First I should say that I'm a fan of Green Lantern and he's (Hal Jordan) my favorite DC character. Here's why I thought this movie was subpar: 1. Ryan Reynolds was a horrible Hal Jordan. Before I saw the movie I thought this was a poor casting choice but thought he could potentially pull it off a la Michael Keaton/Batman. Unfortunately he did not pull it off. Ryan Reynolds is a comedic actor and that's how he portrayed Hal Jordan who if you read the comic book is not a "jokester" at all. It almost felt like Hal Jordan was Peter Parker 2. The origin of the Green Lantern character took way to long to develop. The two thirds of the movie was very boring.
3. Wrong choice of villains. Hector Hammond?!? Really?!? They couldn't come of with a better villain than Hector Hammond?!? I know that it was almost impossible to use Sinestro as the villain in the first movie as it would have taken too long to tell GL's origin and why Sinestro went bad all in one movie then have Sinestro be the final fight at the end...the movie would have felt rushed but instead of Parallax and Hector Hammond they could have went with Atrocitus (who they killed Abin Sur in the revised Origin of GL) or even the Manhunters who were the reason why the Guardians created the GL Corps in the first place. Anything would have been better than Hector Hammond and Parallax.
4. The special effects were garbage. As in the 1st Superman movie with Christopher Reeves, I DID NOT believe that a man could fly when I watched Green Lantern. The flying sequences looked very cheesy as well as the constructs that the GL's created. Also every scene had a CGI feel to it especially GL's body. It looked like they pasted Ryan Reynolds live head onto a CGI body...AWFUL!!! 5. The ending was the worst ending I've ever seen in a movie. I mean seriously...just toss Parallax into the sun...I mean Sinestro or the Guardians couldn't have thought of that?!? How did Hal Jordan know that that would kill him??? 6. Parallax looked like a joke...a big Giant head...really?!? That's the best that they could come up with...AWFUL!!! 7. Green Lantern went to Oa to learn how to be a Green Lantern. He quits before he's even had one day of training and goes back to Earth where somehow he's able to master the use of his power ring...really?!? I mean come on...Parallax defeats and kills one of the best Green Lanterns, Abin Sur (per Sinestro)and defeats Sinestro and about 7 other Green Lanterns but somehow with not even a full day's worth of training, Hal Jordan is able to defeat Parallax. Makes no sense.
With all of the above being said, the movie had one bright spot which was Sinestro. He was PERFECTLY cast (a la Heath Ledger/Joker). Unfortunately we didn't get to see enough of him.
3. Wrong choice of villains. Hector Hammond?!? Really?!? They couldn't come of with a better villain than Hector Hammond?!? I know that it was almost impossible to use Sinestro as the villain in the first movie as it would have taken too long to tell GL's origin and why Sinestro went bad all in one movie then have Sinestro be the final fight at the end...the movie would have felt rushed but instead of Parallax and Hector Hammond they could have went with Atrocitus (who they killed Abin Sur in the revised Origin of GL) or even the Manhunters who were the reason why the Guardians created the GL Corps in the first place. Anything would have been better than Hector Hammond and Parallax.
4. The special effects were garbage. As in the 1st Superman movie with Christopher Reeves, I DID NOT believe that a man could fly when I watched Green Lantern. The flying sequences looked very cheesy as well as the constructs that the GL's created. Also every scene had a CGI feel to it especially GL's body. It looked like they pasted Ryan Reynolds live head onto a CGI body...AWFUL!!! 5. The ending was the worst ending I've ever seen in a movie. I mean seriously...just toss Parallax into the sun...I mean Sinestro or the Guardians couldn't have thought of that?!? How did Hal Jordan know that that would kill him??? 6. Parallax looked like a joke...a big Giant head...really?!? That's the best that they could come up with...AWFUL!!! 7. Green Lantern went to Oa to learn how to be a Green Lantern. He quits before he's even had one day of training and goes back to Earth where somehow he's able to master the use of his power ring...really?!? I mean come on...Parallax defeats and kills one of the best Green Lanterns, Abin Sur (per Sinestro)and defeats Sinestro and about 7 other Green Lanterns but somehow with not even a full day's worth of training, Hal Jordan is able to defeat Parallax. Makes no sense.
With all of the above being said, the movie had one bright spot which was Sinestro. He was PERFECTLY cast (a la Heath Ledger/Joker). Unfortunately we didn't get to see enough of him.