Green Arrow II is a 2021 DC Comics film directed by Gore Verbinski, and the sequel to the 2020 blockbuster Green Arrow. Travis Fimmel returns as the title role, along with Emily VanCamp returning as Dinah Lance. Joining the cast is Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain Count Vertigo.
Cast[]
- Travis Fimmel as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow
- Benedict Cumberbatch as Count Werner Vertigo
- Emily VanCamp as Dinah Lance
- Jeffrey Wright as Captain Roger Quentin
- Ivana Milicevic as Isabel Rochev
- Kelsey Grammer as Walter Steele
- William Fichtner as Larry Lance
- Eddie Cahill as Nick Bertinelli
Armie Hammer has a brief, uncredited cameo as Bruce Wayne.
Plot[]
The film opens immediately after Justice League, as Oliver is hanging up his bow and arrows. Dinah enters the room and asks what he intends on doing now. He tells her that everything is back to normal, and that he plans on living a normal life again. She asks him if he is sure that he will be able to do that, being that he hasn't had a normal life in over three years, since before he was marooned on the island. He admits that it will indeed be a struggle, but that he can do it with her help. The two of them kiss.
Count Werner Vertigo is then shown at immigration customs at the Star City airport. The authorities ask him what he intends to do in America, and he says that he hears that it is the land of opportunity, and he is looking for new opportunity since he no longer has any in his home country of Vlatava. They begin taunting him about how he was banished from his throne. He is clearly angered at their taunts, but holds back his anger. After a while, they approve his passport and allow him to go. He leaves, but then puts his hand against the wall of the room. The guards' vision becomes blurred and they cannot stand. They all fall to the ground in pain, and Count Vertigo walks away with a smirk.
A Queen Financial Corp function on a yacht is then shown. Oliver and Dinah are speaking with Walter Steele, the company's CEO and former best friend of Robert Queen. Walter expresses his joy at Oliver joining the company full time, and tells him how proud his father would be. Oliver thanks him, but then clearly has difficulties, so he goes out to stand on the dock. As he looks into the water, he has flashbacks of when the ship sank and he and his father had to make it onto the lifeboat. As he recalls the traumatizing events, he is approached by someone who he nearly hits due to his instability. He apologizes, and the woman introduces herself as Isabel Rochev. He recognizes her name, and remembers that she owns 20% of Queen Financial Corp. She begins talking about how his father was an inspiration to her, and how she hopes to return the favor by helping to grow his company. He thanks her, and Dinah walks out to see if Oliver is alright. Isabel introduces herself to her, and Dinah appears to be threatened by Isabel's beauty.
That night, Oliver has a nightmare about his time on the island, and then about having to murder Merlyn. When Dinah tries to wake him up, he nearly strikes her, much like he previously did with Isabel. He leaves the house and goes for a ride on his motorcycle to clear his head. After he leaves, Dinah gets a text from her father, Larry, who asks her to meet.
Meanwhile, Count Vertigo meets with Nick Bertinelli, a Star City gangster. Bertinelli tells the Count that his people have intel about the jewels that the Count has come to Star City to retrieve. The Count asks where the jewels are, but Bertinelli demands that he pay them more for that information. Vertigo then begins telling Bertinelli the story about how when he was a boy, he would get severe headaches, and they would sometime appear close to fatal. After a while, a doctor performed a very risky surgery on him, in which a microchip was implanted in his brain to reduce the headaches. The headaches stopped, but as a result of the microchip, the Count then realized that he could cause severe pain in other people just by using his head, and giving them vertigo, which was why his father started calling him Vertigo. However, the people of Vlatava soon grew to see the Count as a threat to them, and the royal family took it upon themselves to banish him to protect their own people. The count then puts his hands on the shoulders of two of Bertinelli's henchmen, and they both fall to the ground in severe pain. Bertinelli surrenders to the Count, and reveals that the jewels are in the Star City Museum of Natural History, but not on display, rather in the storage unit. The Count thanks Bertinelli, and then tells him that he never wants to see him again, before leaving.
Oliver rides his motorcycle through Star City, and comes across three thugs trying to rape a young girl. He gets off of the motorcycle and begins savagely beating the thugs to a pulp, while also having flashbacks of fighting Deathstroke. He musters up the strength to stop himself once he realizes that one of the thugs is on the brink of death. He leaves the site, and sits to himself, worrying about his own sanity.
Count Vertigo and his henchmen break into the Star City Museum of Natural History to look for the jewels. After searching for a while (and taking out multiple security guards) they find that the jewels are nowhere to be found. The Count grabs a security guard and demands to be told where the jewels are located. The guard has no idea what he is talking about, so the Count kills him. He then tells one of his henchmen to get him in touch with their "friend".
The next morning, Dinah is watching the news reporting on the museum break in, when Oliver finally returns home. She is furious and asks what he was doing all night, and he tells her that he needed to clear his head. he then notices the news story, and seems interested when they mention that the guards' cause of death is currently unknown, but they all were bleeding from their ears.
Oliver then goes into his gym, and begins shooting targets with his bow. Dinah asks if he will be investigating the break in, but he assures her that his days of being a vigilante are done. She tells him that ever since he gave up being the Green Arrow, he has been distant and very unpleasant, and he is beginning to worry her. He gets annoyed, and tells her that the Oliver she used to know is dead, and that he died in the shipwreck along with his father. He then says that he is now just an empty shell of what he used to be. She tells him that he is wrong, and that he knows who he is, he just refuses to accept it for some reason. He tells her that he isn't a hero and never was, he just wanted revenge for his father. She tells him that he is full of it, and then leaves.
Oliver then arrives at Queen Financial Corp., where he is happily greeted by Walter and several other executives. Walter soon begins bringing several plans of action for the company, but Oliver just asks about past indecencies of the company. Walter is confused, and Oliver points out that his father along with Thomas Merlyn committed several white collar crimes under the name of Queen Financial Corp., but Walter says that those days are done, and that the SEC and Federal Reserve have cleared the company of all charges. Oliver is aware, but points out that he needs to be sure that the company never gets into that again. Walter assures him that the company is completely legitimate, but Oliver clearly has difficulty trusting Walter.
Meanwhile, Dinah meets with her father, Larry, who is thrilled to see her. She tells him that she was surprised that he contacted her, and that it has been a while. He apologizes for becoming distant after her mother died, but tells her that he is ready to make it up to her. She tells him that she would appreciate that, and he then begins telling her that he may have found the man who killed her mother. She gets upset, and tells him that she thought he was there to put the past behind them, not to continue living in it. He asks her if she wants to see her mother's killer brought to justice, and she tells him that she does, but that it isn't their job to look into it. He points out that he was a cop, and she reminds him that he WAS a cop, but is not anymore, and he should let the real cops do their jobs. She then leaves in disappointment.
Oliver meets with Isabel, who goes over some day-to-day details about some of the company's business. However, Oliver is clearly still thinking about his discussion with Walter, and he asks Isabel how long she has known him. She is confused, but answers that she has known him for close to fifteen years, for as long as she has been involved with the company. He asks her if Walter has ever given her any reason to doubt him. She says no, but that she has been wrong about people before. Oliver then asks her how she got involved with the company. She tells him the story about how she was born in Russia, but that her parents died when she was young, and she was sent to live in an orphanage, where she remained for nearly her entire childhood. When she was fifteen, Robert Queen arrived at the orphanage and gave them all brand new clothes, toys, and many other things, and she met him and asked him questions about himself. After meeting him, she decided that she wanted to be just like him. When she came of age, she left Russia and emigrated to America, and found work to put herself through college. After she graduated, she found Robert Queen, whom she was surprised to find out that he remembered her very well. He then gave her a job at the company, and she worked her way up to where she is now. She then tells Oliver that his father was a great man, and that she owes her life to him. Oliver then tells her that everyone keeps talking about how great a man Robert Queen was, but that there are several things they do not know about him. She then tells him, "Человек может делать необыкновенные вещи, но он по-прежнему человек", which he understands is Russian for "A man can do extraordinary things, but he is still just a man." She is pleasantly surprised to know that Oliver speaks Russian. She then tells him that she sees a lot of his father in him, and begins rubbing his leg seductively, but they are interrupted by his secretary. Oliver thanks Isabel for her help, and she smiles at him as she walks away.
Oliver then begins looking into Walter's history, but cannot find anything incriminating on him. He then picks up his bow and thinks long and hard to himself. Meanwhile, one of the Count's henchmen tells him that their "friend" is working on finding the real location now. The Count then turns his attention to Nick Bertinelli, who is tied to a chair. The Count tells him that he is very angry that he gave them the wrong location of the jewels, but Nick begs for his life and swears that the jewels were there, and that someone must have moved them. The Count puts his hand on Nick's shoulder, and Nick begins screaming out in pain for a while until blood comes out of his ears and he dies.
The next day, Oliver finds out about the murder of Nick Bertinelli, and sees that he also had blood come out of his ears, just as the guards from the museum. Dinah walks in on him training in his gym, and asks him why he isn't at the office. He tells her about Bertinelli, and how whoever this killer is, he is proving to be a threat to Star City. Dinah figures out that he is considering re-doning the green hood, and tells him that she thinks it is a good idea. She then tells him about her father coming back into town, and how it made her feel, but then turns around and sees that he was focused on his training and didn't hear what she was saying. She gets annoyed, and he tells her that he thought she wanted him to go back to being a vigilante, and she corrects him and says that she wants the old Oliver back, and she thought that him being the Green Arrow would do that, but now she sees that the old Oliver really did die in the shipwreck.
That night, a bunch of street thugs are in the middle of a drug deal, when all of a sudden, an arrow hits one of them in the knee. All of them are shocked, and try running away. However, Green Arrow appears and beats up all of them. He then grabs one and asks about the man who killed Nick Bertinelli. The thug says that he doesn't know about that, but that he knows that Bertinelli was doing some type of business deal with a count from a foreign country.
Dinah meets with her father again, and apologizes for storming out on him. She then asks about his investigation into her mother's death. He shows her evidence on the murder, and points out that the bullet that killed her was laced with curare, which is the M.O. of an international assassin known as 'Deadshot'. Dinah asks what an assassin would have wanted with her, and Larry tells her that there is a lot about her mother that neither of them know, as he has come to find recently.
Oliver goes undercover in a bar to meet with a man named 'Matches Malone'. When he and Mr. Malone are alone, the mysterious man is revealed to be Bruce Wayne, who had to go to great strengths to subtly go to Star City to meet with Oliver. Oliver asks if he has the information that he requested. Bruce tells Oliver that Count Werner Vertigo, from the country of Vlatava, arrived in Star City a few weeks prior under the radar after being banished from Vlatava. Oliver asks why he would be killing people in Star City, and Bruce tells him that the only connections he could make were that hundreds of years ago, rare jewels were stolen from the Count's ancestors, and that rumor has it that the jewels are now in Star City. Oliver realizes that this must have been the reason he broke in to the museum. Oliver then asks Bruce how the Count could have arrived in Star City under the radar, and Bruce tells him that someone had to have helped him out.
Later, Green Arrow breaks into the Star City airport to check the databases from when the Count arrived in Star City. However, he finds that the immigration custom files have been mysteriously deleted, and becomes frustrated. Meanwhile, one of the Count's henchmen tell him that their "friend" has found the jewels. The Count smiles and they leave. Green Arrow then hears over a police scanner at the airport that there has been an attack, and that the victims reportedly have blood coming out of their ears. He then takes off to find the Count.
Count Vertigo and his henchmen are finally able to get hold of the jewels, but they are soon met by Green Arrow. The Count tells him that he has heard the stories about the Green Arrow, and how he had a hand in saving the country in the attack on Washington. He then mocks him and says he is flattered that he found his way back to Star City just for him. Green Arrow tells him that he refuses to let him leave Star City with the jewels. The Count tells him that the jewels are rightfully his, and that he will use him to get back in the good graces of the Vlatava royal family. The henchmen attack Green Arrow, but he easily takes down all of them. The Count tries to escape, but Green Arrow fires an arrow at the jewels, knocking them out of his hand. The Count then grabs Green Arrow's shoulder, and his head begins ringing with pain. He falls to the ground, but before the Count can finish him off, the police arrive, so he runs away. Green Arrow barely makes it away in time.
Oliver arrives back at his house in agonizing pain, and Dinah finds him barely gripping to life. He is able to direct her to the medical supplies that he keeps in the house, and she uses the defibrillator to stabilize his heart rate. She successfully saves his life. When he wakes up, he apologizes to Dinah for his distance from her, and then asks about her father's investigation into Deadshot. She is surprised and confused about how he knew about Deadshot, and he tells her that he supplied her father with the evidence. She asks how he got it, and he tells her that he has a friend who is pretty much the world's greatest detective. She thanks him for his concern and for his help.
Oliver later arrives at the office, where he is met by a representative from the IRS. The rep asks him about a mysterious $5.6 million investment that the company recently made. Oliver doesn't recognize the investment, and asks why this has the government's interest. The rep then tells him that the money may be traceable to an illegal transfer to the Star City airport. Oliver then connects the dots, and realizes that someone in the company is behind the Count's arrival in Star City. He tells the rep that the IRS will have his full cooperation in the investigation, and then looks suspiciously at Walter.
That night, Walter walks into his penthouse apartment, but the electricity is not working. He checks the powerbox, and is stunned to see an arrow in it. He quickly turns and Green Arrow shoves him against the wall. Green Arrow asks about his partnership with Count Vertigo, but Walter swears that he has no idea what he is talking about and that he doesn't know who Count Vertigo is. Green Arrow then gets agressive with him and tells him that a $5.6 million transfer was made in order to erase the legal evidence of the Count's arrival in Star City, but Walter swears to him that he was not behind the transfer. Green Arrow asks him who was, but he still swears that he has no idea at all what is going on and that he doesn't know who was involved in the transfer.
Oliver goes back to the house and questions whether or not Walter was telling the truth. Dinah asks him why he doesn't believe Walter, and Oliver tells her that Walter worked with his father while Queen Financial Corp. ruined the lives of multiple people in Star City. She points out that most of that was Merlyn's doing, and that for all he knows, Walter was oblivious to all of it. Oliver still suspects Walter, and leaves to check evidence in the office.
He searches through Walter's office, but cannot find anything incriminating. He is soon surprised to see Isabel there, who asks what he is doing in Walter's office. He tells her that someone from the IRS came earlier that day with some questions about a shady transfer that the company made, and he is trying to get to the bottom of it. She asks him why he doesn't just let the IRS worry about it, and he says that he concerns himself when it involves his father's company. She then wraps her arm around him and begins seducing him. She commends him for his valiant efforts to protect his father's name, and then kisses him. She then invites him to join her back at her place for the night. He then comes to a realization, and asks why she isn't more concerned about the matter, and why she is trying to get him out of the office. She laughs and tells him that she wants him, but he doesn't believe her. She continues seducing him and asks why he is so concerned about $5.6 million when he has billions of dollars. He points out that he never mentioned how much money the transfer was. Realizing that he is on to her, Isabel tries to kill him, but he knocks her to the ground. He then asks her why she helped Count Vertigo, and she admits that the plan was to have the Count murder Oliver in exchange for Isabel finding the jewels for him, and then have Isabel buy out Oliver's shares in the company. Oliver tells her that she is a horrible person, and that she let multiple people die just so she could gain more personally. She yells at him and says that the company was rightfully hers, as she was the love of Robert Queen's life. He asks what she is talking about, and she tells him that when she first came to America, Robert took her on as his protege and the two of them fell in love, and had an affair. He promised her that he would leave his wife for her, but then she fell ill and died soon after, and Robert felt that being with another woman would dishonor her memory, so he ended their relationship. She then tells him that she now wants the company that is rightfully hers. He demands that she tell him where Count Vertigo is, but she refuses. He then apologizes for what his father did to her, but points out that the Count is dangerous and needs to be stopped. She finally gives in and says that now that he has the jewels, he'll be coming after Oliver. Oliver then realizes that Dinah is most likely in danger.
As Oliver rushes back to the house, the Count arrives first, and asks Dinah where Oliver is. She begins using her martial arts skills to fight off his henchmen, and is successful at it, but the Count grabs her throat and uses his power on her, causing her go through excruciating pain. Oliver finally arrives, grabs his bow, and shoots an arrow at the Count's shoulder, forcing him to release Dinah. The Count runs after Oliver, who continues shooting arrows at him, but misses due to his vision being blurred thanks to the Count. The Count knocks the bow out of this hand and the two begin fighting each other. After the two duel for a while, the Count presses his hands against Oliver and uses his power against him again. However, Dinah tosses him an arrow, and Oliver drives the arrow through the Count's chest, killing him.
The next day, Dinah is getting checked up on at the hospital, and the doctor tells her that he has no idea how she is still alive, as she experienced enough of the Count's effects to kill her, but somehow she survived. Her father then arrives, and tells her that he throwing away his investigation. She asks why, and he tells her that she almost died, and he realized that he can't lose the other most important person in his life after losing her mother, so he wants to spend the rest of his life mending his relationship with her. She thanks her father for caring so much, but tells him that she wants whomever this Deadshot guy is brought to justice, and that she will help her father find him. He smiles and they embrace, as Oliver watches on with a smile.
The next day, Oliver goes to see Walter and apologizes for doubting him. Walter tells him not to worry about it, and that he had every right to worry about the company. He shakes Oliver's hand and tells him that his father would be proud of him. Oliver then tells Walter that he has realized that the business world isn't exactly right for him, and that he will be leaving Walter in charge of everything for now. Walter is surprised, and asks Oliver if he is sure about this decision. Oliver tells him that he is sure, and that he has found something else that deserves his full attention for the time being. He is then shown in his lair, assembling his arrows, putting on his mask, and then flipping his hood over his head.
During the end credits, a man (Aaron Paul) is shown sitting in a bar, apparently waiting for someone. An unseen man is then shown sitting next to him, and asks if his name is Floyd Lawton, but he says that it depends on who is asking. The mystery man tells him that he has a job for him, and Lawton says that it will cost him a lot of money. The man then offers him something more valuable than money, and Lawton asks what it is. The man says that he can offer him full immunity for his past crimes. Lawton laughs and tells him that he is a wanted fugitive in eight different countries, and that no one man could give him immunity in eight different countries. The man tells him that he is not like other men, and Lawton asks how so. The man then reveals himself as Slade Wilson (Stephen Lang), alive and well, and tells him that he will need to follow him to find out. Slade then offers his hand for Lawton to shake, which he finally does. Slade then tells him: "Welcome to the squad, Deadshot".
The End
Reception[]
The film was met with mixed to negative reviews, with many critics calling it the worst of the DC Cinematic Universe. Kris Perry of the Rolling Stone wrote that "the film fails to match the level of suspense and excitement that the first Green Arrow film succeeded so much on." It is currently rated at 49% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Despite the critical reaction, the film was still a box office success, grossing $974,323,157 from around the world in the box office.