Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Oh, Right...Green Lantern...

So, you can call this a "throwaway post," if you like, but I meant to mention this the other day. Just in case you hadn't heard, there's a new DC movie coming out for 2011, and it's Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds.

I bring this up for a few reasons. Once upon a time, if you had asked me who my favorite superhero in the world was, I would have said Green Lantern. Of course, I would have been around age 8 or 9 at the time, and still enjoyed the Super Friends cartoon (I never collected Green Lantern comics, though I've read one or two over the years). Why did I like the guy? Because the guy had power that was limited pretty much only by his imagination...and personally, I always had a lot of imagination.

[yeah, yeah...it was also limited by the color yellow, but I've never been a big fan of yellow anyway]

I mean, Green Lantern's ring is a total throwback to the story of Aladdin and the magic lamp. Aladdin also had a ring with a djinn in it, but the genie of the lamp was even MORE powerful...and the Green Lantern story combines the two into one, powerful, wish fulfillment device.

For a dude in his 30s who doesn't get enough sleep, drinks too much, and doesn't get much exercise, this is my kind of superpower. I mean, you don't have to work out or drink any kind of crazy potion, or suffer mutations/side-effects. Just put on a magic ring and go to work. The only hero that's more appealing is the invincible Iron Man...and that's only 'cause he's rich, too.

[actually, truth be told, I could really stand an injection of that Captain America "super soldier serum." But my wife doesn't like guys built like linebackers]

Anyway, Ryan Reynolds. Once upon a time I would have told you "I hate this guy." But that's ridiculous. He's a professional actor. If you are a professional actor, you take the roles you can get and you sell yourself heart & soul...that's your job. It's not his fault that he's been in a lot of films that really irritated the hell out of me or that he was asked to play or portray crap characters or characters in a crap fashion. I've seen other actors on the screen who were far less believable or outright terrible...I know nothing about the guy personally so I honestly have no ground to be judgmental.

That being said, I have historically winced whenever I saw the guy. While Green Lantern was long ago replaced in my heart by other "favorite" superheroes, I was at first slightly irritated to see Mr. Reynolds was cast in the role of this archetypal hero.

But you know what? I saw the trailer (on YouTube or IMDB or somewhere...my wife showed me) and the guy looks like Hal Jordan. I mean, he's a helluva' lot more believable as Jordan than as, say, Deadpool (who I hate anyway, just by the by).

It looks like it might be a pretty good film.

And that's all I wanted to say. I will NOT get sidetracked on superhero RPGs anytime soon, but I'll probably see Green Lantern eventually. Though I'll definitely watch Machete first.
: )

6 comments:

  1. I'm looking forward to this one. I wasn't sure about Mr. Reynolds as a choice for the role either, but I'm willing to give it a try. To be honest, I love superheroes, but I don't usually go see the movies (I tend to wait until they come out on DVD and I may or may not go see them). I think I might actually have to see this one on the big screen though.

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  2. I don't know, I like Reynolds well enough -- he was one of the only good things in the third Blade film -- but he seems more Green Arrow than Green Lantern to me. Jon Hamm from Mad Men seems like a better fit for Hal Jordan, but I'm no expert.

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  3. You might like this Youtube vid then, dude:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xcMxnNzp2I

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  4. Yeah, I'm hot and cold on Reynolds too.

    And let me say a big "amen" to hatred for Deadpool. So he's some witty guy that makes sarcastic comments while he kills people. Big deal. Spider-man is witty and sarcastic, too, but he's better at it and he doesn't need to kill anybody. And a lot of the time Spider-man is self-depricating, and not just some vain a-hole. Ok, I know I'm talking passionately about fictional characters, so I'll stop now.

    And I second your thought on seeing Machete first! I need to see that one too!

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  5. I always thought John C. McGinley was Hal Jordan's real-life doppelganger.

    He's a little old for the part now, though.

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  6. I saw the preview for this, just the other day. I'll go see it or watch it at home on the big screen. Hope it turns out to be a fun movie.

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