Deadpool (But Mostly Green Lantern) Movie Review
Just for fun. So I saw Deapool and had to eat my own words. I posted a BIG RANT about why Deadpool should be humour first, and R rated sex and violence second. Turns out I have literally not got a bad word to say about it.
The sex and violence aren't the driving force of the film, Deadpool is. They don't distract from the character at all, they simply sell the depressing world he hails from, and really well might I add. The plot is almost none existent, but it doesn't need one, because all you want to see is Deadpool motor mouthing one liners, and making you laugh. The story telling is unfortunately an origin story, yet Wade Wilson has the same humour before and after becoming Deadpool so it's forgiven. The story jumps back and forth between origin and modern day so you get evenly distributed Deadpool shenanigans. Everything they've done, they've done for a reason. Plus just think of the sequel, no origin, just pure Deadpool insanity. Here's hoping for more X-men to come along, especially Cable.
It just works. I'm not sure why they chose the R rated direction still, and I'm positive that James Gunn has guessed right that Hollywood execs will misunderstand why Deadpool is a success. Instead of thinking it's down to a true and enjoyable representation, they will almost definitely just start churning out R rated films that don't need to be R rated because they think thats why people liked it.
I'm off to see Deadpool again tonight. With my Girlfriend again (who also loved it the first time) and her Dad, who will be seeing it for the first time. The first time we saw it, I was sat next to two middle aged, prudish looking women and what I assume where their children. They were about 10-12 years old and where entirely too young for the films content. To my surprise though the two middle aged women were laughing harder and louder than me, with only the occasional tutting at the cruder moments. I guess this film really was comedy first.
I firmly believe that foremost, comics should be fun. Sure there are really heady, serious books. They are objectively good. That's not my favourite thing about comics. It's the bonkers plots and the limitless budget and the huge concepts and worlds they are selling that do it for me.
Deadpool is awesome: Go see it!
So basically I got all amped up for a big hate filled rant and couldn't. So a few nights after seeing Deadpool, I hate-fucked my eyeballs and brain by watching DC's Green Lantern movie. So here's your hate filled review of a Ryan Reynolds film:
Green Lantern Review
The film starts with the most over the top concepts of the Lantern corps told one after the other. A crash course in it's history that when uttered aloud and in one go, sounds absolutely laughable when put so bluntly. You are introduced to aliens you don't know and don't care for, and are expected to care when they die seconds after their introduction.
The CGI suits on every character are beyond a joke. If you want to make an alien world seem believable and real, you could at least make them look real. I know I aren't fond of Man of Steel or it's depiction of Krypton but at least they were wearing armour/ clothes and not some ping pong ball covered motion capture suits. It's a little thing that could have sold that otherworldliness.
The Daddy troubles flash back that makes Reynolds character supposedly relatable is almost laughable. You'd expect it in a parody film like Hot Shots not in a film that's trying to make me feel for and root for it's lead character.
What a character he is though! Not in a good way. We get introduced to him as he leaves a one night stand in his bed and rushes off late to work to fly with someone else he's slept with. He comes off as a sleazy James Bond. The only people who would want to be him are college frat boys. He's a sexist and unlikeable portrayal.
There are some bizarre continuity moments too. You can let small moments and continuity errors go but when he gets flown by a ball of green light to the aliens crash site it goes from day to night instantly. How long was he flying for? He was going pretty fast as it was. Is this purely for effect and mood lighting and we are expected not to notice like in X-men 3 The Last Stand? Also an objectively bad movie by the way. When he gets there his first thought when he meets a fucking alien is to wise crack. Not in a cool I do this to distract myself from danger and distance myself from people, like Tony Stark in Iron Man. He just comes off as a giant tosspot. He then gets his friend out there so they can make more jokes together before the government turns up just in time for a little car chase. Perfect timing right? He's been sat there for hours and even dug a sodding grave with his bare hands.
Speaking of the government, Amanda Waller, notoriously s larger woman of colour in the comics is now a slim woman of colour. Was it too controversial for her to be both? She's meeting Hector Hammond, a relatable chess nerd, who has genuine everyday father issues, not over the top theatrical well timed flash back explosion ones like Reynolds. Despite most of it's target audience being more like Hammond he is villainised by the movie and the rest of it's characters simply because the script demanded it. An unlikeable lead and a likeable villain. Somethings off here?! Hector has a genuine human reaction to seeing an alien and becomes infected, evil and his ugliness is over emphasised and he becomes even more of a nerd parody. Hammond even comes off quite humble and gracious when declining his fathers offer even after becoming a freak show of a villain.
The Green Lantern oath sounds dumb onscreen and could have been altered to be made more accepting to an audience getting introduced to this relatively unknown character. Combine this with the info dump at the beginning and you've practical got your audience mentally shut down.
A good thing about the film is Hal and Carol have good chemistry on screen and you'd hope he would too seen as the pair dated in real life around this time too. The wise cracking winds down a notch and the too seem to connect believably. Even if their entire connection was started off again by Hal's friend literally spelling out, isn't the hero supposed to get the girl? This film is so on the nose at times, I was worried I would bruise there.
Another great scene is when Carol recognises Hal with his mask on. Dialogue along the lines of, you think because I can't see your cheekbones, I wouldn't recognise you?! I've seen you naked! Which I genuinely laughed at. It's almost a foreshadowing of Deadpool's breaking of the fourth wall being hilarious.
The scenes on Oa are surprisingly enjoyable. I would have rather have seen this story from their perspective and have had Hal as an afterthought. The CGI costumes work on the entirely CGI aliens yet the more humanoid ones could have done with being actual people rather than the bizarre comic book physiology to their abs and muscles.
Sinistro seems to be a dick simply because he has a British accent and has no believable plot driving thoughts other than I'm doing it because the script demanded it. He's a villain because he's well spoken. He's villainised the same way Hector is, because he's a neEeEeErd! There is some truly awful dialogue with Killowog as an awful drill sergeant parody. I'd still rather stay in this brightly coloured, vibrant, fun planet than go back to Earth, simply because Hal has to quit and then grow as a person by becoming human. There's an entire planet of different alien species that's got more human emotion than he does.
We are treated to Parralax, a giant space octopus chasing toward Earth and we are supposed to care about a villain that is set up for characters, that aren't even our main characters or a driving force of the plot. Simply because the script says we should.
Hal chooses not to give up. Not because he's grown as a person, more because he wants to get with Carol again. He flies all the way to Oa to ask them if he can protect Earth. Instead of just protecting Earth because fuck logic, he needs to rub in how good he is to the other Lanterns and get praise.
He beats the bad guy by simply throwing him into the sun. A surprisingly accurate and good ending in my opinion. Imagine if Superman in Man of Steel had simply picked Zod up and flown him into space rather than through building after building racking up property damage until he snapped his neck like a fucking murderer. Throwing the bad guy into the sun is a pretty class move for a comics character.
We get an end credit scene where Sinestro simply puts on the evil yellow ring because, sequel. He's made a turn around and stopped being a dick throughout the film then outright just does the opposite in the credits.
Final Thoughts
What did I like? The odd joke that didn't sound jock-y or fall flat. The light hearted, enjoyable nature of it all. The bright amazing universe of creatures on Oa. The almost believable romance. The enjoyment factor.
What didn't I like? The nice bad guy and the jerk good guy. The throw you in at the deep end, monologuing about the Lanterns origin the second the film starts rolling. This is the most average action movie I've ever witnessed.
Honestly, it's space police with power rings, how fucking hard is it to do that?! Most movies would kill for a premise like that! How did it wind up this unlikeable?
Why did I just re-watch it?
Once upon a time this was going to be the start of a DC Justice League shared universe, and I'm kind of ashamed to say, I'd rather see this jerk of a character bounce of brightly coloured action hero versions of the League rather than the monochrome toned down, over the top action of Man of Steel and Batman Vs. Superman. Simply because I imagine they'd be fun, varied and witty. Rather than everyone competing for grunting, grey scale, baddass-ery and basically being the same character in different shells.
For me DC has a history of great characters being given bad portrayals in amazing worlds, and settings. Superman Returns was slow, and dull but had the brilliant art deco stylised world to live in. As a result to it being to boring we get Man of Steel that's all action at the loss of the character again. Dark Knight while being a solid and enjoyable movie, where every second counted script wise, wasn't about a worlds greatest detective. Other than the bullet getting pieced back together he mostly just barked "where is she/he" at people to figure things out. That's strange detective work. The Dark Knight did so well that Hollywood misunderstood it's success as to being dark and gritty, not because it was tightly scripted in a coherent world. We wound up with just as dark Superman in Man of Steel and I'm still wondering how the good cop/ bad cop, noir/ boy scout dynamic will work when both characters are equal.
Like Deadpool's irreverence, Batman's darkness is not a primer that can simply be slapped onto any character in a super suit. It seems to be that the studios think the characters need to either be like Batman or that they should simply just stay in the Batman reboot business for good. It won't be long until we get flooded with R rated Super heroes or, comedy superheroes the same way that Warner Bros and Snyder believe that everything has to be similarly dark.
While each DC attempt at a movie universe always falls flat to me I see why each time they come back completely different in feel and genre. They aren't afraid to try different things. It's a good thing. Marvel seems stuck in their ways. They've found what works for them and vary it mildly in genre between films, but at their heart I can see why, if it wasn't your thing, that you would easily tire of it. I don't understand why people feel like Marvel is dumbed down because of it's coherent world building, and will simply put that down to jealousness, of a 12 soon to be 14 strong movie universe to a 1 soon to be 3 movie universe. I am glad that Justice League Part 1 has finally been green lit to start shooting, as it's been a long way coming no matter how it finally turns out on screen, I'll just be glad to go buy a ticket.
Recommendations
If you want a really good and quite compelling character and story about Green Lantern please go watch Green Lantern First Flight animated movie. There's a reason why Marvel is currently owning the cinema, while DC is knocking it out of the park with it's TV and Animated divisions. It's that good.
The sex and violence aren't the driving force of the film, Deadpool is. They don't distract from the character at all, they simply sell the depressing world he hails from, and really well might I add. The plot is almost none existent, but it doesn't need one, because all you want to see is Deadpool motor mouthing one liners, and making you laugh. The story telling is unfortunately an origin story, yet Wade Wilson has the same humour before and after becoming Deadpool so it's forgiven. The story jumps back and forth between origin and modern day so you get evenly distributed Deadpool shenanigans. Everything they've done, they've done for a reason. Plus just think of the sequel, no origin, just pure Deadpool insanity. Here's hoping for more X-men to come along, especially Cable.
It just works. I'm not sure why they chose the R rated direction still, and I'm positive that James Gunn has guessed right that Hollywood execs will misunderstand why Deadpool is a success. Instead of thinking it's down to a true and enjoyable representation, they will almost definitely just start churning out R rated films that don't need to be R rated because they think thats why people liked it.
I'm off to see Deadpool again tonight. With my Girlfriend again (who also loved it the first time) and her Dad, who will be seeing it for the first time. The first time we saw it, I was sat next to two middle aged, prudish looking women and what I assume where their children. They were about 10-12 years old and where entirely too young for the films content. To my surprise though the two middle aged women were laughing harder and louder than me, with only the occasional tutting at the cruder moments. I guess this film really was comedy first.
I firmly believe that foremost, comics should be fun. Sure there are really heady, serious books. They are objectively good. That's not my favourite thing about comics. It's the bonkers plots and the limitless budget and the huge concepts and worlds they are selling that do it for me.
Deadpool is awesome: Go see it!
 |
| Deadpool is great and Lantern is awful, and rightfully poked fun at in Deadpool! |
So basically I got all amped up for a big hate filled rant and couldn't. So a few nights after seeing Deadpool, I hate-fucked my eyeballs and brain by watching DC's Green Lantern movie. So here's your hate filled review of a Ryan Reynolds film:
Green Lantern Review
The film starts with the most over the top concepts of the Lantern corps told one after the other. A crash course in it's history that when uttered aloud and in one go, sounds absolutely laughable when put so bluntly. You are introduced to aliens you don't know and don't care for, and are expected to care when they die seconds after their introduction.
The CGI suits on every character are beyond a joke. If you want to make an alien world seem believable and real, you could at least make them look real. I know I aren't fond of Man of Steel or it's depiction of Krypton but at least they were wearing armour/ clothes and not some ping pong ball covered motion capture suits. It's a little thing that could have sold that otherworldliness.
The Daddy troubles flash back that makes Reynolds character supposedly relatable is almost laughable. You'd expect it in a parody film like Hot Shots not in a film that's trying to make me feel for and root for it's lead character.
What a character he is though! Not in a good way. We get introduced to him as he leaves a one night stand in his bed and rushes off late to work to fly with someone else he's slept with. He comes off as a sleazy James Bond. The only people who would want to be him are college frat boys. He's a sexist and unlikeable portrayal.
There are some bizarre continuity moments too. You can let small moments and continuity errors go but when he gets flown by a ball of green light to the aliens crash site it goes from day to night instantly. How long was he flying for? He was going pretty fast as it was. Is this purely for effect and mood lighting and we are expected not to notice like in X-men 3 The Last Stand? Also an objectively bad movie by the way. When he gets there his first thought when he meets a fucking alien is to wise crack. Not in a cool I do this to distract myself from danger and distance myself from people, like Tony Stark in Iron Man. He just comes off as a giant tosspot. He then gets his friend out there so they can make more jokes together before the government turns up just in time for a little car chase. Perfect timing right? He's been sat there for hours and even dug a sodding grave with his bare hands.
Speaking of the government, Amanda Waller, notoriously s larger woman of colour in the comics is now a slim woman of colour. Was it too controversial for her to be both? She's meeting Hector Hammond, a relatable chess nerd, who has genuine everyday father issues, not over the top theatrical well timed flash back explosion ones like Reynolds. Despite most of it's target audience being more like Hammond he is villainised by the movie and the rest of it's characters simply because the script demanded it. An unlikeable lead and a likeable villain. Somethings off here?! Hector has a genuine human reaction to seeing an alien and becomes infected, evil and his ugliness is over emphasised and he becomes even more of a nerd parody. Hammond even comes off quite humble and gracious when declining his fathers offer even after becoming a freak show of a villain.
The Green Lantern oath sounds dumb onscreen and could have been altered to be made more accepting to an audience getting introduced to this relatively unknown character. Combine this with the info dump at the beginning and you've practical got your audience mentally shut down.
A good thing about the film is Hal and Carol have good chemistry on screen and you'd hope he would too seen as the pair dated in real life around this time too. The wise cracking winds down a notch and the too seem to connect believably. Even if their entire connection was started off again by Hal's friend literally spelling out, isn't the hero supposed to get the girl? This film is so on the nose at times, I was worried I would bruise there.
 |
| An enjoyable, believable coupling, if for the wrong reasons. |
Another great scene is when Carol recognises Hal with his mask on. Dialogue along the lines of, you think because I can't see your cheekbones, I wouldn't recognise you?! I've seen you naked! Which I genuinely laughed at. It's almost a foreshadowing of Deadpool's breaking of the fourth wall being hilarious.
 |
| I would gladly watch an all Oa Lantern movie. No Earth necessary! |
The scenes on Oa are surprisingly enjoyable. I would have rather have seen this story from their perspective and have had Hal as an afterthought. The CGI costumes work on the entirely CGI aliens yet the more humanoid ones could have done with being actual people rather than the bizarre comic book physiology to their abs and muscles.
Sinistro seems to be a dick simply because he has a British accent and has no believable plot driving thoughts other than I'm doing it because the script demanded it. He's a villain because he's well spoken. He's villainised the same way Hector is, because he's a neEeEeErd! There is some truly awful dialogue with Killowog as an awful drill sergeant parody. I'd still rather stay in this brightly coloured, vibrant, fun planet than go back to Earth, simply because Hal has to quit and then grow as a person by becoming human. There's an entire planet of different alien species that's got more human emotion than he does.
 |
| Fun Fact: did you know all posh sounding people are evil? |
We are treated to Parralax, a giant space octopus chasing toward Earth and we are supposed to care about a villain that is set up for characters, that aren't even our main characters or a driving force of the plot. Simply because the script says we should.
Hal chooses not to give up. Not because he's grown as a person, more because he wants to get with Carol again. He flies all the way to Oa to ask them if he can protect Earth. Instead of just protecting Earth because fuck logic, he needs to rub in how good he is to the other Lanterns and get praise.
He beats the bad guy by simply throwing him into the sun. A surprisingly accurate and good ending in my opinion. Imagine if Superman in Man of Steel had simply picked Zod up and flown him into space rather than through building after building racking up property damage until he snapped his neck like a fucking murderer. Throwing the bad guy into the sun is a pretty class move for a comics character.
We get an end credit scene where Sinestro simply puts on the evil yellow ring because, sequel. He's made a turn around and stopped being a dick throughout the film then outright just does the opposite in the credits.
 |
| Bizarre choice of CGI muscle/ ab suits plastered over whatever they were actually wearing. |
Final Thoughts
What did I like? The odd joke that didn't sound jock-y or fall flat. The light hearted, enjoyable nature of it all. The bright amazing universe of creatures on Oa. The almost believable romance. The enjoyment factor.
What didn't I like? The nice bad guy and the jerk good guy. The throw you in at the deep end, monologuing about the Lanterns origin the second the film starts rolling. This is the most average action movie I've ever witnessed.
Honestly, it's space police with power rings, how fucking hard is it to do that?! Most movies would kill for a premise like that! How did it wind up this unlikeable?
Why did I just re-watch it?
Once upon a time this was going to be the start of a DC Justice League shared universe, and I'm kind of ashamed to say, I'd rather see this jerk of a character bounce of brightly coloured action hero versions of the League rather than the monochrome toned down, over the top action of Man of Steel and Batman Vs. Superman. Simply because I imagine they'd be fun, varied and witty. Rather than everyone competing for grunting, grey scale, baddass-ery and basically being the same character in different shells.
For me DC has a history of great characters being given bad portrayals in amazing worlds, and settings. Superman Returns was slow, and dull but had the brilliant art deco stylised world to live in. As a result to it being to boring we get Man of Steel that's all action at the loss of the character again. Dark Knight while being a solid and enjoyable movie, where every second counted script wise, wasn't about a worlds greatest detective. Other than the bullet getting pieced back together he mostly just barked "where is she/he" at people to figure things out. That's strange detective work. The Dark Knight did so well that Hollywood misunderstood it's success as to being dark and gritty, not because it was tightly scripted in a coherent world. We wound up with just as dark Superman in Man of Steel and I'm still wondering how the good cop/ bad cop, noir/ boy scout dynamic will work when both characters are equal.
Like Deadpool's irreverence, Batman's darkness is not a primer that can simply be slapped onto any character in a super suit. It seems to be that the studios think the characters need to either be like Batman or that they should simply just stay in the Batman reboot business for good. It won't be long until we get flooded with R rated Super heroes or, comedy superheroes the same way that Warner Bros and Snyder believe that everything has to be similarly dark.
While each DC attempt at a movie universe always falls flat to me I see why each time they come back completely different in feel and genre. They aren't afraid to try different things. It's a good thing. Marvel seems stuck in their ways. They've found what works for them and vary it mildly in genre between films, but at their heart I can see why, if it wasn't your thing, that you would easily tire of it. I don't understand why people feel like Marvel is dumbed down because of it's coherent world building, and will simply put that down to jealousness, of a 12 soon to be 14 strong movie universe to a 1 soon to be 3 movie universe. I am glad that Justice League Part 1 has finally been green lit to start shooting, as it's been a long way coming no matter how it finally turns out on screen, I'll just be glad to go buy a ticket.
 |
| A better origin than this garbage! |
Recommendations
If you want a really good and quite compelling character and story about Green Lantern please go watch Green Lantern First Flight animated movie. There's a reason why Marvel is currently owning the cinema, while DC is knocking it out of the park with it's TV and Animated divisions. It's that good.
Deadpool (But Mostly Green Lantern) Movie Review
Reviewed by Matt
on
05:26:00
Rating:
Reviewed by Matt
on
05:26:00
Rating:
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