GREEN LANTERN (2011)

GREEN LANTERN (2011)

Tagline: In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight, let those who worship evil's might, beware my power, Green Lantern's Light.

(Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi) [PG-13]

You don't think I would recognize you because I can't see your cheekbones? What is this? Why is your skin green? Why are you glowing? What the hell is with that mask?

Okay, so there are a ton of maligned comic book films on the “let's bash this director's metaphorical face in” circuit, but none seem to rival what this film ended up being. I don’t know, maybe that’s a great topic for discussion…what was the most hated superhero movie in the last 20 years? Even Ryan Reynolds (who plays Hal Jordan/Green Lantern) hated the movie. So much that he even takes digs at it as DEADPOOL. Fans also hated this freakin thing, it barely cleared it budget at the box office, but likely lost a ton of money, because typically your box office needs to be triple what your budget was to make any money. As a film that was set to launch the whole JUSTICE LEAGUE, this movie flopped and flopped hard. Apparently, they did try to get Zack Snyder to direct this, but he turned it down. He did later take the director’s job for MAN OF STEEL and the rest is DC history. 

In this one, there is a group of protectors from all around the galaxy called the Green Lantern Corps and they all have green rings that give them the ability to conjure up whatever they want. You want a taco, bam, you can conjure up a big giant taco. You just can’t eat it, because it’s made out of green energy stuff. Anyway, one of the members of the Corps, Abin Sur, gets in an accident and Hal Jordan, a cocky test pilot gets selected by the ring to become one of the Green Lantern Corps. Hal Jordan was basically dumped by his girlfriend Carol Ferris and his friend and rival or sorts Hector Hammond (played incredibly by  Peter Sarsgaard) is turning into a bobble-head from hell, and now he’s got to deal with this crazy space alien called Parallax who feeds on fear. Can Hal embrace his new role as a guardian of the universe or will he let his fear overtake him? 

I didn’t like this movie as much until after watching both DEADPOOL movies. I think in this Ryan Reynolds is playing a DEADPOOL type character only he’s a lot less crude and off-putting as the GREEN LANTERN. Yep, I said it. Because of DEADPOOL, GREEN LANTERN as a superhero is far more likable and acceptable personality-wise. I can’t quite explain it, but these are just my thoughts on this. Tim Robbins as Hammond just feels miss-cast. The storyline I thought was actually pretty fun and cool, but a lot like DOCTOR STRANGE, the villain being so incredibly powerful right off the bat might have been too early a swing for the fences if this was going to be the start of what we know now as the DC Universe. 

We do get some good pacing, but it's possible fans were turned off by some of the departures from the comics or the elephant in the room. A big annoying issue with this movie is that 90% of the CGI is mind-blowing and really incredible. Where this thing just totally dropped the ball is the whacky CGI suit they have GREEN LANTERN wearing. On every other character, the glowing CGI suits look just fine, but on him especially at the collar, it’s just rough. I think they may have been better off just throwing a “real” collar on him and then having the CGI go up to that rather than to his neck. As it is, it just looks really strange as does the CGI mask they gave him. There was also a strange decision regarding Doctor Waller aka (Amanda Waller from SUICIDE SQUAD) which was really strange since she barely gets introduced in this film. 

I can’t say I loved this movie, I have watched it 2 times in 10 years and didn’t bother buying it. Aside from that, I own every other DCU movie. So that should tell you something. I do however like this movie and don’t think it gets the credit it deserves. Even while this thing is taking its beating for various reasons, I am going to go a different route and give it a 4 out of 7. A few minor changes could have put this over the top for me into the 5 range. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF WARNER BROS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.  

Please check out the link below by clicking on the picture. Because no one should die buttonless. Until next time.