At the time I'm writing this, it has been exactly ten years since the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern movie hit theaters. And I don’t know about you, but I can’t believe it’s been a decade since this thing came out…and I have to think part of that comes from the fact that we never really stopped talking about it. And in a way I can see why…if things had worked out, this was going to launch a DC Cinematic Universe just like Iron Man did for Marvel. The fact that those plans crashed and burned pretty much cemented Green Lantern’s place in super hero movie history, guaranteeing that it’ll be remembered as something more disappointing than just a bad movie. And to this day, people are still waiting their turn to tell you all about why the movie failed. You’d think everyone would have moved on by now, and the fact that they haven’t is partially Hollywood’s fault. Every time there’s a comedic super hero movie, they take the opportunity to poke fun at Green Lantern. ESPECIALLY if Ryan Reynolds is involved. Ryan Reynolds makes fun of this movie every chance he gets. If you put a microphone in front of him, there’s a 65% chance he’ll make a joke about how bad Green Lantern was. And I kinda don’t blame him…everything about the film’s production was a complete mess, and he had a pretty terrible relationship with the director, so I can understand wanting to use humor to vent your frustrations. For him, it has nothing at all to do with Green Lantern, it’s all about his experience on set. That said, you can only tell the same joke so many times before it stops being funny. And Ryan? It’s really not funny anymore. You’re Deadpool now, it’s time to move on. All those jokes at the movie’s expense just twist the knife in fans of the Green Lantern franchise who are sick of their favorite thing getting dragged through the mud, even if they do agree that the movie was bad. The whole situation has created this really warped perspective on the movie, where it’s not actually bad enough to still be making fun of it after all this time, prompting people to defend it even though they might not even like it that much to begin with. If I’m being completely honest, I think the movie is unremarkable to the point that it would be pretty forgettable if people would just let it go.
…and with all that said, I’m left with the difficult question of what I can contribute to the discourse surrounding the Green Lantern movie. I don’t want this to be a video where I run through the entire movie and talk about everything wrong with it…there’s enough videos like that out there, and at this point, making another one doesn’t serve any purpose. So instead what I’m going to do is focus mostly on one particular scene that I feel best illustrates this movie’s attempt to get to the heart of what Green Lantern is…and why it couldn’t. The scene I’m talking about is the moment when Hal Jordan pushes back Parallax while saying the oath.
The scene comes at the pivotal moment of the climactic fight scene. Hal Jordan is struggling to hold back Parallax, who is very quickly overwhelming him. In an attempt to muster the last bit of his strength, Hal begins reciting the Green Lantern oath. Each line of the oath is intercut with a line from Parallax, talking about how hopeless Hal’s situation is, how there’s nothing he can do…Parallax trying to tear Hal down while Hal uses the oath to try and build himself up, the two of them struggling against each other verbally in a way that mirrors the physical struggle going on at the same time, culminating in one final push where Hal manages to overcome Parallax for one shining moment, rocketing up into the sky in defiance of Parallax’s attempts to push him into the dirt.
…and you probably think I’m crazy for singling this scene out as an example of what’s wrong with this movie, and I get it. This is probably the best moment in the entire film, it’s this epic, quintessential Green Lantern moment that we’ve always wanted to see on screen. The problem is it’s good for all the wrong reasons. Rewatching this the other day made me realize that everything making this a great moment came from the knowledge I was bringing to the movie from having read Green Lantern for years, and as far as the actual movie goes, this moment comes completely out of nowhere. Not only does the movie not earn this moment, it never even bothers building up to it.
Giving someone super powers is an excellent way to facilitate them going on a journey that’ll change them. A Green Lantern’s powers are specifically good for this, since the only way to even use the ring is for you to be able to exert your willpower and learn to deal with what scares you. A Green Lantern ring can be a tool to teach a character how to be a better version of themselves, which makes it the perfect thing to give to this movie’s version of Hal Jordan. He’s a screwup, he’s irresponsible, he runs away from commitments…he’s primed to go on a character-defining journey. But that’s not what happens.
Hal spends most of this movie wanting nothing to do with the Green Lantern Corps or responsibility in general, and then is just suddenly ready and willing to give his life defending the Earth alone if he has to. He also goes from being pretty bad at using the ring, to doing something that no single Green Lantern should be capable of alone. And neither of these changes were caused by anything…he never learns to use his powers, or has any personal revelation about the kind of person he wants to be. I suppose you could say that learning the Earth was about to be destroyed is what motivated him into action, and that would be fine, except we still have the problem of this movie never doing anything to portray this version of Hal Jordan as being the kind of person who’d rise to the occasion like that. Hell, the Green Lantern oath means nothing to him, the only reason he even knows it at all is because his battery literally brainwashed it into him. When a character spends the entire story acting one way, only to suddenly and abruptly act totally different because the plot needs him to, that’s not character growth, it’s just bad, inconsistent writing.
I’m not a screen writer, and I don’t know the first thing about writing a movie script, but for what it’s worth, I can tell you what I would do to make sure the climactic moment in the finale actually means something. This movie has a lot of scenes that don’t accomplish much, so what I’d do is remove some and replace them with something new that better serves Hal’s charter arc. Get rid of both of the action sequences on Earth in the middle of the movie, and cut everything on Oa. I know, I know, I want to see Oa and the whole Green Lantern Corps too, but, they obviously didn’t have the time to do any of it justice here, so save it for the hypothetical sequel. All you need is for Sinestro to go to Earth to find out what happened to Abin Sur, and then bring Hal along when he goes back into space to patrol his sector. We can have a scene where Hal gets to watch a hand full of small moments of Sinestro doing the job, helping people, making Hal realize the kind of good a Green Lantern can do, making him feel motivated for the first time in his life to give something an honest try. This would also amp up the impact of Sinestro’s betrayal in a hypothetical sequel. So when they part ways, Hal’s back on Earth ready to be the best Green Lantern he can be, resulting in a big action set piece where Hal Jordan tries his very best…and fails. Normally this would be the point where Hal would just give up and walk away…except Sinestro showed him that it can work, and he isn’t sure if he wants to turn his back on this like he has everything else. These are the character’s growing pains, this is where he has to struggle against himself if he wants to become something more, and it leads to him stepping up to defend Earth from Parallax, culminating with him pushing Parallax back while saying an oath that means something to him now that he understands why someone would want to be a Green Lantern.
I re-watched the movie the other day, in preparation for this video. It was the first time I’d seen it in almost a decade. And after all this time, I was surprised to find that this movie everyone can’t seem to stop dunking on is actually just sort of boring. It’s not terrible, it’s not so bad its good, it’s not a hidden gem, and it’s not something that only a “real fan” can appreciate…it’s just a poorly made, boring movie that feels so much longer than it actually is. It’s definitely disappointing, but I can’t see how it’s worth all of the time and energy everyone has spent talking about it for the last ten years.
And for what it’s worth, the movie does have some good ideas. I like how whenever he uses the ring, the light of his costume flows in the direction of his ring hand. I like the idea of the ring’s database having a psychic interface where your eyes fog over and you just instantly know the information…I wouldn’t want this in the comics, but for a movie it works pretty nicely. There’s a lot of Green Lantern lore and characters and references crammed in here that I never thought I’d see on the big screen…I just wish it was handled differently, so that people who aren’t already hard core fans of the franchise could enjoy them too.
This is by no means the worst super hero movie. I’d say it sits comfortably next to the Ben Affleck Daredevil and that first Jessica Alba Fantastic Four. That’s the era of super hero movies that this Green Lantern movie feels like it belongs in. If a version of this movie could’ve come out before the Dark Knight trilogy and the MCU came along and changed everyone’s expectations for what a super hero movie could be, I don’t think the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern movie would have anything close to the reputation it has today. I think it would have fit in perfectly with its contemporaries, and it would rarely get talked about anymore. But as it stands, there’s no end in sight for the discourse surrounding this movie. The Snyder Cut of Justice League was buzzing with the possibility of this version of Green Lantern making an appearance, and I can’t imagine a world where any new adaptation doesn’t get compared to this movie at every turn. And then there’s our buddy Ryan, live-tweeting his reactions as he watches the movie. Ryan Reynolds, Torchbearer of the 2011 Green Lantern movie, keeping the flame burning, no matter what. Eventually, we’ll get a new live action interpretation of Green Lantern that’ll largely replace this one in the cultural consciousness, and I am genuinely curious how that’ll change the perception and conversation surrounding this movie. I look forward to the days when it’s no longer a meme, and we can talk about it without hearing the same tired jokes.
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