Green Lantern (2011)

Movie Info

I probably should give this to someone else…like a good actor…

A creature called Parallax has escaped its prison and mortally wounded his captor Abin Sur of the Green Lantern Corps.  Fleeing to Earth, Abin Sur finds a replacement in Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) and now if Hal Jordan can pass his training in the Green Lantern Corps, he might be the only hope for Earth.  However, Hal is finding difficulties at home.  No one seems to be taking him seriously including his love and employer Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), and Parallax has agents on Earth as well with his seed planted within a man named Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) whose resentment toward his father (Tim Robbins) and the world could spell Earth’s doom.

Directed by Martin Campbell, Green Lantern adapts the popular DC Comics character and one of DC’s first big ventures into live action adaptations.  The movie went through tons of development changes and was even considered a possible comedy for a time.  The movie was converted to 3D for its release.  The movie received negative reviews and barely made back its budget.

Why am I so lame!!!

Green Lantern was originally a character named Alan Scott and first appeared in All-American Comics #16 (July 1940).  In 1959, the character was relaunched as Hal Jordan in Showcase #22 (September 1959) as part of DC’s Silver Age, and the character became one of DC’s more recognizable characters do to cartoon series.  Many younger viewers however are more familiar with Hal Jordan’s replacements Guy Gardner (who first appeared in Green Lantern (2) #59 (March 1968)), John Stewart (who first appeared in Green Lantern (2) #87 (December 1971) and also was a founding member of the animated Justice League), and Kyle Rayner (who first appeared in Green Lantern (3) #48 (January 1994)).

The fact that Green Lantern failed wasn’t that big of a surprise, but it was a disappointment.  He is one of my favorite DC characters, and Hal Jordan is probably my favorite of the Lanterns.  I love the Green Lantern’s powers and always found it very creative.

I’m going to be awesome in the sequel…awe crap.

Despite being creative, it is also pretty goofy.  As indicated even in the movie, using a race car to save someone is just weird and kind of dumb.  The ring has the power of the wearer’s imagination…and Ryan Reynold’s imagination should have been left behind.

Ryan Reynolds is box office poison.  None of his movies seem to perform to the level they should, and he probably should be to blame (weirdly enough, he was the best part of X-Men Origins:  Wolverine as Deadpool).  He is backed up by the also acting-challenged Blake Lively, and the polarizing Peter Sarsgaard (critics and fans either liked or hated him).  I’m always an Angela Bassett fan and fun to see her as Amanda Waller (a doctor in the version…played by Pam Grier in Smallville).  Tim Robbins played a nice jerky Robert Hammond, and Sinestro is a great character, who obviously was supposed to be a major part of the sequel, played nicely by Mark Strong.  Geoffrey Rush and Michael Clarke Duncan give life to Tomar-Re and Kilowog while Clancy Brown provides the voice for Parallax.

It doesn’t help Ryan Reynolds that the script for Green Lantern is also so unnecessarily convoluted.  It seems like a rather simple story, but the decision to do the whole Parallax story was a mistake.  If the filmmakers wanted to establish future movies, DC should have learned their lesson and established the idea of Parallax for a big blow-out battle in the third film…or second with Sinestro being the third.

Green Lantern was a disappointment.  Now with plans of a Justice League movie, it will be interesting to see what DC will do.  Will they scrap this film, recast Ryan Reynolds, or use a different Lantern like John Stewart?  I think the last option is probably the best idea, but only the future will tell.

Related Links:

Green Lantern:  First Flight (2009)

Green Lantern:  Emerald Knights (2011)