Green Lantern (2011) Movie Review

Run Time: 1h 54m

IMDb: 5.5/10

Rotten Tomato: 25%

Budget: $200 million

Box Office: $220 million

“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!”

If you ask a kid what superhero they would become if they had the chance, most likely, the answer would be Superman, Batman, or Spider-Man. But for me, it has always been Green Lantern. I grew up watching John Stewart’s Green Lantern from the animated TV series like Justice League (2001) and Justice League Unlimited (2004). Man! Green Lantern has the coolest power, doesn’t he? As a kid, I always wished to have a ring like Green Lantern does.

So, I was pretty excited to watch Green Lantern’s first-ever live-action appearance (Justice League of America doesn’t count). And the movie disappointed me. Let’s talk about it.

Table of Contents

Plot

The movie is about Hal Jordan (played by Ryan Reynolds), a talented but reckless test pilot and more or less irresponsible person. He becomes the first human being to join the Green Lantern Corps—an intergalactic peacekeeper. After the death of Abin Sur, his magical ring chooses Hal to be his successor. Hal Jordan struggles with his new responsibilities as a Green Lantern.

On the other side, scientist Hector Hammond (played by Peter Sarsgaard) gets infected by the yellow energy of fear from the Parallax while examining the corpse of Abin and gains superpowers like telepathy and telekinesis. And he’s the villain of the film; at least one of the villains. The movie introduces the entity Parallax as the main villain who threatens to destroy the Earth as well as the universe.

Will Hal Jordan be able to overcome his insecurities, harness the true power of the ring, and prove himself as a worthy Green Lantern by saving humanity?

Of course, he will. That’s how superhero movies work.

What I liked in this movie

To tell you the truth, I can barely find anything that I really liked in this movie. I mean, of course, I always wanted a live-action movie of Green Lantern, and to be honest, I kind of enjoyed it on my first watch. C’mon, the best live-action Green Lantern I’d seen earlier was in Justice League of America (1997). It felt kind of cool to see all the action scenes where Green Lantern fights villains or saves people using the ring.

Also, I liked Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan. The guy may not be proud of playing the character, but I think it kind of suited him. He looked like the exact Hal I would imagine in a movie.

Well, I guess those are the only two things I felt relatively good about the movie.

What didn’t I like in this movie

Special Effects: In modern days, when VFX and CGI have reached their peak and are capable of giving a hyper-realistic vibe, we see a bunch of B-grade 3D cartoon scenes in the Green Lantern movie. I didn’t expect to see these poor-quality special effects in a movie coming out in 2011 with a huge budget of $200 million. It was disappointing.

Character Development: The movie seriously suffers in that part. The writing was pretty bad, gotta say that. Too many characters are introduced within its 1h 54m runtime. And you know what happens when you stuff too much meat on a small pan—none of it cooks properly. Green Lantern is no different here. So many badly baked plots and characters. Not even a single character has their background story or motivation towards their actions explained properly. As a result, I struggled to find any sort of connection with any character or plot. That’s just… sad.

Parallax: In the Green Lantern movie, Parallax is introduced as the main supervillain, and I think it was a terrible idea for Green Lantern’s origin movie. It’s like bringing Thanos as the villain in The Avengers (2012). In the comics, the entity Parallax was so powerful that it took a bunch of DC’s mightiest superheroes to defeat him. But in Green Lantern, Parallax appeared and was defeated like a joke, which pissed me off. I would have loved to see only Hector Hammond or Sinestro as the villain in the first movie and Parallax somewhere in a Green Lantern sequel. In this way, all of that would make sense.

Carol Ferris: I can’t believe they wanted to build a cinematic universe on the movie. The character of Carol Ferris (played by Blake Lively), the love interest of Hal Jordan, got barely any space throughout the entire film. Let alone the exploration of their romantic aspects. I don’t get it. If they really wanted a sequel to this, Carol would most likely become Star Sapphire in that movie (Star Sapphire is one of Green Lantern’s villains). So, they should’ve made the base of the character stronger, no? The romantic portion of the Green Lantern movie is probably the most unromantic period of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively’s lives as a couple.

Suit: God! I hate that animated cartoonish suit of Hal Jordan. Well, not just Hal, the suits of the entire Green Lantern Corps. I guess, so does Ryan himself, as he said in Deadpool (2016), “Just don’t make the super-suit green or animated.” I have no idea what kind of suit I’d love in Green Lantern’s live-action movie. But I am sure what kind of suit I’d always hate… Cartoonish animated suit!

I have a couple more things in my mind that I didn’t like in the movie. But, I guess I already have said enough negative things about it.

Who should watch and who shouldn’t

I think Green Lantern (2011) is a perfect movie for kids. The movie is fast-paced, PG-13, has an easy-to-understand narrative, and most importantly, a completely cartoonish vibe (:p) which I think almost every kid would enjoy. If your kid (or you) loves softcore action movies, then I am pretty sure he/she (or you) will enjoy it.

But if you are one of those serious audiences, I think the movie isn’t worth your time. Rewatch Deadpool or some other Reynolds movies instead. Your time will be spent well.

Also, if you are somewhat of a crazy DC fan, I know for a fact that you’ve already watched the movie and hated it.