In 2011, Warner Bros. and DC Comics released the blockbuster Green Lantern film to virtually universal disaster. Receiving only a 26% on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie was quickly shot down by critics and audiences alike, with people complaining of awful CGI, awkward acting, and convoluted story. But does it deserve that much hate?
I do not claim that the movie is a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, and it is plagued by several issues, but I don’t believe it deserves all the hate that it has garnered. If people are willing to forgive Ryan Reynolds for his role in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and give him the chance to be awesome in the new Deadpool movie, then I don’t see why we can’t give him a second chance to be awesome in a new Green Lantern film. It is not beyond the ability of an actor to play the same role in two different movies, one well and one not so well. And with the new Justice League movie set to arrive in less than a month, and no Hal Jordan in sight, I think it’s time we talked about some of the things Green Lantern did right.
First, let’s talk about Hal Jordan. For those who might not know, Hal Jordan was introduced in the Silver Age as the first human to join the Green Lantern Corps: an intergalactic peace keeping force with the charge of watching over all 3,600 sectors in the universe. Each Green Lantern is given a power ring, which gives them the ability to create whatever their mind envisions out of energy.
In the movie, Hal is portrayed by Ryan Reynolds. After leaving his nephew’s birthday party, Hal is caught up in a sphere of green energy and brought to the crashed starship of Abin Sur (played by Temuera Morrison), Green Lantern of Sector 2814, where he is given the fallen Lantern’s power ring. Hal’s reaction to both the dying alien and the new world he is thrust into is realistic: a mix of fear, intrigue, and wonder.
His small, simple world has suddenly expanded into one far larger than anything he has ever imagined, and Reynolds plays the part perfectly. He runs the entire gauntlet from excitement at his new powers, to fear of this new responsibility, and to victory over that fear to vanquish his foe. Many have complained about the accuracy of the character, and sure, there are deviations from the comics, but that’s the point of an adaptation.
There must be changes in order to make it work, and in all honesty, this is a change that was rather welcome. In the comics, Hal has no transition period. He goes from test pilot to Lantern in the span of a single issue, leaving very little in the way of character development at all.
Then there’s the CGI. Now, I will concede that the decision to make the Green Lantern uniforms completely computer generated was a misstep, but the rest of it was quite beautiful, especially the constructs. The core aspect of the Green Lantern Corps is their ability to make constructs from their rings, and the constructs in the movie are gorgeous, giving a perfect visual to this idea of matter being formed from pure energy.
And while many may argue that the design of the villain was a bit over the top and not all that visually interesting, I would argue that, for what he was, the graphic artists did quite well, as well as the design of Oa and the other Green Lanterns.
Is Green Lantern a flawed movie? Absolutely. Is it the worst movie? I don’t believe so. Does it deserve all the hate it’s gotten over the years? Not in the slightest. Despite its flaws, I believe that there was a real gem of a movie just trying to get out. Will Justice League give us the Green Lantern we wanted in that movie? Or will we have to wait for Warner Bros. to get their act together and give us another go to bring the Emerald Knights back to the silver screen?
Ah, who are we kidding? The odds of Warner Bros actually releasing a new Green Lantern movie are about the same as Michael Bay doing a Dora the Explorer movie.
