OK films: Green Lantern and Harry Potter
It’s probably some kind of blasphemy to group those two together, but on the other hand I had exactly the same reaction to both of them; they did not bore me but they did not wow me either.
I wasn’t familiar with the Green Lantern comics, though I admit to a prejudice on the grounds that I’ve never thought DC comics were as good as Marvel. (I must be one of the few people in the world who didn’t like the Spiderman films that the critics seem to regard as classics.) Seriously, DC, why do you go in for such wisecracking whiny brats as your heroes? This was another of the same sort. It’s probably meant to be endearing, or something, but I just wanted to punch the git through much of the story. OTOH, the world building and the special effects saved the day, and really the ability to give your imagination physical form is one of the cooler superpowers.
I’ve got to admit that the Harry Potter films lost me at the same place that the books lost me – I was interested up to Prisoner of Azkaban, and then I got bored. I had to go and see the final one as it was a major event in my childrens’ lives – they’d grown up with HP and now it was over. But I didn’t go in really caring about any of it, and the film didn’t make me care. I’ve already forgotten most of what happened, and I thought it was a shame that such a long event, so important to so many people, should have ended on such a note of mere adequacy. I wanted it to go out on a note of excitement and awe/satisfaction rather than with a shrug.
The problem might be me, mind you, as I haven’t even watched the first episode of the new Torchwood – no Ianto, no interest. I like the look of Captain America, though, which I feel a little embarrassed about, due to the whole ridiculous jingoistic nationalism of the concept. But Hugo Weaving always makes a fantastic villain, and the high-tech WW2 setting could be fun, and I guiltily admit that I kind of like the shield. Also I’m gearing up for the Avengers and I want to get the background in first.
