We don’t normaly do straight to DVD fare here at STS (unless it’s a really gnarly gore-fest of course), but until Ryan Reynolds decides to show us his ring there’s a distinct lack of superpowered action on screens at the moment, and DC’s animation department is currently firing them out like a lone baby rocketing away from an exploding planet, so we figured we’d take a look.
And anyway, it’s my blog and I like comic books, so balls to you….
When publishing mega-bitch Sandra Bullock is revealed to be a filthy Canadian, she decides to fox immigration officials by blackmailing nerdy assistant Andrew (Reynolds) into marrying her. This being a rom-com, you don’t have to have seen Green Card to guess what happens next.
According to Variety, Ryan Reynolds has beaten off stiff competition from the likes of Bradley Cooper and… erm… Justin Timberlake to take the title role in the latest DC Comics franchise, Green Lantern.
When you imagine the classic leading man, names like Paul Newman, Cary Grant, or Dirk Bogarde Spring to mind. These guys were intense, clean cut and dependable. Their thrusting chins and fast paced dialogue powering plenty of two fisted detective tales and epics with casts of thousands. If there is a deep down manly essence that sums up classic era Hollywood, then it probably smells like Clark Gable. If you look really closely though, you’ll notice a dissenter in the ranks; Errol Flynn. This borderline Nazi sheep’s bollock-biter (Honestly!-prairie oysters, wiki it!) from Queensland had one crucial advantage over his fellows that eventually gave rise to the phrase ‘In like Flynn’. What could it be? What was John Wayne missing that let our Errol slip between the sheets of a thousand starlets? Answer: The ‘tache.
A little late on this one (Which I’m assuming accounts entirely for it’s disappointing opening weekend), but frankly, it was a bank holiday and I couldn’t be arsed to report on lack lustre budget sequels until now. Anyway, despite his rep for drama, Director Gavin Hood handles this pretty well, shooting lean action that often has a slightly 80s retro feel to it while avoiding the slide into MTV cutting that so often dooms these things. Fights have a raw and visceral feel to them, and while they may make for an exposition-heavy first half, the historical battle sequences manage to feel like they might have actual consequences for the characters-be they physical or mental.
