Just as the Flea reported on news that the upcoming Fantastic Four could be (intended as) a laugh riot, comes further word (I may have to stop reading his site if he continues this) of the Dreaded Fate of Green Lantern:
Jack Black has closed his deal. He will be playing Green Lantern in a film that has been described as a “zany comedy version a la THE MASK.” All rights to the DC comic have been worked out as well, so you can expect to start hearing more about this project in the months ahead.
Oh, joy. The mind reels.
As I understand it, DC Comics tried desperately to dodge this bullet, but ultimately, they don’t have the right to veto something if Warner Bros. really wants to make it happen. This is the problem with the way DC’s deal with their corporate overlords is structured. Their hands are tied. As much as they are aware of the problem with this approach to the material, they just have to sit back and watch it happen along with fans of the character and the rich mythology that has been established over the long run of the various GREEN LANTERN titles.
The various branches of WB are infamous (at least back to the B5 days) for doing the oddest thing with each others’ material.
I like Jack Black. I really do. I’m dying to see what he does in KING KONG because I trust the director and the rest of the creative team, and I have a feeling they’ll find the right way to harness his energy. But this GREEN LANTERN gives me gas right away.
A-yup.
To be fair, Ain’t It Cool News isn’t almost the most reliable of sources (or, rather, their sources aren’t). And I can see — a la The Mask or any number of Will Smith movies how you add comedic zaniness to some serious dramatic stuff.
On the other hand, there’s making Batman campy as a counter-example. Mildly successful in the short run, perniciously influential in the long run.
Green Lantern — in whatever iteration — is about a human faced with the responsibility of awesome power, whether that responsibility is via unexpected recruitment into an interstellar police force (Hal Jordan) or just sort of stumbled through (Kyle Raynor). Funny moments possible? Sure. But — as with the FF — making the funny moments what the movie’s about?
Next up: The Bridges of Madison County as screwball comedy, and The Bourne Supremacy as a camp romp road picture.
I’m looking forward to your review of “I, Robot”. I have no itentions of seeing it, as I’m not willing to pay $9.00/ticket to see a movie that I know is not faithful to the alleged source material.
Don’t hold your breath. Randy says it’s a good film. I like Will Smith and Alan Tudyk, but I’d rather have seen the film if they’d just called it “Robots Attack!”, not had a “Susan Calvin” character, and simply gave an acknowledgement to Asimov for the 3 Laws.
Mebbe when it’s out on DVD.
I’m still hoping for good thing from “Thunderbirds”!
Rey liked I,R, too.
Every time I see a commercial for Thunderbirds, it looks worse and worse. I hope it’s a matter of a bad ad campaign, since I will almost certainly go see it in the theater …
The Jack Black rumors seem to be false.
I don’t think they should make fun of Green Lantern with a film like this, because once it’s done nobody will look at the character seriously anymore and the chance of making an eye candy science fiction movie with tons of special effects and lots of action may be lost forever. Green Lantern is a superhero that exists since 1940 and deserves a decent movie as Spiderman or X-Men.
Well, GL as we know him is more like an early-60s creation (as opposed to the “Golden Age” GL — who is still around, but isn’t the same fellow by any means).
That said, a cool hi-sfx drama is certainly possible with GL, and I would hope he gets one.