Goyer is Working on a Green Arrow Movie

[Jim Raynor]

Well, sort of...

Rotten Tomatoes

Goyer to Tackle a "Green Arrow" Movie?

Posted by Scott Weinberg on Monday, Apr. 09, 2007, 01:27 AM

Scott Weinberg writes: "Lots of us were pretty disappointed when we heard that writer/director David Goyer was leaving the "Flash" project, but now he seems to have snagged an even juicier assignment: A DC Comics-inspired piece that will feature Green Arrow, a "Super Max" prison, and a whole bunch of comic book villains!

Now this sounds like a pretty cool idea: Green Arrow gets sent to a prison stuffed with DC villains, several of whom he helped to apprehend. To hear Mr. Goyer describe the project, it sounds like a potentially hard-edged prison thriller / action movie, only infused with that wonderful air of comic book geekiness:

"He’s Green Arrow for the first 10 minutes of the movie, and then he’s arrested and his secret identity is revealed ... They shave his goatee and they take his costume and send him to prison for life, and he has to escape. ... We’ve populated the prison with all sorts of B and C villains from the DC Universe."

What do you guys think? Personally, I think this idea is just too weird, and I don't see this movie actually getting made. If Goyer couldn't get a mainstream superhero movie like the Flash off the ground, then I doubt he's going to do it with a second-stringer like Green Arrow, while only actually having the main character in costume for ten minutes. I don't think the movie would appeal that much to audiences who aren't familiar with Green Arrow or these obscure villains, either.

[spongyblue]

Maybe if this was an Arrow tv show, and for a season have him iin jail, i could work. Not as a stand alone flick with a minor character like GA. And they want to make this before trying a Lantern Movie? Or Flash? I like GA and all, but I would preferr a Metamorpho movie before a Arrow movie.

[Sidewinder]

If this is the same guy who adapted 'Blade' into three movies and an entertaining TV series, and contributed to the story of 'Batman Begins', the resulting 'Green Lantern' movie might also be entertaining.

I say, "Good luck, Mr. Goyer." For me, Green Lantern had presence like a coffee table-- I barely noticed him in the 'Justice League' comics and had very litte interest in the 'Green Lantern' comics, so he'll have to work hard to make me give a damn about Guy Gardner or whoever is wearing the ring in the movie.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Green Arrow, Sidewinder, not Green Lantern.

Personally, I've never found Green Arrow that provoking of a character to perk my interest, so my opinion is overall a bit neutral, although I think choosing to do a film based on the character seems a bit odd in favour of one that's somewhat more prominent...

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Ghetto Edit: Not to mention that the plot premise for the proposed movie smells like something right out of the high concept cinematic pit that was the mid-late 1990s...

[VF5SS]

I like how the premise mirrors a lot of the modern day comic stories. Like, let's take a hero and put him in a situation where he doesn't have to do anything remotely heroic. You know, because that makes people happy just like the Civil War shit. Really, what the hell movie guys? Can't heroes be heroes? Save a puppy from a burning building? Chase some bad guys?

Poor Green Arrow is such a crappy character too. He's Batman with a bow. It's even worse for Green Arrow to try and be a serious live action character if he's firing off trick arrows all the time. Batarangs and grappling guns are ok, but bola arrows and shit?

[Jim Raynor]

I actually think a Green Arrow movie (a real one, not this "Prison Break meets DC" movie) could be pulled off. Of course there's no way it could be a blockbuster. But Green Arrow doesn't need all those visual effects to pull off. The movie could be done on a modest budget of 30-40 million (like Punisher). The character's liberal and iconoclast personality, along with some snappy dialogue, could be used to give the movie some life and set it apart from standard vigilante movies.

[Drooling Iguana]

Really, if you're going to make a movie based on a guy like GA who doesn't really have much in the way of a supporting cast or rogues gallery, you can't really go with the traditional superhero movie formula. This could turn out to be crap but I'm still moderately hopeful.

I hope they rethink the whole "shaving the beard" bit, though. Green Arrow just isn't Green Arrow without the beard.

(And yes, I know that he didn't have the beard when he was first introduced. He was lame back then. Even moreso than usual.)

[Tsyroc]

I liked GA in JLU otherwise I was pretty indifferent about the character. He was pretty much out of the picture when I was reading a lot of DC comics. In fact, I think his appearance in DKR was about the only thing I'd really seen him in until JLU.

The premise for this movie seems interesting but I think a lot of it will depend on who the villains are. If they are cool or interesting the movie could be good. If all we get is 10 minutes of GA being GA and then it turns into a generic "cop/hero in prison" type of movie I just don't see the point.

Really I see the premise for the GA movie being a bit different than the usual superhero movie as a way to get studios interesting in getting it made.

Goyer got three movies made about a really retarded looking recurring character from Tomb of Dracula and made him better, cooler. I think GA has about all the cool he's going to get so inorder to get this movie made Goyer really has to pull some shit out of his ass. I don't think GA is going to even have the same basic level of interest as Daredevil from the fanboys so it'll have to work harder than that.

Personally, if they are going to bother to make superhero movies I'd rather they try something big. I'd rather they try a character that could be some sort of visual spectacle and not just a medium budget action movie where the main character has a few quirky props and a colorful fashion sense. Batman being the exception because so many people are aware of him.

I'm a long time comic fan but I just don't see the point of them trying to take every fanboy's favorite character and try to put them on the silver screen. Of course if they'd asked me I would have told them they were smoking crack when they decided to make Blade and I'd have been wrong. I'd still tell them that with Daredevil and Electra. Neither is that cool of a character and they don't have much recognition with the public.

[RogueIce]

I liked GA in JLU otherwise I was pretty indifferent about the character. He was pretty much out of the picture when I was reading a lot of DC comics. In fact, I think his appearance in DKR was about the only thing I'd really seen him in until JLU.

I think Green Arrow in JLU was pretty good mainly because of who he interacted with, and especially with the whole Cadmus arc. He worked well for that because of who he played off of and the situation at hand (when he first came into the JLU and then his interactions with Supes and others as Cadmus picked up). He didn't really show up as much in the Legion of Doom episodes outside of "Patriot Act" IIRC, where again he fit due to the situation.

I really don't know how interesting of a character he could be on his own, though. Even with his JLU version, I don't think he'd work so well as a standalone.

If one were to make a movie out of him, I think a Punisher-esque style would work as noted above. He can't really go up against some kind of big, bad supervillian, but dealing with punks and mobsters would be better.

As far as this incarnation is concerned? It has some possibility I think, depending on how they play it. It could be interesting to see a culture shock for a hero (especially if he's like most of the other DCUers and has a "no killing" rule) to be forced into an environment where he has to become a little more savage and ruthless to survive (no trick arrows here). That could make for an interesting side to the story if they go through with it. And hey, the prisonbreak sequences can be an entertaining popcorn romp too.

So I'd give it a chance, at least.

[Drooling Iguana]

I hope that the "prison full of villains" plot means that this won't be a typical "title hero and villain are the only superpowered beings in the world" deal like most superhero movies. It'd be nice to have one that actually has a setting more similar to the comic books that it draws from.

[neoolong]

IGN had an article about who might be good to appear. Deathstroke, Merlyn, that greek martial artist guy, and Killer Croc were mentioned.

Some aren't bad choices. And it would let a lot of second string villains appear in a movie when they might not ever.

[Oddysseus]

Still what bothers me is, while it is a prison with a bunch of second string DC baddies, this.

You have Green Arrow, a guy with a mask and a bow. He is smart, rich, sneaky, skilled, and a extremely good fighter. Plus, since the olden days, he's got the beard.

Now you drop him in prison, and strip him of all his trappings, including his hair. What do you have? Vin Diesel in a prison flick, with a bunch of CGI.

How can that get me all that thrilled? I have enjoyed Ollie over the years. Sometimes a grouch, a old liberal, and environmentalist. But how well will any aspect of his personality be played or reflected in this film? He'll be pissed and desperate to escape. That will be his motivation and character...And that was also the state of the characters in Prison Break, Break Out, Escape from Alcatraz, etc.

It seems interesting at first, but after you mull over it for a minute, it dies. I am surprised it has lived this long.

The Punisher could work. A Bruce Wayne or Matt Murdock, identities still secret, might...but that is the type of story you want to tell over a longer period than a film usually allows these days.

[neoolong]

That's true, and the movie would have to be pretty damn good to get fans to get over Ollie not being Green Arrow.

That said, how many hardcore Green Arrow fans would not want to see this movie because of it? It may be the only way to get a Green Arrow movie made.