What what what? What what? Comic book movies are coming faster than The Flash these days, and here’s a different kind of out-of-nowhere concept that sounds pretty interesting. First, some background.
Speaking of The Flash, back here and here I talked about how David Goyer, who was developing a Flash script with scientific input from real physicists (which would have been infinitely cool and bad-ass), was cut loose from the project by Warner Bros. and replaced by Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Cheaper by the Dozen).
Goyer, of course, wrote the Blade movies and co-wrote Batman Begins with its director, Christopher Nolan. (Nolan and his brother, Jonathan, are writing the script for the Begins sequel, The Dark Knight, from a story by Nolan and Goyer, who was too busy with other projects to do script duty this time around.) He has a real talent for making the most out-there concepts sing in a real-world setting. And I do hope that his Flash script somehow sees the light of day someday, because I’d love to know what he was going to do with it.
(This is all further evidence that Warner Bros. has put so much sense into the new Batman franchise that it has no brains left over for anything else. Just look at Superman Returns, which gave us a useless Superman who valued neither responsibility nor accountability. It’s not just the worst Superman movie ever made; it’s one of the worst movies ever made of any kind, ever. Truly shameful and tragically shocking, especially considering how whiz-bang Singer’s two X-Men movies were. Oh, well.)
But Goyer had something else up his sleeve, and it looks like it’s actually going to happen. The project is called Super Max, and it sounds just crazy enough that it just might work. You can read a bit more about it in Goyer’s own words on his MySpace page.
The concept here is that Justice League of America member and Star City defender Green Arrow [origin page 1, origin page 2] gets framed for a crime he didn’t commit and is dropped into a maximum security prison for super-powered monsters and criminals, where he’s surrounded by many of the want-him-dead enemies he put there in the first place. If he’s going to escape and clear his name and catch the real perpetrator, he’ll have to work alongside some of these very same villains. So not only will we get Green Arrow, but we’ll probably also get to see a good variety of bad guys and gals from the pages of DC Comics who might not otherwise have gotten an excuse to appear in a movie.
Of course, the concept raises some questions. Green Arrow is Oliver Queen, a billionaire industrialist who, like Bruce Wayne, has no superpowers but trains himself to the peak of physical and mental perfection. But while Batman’s physical prowess is founded more in martials arts, Ollie’s skills are in archery. And if I’m going to see a Green Arrow movie, I want to see a total, bad-ass reinvention of the bow and arrow being used in awesome, innovative ways on film. But if Ollie is in prison, odds are he won’t have his bow. Then again, for someone with his survivalist background, I’m sure he’ll come up with plenty of kick-ass ways to make due. We’ll see what happens.
I also like the fact that it’s a story about an established Green Arrow, rather than an origin movie. Seriously, with a character like Green Arrow, you can do a great little origin montage during the opening credits and jump right into the movie without missing a beat.
I don’t even know where to begin with casting suggestions for the Green Arrow. The character has been appearing in the current season of Smallville, which has been dead to me for quite a while now, and their dumbed-down, pretty-boy version of Oliver Queen is one of the (many) reasons I had to stop watching the show. (Tom Welling is awesome as Clark Kent, but the writers still haven’t figured out — after six seasons — how to make Clark heroic. So to have someone who’s actually heroic on the show, they bring on a “hip,” “sexy” reinvention of the Green Arrow? Come on!) Green Arrow might not be one of the most popular comic book heroes on the planet, but he’s a cool guy with a lot of heart behind his gruff exterior. (I especially like how he’s been written by Brad Meltzer in DC’s Identity Crisis and Justice League of America comics; Ollie has been our window into the heart of the League, and it’s given me a whole new appreciation for the character. Check out his scene with Hal Jordan — Green Lantern — in issue 7 of JL of A on sale at your local comic shop right now.) I’ll have to think about this one for a while.
I don’t care how crazy the concept is. In fact, with something like this it’s probably a case of the crazier the better. As long as it’s good, I’ll be happy. And I believe in David Goyer.
Green Arrow rocks and robin-hoods his way into a theater near you on a date that’s yet to be determined. Let’s see if they actually make it first.
Update
It’ll never happen, but I think Brad Pitt would make the perfect Oliver Queen. I also thought about Nathan Fillion from Firefly, but I think I’d rather see him as Green Lantern.
Update
Matthew McConaughey would rock this. Check him out in Sahara and I think you’ll see what I mean.
Update
While going through some old reviews to post here on the site, I found a 24 review I’d written and realized how awesome Kiefer Sutherland might be in this movie. Thoughts?