For more than 80 years, DC has has developed the lore surrounding Green Lantern into a deep, rich vein of invigorating stories and characters. From comics to a forthcoming TV series on HBO Max, Green Lantern has much potential in DCEU.
The 2011 Green Lantern film, however, became anathema among comic fans and movie lovers for its perceived poor quality. Led by Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, the movie had a lot of potential but ultimately fell flat both with GL fans and more casual moviegoers. Although Green Lantern is notorious for being a bad superhero film, it has some components that make it redeemable for viewers who love the character.
Strong Acting From The Green Lantern Cast
It may be shrouded in poor CGI Green Lantern costumes, but Ryan Reynolds fit the part of Hal Jordan. Notoriously suave and hard-headed, Reynolds portrays a comic-accurate Hal before he is summoned by the Power Ring to become a Green Lantern.
In the same way, Blake Lively played Carol Farris's love-driven character in a manner that might respect the comics. The surrounding circumstances of the movie's visual effects and script might have put a damper on the actors, but they portrayed their characters well and contributed something redeemable to the film.
Comic-Accurate Guardians
While the Guardians of Oa do not get much screen time in Green Lantern, a positive aspect to the film is that they are portrayed well. Their CGI heads may slightly deviate from the typical Guardian in the comics, but otherwise they are objective, distant protectors of Oa.
Their role in the film reflected that of their role in the comics: to intervene only when necessary and dire situations arise, and to protect Oa and the universe from harmful threats.
Tomar-Re's Design
For all the grief that Green Lantern gets for its poor use of CGI, the film's crew certainly nailed Tomar-Re's design. An underrated and often under-appreciated Green Lantern, Tomar-Re gets an elevated role in Hal Jordan's origin story.
He is proof that the movie might have brought in some odd designs for Green Lantern staples (like Parallax), but remained faithful still to some characters, make the film more watchable.
Emotions Brought To Life On-Screen
The Green Lantern world revolves around emotions. Every Lantern Corps is trained to harness a distinct emotion, the most popular of which is Will (Green Lanterns). The movie, therefore, was tasked with depicting emotions well and true to the comics, something that not many other superhero films are concerned with.
From Carol Farris (who in the comics becomes Star Sapphire) to Parallax, emotions of Love, Fear, and most importantly, Will, were on display well and contributed to the film's trajectory.
Hal Isn't Humble
It is no surprise that Ryan Reynolds landed the part of Hal Jordan in Green Lantern. Though there are plenty of actors who could play Green Lantern, Reynolds played the sarcastic, reckless Hal Jordan consistently.
Another consistent character arc in the movie is that Hal Jordan doesn't lose his pride or over-confidence. Even after saving the world from Parallax, he still doesn't change who he is that much. This is true to the comics, which show him being driven and independent throughout his development.
A Launchpad For The Cast
Outside of the film itself, Green Lantern became a launchpad for the cast to do what they wanted to in the film industry. The hypothetical "what if Green Lantern was successful?" yields interesting conclusions. If it was the best superhero movie, Ryan Reynolds might not have ever played Deadpool, Taika Waititi might not have directed big-name movies, and Blake Lively and Reynolds might not have gotten married.
Green Lantern surely wasn't a success, but it yielded some great career and life opportunities for its cast because of that. It must be also be considered a cautionary tale that definitely influenced the paths that superhero movies (including Deadpool) took.
Good World-Building
Not many superhero movies are tasked with designing and portraying the universe in its vastness. Many are limited to on-earth situations, but Green Lantern had to show another planet and many scenes set in space.
With such a daunting task, Green Lantern maintained a satisfactory design for the world of Oa, a world that has never made its way to the big screen before. From deep space to an otherworldly city and planet, the movie made it big, but still small enough to wrap one's mind around. It wasn't overwhelming, but it also wasn't disappointing.
Creativity With The Power Rings
The mind is a powerful weapon—especially in the case of the Green Lantern Corps. Harnessing the power of the Will, Lanterns rely on their thoughts to bring weapons into reality. Green Lantern saw many other Green Lanterns beside Hal Jordan, all of which used the Power Rings in their own imaginative way.
The giant HotWheels car scene might not be remembered as a great moment, but viewers got to see everything from machine guns to swords to heavy machinery in emerald green.
Sinestro's Origin Story
Many Green Lantern fans might argue that the movie's inaccurate portrayal of Parallax should have never happened, and that Sinestro should have been the main villain. While this might have worked (with some continuity errors between Hal and Sinestro's origins) to make Sinestro a powerhouse villain, it would have shirked the origin story he deserved.
Sinestro and Hal have had a rocky past, going back and forth from friends to enemies and back to friends at times, so seeing Sinestro as the ally that wasn't all too impressed by Hal was a positive portrayal of him. Of course, his harnessing the Yellow Power Ring at the end of the film was promising for his future as a villain in the DCEU.
The Ambitiousness Of The Film
On the heels of Iron Man's success as one of the first big superhero films of the 2000's, Green Lantern had some mighty shoes to fill. A budding Marvel Studios may have made its cinematic mistakes here and there, but they had the formula for enjoyable superhero movies—within reasonable grasp—and Green Lantern attempted to follow in their steps.
Clearly, the biggest flaw in the movie was poor CGI, which permeated much of the film by implication. But it's good to remember the time that it came from and how ambitious the film and film crew were in making this. It was a CGI-heavy movie in a time where visual effects were secondary to practical effects. This movie has gut, though it eventually fell short of its massive potential.