For as long as I can remember, I wasn’t the biggest Green Lantern Fan. I didn’t know much about the characters, but I had read some 0f the comics. I enjoyed a few of them, but I wasn’t amazed by most of them. I think the main reason I never dived straight into the Green Lantern universe is because, in the comics, Bruce Wayne and Hal Jordan HATE each other. As stupid a reason as that is, this is a common trait among Batman fans. However, that all changed when DC Comics announced that Green Lantern was finally getting his own movie.
I guess Warner Brothers, who owns DC, was waiting for the Harry Potter series to end so they can start adapting DC Superheroes that aren’t Batman or Superman. I remember being so excited for the movie, but not because I wanted to see a Green Lantern movie. I was excited because an A-List DC superhero, who isn’t Batman or Superman, was finally coming to the silver screen. This excitement, as it usually does with movies based on comics, lead to me reading more Green Lantern based comics, and finally making Green Lantern one of my favorite characters in comics today. GreenLanternMaina was following through my veins so much I started to turn green.
The best Green Lantern comics I’ve read are the recent ones penned by the Green Lantern master himself: Geoff Johns. His books really capture what makes Green Lantern one of the coolest characters around. I’d recommend Secret Origins above all, its an excellent read! Reading those books, and discovering all there is to the Green Lantern universe, were the best things to come out of the GreenLanternMaina. The worst part of it all, which i’m sad to report, was the thing at the center of the Green Lantern craze……the movie itself.
Green Lantern, which is loosely based on Geoff Johns Secret Origins comic, focuses on the first Human member of the Green Lantern Corps: Hal Jordan. Hal is a cocky test pilot who spends his days flying planes, swooning girls, which includes his boss Carol Ferris, chilling out at home, and remembering the day his Dad died in a plane crash. One day he is given a powerful green ring by a dying alien named Abin Sur. Hal has to take over for Abin Sur, and become a Green Lantern. Hal is hesitant to take the Job, and even quits at one point, only to return at the end of the movie to fight for peace and justice in sector 2814.
I don’t think I’ve ever been this disappointed in a movie in my entire life. This movie was such a mess, and rushed like crazy. There were even points that it seemed they forgot to film certain parts to have a scene make sense. one of my biggest problems with the movie was the script. The story wasn’t interesting, it lacked heart, and the dialog was terrible. Plus, the tone in the movie was all over the place. At times it was a serious superhero flick, and others it felt like I was watching Superhero movie all over again. What was worse is that this movie had so much potential to be spectacular, but it just failed miserably.
Its kind of like The first Hulk movie with Eric Bana. That movie had a lot of potential, and it just didn’t deliver. Having said all of that, I did like a few things about the movie. The performances were actually not bad, minus Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond. Sarsgaard is usually a great actor, but his performance in this was just not at all good. The best in the film was Mark Strong as Thaal Sinestro. He really delivered a great performance, but was so under-used, and so poorly written.
Ryan Reynolds, whom got fanboys pissed off when he was cast, was actually pretty good. There were times when he was just playing himself, but he actually did very well. Blake Lively did decent enough with her performance, and she looks a lot better as a brunette in my opinion. The special effects were actually spectacular. The suit, which also got fans freaking out, actually looked great in the final product. Its just sad that all those neat special effects were wasted on such a bad movie. Over all, if you can’t tell, I hated this movie. Its not as bad as Catwoman, Jonah Hex, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, or X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but it could easily be in the same ballpark. I would give this film a 2/5, but the disappointment is to large in scale for that to happen.
I give Green Lantern 1 depressed DC Comics fan out of 5.
PS If you want a great GL experience, just read the Secret Origins Comic. Its actually a great re-telling of Hal Jordan’s origin story. Hopefully the inevitable reboot is better. If anyone deserves a great movie adaptation…Its Green Lantern!
(The review was written by Richard L. Purnell from Channel23hahaha on Youtube)