Green Lantern: DC Films Revisited

Last Updated on February 8, 2023

Very few movies are as universally loathed as Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern. On paper, it should have worked. Campbell was the director who famously launched not one but two James Bonds (Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye and Daniel Craig in Casino Royale) and was a seasoned pro at making action movies. For his lead, he had Ryan Reynolds, one of the biggest rising stars in Hollywood at the time, but he hadn’t found the movie that would put him over the top as a superstar. He would soon discover that role with Deadpool, but first, he’d have to suffer through the savaging Green Lantern received from fans and critics alike.

Few DC movies are as divisive as Green Lantern and for good reasons. Is it the shotty CGI? The squandering of an incredible story and character-rich IP? The unimaginative use of the Lantern’s powers? The list goes on! Since then, WB has been reluctant about ever giving the character his due on the big screen since then, but is the movie all that bad?

In this episode of DC Revisited, writer, editor, and narrator Tyler Nichols tries to explain exactly how this movie went so horribly awry. 

Scripted by Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, and Michael Goldenberg, Green Lantern has the following synopsis: For centuries, a small but powerful force of warriors called the Green Lantern Corps has 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 the first human ever recruited.