DC Comics, Hot Marvel Heroes, The Green Lantern

Well I love to read comics.  What did you expect?  I only read biographies, philosophies, mystery novels and Coehlo?  Come on people, I am much more regular than that.

I must have told you I grew up with boys, or have you forgotten? Well if I didn't say it yet on this Blog, I remember having said it here. Understanding Men. 

So I pretty much inherited some wealth in terms of mint condition collectibles from the boys.  That would likely explain why I would not have movie adaptations of the likes of the Justice League heroes and the X-Men pass without my little "critique" on casting or story lines.  I will try to forget about Hugh Jackman as Wolverine for a while, because I am too partial to hold any critique on that one. (sigh ...) 

Hugh Jackman

Well each time I hear a DC or Marvel comic hero being cast, my ears twitch and I have my own bets as who is best to do this and that role. Tobey Maguire for instance as "Spiderman" was probably in my, uhmm .. Top 30 40.  Arguably though, he did enough pull in the "ka-ching" area, box office-wise, otherwise, somebody explain the number of sequels to me!  And I would not even dare argue this on the basis of box office sales, internationally.

But with that being said,  I reckon there has been a couple of unsuccessful casting of actors that would play certain heroes and heroines that still leave me squirming in my seat.

Why do I think to this day that after Christopher Reeve, every other actor who played Superman was "lame"?  Look, they did better in choosing Superman's arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor. For instance, Kevin Spacey absolutely rocked that role! I am not sure if you still remember but the 2006 "Superman Returns" had Brandon Routh play the lead role.  Don't give me that open jaw look and ask, Brandon who?  Yeah.  That one. Quite a looker actually.  End of story. I am now inclined to believe there is some truth that Superman and being cast in the movie, is one of Hollywood's urban myth/curse that holds a little tinge of empirical proof.

Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man - I found that priceless.  Even Mickey Rourke as nemesis, ooh lala, that just completely fills up the screen with splattered testosterone!  But Downey has always been one of my  favourites, even back in the days of pre-cocaine, during and every rehab episode and post-rehab.  So I am pretty biased on him too and his talent.

Quite noticeably, well at least in the last decade or so, on top of the incremental fascination of directors and producers, (who I suspect are Gen X-ers that now have disposable income to live out their childhood fantasies), there is a marked obsession on making more comic hero and story adaptations.  And as if we have not had enough of this heresy, comes in The Green Lantern.

There were talks this lead role would have been given to Bradley Cooper (yep, the hot dude in Hangover 1 and 2 albeit I remember him more as the bastard in the movie, "He's Not That Into You") or even Jared Leto, the American musician turned actor who has made a definite impression on me playing character roles in "The Fight Club", "Alexander" and "American Psycho."

My bet, Ryan Reynolds, although I was quietly wishing they would cast Will Smith, landed the role and I personally feel no disappointment.

I generally watch movies for the entertainment value and recreation.  Whilst I do occasionally (fine so I do frequently) enjoy being terrified, or being mind twisted, I like to watch comic adaptations to check out on how advance the CGI has progressed in terms of visual impact and editing; and how good the choice of cast has been decided.  I reckon Reynolds fit that bill as the "Green Lantern" with enough hotness, bravado and "funnies" rolled in a package.  After all, it is the only movie I have seen where the rest of the characters did not buy into that stupid hero "mask" as adequate to conceal one's identity.

I still find it to this date absolutely ridiculous and rather insulting, that Superman will fall for a woman like Lois Lane, who is such an idiot to begin with,  to be unable to tell Clark Kent from Superman.  After all, he just takes off his glasses when he dons his tights.  But duhh ... 

Check out the Green Lantern.  It definitely promises a sequel.