Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Plot of Green Lantern Revealed?

Warning: Possible Spoilers

OK, so obviously 4Chan isn't exactly a very credible source, but the description posted by a certain anonymous submitter seems kinda likely. Here's an exact quote from Anonymous No. 12789228:

>Prologue in which Krona creates the yellow power battery and becomes Parallax's host.

>Flashback detailing Martin Jordan's death.


>Abin Sur is attacked by Parallax/Krona, that wishes to make him its new host, but fails, mortally wounding him.


>Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, Hector Hammond and other human characters are introduced.


>Abin Sur crash lands on Earth and asks his ring to find a suitable succesor. The ring chooses Hal.


>Abin passes on the ring and the power battery. Hal recharges for the first time.


>Hal gets into a bar fight. Uses his ring for the first time. Is taken to Oa.


>Abin's body is found by Amanda Waller. Hector is brough in to study it.


>Residual yellow energy left by Parallax in Abin's body infects Hector, giving him telephatic and telekinetic powers and driving him insane.


>Hal meets Sinestro, Kilowog and Tomar-Re in Oa. Goes trough training sessions. Becomes a Green Lantern and returns to Earth.


>Hector is locked up by Waller and his father doesn't care about his condition. Hector gets mad, escapes, attacks his father at Ferris Aircraft and fights the Green Lantern, who becomes the world's first superhero.


>Carol and Tom find out Hal's secret identity. Hector does to.


>Hector attacks Ferris Aircraft to steal Hal's ring and they fight again.


>Parallax arrives, ditches Krona and makes Hector his new host. Sinestro, Kilowog and Tomar-Re arrive to help Hal. They fight Parallax/Hector on Earth.


>Parallax/Hector heads to Oa, where he fights the entire Green Lantern Corps and attempts to make Hal his next host.


So, basically we have a long flash back scene that explains the background of the ring and gives us the set-up for the future conflict with Parallax. The death of Abin Sur and Hal's subsequent inheritance of the the ring. Then a bar fight, which sounds like it will be similar to Peter Parker's fist-a-cuffs with Flash Thompson in 2002'as Spider-man. Then a long Kill Bill-esque training montage. A fight back on earth, then a final fight on Oa.

Sinestro, it seems, is being held back as a villain, probably for the sequel.

If this is actually the plot line, then it sounds like GL is going to be a special effects masterpiece with a relatively simple, paint-by-numbers plot. Don't look for any Nolan-style mind games like we had in The Dark Knight, or any sticky sweet romance B.S. like we had in Raimi's Spider-Man franchise.

It looks like superhero films are finally maturing. We went from the innocent extremes of the childish X-Men to the gritty badlands of Watchmen and TDK. Now it appears film makers have found a Goldilox-ian middle with the upcoming Green Lantern. We have a standard heroes' journey complete with training portion and final showdown with evil, but with actual adults with actual adult problems. I don't know about you, but I can relate to this plot. I don't feel like it's dumbed down or too simplistic. It's just right for a good, summer popcorn move about a guy who can conjure giant, cartoonish fists with his imagination via a mystical ring, and has to save earth/Oa/his love interest/who or whatever, from the evil machinations of Parallax. Sounds like it's got all the makings of a hit.

However, given that many people are not familiar with Green Lantern's back story as they are with, say, Batman's or Spider-Man's, GL risks alienating a new audience with what looks like a complex back story with multiple characters. I can already see some people getting completely lost, wondering who the hell is Parallax mid-way through the film, and at worse tuning out. Then again, neither Avatar or Inception had built-in audiences, and they both did pretty damn well at the box office. I'd guess Green Lantern is on its way to a successful summer of 2011. Now here's hoping that a worthy soundtrack accompanies what will assuredly be hallucinogenic special effects.

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