Genre: Action/Superhero/Sci-Fi
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Writer: APJ
Based on DC Comics characters
Cast: Tom Cruise, John Boyega, Luke Evans, Carrie Coon, Rafi Gavron, Terence Stamp, Cleopatra Coleman, Miranda Otto, Bryan Brown, Valerie Pachner, Vinnie Karetak
Plot: Two members of the the intergalactic police force, the Green Lantern Corps: Hal Jordan (Tom Cruise) and Thaal Sinestro (Luke Evans) are on patrol in Sector 2814, home of Jordan's home planet Earth and the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy [1]. Far off in the distance of space, they see a violent meteor shower hurtling toward a space station. Jordan flies toward the station, but it has already been damaged by one of the meteors. Jordan uses his green power ring to create a protective bubble to seal the station from space. Jordan tells Sinestro that the personnel on-board the station will die if they don't take it back to the safety of Earth. Sinestro admits that he's ever been to Earth. Sinestro tells Jordan that he should handle it alone as the humans of Earth probably wouldn't be keen to welcome aliens. Jordan then notices the Ferris Air logo on the side of the space station. Jordan says he might be a while on this one, and suggests meeting back up with Sinestro on Oa. Sinestro agrees and leaves the area. Jordan carries the station down through Earth's atmosphere and down to the headquarters of Ferris Air on the outskirts of sunny Coast City. Workers on the airstrip are shocked by the arrival of the Ferris Air Deep Space Research Station on the runway. President of Ferris Air, Carol Ferris (Carrie Coon), is notified of the situation. She looks out of her office window in amazement as Jordan safely lowers the station to the ground. The green protective bubble disappears back into Jordan's ring. Jordan makes sure the station's personnel are alright. As Jordan prepares to fly back toward space, he catches a glimpse of Carol watching him from her office window. For a brief moment, the two make eye contact as Jordan slowly disappears into the clouds. [2]
[1] By the time I started toying around with the idea of a Green Lantern Film, the various Green Lanterns were one of the only major DC Comics characters missing from the LRF DC Comics Universe. I'd always considered writing one, but it wasn't until John Malone knocked Superman out of the park with Superman: The Man of Tomorrow that I actually sat down to start figuring things out.
[2] Tom Cruise was my first and only choice for the role of Hal Jordan. I always wanted to include multiple Lanterns somehow, but once I had Cruise in mind is when I had the idea of making him the mentor to another Green Lantern. After his popularity in animated form, John Stewart became the obvious choice of mentee for Jordan.
Meanwhile on Oa, the planet that serves as the home base of the Green Lantern Corps, Tomar-Re (Bryan Brown) is assisting in the training of some new recruits including Katma Tui (Cleopatra Coleman), when a large explosion rocks the planet [3]. Before the planet is even done shaking, thousands of android killing machines known as the Manhunters descend on the planet. The Lanterns work together to try to fight off the Manhunters, but are outnumbered. Green Lanterns begin falling to the Manhunters. With each Lantern death, their power rings fly off their fingers to find a successor. The remaining Lanterns, including Tomar-Re and Katma Tui, lead a group of Manhunters away from Oa and manage to destroy them in open space.
[3] I wish I could take all the credit for coming up with Bryan Brown for the role of Tomar-Re, that distinction would have to go to John Malone. Apparently Cocktail was a movie he watched a lot growing up and he suggested reuniting the two stars of that film, Brown and Cruise, in this one. After Brown was cast, I couldn't picture anyone else as Tomar-Re (even if it was just a motion-capture and voice-over role).
Amon Sur (Rafi Gavron), the son of the legendary Green Lantern Abin Sur, enters the Oa Citadel [4]. The Guardians of the Universe ask him what he wants, and he says that wants revenge for them abandoning his father and allowing his power ring to be wielded by a human like Hal Jordan. The Guardians order him to leave, but he refuses. A group of Manhunters appear behind him and assassinate the Guardians. Amon Sur then breaks into the citadel's forbidden chamber where he finds a star map that will lead to the fabled Yellow Power Battery, which would allow the creation of yellow power rings that would feed off of fear.
[4] I knew people would be expecting someone major like Sinestro as the villain of the film, but that felt too obvious for my liking. Sinestro is a complicated character who requires a lot of set-up and I didn't want to make the entire movie about Sinestro, so I needed another character and Amon Sur fit the bill as someone who would have a persona vendetta of sorts against the GLC, and even Hal Jordan, and I felt he could help set up Sinestro for the future.
Meanwhile on Earth, US Marine John Stewart (John Boyega) is in a firefight against insurgents in Libya. His squad is under heavy fire behind their humvees. Suddenly a grenade lands between Stewart and three other men in his platoon. Knowing there isn't time for them to get away from the explosive device, Stewart dives down on the grenade to save the lives of his fellow soldiers [5]. The grenade goes off, but Stewart finds himself unharmed and surrounded by a green glow. He comments to himself that he should be dead. He then notices a large green ring on his finger. Just as Stewart is able to get onto his feet, the green glow around him whisks Stewart through outer space until he finds himself on Oa. He throws up and faints from the shock of the trip to Oa.
[5] In the comics, John Stewart is an architect, but that always seemed like something of an odd choice to me. Why would an architect be chosen to become an intergalactic police officer? So instead of that, I decided to co-opt the Justice League cartoon's backstory and make Stewart a US Marine. Being a soldier just makes more sense for the character to me.
Carol Ferris watches security footage of Jordan's returning of the deep space research station on a loop. She calls one of her employees, Thomas Kalmaku (Vinnie Karetak), into her office [6]. She pauses the footage and zooms in on the visage of Jordan's masked face. She asks Kalmaku who the man looks like. Kalmaku is confused, until Carol suggests she try to picture the mystery man without the mask. Kalmaku stares at the screen for a beat, before dropping his jaw and saying the guy looks just like Hal Jordan. He comments that Jordan's been declared dead by now, but Carol points out that no body was ever recovered from the crash that everyone thought killed him. Kalmaku thinks it sounds pretty far-fetched that Jordan somehow became a green spaceman, but Carol says that in a world with "Supermen" and "Hawkpeople" anything is possible.
[6] The role of Thomas Kalmaku was a tricky one to cast, and I probably spent more time researching possible choices for that role than I did for any of the others. In the comics, Thomas is Inuit, and I felt it was important to keep that aspect of the character, even if it isn't explored in-depth because other adaptations have always ignored the character's background. The tricky part is that there really are not very many Inuit actors. I had seen Vinnie Karetak in an episode of the TV series "The Terror" and discovered that he actually has a comedy background as well, which seemed perfect for Kalmaku.
When Hal Jordan returns to Oa, he is shocked by the destruction he finds. Countless bodies of deceased members of the Green Lantern Corps line the ground. Jordan finds Tomar-Re and the lone surviving Guardian of the Universe, Ganthet (Terence Stamp), and ask what happened. Ganthet explains that he and the other Guardians created the Manhunters eons ago as a precursor to the Green Lantern Corps to help police the stars. The androids, however, were corrupted by one of the former Guardians and became uncontrollable, resulting in their destruction, or so he thought. Jordan asks if they were just there for revenge. Ganthet tells Tomar-Re and Jordan to follow him. They go down to the destroyed hidden chamber and informs them that the Manhunters stole the only object containing the location of the yellow power battery, which can power a dangerous and more volatile power ring [7]. Hal Jordan realizes that Sinestro is nowhere to be found and asks if either of them have seen him. Tomar-Re shakes his head no. Ganthet tells them that there is good news though: the stolen map doesn't lead directly to the battery, but rather to another map that when combined with the stolen map will reveal the location. Ganthet suggests that one of them go to the planet Zamaron and collect the other map piece to keep it away from the Manhunters and whoever they're working with. Tomar-Re volunteers to go to Zamaron, and asks that Jordan train the latest Green Lantern Corps recruit: another human.
[7] The Manhunters being part of the film really came about because a singular villain just wouldn't make any sense to take on an entire army of Green Lanterns, so the Manhunters felt like a natural choice as their backstory could help with some of the backstory of the GLC while also acting as a formidable enemy that could kill Lanterns without too much trouble.
Sinestro flies to his home planet, Korugar. He meets with his wife, Arin Sur (Miranda Otto), the sister of his former partner Abin Sur [8]. She is relieved that he is alive, saying that she was worried that he was part of the destruction on Oa. He assures her that he was helping Hal Jordan in Sector 2814 and just got back. Sinestro tells his wife that he has some matters to attend to, but that he will see her soon. Sinestro flies to the anti-matter planter Qward where he finds Amon Sur and a group of Manhunters waiting for him. Amon Sur hands over the map, and reminds Sinestro that he promised to destroy the remaining Green Lantern Corps members once he had the yellow power battery. Sinestro takes one look at the map and instantly knows that it is just part of the map.
[8] Casting someone on the rise like Luke Evans as Sinestro was a great score for the film. Generally Sinestro is portrayed as older than Hal Jordan since he mentored him in the past, but at the end of the day Sinestro is a magenta-skinned alien so his age wasn't as important as finding the right performer who could properly handle the deceitful nature of the character.
John Stewart wakes up to find Hal Jordan waiting. Stewart is glad to see another human face, and asks where they are. Jordan explains that Stewart, much like himself, has been chosen by a power ring to join the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic police force that defends the galaxy from threats. Stewart doesn't believe him and insists they must be part of some sort of military experiment. Jordan tells Stewart to get up, and he takes him on a tour of what remains of Oa. Stewart is amazed by all the different life forms that make up the Green Lantern Corps on the planet. Jordan tells Stewart that he isn't sure why they ring chose Stewart, he isn't even why it chose him a decade earlier, but he's been asked to train him so he is going to do just that. Jordan motions to the ring on Stewart's hand, telling him that it can conjure anything he can think of, his mind is the limit. Jordan uses his ring to project a glowing green tornado that flies around Stewart. Jordan tells Stewart to think of something and the ring will create it. Stewart closes his eyes tight. When he opens them, his ring has created a tank. Jordan now says to control the creation. Stewart closes his eyes again, and the tank fires a glowing green projectile. Jordan uses a giant green hand to catch the projectile before it blasts into a building [9].
[9] I can tell you right now - one of the most difficult parts of writing a Green Lantern Corps film ended up being figuring out all the ring constructs. I felt like each character, especially Jordan and Stewart, absolutely needed ring constructs that were unique to their backgrounds as a soldier and pilot respectively. This obviously comes more into play during the climactic battle, but I wanted to set the ground work here.
Tomar-Re and Katma Tui come to the training ground to inform Jordan that they are leaving for Zamaron now. Stewart stares at Katma Tui while the two veteran Lanterns talk. Katma Tui asks Stewart what he was doing when he was chosen. Stewart tells her that he was in the middle of a war. She tells him that he'll fit right in then since they are seemingly at war now. After Tomar-Re and Katma Tui leave, Stewart asks what makes the ring work. Jordan takes him to the Central Power Battery, a giant glowing green orb at the center of Oa that powers all of the power rings of the Green Lantern Corps. Jordan tells Stewart that while the battery will provide power to the ring, it will be Stewart's willpower that truly controls the ring and the power the battery provides to it. Stewart points out Jordan's Green Lantern Corps armor and asks when he gets his. Jordan tells him that he will create it with his ring. Stewart closes his eyes, and GLC armor similar to Jordan's appears on his body, but with no mask covering his eyes. Jordan asks why he didn't make a mask, and Stewart comments that soldiers don't wear masks.
Tomar-Re and Katma Tui arrive on Zamaron and go to see Queen Aga'po (Valerie Pachner). They inform her of the current situation, and she agrees to lead them to the vault where the Zamaron piece of the map is located. However, when they arrive at the vault, Tomar-Re and Katma Tui discover they have been lured into a trap and are locked in the vault. Amon Sur emerges from the shadows and tells them that the only reason he hasn't had them killed is that he wants them to live just long enough to witness the complete destruction of Oa. Tomar-Re tells Amon Sur that his father would be ashamed of him. Amon Sur, in a rage, rants about how the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians of the Universe abandoned his father, left him to die and then allowed his ring to be passed on to a pathetic human. Tomar-Re calmly reminds Sur that the ring chooses the wearer, not the Guardians or anyone else - only the ring can deem someone worthy. Amon Sur claims that his father's ring should have come to him all those years ago instead of to Hal Jordan. Tomar-Re says that means he isn't worthy. Amon Sur tells the Manhunters to kill Tomar-Re.
Hal Jordan finds himself thinking about Carol Ferris since seeing her, and decides to visit Earth [10]. He looks around at the new experimental air-crafts at Ferris Air when he is confronted by Carol, who recognizes Jordan despite his mask and Green Lantern Corps energy armor. Jordan takes his mask away. Carol slaps Jordan. Holding his face, he asks why, and she reminds him that he's been gone for a decade without so much as a goodbye. Jordan explains that he didn't have much of a choice. Carol tells him that she was heartbroken when she thought he was dead, and now she's heartbroken again upon finding out he's been alive all this time. Jordan apologizes to her. He gives Carol a kiss before letting her know that he has to leave again, but that he will be back soon. Jordan's mask comes back and he flies away from Earth.
[10] A lot of actresses were considered for the role of Carol Ferris, as you may have noticed from the film's trivia section on its database page. We needed someone who was believable as a past love of Hal Jordan, someone who appeared somewhat age appropriate, and someone with the toughness to be believable as the CEO of a military contracted aviation company. The age appropriate part proved incredibly tough because of how damn good Tom Cruise looks for his age. The guy is pushing 60, but he looks like he's in his early 40s. Carrie Coon's name was one that was thrown out fairly late in the development process. It was the final role cast right when shooting was scheduled to commence. It came down to the final handful of actresses, but Chris McQuarrie and myself felt that Coon seemed the least intimidated by acting opposite a legend like Cruise, which is really what put her ahead of the others in contention.
Thaal Sinestro arrives at the location of the map, finding that it is a canister floating in space. He blasts the canister open with his power ring, revealing glowing yellow cylinder. Sinestro takes the cylinder back to Qward and stakes it into the ground. The cylinder suddenly begins growing and transforming into a power battery. Amon Sur and some Manhunters arrive on the planet to see the progress. Sinestro informs him that it shouldn't be too long until the battery is operational, then he can give Amon Sur a yellow power ring as promised for his assistance in dismantling the Green Lantern Corps and disposing of the Guardians of the Universe and their hypocrisy [11].
[11] Obviously we are trying to set up the Sinestro Corps for a future film, but I really didn't want to spend half a movie of endless exposition explaining the yellow rings and all that. I think the final product is an efficient way of getting the yellow power into the hands of Sinestro, but having him go up against Hal already would have been a waste so I thought it was best to keep Sinestro behind the scenes of the villainy in this one.
Queen Aga'po goes down to the vault and apologizes to Katma Tui and releases her [12]. Aga'po tells her that she just wanted to do what she thought would best protect her people as she did not want Zamaron to end up cannon fodder for the Manhunters like Oa did. Katma Tui does not accept her apology and chastises her for allowing the death of Tomar-Re. She asks Queen Aga'po if she truly believes that Amon Sur and the Manhunters will spare her planet. Katma Tui then leaves the planet, flying back toward Oa with Tomar-Re's body in tow.
[12] The subplot with Queen Aga'po was a way of splitting up the characters and providing a balance of men and women in the cast. The Green Lantern comics have always done a great job of showing both male and female Lanterns fighting together as equals. I felt that the previous adaptation of the character didn't show this very well, pretty much only focusing on the male side of the GLC and its world. I made a point of making sure there was a strong female presence in the film with Aga'po, Katma Tui and Carol Ferris.
Hal Jordan goes back to Oa where he tells John Stewart that the best way to train him at this point will be to head out on a patrol. Ganthet stops them and expresses worry about Tomar Re's mission on Zamaron. Jordan assures Ganthet that he and Stewart will go an investigate. Jordan and Stewart fly toward Zamaron when they are attacked by a group of Manhunters. Jordan makes a giant fist and punches the Manhunters. Stewart creates an M27 rifle with his ring that he uses to fire at the Manhunters. Jordan and Stewart successfully defeat the Manhunters. Stewart asks Jordan what exactly they're dealing with, and Jordan says that someone has activated robotic killing machines to destroy the Green Lantern Corps, and there aren't many Lanterns left to fight the battle. Stewart tells Jordan that he's never backed down from a battle, no matter what planet he's on. Jordan and Stewart continue toward Zamaron when they encounter Katma Tui traveling with Tomar-Re's corpse. Jordan asks what happened and Katma Tui breaks down crying when she explains that Amon Sur was working with the Manhunters. She tells them that Amon Sur has the other map piece and now it's too late. The three head back to Oa.
Arin Sur travels to Qward by ship and is shocked by the sight of a yellow power battery at the heart of the planet. Sinestro sees her and explains that the Green Lantern Corps has to pay for their crimes, including allowing humans into the Corps and for not properly honoring the service of Abin Sur for all those years. Arin Sur tells her husband that as his wife, she will stand by any plan he has even if she doesn't fully understand the goals. Sinestro thanks his wife for her loyalty. Sinestro holds his hand in the power battery and his green power ring turns yellow. His suit changes color from green to yellow in the process.
On Oa, Hal Jordan confronts Ganthet, telling him that he's done searching for puzzle pieces and informing him that Amon Sur killed Tomar-Re and has both map pieces by now. Ganthet admits there isn't much to do except try to defeat Amon Sur and hope for the best. John Stewart interrupts, saying that he isn't one to sit around and wait for a fight to happen and wants to know where this Amon Sur guy is so that they can take the fight to him. Ganthet tells him that Amon Sur hails from the planet Ungara, so they might as well try to find him there. Stewart is eager to go, but Jordan takes him to recharge his power ring at the central battery first so that they are at full power. Katma Tui says that she wants to come with them, but Jordan asks that she stay on Oa to personally protect Ganthet since he is the last of the Guardians left. Katma Tui begrudgingly agrees to stay back.
Sinestro arrives on Ungara and gives Amon Sur a yellow power ring as promised. Amon Sur happily puts the ring on his finger, feeling the power of the fear element course through his body. Sinestro asks what he plans to do know, and Amon Sur reveals that he intends on killing Hal Jordan and taking his father's ring back. Sinestro warns Amon Sur that Hal Jordan, despite being human, has become a formidable Lantern over the years. Amon Sur laughs at the idea that a human could ever defeat an Ungaran. Sinestro tells him that he's been warned before leaving Ungara and heading back to Qward.
When Hal Jordan and John Stewart arrive on Ungara, they find the planet deserted. They scan the planet, but don't find anything. Suddenly, hundreds of Manhunters burst out of the ground and attack the Lanterns. Jordan and Stewart both conjure Gatling guns with their rings. Jordan and Stewart stand back to back and fire upon the Manhunters surrounding them. Amon Sur suddenly appears, wielding his yellow power ring. Jordan tells Stewart to keep fighting the Manhunters while he pursues Amon Sur. Jordan chases Amon Sur through the tunnels and caves of Ungara. Finally, Amon Sur fires a blast from his ring at Jordan. The blast hits Jordan in the shoulder, sending him to the ground. Jordan looks at this shoulder, revealing a hole in his Green Lantern armor made by the yellow blast. Jordan conjures an F22 Raptor fighter jet around himself with his ring. He pilots it just like the real thing, firing the jet's missiles at Amon Sur. Jordan then flies back toward Stewart, who is struggling to fight off the horde of Manhunters by himself. Jordan fires at the Manhunters with his conjured jet's rotary cannon, taking out several. The jet disappears and Jordan uses his ring to conjure a giant hand that slaps away many Manhunters. Stewart creates a sniper rifle with his ring, and begins taking out Manhunters with it. He sees Amon Sur approaching far off in the distance, and fires a shot that hits Amon Sur in the chest. Amon Sur looks at his chest and sees a hole in his armor. He grows angrier, telling the Manhunters to stand down as he wants to destroy Hal Jordan himself. Amon Sur then fires a powerful yellow blast at Jordan, who blocks it with a green blast of his own. The yellow blast begins to slowly overtake Jordan's blast until John Stewart joins in and fires a green blast of his own. The power of the two Green Lanterns slowly overpowers Amon Sur's yellow blast. The combined power of the three blasts creates a giant explosion of energy. When the dust settles, Jordan and Stewart find the Manhunters destroyed and Amon Sur has been incapacitated. Jordan walks over to Amon Sur and destroys the yellow power ring [13]. Jordan and Stewart return to Oa and inform Ganthet that Amon Sur has been defeated. Ganthet informs them that he will have the universe's remaining Green Lantern Corps search their sectors for the yellow power battery.
[13] The climax of the film was a lot of fun to write. As soon as Tom Cruise signed on to the film, I knew there had to be some flying in the film even if him flying around a power ring constructed jet isn't the most obvious way of doing so. It just felt like a unique way of having the fight without it simply being two people flying around at each other. Superman's already done that plenty of times, so I wanted something unique to Hal Jordan.
Hal Jordan returns to Earth and visits Carol at Ferris Air. Thomas spots him and waves at him. Jordan asks Carol who else knows its him, and she says that a little domino mask covering his eyes doesn't hide his identity very well. Hal spots a an experimental jet in one of the hangars and asks Carol if he can take it for a spin. Jordan flies off in the jet with Carol as his co-pilot. Jordan asks her how fast the thing goes before pushing the throttle all the way, sending the jet blasting forward in a sonic boom [14].
[14] And there's the more obvious way of getting Tom Cruise behind the throttle of a jet. I knew a needed a closing scene between Hal and Carol, and Cruise's take on the character is more than charming enough to talk his way into the cockpit.
Post-Credits: On Qward, Sinestro has weaponers forge power rings from the power battery. Sinestro tells his wife Arin Sur that the defeat of Amon Sur changes nothing. The Green Lantern Corps must be destroyed and he will create his own army to ensure that it happens [15].
[15] So that was Green Lantern Corps. When I wrote the film, I really wasn't sure that it would become quite the mega-hit that it became. I knew Cruise's name would put butts in the seats in his first superhero role, but Green Lantern isn't the most popular brand in the world and we weren't doing the traditional origin story type of film. Well, the credits are about over, so I hope everyone enjoyed hearing my thoughts on this production. Before I go, yes, there will be a Green Lantern Corps sequel in the future. I just have to write it!
No comments:
Post a Comment