A tale of two trailers - Green Lantern vs. Thor

A couple trailers for big 2011 comic book movies have hit the net recently.

First up is GREEN LANTERN where unfortunately, if first impressions are any indication, we’re looking at another Ryan Reynolds nudge and wink fest.



Feeling more like THE PROPOSAL than BURIED the trailer opens with some driving rock guitar and Reynold’s hastily extracting himself from a presumed one night stand. Viewers can understandably be forgiven for thinking they’ve wandered into a VAN WILDER blooper reel.

Considering DC’s stated intention that new film properties need to work off the strengths of Christopher Nolan’s hugely successful BATMAN franchise it’s a little puzzling to see that there aren’t any traces of the dark and edgy themes that currently populate the Bat-world. Granted Green Lantern is not Batman and what works for one character won’t necessarily work well for others.

But the trailer feels distinctly like a late 90’s interpretation of a comic book property, good looking pretty boy fronting the cast, straightforward action movie feel, static set pieces and not much in the way of serious character exploration.

The trailer tries to switch up the tone halfway through and present us with a darker take but unfortunately it retreats back to jocular chuckles pretty quickly. And its too late, to be honest, the film’s mood has been set.

But I’m not willing to give up on this film based on two and a half minutes of footage put out half a year before the film’s release date. It helps immensely that GREEN LANETERN is helmed by the immensely capable Martin Campbell, whose resume boasts more successes than stinkers. It’s just too bad that this film has to succeed in spite of its trailer, not because of it.

When you stack the THOR trailer next to the GREEN LANTERN one it becomes quickly apparent that the former demolishes the latter.



Watching the trailer I can’t help but get excited about this movie. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, who is better known for his Shakespeare than his Stan Lee, the trailer manages to hit all the right notes.

Where Green Lantern tussles anonymously in the parking lot with muggers, Thor is battling gods and frost giants. Instead of enduring Ryan Reynolds flirtatious posturing THOR treats us to Sir Anthony Hopkins chewing up the scenery. And rather than plodding through the stereotypical origin story paces Thor starts the film already a hero in his own right.

THOR shows us glimpses of forbidden love, fallen gods, epic battles and otherworldly intrigue. Sounds pretty good to me.

It’s a bit unfair to compare these two trailers. Beyond the fact that their source material is rooted in the four colour medium, there are more differences than similarities between the two stories.

But nonetheless comparisons will be made. And sadly, based on these initial offerings, I think that the GREEN LANTERN trailers comes up sadly lacking.