In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, an elite force of protectors for peace and justice has existed for centuries. They are the Green Lantern Corps. When a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of the Corps' newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds). Bringing the popular superhero to the big screen for the first time, Green Lantern also stars Blake Lively (Gossip Girl), Peter Sarsgaard (Orphan), Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes), Academy Award® nominee Angela Bassett* and Academy Award® winner Tim Robbins**.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #155 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2011-10-14
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Widescreen
• Original language: English, Spanish, French
• Subtitled in: Spanish, English, French
• Running time: 114 minutes

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As far as superheroes go, Green Lantern may lack the clean, iconic lines of his more respectable DC counterparts Superman and Batman, but the very wonkiness of the premise (earthling joins elite force of space cops) lends itself to a pulpy, operatic, not-entirely-serious approach. (One of his teammates is a talking carrot, after all.) Capitalizing on a charming performance by Ryan Reynolds, the feature-film adaptation is a big, messy movie that, at its best, generates a feeling of aw-shucks wonder. Much like Thor, it isn't afraid to loosen up on the inner turmoil of its hero and go macro. Based on comic writer Geoff Johns's retrofitting of the title character, the story follows Hal Jordan (Reynolds), an impulsive test pilot whose encounter with a dying alien leaves him with an energy ring capable of weaponizing his imagination. While struggling to master his will-based powers, he must deal with threats both earthbound (a hilariously nebbishy Peter Saarsgard, who may be the first supervillain to rock a hoodie) and galactic. Martin Campbell, a director who specializes in more down-to-earth heroics (Casino Royale,The Mask of Zorro), brings a pleasing matter-of-fact baseline to the proceedings, an approach that makes the increasingly outlandish effects truly feel special when they occur. Green Lantern has its debits, certainly--the lack of a memorable theme, a second act that hems and haws before getting to the action, the standard origin story shoehorning in too many secondary plots--but its final scenes succeed on a Gigantor, cosmic level where most superhero movies fear to tread. The bigger it goes, the more goofily enjoyable it gets. --Andrew Wright

Most helpful customer reviews

151 of 188 people found the following review helpful.
Great Movie
By The Swanmeister
I dont understand why people hated this movie so much. I have been a huge green lantern fan since i was 7 so ive been waiting for this movie for 13 years. The visual effects were great. The story (even though innacurate to the comics) was good. Ryan Reynolds played a near perfect Hal Jordan. The only problem was Hal was kinda whiny in parts in the movie which he never was in the comics. Blake Lively played Carol perfectly. The only problem I had witht he movie was the fact it wasnt long enough. The movie was only 1 hour 40 minutes. To fit in more character development and more story it should have been atleast a 2 hour movie. Didnt get enough development on the other lanterns, and the only ones you meet are Sinestro, Kilowog, and Tomar-Re. Even then you didnt get much of them. They need to make a sequel and go more in depth on more characters........the scene during the credits set up the sequel beautifully. Overall I loved this movie I sat in aww with goosebumps the whole movie (maybe because ive been waiting for this for years), but it was a really good movie. People complain because it wasnt realistic and goofy.......Has a superhero movie ever been realistic or not goofy in some way thats why we read and watch superhero movies to believe in something unrealistic.

95 of 118 people found the following review helpful.
Daddy Issues
By Michael J. Tresca
Green Lantern has received quite a bit of flak from reviewers for not being mainstream enough to relate to modern audiences. And that's a shame, because if Green Lantern is guilty of anything, it's of being a SUPERHERO movie.

Back before all these directors started streamlining films, revising backstories, and taking out Spider-Man's technologically-advanced web shooters, comic books were a glorious hodge-podge of the near possible, the impossible, and the just plain fantastic. Because superhero settings include every superhero and villain imaginable, they have to accommodate magic, aliens, superscience, and alternate dimensions in one heady mix. This makes for a very rich comic book series that can be intimidating for new audiences - which is precisely why movie directors cut out so much.

But you can't cut all the crazy out of Green Lantern and still stay true to the comics. And so, with tons of exposition, Green Lantern rabbit-punches viewers with world-shattering fact after mind-altering fact in the first five minutes: aliens exist, there's a giant yellow monster imprisoned in a planet, ancient humanoids predating humanity have been guarding the universe with green willpower, and there's a dizzying variety of highly advanced technical races from across the galaxy. Green Lantern makes Superman's backstory look quaint. His name doesn't help either - Emerald Flashlight has to say an oath that activates a ring that's charged by a lantern that's powered by a planet that's actually the embodiment of all sentient beings' will. No wonder critics got confused.

)o()o()o( "I pledge allegiance to a lantern, given to me by a dying purple alien." - Hal Jordan )o()o()o(

Director Martin Campbell knows all this. He makes fun of the ridiculous circumstances in which Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds and his fab abs) finds himself, ranging from a dogfight with two robot jets to a dogfight with a giant soul-eating monster. Part of what makes Green Lantern so entertaining is that it embraces its pulpy roots: there's the childhood sweetheart (smoking hot Blake Lively as Carol Ferris who just happens to be a successful businesswoman and fighter pilot), the nebbishly awkward villain (Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond), and tough-as-nails "red Spock" Sinestro (Mark Strong). The real villain of the piece, Parallax, sounds like a 1980s video game effect - oh wait, it is! This is not a movie to be taken too seriously.

)o()o()o( "It's not a magic ring--it's a ring powered by advanced technology!" - Hal Jordan )o()o()o(

And yet, Green Lantern is no movie trifle. The challenge with a superhero who has powers like Green Lantern is that the possibilities are literally endless - the rings are powered by the hero's will, which means he can technically imagine anything. This also means that an abusive hero might imagine black holes and solve all of his problems that way. Green Lantern cleverly constrains these god-like powers by imposing plot-related restrictions on Hal's creativity. When all Hal can come up with to stop a helicopter from crashing into partying guests is a Matchbox car in a ramp, it's because he played with one in his nephew's room the day before. When he's trying to use the sun's gravitational pull as a weapon, it's because he used the Earth's gravitational pull as a weapon against the two jets earlier and because his tutor Kilowog points out that gravity is a...uh, harsh mistress. Hal Jordan might always manifest boring weapons straight out of a first-person shooter, but that's because he's harboring a lot of guilt over his military daddy's death.

)o()o()o( "You thought I wouldn't recognize you just because I can't see your cheekbones?" - Carol Ferris )o()o()o(

Speaking of daddy issues, Green Lantern is one giant ball of forest-colored father/son conflict: Hal and his military pilot father, Hammond and his successful senator father, dead Abin Sur and grieving Sinestro, Abin Sur and the newly created Green Lantern, Parallax and his newly adopted avatar Hammond...it's clear the Green Lantern writers were looking for some emotional hook, and that hook was spelled out D-A-D. Green Lantern tries very hard to be deep.

Unfortunately, Green Lantern can be pretty shallow at times. Parallax, remember, is an ancient being predating much of humanity's evolution, but he falls for the oldest trick in the book. We're supposed to believe that Parallax really, really, REALLY hates Abin Sur and everything associated with him. After he kills Abin Sur, you have to ask why Parallax wants to go after just Hal Jordan when he could be eating so many other Green Lanterns for breakfast.

When Green Lantern goes big, it's glorious, but when it pulls in tight, the plot turns an earth-shattering battle between god-like beings into a schoolyard shoving match. But really, that's pretty normal from superhero comics. It's just that today's movie superhero fans expect a guy in a cloak that's just like you and me without any of the world-spanning baggage.

Green Lantern's guilty of being true to Green Lantern, spandex, mask, ring and all. For those who find it implausible, maybe a superhero powered by a jade-colored light source isn't for them.

131 of 164 people found the following review helpful.
Flixster/Ultraviolet is horrible
By Number 1 Bat Fan
First off I really liked the movie, if I was just rating the movie, it would probably be 3 1/2 stars, however, I have spent 4 days now trying to get this so called "digital copy". I knew what Ultraviolet was, and I thought it had promise to be used to stream to any device not locked to just one service (itunes), but it doesn't work. First off you have to sign into 4 different services to even get this stuff to maybe work, [...] some ultraviolet site and to "manage" your collection flixster collections...when in trying to link all of these useless accounts I can no longer access the movie to stream. So I am left with a product that does not work and customer service is a joke. I have been bounced around from site to site and from rep to rep who keep telling me to do the same thing over and over again, no matter how many times I tell them what has happened and what the issue is.

This flixster ultraviolet "suckloution" is the worst ever, you are better off ripping the DVD...