JACKIE EARLE HALEY AS SINESTRO?

Okay before anybody starts yelling about how awesome Jackie Earle Haley is let me diffuse the situation by saying I agree, I think he kicks ass. One of my favorite movies as a kid was The Bad News Bears (where Haley played the bad kid) and I thought his turn as Rorschach was one of the only things about the Watchman movie that rang true to the comic book. Hell I'm even excited to see the new Nightmare On Elm Street remake mainly because I think Haley will be awesome as Freddy Krueger.

With all of that said I must admit that Haley as Sinestro in the new Green Lantern movie is a bad idea, almost as bad as having Ryan Reynolds play Hal Jordan. My fear in Haley as Sinestro has mainly to do with what Sinestro is and how I fear Hollywood is going to portray him. Sinestro is mad but he's not crazy, he's not the Joker of the Green Lantern Corps. Sinestro is regal, almost royalty in his attitudes and he's hard nosed to the point of making Dirty Harry look like the head of a bake sale committee. He splits from the Green Lantern Corps (he was originally the greatest Green Lantern ever) because he feels they are not hard enough on crime and corruption.

Sinestro want order and his arrogance in thinking his way is better leads to his downfall. Throughout his many attempts to destroy the Green Lanterns he never loses his respect for Jordan nor his love for Abin Sur the Green Lantern that trained him and gave Hal Jordan the ring. The conflict between Hal Jordan and Sinestro should be strife with betrayal, conflicted emotions and real dramatic tension. I don't think Haley's way of acting can portray that and therein lies the problem.

If Hollywood simply writes Sinestro as insane e.g. The Joker or even incredibly unbalanced e.g. Rorschach then they miss the point and the character will suffer as so many comic book characters have when translated to movies. Ryan Reynolds is going to be hard enough to swallow as Jordan, adding Rorschach dressed as Sinestro to the mix will ruin it. There's also the height issue. Sorry to be that guy but Sinestro his a giant dominating figure who seems to tower over everything, Haley just doesn't posses that.

Sorry Haley, I think you kick ass but you're not right for Sinestro.