Written by Greg Berlanti And Michael Green And Mark Guggenheim And Michael Goldenberg
Directed by Martin Campbell
Hal: "I, Hal Jordan, do solemnly swear to pledge allegiance to a lantern that I got from a dying purple alien in a swamp."
It was a matter of time for me to revisit this one. For all the divisiveness that the DC Extended Universe generated in the last decade, things could've been even rockier had this movie been the one to have kicked off that particular universe. Is it as bad as originally believed? Hmm, let's get into it.
To start with you get a fairly quick look at the Green Lantern Corps lore almost immediately as fallen Lantern Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison) sacrificed himself in order to stop the deadly Parallax (Clancy Brown) but were his efforts in vain?
That's the thing. On one hand, Abin Sur's power ring quickly found a successor in cocky but charming enough pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) but likewise Parallax found a vessel in his own in disgruntled scientist Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard). Because of that, a clash over the fate of the planet between the two was inevitable but was Hal really up to the task of being a hero?
He certainly had his doubts about his own heroics and there was plenty of people, including family members and fellow pilots who questioned him a different points in the movie. He also had a best friend in Thomas Kalmaku (Taika Waititi) wowed by the Lantern side of things and then there was Carol Ferris (Blake Lively) herself.
Yes, she's the childhood sweetheart, on-off girlfriend and general confidant for Hal. There's a good rapport between Carol and Hal made the more complicated with Hector being an embittered admirer of her. She got Hal to step up as a hero but she wasn't the only one. Of course I'm talking about the Green Lantern Corps themselves.
The group of characters selected here were Sinestro (Mark Strong), Kilowog (Michael Clarke Duncan), Tomar-Re (Geoffrey Rush). They challenged Hal, had their doubts about him and even embraced him on Oa when the cocky pilot defeated Hammond and Parallax. I actually liked their scenes.
I guess the element that was the weakest was Parallax and Hammond. Neither are particularly awful villains but both felt somewhat slight and almost a bit too speedily dealt with. Hammond in particular had one of the most underwhelming defeats in a DC comic book movie.
- Angela Bassett popped up as Amanda Waller, who was in a more scientific role here.
- A post credit sequence set up Sinestro to be corrupted by Parallax for a sequel that never materialised.
- Tim Robbins also appeared as Hector's father and he got a rather fiery demise.
- Chronology: Present day with flashbacks to a younger Hal and his father in 1993.
Maybe time has been kinder to this movie or I'm in a generous mood but Green Lantern wasn't awful. It's serviceable at best and Ryan Reynolds does a decent job as Hal Jordan. Even the effects aren't that jarring tbh.
Rating: 6 out of 10
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