Some Twitter discussion sparked by back to back viewing of the Green Lantern and Green Hornet trailers has got me thinking about these movies. Okay, and other comic book movies forthcoming too. The question is: why are fans the way we are?
Think about what happens when the first stills and teasers and trailers appear. You had one of two reactions. Regular movie-goers either thought ‘Cool!’ or ‘Lame!’ and moved on. The rest of us, who grew up with the comics or the shows, immediately started looking for flaws. They picked HIM? The color green is ALL WRONG. That guy can’t act in his native language, why make him speak English? That uniform is NOTHING like what he wore during <insert favorite story arc> so the choice to use it is STUPID. They left out <favorite obscure character only you care about>!
The thing is, none of these changes should matter if the movie is good. I guess the movie industry only has itself to blame, as they set the bar high in the modern era of superhero movies from the start (X-Men, Spider-man). There’s not much margin for error. Iron Man was fantastic, but Iron Man 2 probably got more heat than it should’ve, it was still a fun ride. I liked Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, but a few unfortunate choices by the filmmakers is all anybody talked about (Jessica Alba’s hair). Daredevil is just plain terrible, though, no one denies this.
My point is this: can’t we just enjoy these movie adaptations for what they are, and not worry over what changed in adapting it? If the movie is bad, fine, but don’t put two strikes against it because you don’t like this actor, or the stripes on the uniform are off. Pop in Hellboy, ignore the fact that Liz isn’t supposed to be a love interest for Hellboy, and enjoy.
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