Green Arrow is a 2017 live action comic book film directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Sam Worthington as Oliver Queen/ Green Arrow. The film also stars Emily VanCamp as Dinah Lance, Joel Edgerton as Slade Wilson/ Deathstroke, Luke Evans as Thomas Merlyn, and Sam Neill as Robert Queen. The film is apart of the Keith Stone DC continuity which leads up to a Justice League film.
Cast
- Sam Worthington as Oliver Queen/ Green Arrow
- Emily VanCamp as Dinah Lance
- Joel Edgerton as Slade Wilson/ Deathstroke
- Luke Evans as Thomas Merlyn
- Steven Yeun as Xu Tao
- Jeffrey Wright as Detective Roger Quentin
- Sam Neill as Robert Queen
Plot
The film opens in an Asian village, where a team of mercenaries attack, led by Deathstroke. After killing many people and burning down homes, they finally get what they were after, a man named Xu Tao. Deathstroke holds a knife up to Tao's neck and forces him to reveal the location of a flash drive. Tao refuses to talk, so Deathstroke forces his men to take him on their cargo ship, where they will force him to talk.
The film then shifts to Star City, where Robert Queen is about to board his boat for a deep sea fishing trip with a prospective client. He gets on the boat, and sees that his son, Oliver, is already on the boat and has two women with him. Robert tells Oliver about his trip and that he needs to get himself and the women off of the boat. Oliver, half drunk, tells his father that he needs to get away from his fiance, Dinah Lance, and promises not to be a disturbance to the client. Robert then reluctantly agrees to let Oliver stay.
The film shifts back to Deathstroke's cargo ship, where his men are torturing Tao to get the location of the flash drive. He continues to be silent, so Deathstroke orders his men to castrate him. Before they can, however, Tao manages to break free of his imprisonment and fights Deathstroke's mercenaries. He steals a bow and arrow from Deathstroke's weapon arsenal, and shows that he is an expert archer by killing several of Deathstroke's soldiers with the weapon. However, Deathstroke overpowers him, so Tao escapes by jumping overboard. Deathstroke and his crew search several hours for Tao, but are unable to find him. A crewmember suggests that he is dead, but Deathstroke believes him to still be alive. Tao is then shown making it onto a deserted island far from the ship, just as a storm starts.
Robert Queen's boat is then shown in the middle of the same storm. Robert suggests to his client that they turn the boat around and reschedule the fishing trip. Oliver is then shown in a cabin with the two women that he brought, and he is about to have sex with them. A crewmember is then shown going into the control room of the boat, where he sees that a key component of the boat's engine is missing, thus leaving them just moments away from sinking. He runs up to warn everyone else, and Robert runs to get Oliver before it is too late. He manages to get Oliver out of his cabin just before the boat begins to sink, but the two women, along with Robert's client, and several crewmembers, are killed in the wreckage. Robert and Oliver manage to get onto a lifeboat.
Several days pass, and Robert and Oliver are still on the lifeboat, just barely surviving. Robert tells Oliver that the boat was set up to sink, and that he needs to figure out why. Oliver tells his father that there is no way either of them will survive. Robert then tells his son that he can't afford to think like that, and that no matter how long it takes, Oliver must return to Star City and figure out who is responsible for sabotoging the boat. Oliver asks why Robert won't be doing so, and Robert says that he has sins to pay for. Oliver is confused, and Robert explains that he made his fortune by stealing from the innocent citizens of Star City, and that he helped others do the same through his investment firm, Queen Financial Corp. Robert makes Oliver swear to him that he will make it back to Star City and make up for the mistakes that he made. Oliver promises his father that he will do so, and then Robert pulls a gun out of his vest and shoots himself in the mouth, much to Oliver's horror.
Eventually, Oliver makes it to the same deserted island that Tao arrived on earlier. Oliver buries his father's body on the island, and cries in agony. Suddenly, Tao shoots an arrow into Oliver's shoulder, knocking him unconcious. When Oliver wakes up, he is tied to a tree by his wrists, and Tao points his crossbow at Oliver's face. Tao asks Oliver why he is there. Oliver answers that his father's boat sunk in the middle of a storm, and that he was the only survivor. After gaining Tao's trust, Oliver is released from his captivity, and Tao offers to help him survive on the island.
Deathstroke is then shown in an undisclosed location looking at several different maps of the Pacific Ocean and the surrounding areas, looking for any possible place Tao could have escaped to. He gets a phone call from an unidentified caller, who asks if the flash drive was recovered. Deathstroke responds by saying that Tao escaped their captivity and could possibly be dead. The voice on the phone is clearly angry, and Deathstroke assures them that he will find the flash drive, no matter what.
Three years pass, and Tao is shown giving archery lessons to Oliver, who has become just as gifted an archer as Tao over the last three years. Tao then sends Oliver to get wood to make a fire. After Oliver leaves, Tao is shown being hit by a tazer gun, falling to the ground as a result, and then Deathstroke is revealed to be the shooter. He and his army of mercenaries have found the location of Tao after three years. Oliver, who hears Tao screaming, runs back and looks from afar as Deathstroke ties Tao to a tree while his men sharpen their weapons to begin torturing him. Oliver then pulls out his crossbow and fires several arrows at Deathstroke's men, killing them. Deathstroke turns around, and is shot in the eye by one of Oliver's arrows.
Oliver runs down to help Tao down, and the two of them make for Deathstroke's ship in order to get off of the island. However, Deathstroke throws a knife at Tao, severly injuring him, just before Deathsroke falls unconcious. As Oliver tries to support his friend, Tao pulls out a knife, hands it to Oliver, and tells him that Deathstroke is after a flash drive that is sewn into his back, and that Oliver must remove it and not show anyone what is on it. As Tao dies, Oliver carves the flash drive out of Tao's flesh, and then gets onto Deathstroke's boat and makes his way off of the island.
The setting changes to Star City, where news stations are reporting the breaking news that Oliver Queen is alive and has returned to Star City. Oliver is driven to his long abandoned mansion in a limo, and walks inside the empty house. He looks around, and sees three tombstones in the backyard. He goes out and sees one for his mother, who died of cancer when Oliver was a child, one for his father, and one for him. He kneels down in front of his father's grave and promises that he will do good on the promise that he made him, and make up for his sins, as well as find out who sabatoged the boat.
The next scene is at the main headquarters of Queen Financial Corps, where a press conference is being held by Thomas Merlyn, Oliver's childhood friend and current CFO. Merlyn announces that the company is thrilled that Oliver is alive and well, and hope that he will take an active role in his family's company. Oliver then gets up to speak, but obviously finds it very difficult to do so, remembering what his father told him about his company stealing from the city and helping other corrupt businessmen do the same. Merlyn notices that Oliver is uncomfortable, and abruptly ends the press conference.
The two friends then go up to Merlyn's office to have a drink, and Merlyn asks Oliver if he is okay. Oliver looks out the window to see the city, his mind clearly elsewhere. Oliver then asks about Dinah, and Thomas tells Oliver that he should wait before seeing her. Oliver demands to be told how she has been over the past three years, and Thomas ultimately admits that he is now engaged to her. Oliver is clearly uneasy after hearing this, and tells Thomas that he needs to get some air.
Oliver leaves the building, despite being bombarded by paparazzi along the way. He gets in the back of his limo, and is surprised to see a man in mask in there as well, pointing a gun at Oliver and telling him to get in. The masked man places a brown hood over Oliver's head and the limo is taken to a warehouse. Oliver is tied up and tortured by the masked man, along with two comrades. They demand that Oliver tell them what he knows about the boat crash. Oliver is soon able to break free of the chain and successfully kills two of the masked men, while he grabs the gun of the third man and points it to his head. Oliver demands him to reveal who hired them, and the man says that they never knew the man's name, and that he simply found them and offered them $5 million to find out what Oliver knew about the boat crash. Oliver also gets him to reveal that they exchanged phone calls and gets him to give up his cell phone, before snapping his neck and killing him.
Meanwhile, a boat full of mercenaries arrives on the island searching for Deathstroke. They find him, just barely alive, and report back to their unidentified leader that they found him. The setting changes back to Star City, where Thomas Merlyn is having dinner with Dinah. She asks him about Oliver, and he tells her that he seems very deranged as a result of the island, and that the Oliver they once knew is likely forever gone. Dinah is clearly still battling feelings for him.
Oliver is then shown back at his mansion, having set up a high-tech computer monitor with which he searches through the history of the attacker's phone. The doorbell rings, and Oliver answers to see Detective Roger Quentin, who tells Oliver that he has questions about the kidnapping report that he filed. Oliver tells him the truth about what happened, up until the point where they get to the warehouse, which he says a man in a green hood suddenly arrived and killed the three men. Quentin has a hard time buying his story, and asks Oliver why he would do that, but Oliver rebuffs the detective and tells him that he doesn't know nor care what the man's intentions were. Before Quentin leaves, he tells Oliver that one of the masked men looked as though he had something removed from his pocket, such as a phone or a wallet, but Oliver lies and says he doesn't know anything about it.
The next day, Thomas is seen getting in his car to go to work, and then Oliver is shown watching from afar. We then see Dinah get out of bed, where she is startled to see Oliver sitting in her bedroom. He apologizes for scaring her, but tells her that he needed to see her. She asks him what he wants, and he tells her that he is sorry for cheating on her before the boat sank. She then reminds him that the boat incident wasn't the only time that he was unfaithful to her. He asks her how she knew about it, and she says that Thomas told her. After seeing Oliver look down in sadness at the mention of Thomas's name, she tells him that after they thought Oliver was dead, she needed someone to turn to, and Thomas was the only one there. Oliver again apologizes to her, and tells her that he thought about her every day when he was on the island. She tells him to leave, and that they will never be together again. As Oliver is leaving the mansion, he is shown stashing away a notebook into his jacket, and it is implied that he stole it from the house.
The scene then changes to a high-tech facility at an unknown location, where Deathstroke is having a metal plate surgically implanted on top of the eyesocket that was shot by Oliver. After the procedure is done, the unidentified leader of the unidentified organization enters and tells Deathstroke that the tracker he gave them worked well, and that they tracked the boat to Star City. The leader then asks if Deathstroke is sure that the fellow castaway has the flash drive, and Deathstroke says yes, and that he now not only wants the flash drive, but also revenge.
We next see Oliver back at his mansion, exercising and building muscle. He is also going through his high-tech computer monitor to find information on the criminal funding that his father did. He uses the notebook that he stole from Merlyn to have a list of the company's clients. He then goes through the last remaining things that he brought with him from the island: his bow and arrows. He uses mechanical tools to sharpen the arrows, and also designs a green leather suit from a leather outfit that he owns, with a hood. While going through the weapons from the island, he also comes across the flash drive that Tao told him not to allow anyone to see. Going against his judgment, Oliver plugs the flash drive into his computer.
The documents on the flash drive show information on an organization called Checkmate, including the location of their headquarters, and known members. Among the list of members is Xu Tao, who is labeled as excommunicated, and Slade Wilson, who Oliver recognizes as Deathstroke. He hides the flash drive away, and is shown looking at his new green suit, as the camera pans onto the computer screen, showing a man named Henry Graham, one of his father's clients.
The scene then changes to the office of Graham, where he is yelling at someone over the phone. As soon as he hangs up, he hears a crash from outside the office. He buzzes for security, but no one answers. He buzzes again, but this time, an arrow is shot onto his desk. He ducks under his desk to hide, but the desk is lifted by someone and thrown against the wall. Graham is then grabbed by his attacker: Oliver, dressed in his green suit, along with a green mask. Graham asks him what he wants, and Oliver replies: "Justice". Oliver then says that Graham extorted a factory from the family who used to run it, and then knocked it down to use the land. Graham asks what his point is, and Oliver says that he has 24 hours to pay the family $10 million, as well as pay $20,000 each to all of the employees who lost their jobs as a result of the extortion. Graham snidely asks what he will do if he doesn't do what he demands, and Oliver says that one way or another, the workers are going to get the money, even if he has to do it himself.
The next day, Detective Quentin is speaking with Graham, who reported to the police that he was attacked by a man in a green hood, confirming to Quentin that Oliver was telling the truth. After Quentin leaves, Graham tells his bodyguard to bring Thomas Merlyn to him as soon as possible. The arrow on Graham's desk is then shown to have a recording device installed in it, and Oliver is listening from his mansion.
Meanwhile, a mysterious cargo ship arrives at a base of the U.S. Coast Guard near Star City. A coast guard officer tells the captain of the cargo ship that they cannot allow them to pass, as they do not have any credentials. Deathstroke suddenly appears and says "How's this for credentials?" He shoots all of the officers and makes his way onto the base, looking for his boat. He finds it, and then grabs an officer and forces him to tell him who arrived on the boat. After much hesitation, the officer ultimately admits that Oliver Queen arrived on it. Deathstroke kills the officer, and gets ready to go into Star City and go after Oliver Queen.
Back in Star City, Graham's bodyguard brings Merlyn to Graham's office, where Graham asks him how this mysterious man in the green hood knew the details about Graham's purchase of the factory, when the only two people who knew about it were Graham and Merlyn. Thomas has no idea what Graham is talking about, and demands to be released. Graham orders his bodyguard to kill Merlyn, but the bodyguard falls to the ground and is revealed to have an arrow in his back. Graham tries to run away, but Oliver grabs him and disappears, leaving Merlyn alone in the office, wondering what just happened. He gets up to leave, but sees the green-hooded man appear out of nowhere. Merlyn asks what he wants, and Oliver tells him that he has failed Star City, just before Quentin and a squad of cops arrive, forcing Oliver to escape through the window. Quentin asks Merlyn what he is doing there, but then sees an object beeping on Graham's desk. Quentin presses the button on the object, and hears a recording of Graham talking about the extortion with Merlyn, revealing both men's guilt. Quentin places Merlyn under arrest, and a cop tells him that Graham is at a squad car, with an arrow piercing a check for $20 million through his hand and on the car. Quentin looks out the window, wondering who the man in the green hood is.
The next day, the green hooded man is the highlight of the Star City news. The media has dubbed him "the Green Arrow Man", which is soon shortened to Green Arrow. A warrant is publicly placed for his arrest, with a statement from the police claiming that he is armed and dangerous. Meanwhile, Deathstroke sees the news coverage, and immediately knows that Oliver is Green Arrow, due to his sharp archery skills.
At the Star City police station, Detective Quentin has Merlyn brought in for questioning. Merlyn tells Quentin that he won't say anything until his lawyer arrives, but Quentin tells him that he just wants to know about the man in the green hood. Merlyn says that he doesn't know anything about him, just that he wanted $10 million from Graham, and an additional $20,000 for 500 people laid off from the factory that Graham bought. Quentin corrects him, reminding him that it was a factory that Graham and Merlyn extorted, not bought. Quentin tells Merlyn that the man in the green hood could have been anyone of the 500 employees who were laid off from the factory, so in order to shorten the search for his identity, he will need Merlyn's help. Merlyn tells Quentin that he will only help if the charges against him are dropped, but Quentin tells him that he doesn't have that authority, so Merlyn says that they have no deal.
Back at the Queen mansion, Oliver is tracking more people from the Queen Corp book of clientel, when the doorbell rings. He opens the door and is pleasantly surprised to see Dinah. Pretending not to know about Thomas's arrest, he asks her how she is doing, and she tells him that Thomas had been arrested for extortion after being attacked by a man in a green hood. He pretends to be shocked by the situation, and the conversation soon changes to Oliver's shipwreck and what happened to him. He tells her that there will be more time to talk about that, but not at the moment. He again apologizes for hurting her, and tells her that what helped him survive for three years was thinking about her. She passionately kisses him, and they are about to have sex, but she stops and says that they cannot be together again.
As she leaves the mansion, Deathstroke is seen watching from afar, and gets a picture of her and over the phone asks a contact to find out her identity. The contact tells him that she is Dinah Lance, Oliver's ex-fiance, and current fiance of Thomas Merlyn, the man attacked by Green Arrow the previous night. Deathstroke laughs and comes up with a plan.
A montage is then shown of corrupt businessmen being attacked by Green Arrow, along with evidence being turned into the police of their crimes and corruption. While Quentin places all of these men under arrest, he is still struggling to catch Green Arrow. He again brings in Merlyn for questioning again, and tells him that he no longer suspects that Green Arrow is an ex-employee of the factory, but rather someone with a grudge against Queen Corp. Merlyn asks why he would think that, and Quentin shows him profiles of all of the men that were turned in to the police by Green Arrow, and points out that every single one of them was a client of the company. Quentin tells Merlyn that if he can give him a list of all of the remaining clients that the company has done illegal dealings with, then he will be able to get the charges against him dropped by the D.A. Merlyn agrees.
Meanwhile, as Dinah is getting into bed, she is attacked by Deathstroke. She fights back, showing that she has good self defense skills, but she is truly no match for him, and he knocks her unconcious and kidnaps her. Back at the Queen Mansion, Oliver is once again looking at the information on Checkmate from Tao's flashdrive. Merlyn is then shown being released from jail, but Quentin is shot down by a sniper as he walks over. The police break out weapons and a gunfight ensues, until the sniper is revealed to be Deathstroke, and he singlehandedly takes out all of the cops. Merlyn tells Deathstroke that none of that was necessary, but Deathstroke says that nothing he does really is. Oliver is then shown again, appearing stunned as he sees something on his computer, but what he sees is unbeknownst to the audience. Merlyn and Deathstroke are then shown again, and Deathstroke tells him that he has his fiance. Merlyn asks why, and Deathstroke replies that Green Arrow will come to him to save her. Merlyn says that kidnapping Dinah wasn't apart of the plan. Oliver is then shown again, as is what he was looking at on the computer: Merlyn is apart of Checkmate.
Oliver then sees on the news that there was an attack at the Star City police station by a man in a black and orange mask, who killed several officers and kidnapped a released prisoner: Thomas Merlyn, whose fiance was also just reported kidnapped. Oliver puts together the pieces, and dons the green suit to go after Deathstroke and Merlyn. After tracing their location to a deserted warehouse on the outskirts of town, Green Arrow arrives and finds Dinah tied up to a chair with a blindfold on her eyes. He tries to rescue her, but is attacked by Deathstroke. Deathstroke taunts him and says that he should have made sure that he was dead before stranding him on that island. Deathstroke severly beats Green Arrow, as he can tell his every move before he even does it. Deathstroke reveals to him that he taught Xu Tao everything he knew about martial arts, and since it was Tao who taught Oliver, Deathstroke is a step ahead. Oliver then tells Deathstroke that he doesn't know archery, but he is then shot by an arrow from behind him. He turns around to see Merlyn with a bow in his hands. Merlyn then reveals that Tao taught Merlyn archery long before Oliver. Oliver falls to the ground in pain, and Merlyn explains to him that it was he who sabatoged the boat in order to kill both Oliver and his father, because then Merlyn would gain full control of Queen Financial Corp., and be able to finance an important operation soon to be run by Checkmate. Deathstroke was on a boat nearby so that he'd be able to kill the men just in case they survived the crash, but since Tao escaped, he was forced to search for him instead of the Queens. Oliver, remembering that his father told him that he had sins to pay for, asks if his father was part of Checkmate. Merlyn laughs, and says that he was, but not knowingly. He then explains that Robert Queen unwittingly financed several of Checkmate's operations, and was starting to realize that Merlyn was using the company money for suspicious purposes, so he had no choice but to kill him.
Merlyn then prepares to shoot an arrow at Oliver and kill him, but Oliver musters up his strength and is able to disarm him. He then fights Deathstroke, much more successfully this time. After a long and intense battle between the two, Deathstroke is severely beaten by Oliver, and ultimately falls through a window to the ground, presumably killing him. Oliver then searches for Merlyn, who shoots at him again with an arrow. After the two archers duel each other through their bow and arrows, Oliver hits Merlyn in the shoulder with an arrow. As Merlyn is weakening, he distracts Oliver by shooting at Dinah, who is still tied to the chair. Oliver saves Dinah, but is unable to stop Merlyn from escaping in the process. Oliver removes the blindfold from Dinah's face, and she learns his identity.
The next day, the media reports that the Green Arrow killed the masked kidnapper, whose identity remains unknown to Star City authorities, and that Dinah Lance was saved by the archer, but Thomas Merlyn is still missing. Oliver opens up the Checkmate file in the flashdrive, and marks Deathstroke as "deceased". He comes upon Merlyn's page, and closes it. Dinah then enters the room and asks what he is going to do now. Oliver answers that Merlyn is still out there, and must be taken down, along with the entire Checkmate organization. He tells her that his father's dying wish was that Oliver make up for the damage that he did, and he will do just that by destroying Checkmate.
During the end credits, Amanda Waller (Nia Long) walks into her office, where Thomas Merlyn is there waiting for her. He tells her that he wants Checkmate to kill Oliver Queen, but she says that the organization has more important things to worry about. He tells her that Queen knows about Checkmate, but she tells him that he isn't the only one, and that Checkmate has been making a lot of new enemies lately, and they will soon be coming for their blood.
The End
Reception
The film was both a financial and critical success. It opened #1 in the box office in its opening weekend, and stayed there for 2 weeks. The film grossed a domestic total of $462,758,970.
The film garnered a 88% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praised the story and plot sequence, along with Sam Worthington's portrayal of the main character.