When Warner Bros announced back in June
that despite the poor critical reception and equally disappointing box office they were still going forward with a GREEN LANTERN sequel, many believed they
were just trying to save face. Not so, it seems…

Talking with the LA Times today, Warner
Bros. president Jeff Robinov had this nonsense to dispense: “We had a
decent opening so we learned there is an audience. To go forward we need to
make it a little edgier and darker with more emphasis on action. And we have to
balance the time the movie spends in space versus on Earth.”

As someone who really enjoyed the first
film (and there are quite a few of us, particularly in Starburst HQ), this is
saddening news indeed.

Surely they’re focusing their
energies in the wrong direction – one of the elements of the film I
particularly enjoyed the most was the fact that it didn’t need to be
“dark” and “edgy”, and simply embraced the comic book
aesthetic wholeheartedly and unapologetically. This was a pretty unique
approach to a superhero movie given so many other filmmakers desperation to
ground their properties in some kind of ‘reality’. We’re all capable of
suspension of disbelief – comic book fans especially. To hear a studio back-track
so dramatically on their vision for a character is truly upsetting. Not
everything needs to be THE DARK KNIGHT. Not even The Dark Knight needs to be so DARK KNIGHT-y (admit it, without Ledger TDK is a little on the dull side). Hell, why don’t Warner Bros not just
pop into the next multiplex screen and have a look at what Marvel are doing? Was THOR “dark” and “edgy”? Did that shy away from the
cosmic stuff? No. And I believe that did alright.

Sure, GREEN LANTERN wasn’t perfect. But that’s what
you get when you go ahead with a structurally weak screenplay and a director
who hands all the action sequences (on an action film) to a second unit (I’ll never forget Martin
Campbell saying that during his publicity duties for GOLDENEYE.
Unbelievable.)

I simply can’t believe what DC are doing to
themselves these days – both in their big screen output and their comic books.
Truly upsetting. 

Expect the “edgier, darker” GREEN
LANTERN 2 sometime in 2013. But with significantly less ‘space stuff’. Y’know,
the reason why it made it so unique in the first place.

We know the GREEN LANTERN love is out there somewhere! Join us! It was a decent movie! Let’s rise up! Show them! Altogether now – In Blackest Day, In Darkest– Never mind. Thoughts?