JLA Movie Part II- Fixing the Green Lantern.

So this is part 2 of my suggested ways to make a JLA movie worth watching. I have made no secret of my dislike of the Green Lantern movie. It was total crap.  Despite the ways it was probably more true to the comic than Iron Man (Which besides being a box office hit, was a great film.) It spent too much time screwing up some pretty big sacred cows. and Hal came off as a fratboy man-child without any shred pathos or humanity. That being said I have heard people start the chants of REBOOT THIS BADBOY! After all it worked for the Hulk.

But the Hulk was different in many ways. One I don't think people hated Eric Bana as Bruce Banner, or Jennifer Connley as Betty Ross, or Sam Elliot as General "Thunderbolt" Ross. But Ang Lee's attempt to turn what is the closest thing to an American Godzilla story (in short, who want's story HULK SMASH!) into something as gripping, artistic and romantic as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or Life of Pi. generally pissed off American movie goers who wanted the Hulk to be a mindless popcorn movie. Thus not only was Bana cast out, but the whole cast Betty was now Liv Tyler, and her Dad was William Hurt. and the first movie was at best alluded to, and more often flat out ignored. Then as new Hulk Edward Norton and Marvel had a falling out He was recast in the Avengers by Marc Ruffalo. This is one place where DC can do better.

One of the nice things about the Green Lantern is we can oust Reynolds without having to push into the cheap reboot "this never happened!" area.  Let's use the fact that we can follow a different lantern instead, and this time let's do him right. In short I say we introduce John Stewart. No not the Daily Show host/comedian, but the second Green Lantern of Earth. It's simple, start the film with Coast City being the site of a major cataclysm. Hal failed. Other heroes tried to help, but to no avail. Kind of the opposite of the Marvel, end of credits reveal some clue as to the upcoming project Avengers, start the movie with a quick encapsulation done by showing news clips including shots of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman etc, trying to stop the cataclysm (I am thinking a preemptive strike from apocalypse.) Hal has a breakdown, maybe even hinting toward parallax when Oliver Queen, (the Green Arrow) plays the voice of reason, and snaps him out of it (especially better to have Nathan Fillion playing Ollie, IMO) This is when Hal, decides to relinquish the ring and take a sabbatical. The ring then seeks out Stewart coming home from his tour of duty, and about to start civilian life. feeling the loss of his camaraderie and life in the corps. The ring gives him new purpose and a good reason to do a more space based adventure.  and for Stewart here is my choice-

actor Michael Jai White. White may be known by some in his forgettable role as Al Simmons/ Spawn in the film Spawn. But this is a great case of poor direction and a character with little personality. White has some serious chops and can pull of comedy as evidenced by his film Black Dynamite, a comedic homage to the blacksploitation films of the 1970s. where he plays a bad mutha pimp action hero named, ironically enough Black Dynamite. I am a firm believer if you can do comedy, action and drama are easier. Don't believe me, watch Robin Williams in One Hour Photo, and then watch Stallone in Rhinestone, or Deniro in Rocky and Bullwinkle. In short a perfect replacement for Van Wilder there. I think White can lend a gravitas to GL that is sorely needed, and will also make for a more diverse cast for JLA, Sure I prefer Jordan, but Stewart done right severely trumps Jordan done poorly!

any thoughts? love to hear em'