I never thought in a million years that I would get to see a live action Green Lantern movie. Of all of the members of the Justice League, he was the one character that seemed to be the least familiar and the hardest to develop into a stand-alone film. Add to that the fact that pretty much all of the Green Lantern's powers come out of the ring meaning that the special effects would have to be such that they are believable and that most of the film would be using a ton of effects. Luckily the technology is now available to make this a reality and therefore we now have Green Lantern in his own film. My hope is that this might lead to additional individual films for each member of the Justice League leading up to a Justice League movie, just like Marvel has done with the members of the Avengers leading up to the Avengers movie due out next year. I'll keep my fingers crossed for that, but in the meantime lets discuss their current effort of Green Lantern.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Green Lantern, he is a member of a larger group called the Green Lantern Corps. They are an organization created by the Guardians of the Universe that patrol the entire galaxy to maintain balance and uphold justice throughout the universe. Each Green Lantern is proved a special ring that allows the Lantern to create anything they can imagine. You see, the ring is powered by willpower and the things it constructs are only as powerful as the willpower of the Lantern using it. This film deals primarily with the first human Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, and also gives us a great introduction to the Green Lantern Corps, the Guardians, and their worst enemy Parallax.
For the most part, I was quite pleased by the story they told about the origin of Earth's first Green Lantern. The casting of Ryan Reynolds was just about perfect, however the actor who stole the show for me was Mark Strong as Sinestro. I can't think of anyone else that could have come close to his performance. If only they had made him the villain of the film, however I hope that this one does well enough to warrant a sequel. In fact, the best parts of the entire film were those dealing with the Corps as a whole and all of the scenes filmed on the Lantern home world of Oa. If only they had kept the scenes involving Hal finding Abin Sur and his wrecked space craft and Hal finally accepting the ring, but when he travels to Oa to begin his training and learning about the Corps, the action should have remained there to have Hal and the entire corps battling Parallax then have Hal come back to Earth as it's protector. I just wasn't as impressed by the after Hal comes back from Oa when he decides that he doesn't want to accept the responsibility of becoming the Green Lantern. They could have just as easily created an origin story that took place on Oa and was only on Earth for the beginning and ending of the film. That being said, I was still incredibly impressed by what they did manage to put together and the overall story that they told. This was a good introduction to this amazing character but it is just the tip of the iceberg as to everything the Green Lantern can do and how essential he is to the safety of Earth and the Galaxy he helps to protect.
If you are any fan of Superman or Batman, you should go and check out this film. Keep in mind that Green Lantern is one of the seven founding members of the Justice League that includes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter. I can't tell you how much I hope and pray that we will not only get to see individual films for each of these characters, but also see them joined together in a Justice League movie. Give this film a chance, despite any bad reviews you might have seen, and immerse yourself in this incredible world. If this film doesn't do well, our chances of seeing more of these characters in their own films will vanish before they are even given the chance.
J.Chandler: B
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