“Green Lantern” a film that received generally negative reviews from critics for its script, tone and visual effects, coupled with other factors led to a dismal performance at the box office in 2011. Ultimately resulting in “Green Lantern” being viewed as a flop in the superhero genre.
Director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Mask of Zorro) has come out in a candid conversation about his regret of directing Green Lantern in an interview with ComicBook this week. Campbell if anything has been bold about his disappointment regarding the reception that the movie received. He openly discussed what he believes went wrong with the film, what he would do differently, and his thoughts on the enduring reputation of Green Lantern as a subject of superhero movie jokes.
Campbell who enjoyed working with Ryan Reynolds holds the actor in high regard and wishes that Reynold’s had worked on the script.
Campbell said: “Look, Ryan’s terrific. We actually had a very good time making the movie. It was a tough one to make, and he and Blake Lively were great to work with. He’s always such a witty guy, you know — I think I said this to another writer — I wish he’d written the script! I think he would have done a great job. Given Reynolds’ comedic timing and fun wit, it’s easy to imagine a version of Green Lantern infused with his signature humour, perhaps closer to what he later brought to Deadpool.”
Reflecting on the film, one of Campbell’s regrets was the disconnection of the villains Parallax and Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard). He pointed out that Parallax, ultimately, was just a “cloud with a face,” whereas Hammond, being human, allowed for a more nuanced and expressive performance than any CGI could have produced.
He explained: “You sort of somehow want that character to be related to the villain of the piece, you know. They should all interconnect somehow, and it didn’t in the script, but all the characters are very present in the comics—Sinestro, Kilowog, all the… But, at the end of the day, it failed, which I was very sad about, but there you go. That’s life.”
A common criticism of the 2011 film Green Lantern was the ineffective villain, Parallax, a seemingly disembodied and faceless entity described by Campbell as a “cloud with a face on it”. Despite Parallax being linked to Hector Hammond’s powers due to exposure of Parallax’s powers during an autopsy on the alien, Abin Sur’s corpse conducted by the scientist Hammond. This exposure granted Hammond psychic abilities but also physically contorted him and severely damaged his mental state. Regardless of this connection, Hammond wasn’t presented as an avatar of Parallax, and their stories remained largely separate.
Hammond is defeated by Green Lantern before Parallax arrives on Earth, draining Hammond’s life force and precluding any potential sequels. As director Martin Campbell suggests, a few narrative adjustments could have significantly improved the film’s conclusion and tied these plot threads together more effectively.
While Green Lantern was a commercial disappointment, director Martin Campbell has no ill feelings about its current reputation. He’s familiar with Ryan Reynolds’ jokes about the film, particularly in Deadpool, and takes them in his stride.
