Years ago I visited a comic convention in London with my siblings. Warner Bros. had Ryan Reynold’s mug plastered everywhere as they pushed Green Lantern, the next big thing from DC and—I’m paraphrasing here—possibly this generation’s Star Wars! My brother stood on a stage and recited the Green Lantern Corps oath to win some goodies whilst the four of us dressed in the Lantern colours with matching rings. We were all rather excited.
A few months later, none of us admitted that what we’d just seen was disappointing. Warner Bros. had already given us Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. So they couldn’t got wrong could they? We focused on the positives and moved on.
Years later, Green Lantern came up on the TV, so I thought I’d give it another go. They came back strong!
Green Lantern is a wasted opportunity and an utter lemon of a movie. From Jordan’s bodged origin story through to his oddly disembodied head, it completely misses the mark. The entire Green Lantern Corps could fly through the holes in this story. Or they could, if they were in any way capable. A group of experienced warriors give us no reason to think they’re anything but tactically inept. Boil it down and it’s the story of three kids dealing with extra-terrestrials in different ways. Space opera? You’d be forgiven for thinking you were watching a soap opera with dialogue that boils down to ‘you’re just afraid to admit you’re afraid’.
There’s an admirable attempt to make a truly alien feeling suit, but the quality of the CGI doesn’t back up the concept.
Beginning the highly questionable pattern of WB butchering their films and releasing an extended version later, Green Lantern needed more. It needed more minutes and more details. But in this case even the extended version doesn’t go far enough. Hal learning to use his powers given very little time. Why couldn’t things be held onto for another film? Why was it all so rushed?
Green Lantern’s end credits scene sums it up; a sickeningly misplaced stab at sequel seed planting, with the idea itself already proven redundant by the preceding film!
Warner Bros. proved that they could rush, hack, and spoil a film in their quest to quickly build a universe long before they made a hash of the DCEU.
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