In Brightest Day...

I hurt the feelings of my friends' seven-year-old son. Not intentionally, of course, but I answered a question blithely that perhaps would have been better served with a moment's reflection. Asked who is the best superhero, I admitted my favorite is Green Lantern. Thinking it would for sure be Spider Man, the little guy's spirits were crushed to learn that I don't put the friendly neighborhood webslinger at the top of the list. It's not like I hate Spidey, I told him, trying to soften the blow, but it was too late. I may have lost a friend.

The cover image above (drawn by Joe Staton) coincides with my childhood discovery of Green Lantern. It features the hero's oath, recited when he has to recharge his power ring every twenty-four hours. Ryan Reynolds, starring in next summer's film adaptation, spoke the oath this weekend at the San Diego Comic Con in response to a kid in the audience:

Goosebumps? I just about hit the roof with a throaty yowp.

Now, let's be reasonable. The movie could be utter crap. For all we know, it will be another special effects disaster like most superhero movies are these days. As a friend recently commented, they look cheaply made. Green Lantern could fall on this very same path oh so very easily, and chances are good that it will. You know what? It doesn't matter one bit. We can always go back to the source material. For all the haters against, say, the Lord of the Rings films, the only thing you have to do is point at the bookshelf: we'll always have the original.

Nevertheless, I'm a die-hard optimist. I've got huge hopes for this movie, that it will be high adventure along the lines of Raiders of the Lost Ark, with a big dose of space opera to honor Green Lantern's science-fiction roots. His oath was penned by none other than Alfred Bester himself, one of the genre's finest writers. From such beginnings Green Lantern has awesome potential. When you consider that it's only in the last several years that the comic itself has become readable -for decades the Green Lantern comic was pure dreck- this could be the moment when our hero achieves his zenith.

Speechless Tuesday

Playing Dress Up

This little guy, found at a fellow blogger's fun site, is an inspiration for dress up. Whilst cruising for more -I still have nothing more than a tshirt for my costume -I came across some notables.

He doesn't look very worried, does he?

Beagles can be philosophic about everything.

Imagine what their kids look like.

Green Lantern Skylarking Part One

Now that we know Ryan Reynolds is playing Green Lantern, my brain has been racing with story ideas. Having the lead cast makes the upcoming movie tangible enough that I can run scenarios with an actor in mind, patching in past performances (of which I've only seen Smokin Aces and Adventureland) to set the tone for how he will play the character. At the foremost is chemistry with his leading lady.

Hal Jordan is a test pilot who fits the stereotype, living recklessly and carousing with any female in reach. When he meets Carol Ferris, daughter of his boss, everything stops. There's no other for Hal. It stands to reason that an actor of sufficient caliber is needed to stop Ryan Reynolds in his tracks; they need chemistry that brings to mind classic pairings as Hepburn and Grant, Hudson and Day, Shepherd and Willis.

Who better, I say, than Amy Adams? She's proven herself an incredible actress, charismatic and sexy, with blue eyes that make any man in the room melt in surrender. Hal Jordan would crumble under her gaze! It works for more than sex appeal. We're not looking for another Mr and Mrs Smith.

They would be dynamite for physical appeal as well as their smarts. Together they've got charisma to spare, and it's not hard to imagine the blast they could have with clever banter. Think Downey Jr and Paltrow in Iron Man. Smart, sexy and fun.

If it were up to me, the decision would already be made!

Coming up: What if I wrote the GL screenplay, how would I handle it?

Green Lantern Casting News

The interwebs have been athrum all weekend over the Green Lantern casting news: the versatile and charming Ryan Reynolds has been selected to play the lead part. Though he wasn't my first choice -and you can believe that I gave it some thought- I've enjoyed him as an actor across a wide range of genres and look forward to his "take" on the character. Helmed by competent action director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, The Legend of Zorro), of real concern is the script.I do not envy the screenwriters their task, to thrill audiences with the adventures of a space-faring, magic ring-wielding test pilot. The premise is simple: Hal Jordan is selected to replace an alien police officer whose weapon is a ring powered by the user's willpower. What the writers do with it is up to the demands of compelling narrative: What personal struggle will Hal face in accepting the ring? How will it impact his life on Earth, as he becomes part of the intergalactic Green Lantern Corps? (Stinkers will call this a spoiler, but doesn't the title give away his choice? Just saying.) How will they handle the tension between Hal and his mentor, Sinestro? All these questions and more are racing through my brain, and I find myself hoping that like prior successful superhero films (Superman: The Movie, Spider Man 2), a multiplicity of scripts will be produced and churned together; this seems to work best for producing quality stories in Hollywood. I'm anticipating the results when they hit screens next Summer.

Green Lantern film update

Soundtrack provided by Men at Work. Read about it here.

Will GL exhibit a newfound love of vegemite? It's what all the space cops with power rings are eating these days.