Why The New Green Lantern Movie Looks So Familiar
The trailer for next summer's Green Lantern movie hit the Internet in the face earlier this week, like a giant green fist. In addition to being yet another movie to feature gratuitous shots of Ryan Reynolds' abs, like , the Green Lantern movie distinguishes itself in another way. For the first time ever, I can't tell if I'm watching a trailer or a combination of clips from every other superhero movie ever shot. Either this is the work of a very clever editor, or there isn't a single original moment in the entire trailer.Has it happened? Have we exhausted the genre? Is it time to stop making superhero movies? Let's take a closer look at the Green Lantern trailer and its similarities to every other superhero movie.
Origin Story (See Iron Man)
Superpowers (See Superman: The Movie)
We see a few seconds of Hal's pre-Lantern life in the trailer. He drives fast cars, he's a stunt pilot doing things that are important, he dreams big and is stunningly pretty, like a woman.He's just ... beautiful.
Then, of course,With Great Power Comes I Can't Believe We're Using This Character Arc Again (See Plenty of Superhero Movies, or Even Superhero Movie Probably)
If trailers are supposed to be foreplay, the makers of the Green Lantern movie are like the giant hand-less babies of sex (which is to say, they are bad at it). This trailer completely blows its load all over the place and leaves nothing to the imagination. You see Hal Jordan's beginnings, you see him getting the ring that gives him power, you see him abandoning the ring, abdicating his duties and finally, you see him donning his costume and accepting his responsibility, emerging as a hero. Because heRecycled Female Lead (See Iron Man 1 and 2)
Because audiences are evidently incapable of appreciating a movie that doesn't have a romantic subplot (even if that movie is about magic cop monsters fighting space crimes), Green Lantern features one of those classic, timeless love stories, like the one found inVillains We've Already Seen (See Iron Man 2, X2)
We don't get a whole lot of information on Green Lantern's villain, Hector Hammond, in the trailer, we just see him walking around looking absurd. According to Wikipedia, Hammond discovers a meteor that grants people heightened intellectual powers. He kidnaps four scientists, exposes them to the meteor and forces them to design brilliant new inventions, which he sells in order to become a rich and famous inventor.RememberSeveral of the letters are different, you see.
Here are some of Green Lantern's enemies from the comics:-A guy whose tattoos come to life and attack people;-A mutated Tiger Shark;-An alien magician;-A shape-shifting alien;-Just a mess of robots;-A giant gorilla;Any one of those things could have been the main villain, but the creators of this movie chose a corrupt manufacturer, like Hammer, or Norman Osbourn.Additional Unapologetic Similarities
I don't make very many trailers for big budget Hollywood blockbusters, (in fact I probably don't make any at all), but my Spider Sense tells me that a good rule of thumb would be to not copy other movies. If you want to stand out and avoid potentially unfavorable comparisons with successful movies, maybe take a look at your trailer before releasing it and make sure it doesn't look like a rip-off of another movie. Now, I don't want to split hairs, or anything, but here's howWhen not thoughtlessly criticizing the film genre he loves so much, Daniel O'Brien is fighting cancer with his face all month long. Here's how you can help him.