GREEN LANTERN (2011) - PREVIEW

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Green Lantern (2011)
Starring: Ryan Reynolds
Director: Greg Berlanti

U.S. Opening Date: June 17, 2011

THEY SAY

In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. A brotherhood of warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him superpowers. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan.

Hal is a gifted and cocky test pilot, but the Green Lanterns have little respect for humans, who have never harnessed the infinite powers of the ring before. But Hal is clearly the missing piece to the puzzle, and along with his determination and willpower, he has one thing no member of the Corps has ever had: humanity. With the encouragement of fellow pilot and childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), if Hal can quickly master his new powers and find the courage to overcome his fears, he may prove to be not only the key to defeating Parallax…he will become the greatest Green Lantern of all.

Martin Campbell directs Green Lantern from a screenplay by Greg Berlanti & Michael Green & Marc Guggenheim and Michael Goldenberg, story by Greg Berlanti & Michael Green & Marc Guggenheim, based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics.

The film also stars Blake Lively (upcoming The Town, TV’s Gossip Girl) as the spirited Carol Ferris, a test pilot and the heir apparent to her father’s aviation company; Peter Sarsgaard (An Education, Flightplan) as scientist Dr. Hector Hammond; Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes) as Sinestro, Jordan’s powerful mentor in the Green Lantern Corps; Jay O. Sanders (Revolutionary Road) as Carl Ferris, Carol’s aircraft designer dad; Temuera Morrison (Star Wars Episodes II and III) as Abin Sur, Jordan’s alien predecessor; Taika Waititi (TV’s The Flight of the Conchords) as flight navigator Tom Kalmaku, Hal’s good friend and confidante; Academy Award® nominee Angela Bassett (What’s Love Got to Do with It) as enigmatic government scientist Amanda Waller; and Academy Award® winner Tim Robbins (Mystic River) as Hector’s influential father, Senator Robert Hammond.

WE SAY

With the huge box-office success of even lesser-known comics characters such as Iron Man it is a bit surprising that Warners took this long to, er, greenlit Green Lantern for a live action movie adaptation. After all, the DC Comics character has been created as far back as 1940!

In his most popular incarnation Green Lantern was Hal Jordan, a test pilot who was given a power ring by a dying alien, Abin Sur. Jordan thus became a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an interstellar organization of police overseen by the Guardians of the Universe. The Corps' rings were powerless against anything colored yellow, due to a necessary impurity in the ring.

To be honest we liked Green Lantern best when he teamed up with the wise-cracking Green Arrow and Black Canary (in those stockings and blonde wig!). Hal Jordan has always been a rather one-dimensional good guy which explained why the writers at one point turned him into a megalomaniacal villain intent on galactic destruction before killing him off.

Ryan Reynolds may have gotten the role but we still think Will Smith would have made an excellent Green Lantern. No seriously, think about it . . .

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Photo Gallery (concept art)