I’ve seen quite a few of these straight-to-video comic book movies now, and they generally aren’t too impressive. I remember liking the first Ultimate Avengers movie, then the sequel was okay at best. The Invincible Iron Man was pretty terrible, and Superman/Doomsday was tolerable. Then you had Gotham Knight, which was pretty good, because it was multiple short films with different creative teams behind them. Hulk vs. Thor and Hulk vs. Wolverine came on the same DVD, which was okay, and Planet Hulk was pretty forgettable. So let’s just say that despite hearing that this was good, my expectations weren’t that high. I mean, how bad can a movie get in an hour and fifteen minutes?

Does anyone else assume all of his clothes smell like mint?

We start the film with test pilot Hal Jordan testing a flight simulator while an alien ship lands to Earth. All Green Lanterns, because yes, there are multiple members of the Green Lantern Corps, get their power from the help of a ring, which feeds off of their respective willpower. The alien aboard the ship dies and Hal Jordan is the latest recipient of the ring. He then meets up with other members of the Green Lantern Corps, and specifically, meets Sinestro. We then get to see Hal Jordan learn his powers and learn more about the mentor/apprentice relationship the develops with Sinestro. We ultimately find out the Sinestro has betrayed him and he eventually harnesses the power of a new lantern, which is based on fear rather than willpower. Then we have a typical showdown, and the good guys win. Surpisingly.

Good to know the Green Lantern Corps don’t have a weight limit, or a heart-throb detection device.

One thing I noticed as early as the credits was that Christopher Meloni was the voice of Hal Jordan, who is awesome. And that Michael Madsen voiced one of the characters as well. Not to say that this movie brought out some A-list cast or anything, but it seemed like the production value was slightly higher than other straight-to-video comic book films. Another thing I noticed before the movie even started was that it was rated PG-13, so I had expected blood and cursing. I’m not even sure if they said “ass” a single time, so I’m not too sure why it was rated PG-13. I think this film actually did a pretty good job of appealing to both die-hard fans or people who had never read a single issue of Green Lantern in their lives. It didn’t stick to one specific storyline from the comics, so it gave something new to people who were familiar with the character, as well as stayed faithful with important plot points. And by showing the origin and main characters, as well as relating events in the film to the current comics canon, anyone who enjoyed the movie wouldn’t have too hard a time going to a comic book store and start buying Green Lantern comics. And considering the movie that’s coming out next year, trying to get as big of a fanbase as possible ahead of time is going to help make it a blockbuster.

You know how you can tell Sinestro’s bad? That mustache. That creepy child molester mustache. Be right back, gotta shave mine off after typing that.

This story isn’t really related to the review, but it’s pretty funny so I thought I’d share it. This past Christmas, Rampaige wanted to buy me some action figures. She ended up getting me the Marvel Legends versions of Iron Man and Captain America. After the presents were exchanged, she asked me who Green Lantern was and a little bit of his backstory. Wondering why she was interested, she informed me that she knew I like Green Lantern, but when she went to the comic book store, she saw a figure of a black Green Lantern and a figure of a white Green Lantern. She got confused, and bought Marvel figures instead. I would insert some comment about how racist she is right here, but I know she’s embarrassed enough to be mentioned in this blog, she doesn’t need possible racism added to it.

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