As the first two entries in a summer movie season filled with superhero films, both Thor and X-men: First Class were of surprisingly high quality and undoubted box office successes, despite the fact that they could have easily missed the mark and completely embarrassed their respective source material. It is also worth noting that both of these films focused on characters from Marvel Comics, which has been absolutely dominating the comic book film genre over the past decade, bringing household names like Spiderman, Iron Man, and The Incredible Hulk to life. Though an equal entity in the publishing realm, comic book heavyweight DC Comics has been severely lagging in both the number and quality of characters brought to the big screen, the most notable exceptions being Superman and Batman. As far as the character of the Green Lantern goes, though he is well-known and revered by comic book fans, to the public at large he has remained a largely B-level protagonist; still, that shortcoming didn’t stop Warner Bros. from attempting to bump the unknown superhero to A-list-status with the help of Ryan Reynolds and an obscenely large production and marketing budget. Being a lifetime fan of the emerald hero, I was very excited when the project was first announced, and even though a few of the promotions looked a little too cartoony, I was still hoping that Green Lantern would help DC Comics’ film division gain a greater level of prominence and appreciation.
Given the depth mythos and strong science fiction undertones surrounding the Green Lantern character, I expected the film to be a little campy, but absolutely nothing could have prepared me for the bitter disappointment of this shockingly bad comic book adaptation, which could rival 1997’s Batman & Robin as the worst superhero film ever made. The most vivid example of lazy film-making and jumpy storytelling in recent memory, Green Lantern completely shames over seventy years of background material with embarrassing characters, idiotic dialogue, and sub-par special effects. I am a big fan of both Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, but I think that this film represents a step backwards for both of their careers; to be fair, neither were given much material to work with individually, but together they produced so little chemistry that they gave off the impression that they were siblings rather than love interests. As a comic book fanatic, I never expected myself to be this critical of Green Lantern, but every time I try and come up with a redeeming quality for this piece of garbage, I fall short. Warner Bros. has to be embarrassed spending so much to produce and promote such a low-quality “blockbuster,” as Green Lantern is easily an early contender for the worst film of the 2011 Summer Movie Season.
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Overall Recommendation: Very Low
