As everyone probably knows by now, the first public footage from the eagerly awaited Green Lantern movie starring Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively has surfaced as a teaser for a full reveal on Tuesday’s Entertainment Tonight. The reaction to this footage has been…mixed. In truth, it does look more like some kind of goofy romantic comedy than the start of a galaxy-spanning space fantasy franchise, but you know, chicks love Ryan Reynolds, and if they can be persuaded to see it that’s awesome, because every fanboy is going to see it anyway, even if it’s just to complain. Win win.

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Also, as Kyle Baker pointed out in the above comment thread:

The thing about effects-heavy films is that the best WOW shots are the ones which take the longest to execute. Usually these kinds of films are still being edited days before release. I’ve worked on movies and seen the rough cuts of works in progress, and there’s really no way to tell what’s going to happen. I remember watching an early version of Scooby-Doo, and often the dog was just a storyboard drawing. I did a little bit of work with DC for this GL movie, and I have seen some breathtaking shots of alien worlds, cool spaceships and alien monsters. But that stuff’s going to take months to render and edit.

The Green Lantern movie hits theaters June 17, 2011.

1 COMMENT

  1. I loved the GL when I was a kid,, In blackest day, let no evil, blah blah blah, beware my power , GL’s light.

  2. As usual leave it to the internet fanboys to do alot of reaching on a cut up 30 second piece from a fluff entertainment show. Trust me i’m as big a diehard GL fan as they come but anyone trying to garner anything from a butchered ET teaser needs to fall back.

    At least wait until the full trailer is released before jumping to conclusions, me I saw alot that I like and a couple of things that I didn’t. I’m looking forward to seeing a full trailer on Tuesday and not just some cut up clips which go so fast you can’t even take in what you’re seeing.

  3. My bigger problem is that I can’t stand Ryan Reynolds – it’s a real downer when he’s playing a character in a film I’d otherwise like to see.

  4. It looked a bit rough in spots, but like Kyle said, that’s to be expected for a CGI-heavy film like this one. I don’t mind the levity or rom-com vibe at all, since that kind of this works to balance out all of the solemn fanboy catnip like the ring oath and some of the more far-out stuff the “civilians” are going to drift from.

  5. Well, one thing that seems to be overlooked in many of the comments is that the ET blurb is most likely heavily-edited footage from the forthcoming Green Lantern trailer that’s preceding the Harry Potter movie at cineplex screenings this weekend. I kind of doubt that WB would allow ET to show off rough cuts from one of their most anticipated effects-heavy pictures.

  6. EJ… “As usual leave it to the internet fanboys to do alot of reaching on a cut up 30 second piece from a fluff entertainment show.”

    There’s nothing to ‘reach’ about. The 30 second piece had enough in it to make a heck of a lot of people want to see it:

    Ryan in his tighty whiteys.

    The other 29 seconds of the clip was pretty neat too.

  7. I have to admit, I have read that (space cop) description many times, and STILL have never seen a single element that would want to make me read a Green Lantern story — except for the old GL/GA O’Neill/Adams stuff which was hardly typical.

    Now Ryan Reynolds in his tighty whities — I am there! Like I said, very clever marketing from WB.

  8. The “space cop” description fits, mainly because of the uniforms and the sector system.

    I read some issues of GLC, but I’ve never been interested in Green Lantern, because the ring concept is pretty limited. I’d guess that the success of the ring effects will make or break the movie.

    SRS

  9. Yeah, a “space cops” was the way Julie Schwartz originally spun it, but the GL Corps’ militaristic structure, uber-diverse membership, and highly idealistic mission always felt more like an “Intergalactic Foreign Legion” to me than a police force.

    I can’t speak for every GL fan, but I’ve always loved the “crazy quilt of alien races uniting in a single purpose” theme, not unlike the ethos of Star Trek and other utopian fantasies of the Space Age era. Granted…the idea of ring-slinging grasshoppers and solemn oaths may not be for everyone, but for those of us who like their sci-fi set to volume 11 with a side of whimsey (i.e. the recent addition of rainbow-colored ring-slingers), it’s simply irresistible.

  10. While I don’t have too much of an opinion on this yet, I feel the need to point out that when the first Iron Man trailer came out, the internet was very unhappy with how bad the CGI looked. Things changed by the time the movie came out, obviously.

  11. There’s almost always a difference between the core concept of a movie and the various elements of its execution that make different audiences want to see that movie. It’s not a contest.

  12. “If Ryan Reynolds goes ‘blah blah blah’ during the oath, I’ll see it twice.”

    Tom Spurgeon, I love you. (Thanks for the hearty laugh.)