Friday, June 17, 2011

Green Lantern movie review: My thoughts on The Wall, Ryan Reynolds & how Israel's 1st prime minister became the Guardians of the Universe

I just got back in from having seen GL and there's just two things I want to say off hand. One, what I was thinking about writing about the Amanda Waller character before I saw the movie is exactly what I will write since having seen it. Two, although Nathan Fillion still would have been my first pick for Hal Jordan I have to say Reynolds did a fine job. Over all the movie was pretty good especially with the way they introduced the secondary GL characters like Kilawog, Tomar Rae and of course Sinestro. They set them all up really well for the sequel that we all know is coming. My biggest gripe off hand is that visually the Parallax menace could have been thought out a bit better though. I'm sure more issues I'll have with the movie will come up that I'll mention in the comments as I have more time to "digest" the movie.
Now, on to The Wall. The Amanda Waller character was not really a very prominent character in the film maybe only having about 15 minutes of screen time. Which for the most part I expected. beyond her being a black woman who had a high ranking position with the U.S. govt. that deals with shit that is generally kept. away from the public eye we really didn't get to see the Amanda Waller most of us have been reading about for more then 20 years now. There was one scene that was an exception however in which we are treated to a flash back sequence of Waller's life that includes most of the stuff in that Suicide Squad secret origins issue #14 that pertained to Waller herself. So basically she was just another secondary character that is probably also getting set up for a more prominent role in the sequel. Which is fine really since this isn't a Suicide Squad movie. I think the fact that their using the Amanda Waller character to any degree is a testament to the enormous popularity she has gained with fans in of the DC Universe over the last 20 years and that in and of it's self is pretty damn cool I think!
As for Angela Basset as Amanda Waller I'm so over that whole controversy already. It's been talked to death and when you go see the movie just come to terms with the fact that when it comes to seeing Amanda Waller on the big screen she's not going to be played by a short heavy set black actress. That being said Basset was fine in the movie too even though she didn't really get to flex her acting muscle too much as of yet.
On an interesting side note some of you out there may not be a aware that the look of the Guardians of the Universe is based on Israel's 1st prime minister David Ben-Gurion. Like the Guardians he was a small man in stature (only about 5'4") but a giant in heart and spirit. He was a leader in the early Jewish militias in the British mandate of Palestine which was made up mostly of Holocaust survivors and Jewish refugees from Russia and other parts of the Middle East. In May of 1948, literally hours after Ben-Gurion declaring state hood the then fledgling Jewish state (smaller then New Jersey) was attacked by the combined armies of syria, iraq, egypt, jordan and lebannon. In response Israel did what it does best when it's survival is threatened, it won! There is a theme about how one must conquer their fears when facing horrific odds and great evils in the Green Lantern mythology. Knowing this it's hardly surprising that David Ben-Gurion would have served as an inspirational figure for the founders of the Green Lantern Corp which is made up of only the bravest and noble beings of the universe. Minus the occasional exception like Sinestro of course.

Angela Basset on Amanda Waller:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3TCMBomcsY

20 comments:

  1. you have a wonderful blog.i will look at more tomorrow..right now it is bedtime here and i got a headache too..

    thanx very much for nice comment on my blog

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  2. i was meaning to ask you if you like the Suicide Squad or just some of the characters in the series or what ever. you don't need any more beauty sleep but i hope you have a good night's sleep anyways and hopefully that head ache will be gone when you wake. you seem to have a pretty descent grasp on English but let me remind you there is a translation available into your native tongue just below the blog role in the right hand column. i don't have any plans to visit Norway unfortunately but if i ever do you'll be the first to know Anita ;)

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  3. Nice run down Mr - for some reason I haven't been in a rush to see GL but might go tomorrow if the rain keeps up.

    Yeah King Shark's been talking for a bit - will miss him from the pages of Aquaman - Kurt Busiek had quite a good thing going there...

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  4. hey mate good ta hear from ya. by the way i just got confirmation that King Shark will change from the shape of a great white shark to the aspect of a humanoid hammer head shark. i suppose i should reserve judgment until SS#1 comes out but off hand that seems like a lame idea. when it comes to sharks nothing scares the shit out of people more then great whites.

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  5. Like Dan, I haven't seen the GL movie yet.
    I remember that superboy's issues. I was never a superboy's fan, but couldn't miss any SS material.
    It was a good story and tha last SS I read in those brazilian issues, before they stoped printing for Portugal.
    I didn't remember King Shark didn't speak and personaly, changing him to a hammer head seems a to big a change (and not for the better).

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  6. believe it or not i don't have the actual issues any more but indeed i'm pretty sure i'm remembering that right about how he didn't speak. King Shark also has his own Wiki page in which they mention how he doesn't talk much. it doesn't explain unfortunately how he survived the explosive belt at the end of Watery Grave or why he's gonna be a hammer head in the upcoming Suicide Squad series in Sept. so as you can see his Wiki page is quite updated. however it doesn't answer the most important question of all about King Shark. that being why does he wear a "costume" that looks like SnM leather outfits you'd see in San Francisco's bars or sex clubs like The Citadel & The Power Exchange.

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  7. Thanks for the review Dave! I'm definitely more interested in seeing the movie now that I've read this. I love GL, have loved GL, and will always love GL. And I'm happy I can go on loving him even in movie form. As to King Shark's costume, it's probably just a matter of personal preference. I mean, the dude has to walk around looking like a shark. Least he can do is wear what makes him comfortable.

    P.S. 5'4" is not short. It's a completely normal height. The rest of you are abnormal

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  8. well not for a woman but for a guy that's on the short side. but man or woman you can still be bad ass and short. look at Yoda, judge him by his size not!
    i sure hope somebody who has seen the GL movie will leave a comment here at some point. looking back two days later the movie still holds up pretty well although there's a helicopter crash scene in the movie i think was kinda lame looking back now.
    as far as the new Squad series goes all i can say it better have Amanda Waller in it or it'll be short lived like that last series that got canceled only after about 11 or 12 issues.
    and for all you Lashina/Duchess fans i've got a real treat coming up for you in the next posting along with a DC animated movie that doesn't suck.

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  9. Just got back from seeing the GL movie, and I really liked it! I thought Reynolds did a very good job as Hal, and I liked loved the way they portrayed all the members of the Corps. I know what you're talking about with the helicopter scene, Dave, although I liked the joke they even made in the movie about his rescue of the chopper being lame. Other than being a little choppy editing-wise, I thought it was an altogether well done movie, and I can't wait to see the next one. :) I did think that Amanda Waller was well done, although I thought she looked a bit too nice and welcoming. Not enough of a hardass.

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  10. well between you and me that's two thumbs up so far. in retrospect something else i would have liked to have seen different was his mask. i think they should have gone with Kyle Ryner's version of the mask. it's a bit more edgy looking.

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  11. I could see that, although I understand why they didn't. If they want to keep it Hal Jordan, and not Kyle putting Kyle's mask on him would definitely give certain purists reason to gripe. Maybe the makers were purists themselves in that respect. They certainly kept other aspects of Hal Jordan's GL very accurate.

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  12. oh yeah and speaking of which i want all you ladies out there to know that i was hired to be Ryan Reynold's body double during all those semi-nude and shirtless scenes. i didn't mention it in my posting cause i don't like to brag.

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  13. I thought I recognized those abs! :)

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  14. I really did enjoy Green Lantern. They may have put a little too much stuff in it for those not already familiar with his mythology, but for those of us who are, it was a great ride.

    And while the Wall didn't get a ton of screen time, I felt what she did get was pretty true to the character - a tough, no-nonsense woman who believes in what she is doing, and is an "ends justifies the means" type.

    My own look at the movie can be found here: http://infiniteopinions.blogspot.com/2011/06/green-lantern-review.html

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  15. I know I'm a little late chimeing in but I just found you guys. Anywho...Amanda Waller's cameo was by far the best part of the movie for me. Reynolds did well as Hal and I didn't think he was. But the Wall could't have been done better by any other actress. Go Angela. I wonder who would make up the rest of the live action Squad?

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  16. it's never too late around here bro to share your thoughts. by the way how did you find out about this blog? also, as far as the casting call goes check out this posting: http://suicidesquadtaskforcex.blogspot.com/2011/02/casting-call-for-suicide-squad.html

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  17. Thanks man. I'm sort of Task Force X reserve member ( in my own mind ) so I been looking around for relaunch information and found
    Belle Reve.

    Now I'm on the way to the squad roll call.

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  18. well it's goo to have ya. the interaction in the comments section is my favorite part of blogging. writing postings and coming up with cool art for them is just part of the fun. i like to hear what's on people's minds and see them bounce opinions and information of each other about common interests. i usually update this blog pretty much every week but i might be taking a bit of a break soon. but if so rest assured i will have plenty to show and tell as we get closer to September!

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  19. What I find interesting is that the same artist, Federico Dalocchio, worked on a small indie book called Hard Bullied Comics and one the main characters is a Hammer Head Shark man. Look see here.... http://www.hardbulliedcomics.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=5b9cd675d858d5b4976cb0763852cdf8&topic=13.0

    Scroll down and you will see the Hammerhead character.

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  20. mmmmmm that is interesting i just checked that link out. i guess this guy really has a thing for hammerhead sharks. thanks for the comment. sorry about the lag time in replying but i would have scene and responded sooner had you left it on a more recent posting.

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