Timberlake rumor is probably the strangest.  I mean, Justin N’sync Timberlake.  He’s done some acting before, but he’s never carried a big screen movie.  He would bring in crowds and recognition to a relativley lesser known character, but as a comic book fan I don’t care to much about the movie’s success as I do the quality.  And as last summer showed us, great acting will bring success.  I’m not saying he is a bad choice, just that when I think of Hal Jordan fighting for order in the galaxy I don’t think of “Rock Your Body”.  My guess is that we’ll see the same thing that happened with Thor.  A few names are heard, then a list like this is given out, and then someone completely different is chosen.

With all this news on characters dying and coming back, I figured I would show you guys an example of how one author can bring a celebrated character back from disgace and make it look good.  Im talking about Green Lantern: Rebirth.  Not only did it rejuvinate the Green Lantern mythos, but its a brilliant piece of storytelling in its own right.  This miniseries brought back Hal Jordan as the greatest Green Lantern after a pretty long hiatus.  Hal had gone bonkers, turned into the villainous Parallax, and essentially ruined the Green Lantern Corps.  His replacement was Kyle Rayner, who to this day serves the rebuilt Corps.

So Hal Jordan was about as low as it could get.  He had died a villain, then become the host for the vengeful Spectre.  This was too much for most fans, who wanted their Green Lantern back.  It would have been easy to revive Hal with some kind of magic redo button that makes everything go away.  Instead, Geoff Johns embraces Parallax while mainting Hal’s innocence.  Parallax was revealed to be some kind of space parasite, a being of pure fear.  This ties into the Green Lantern’s weakness against yellow, the impurity of fear.   Its all very complicated, but Johns takes his time explaining it to the readers.  Johns takes so many things that seemed stupid about GL, and turned them into compelling parts of the characters.  Hal’s white hair, the yellow weakness, the need for the Spectre, and so much more.  When Hal Jordan is finally back in action, you cant help but feel that something epic just happened. 

Johns shows us that even the despised act of bringing characters back from the grave can be pulled off if embraced.  When the comeback is forced, it feels unnatural and unwanted.  When treated as a full story, with a well though out basis, it will be celebrated.  Rebirth was the first part of a trilogy actually.  Part 2 is the Sinestro Corps War, and the final chapter is none other than Blackest Night.  If you want to get into Green Lantern, but arn’t sure if its for you, read Rebirth.  Youll see just how long John’s has been preparing for Blackest Night and why bringing a character back from the grave isn’t always a bad thing.