I’ll start by saying that I know this is a flawed film , however I am going to recommend that you check out this Extended version of Green Lantern, if only to see a stronger version of Hal Jordan on-screen . There is only an extra ten minutes cut into the film but those ten minutes go great lengths to improve the story between our three main earth characters (Hal Jordan , Carol Ferris and Hector Hammond). I’m primarily going to focus on the new content.
This movie starts out the same way but instead of fast forwarding 6 months later after Parallax is freed we go back to the past to visit Hal Jordan as a child the night before his fathers big test flight. The next morning Hal skips school to see his dad pilot his ship for Ferris Air. It is here that we first meet Hal’s friends Carol and Hector. This scene helps solidify that these characters had known each other and creates more weight to Hector’s story later in the film. Next we are shown the iconic scene of Hal’s father crashing into the air strip . While parts of this are later shown in flashback form during Hals spin out , the extended sequence makes it easier to except that Hal would be driven to follow in his fathers footsteps as a Pilot.
Following this sequence we have a better exchange between Hal and his nephew where Hal draws a contrast between his Nephew pitching a perfect game for his little league team , and Hal flying . In this moment they both have their eyes closed and Hal explains to his nephew that the amazing feeling he felt as pitcher is how he feels every time he is in a plane. While Hal’s eyes are closed we see a tiny orb of green light come through the window and hit Hal selecting him as Abin Surs’ replacement which is a far better moment than just seeing Hal take off after leaving his Nephews Birthday party.
The one other added scene I noticed was a longer exchange between Carol and Hal while they are dancing in the bar. All of these scenes help breathe more life into the characters . The fact that this movie didn’t do as well as Warner Brothers or DC expected is largely due to the poor Editing and lack of direction from Martin Campbell. The actors themselves are all great in their respective roles and I like Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan. He obviously cares for the character as well as the fans of the character. However the writing is probably the biggest problem in this movie. Having four writers credited in the film shows there were too many cooks in the kitchen. Further more you would think Geoff Johns would have more input on the direction the story took since he was on set during filming . I have a feeling he was more in awe that something he loved was getting made that he didn’t stop to make sure his baby was in the best of hands.
I will also say that I think this movie actually is better after multiple viewings . Sure its flawed but it is fun and instead of beating it up for what it didn’t do right I will enjoy it for the things it did do well. I love the special effects, the costumes, aliens , and the action sequences. I wish that there was more OA as does everyone else but after watching the special features it was nice to see the art department taking so much time and care with each aspect of the film. I got that they spent so much time and money on pre – visuals that there were many deleted scenes which are on the disc that didn’t make it into the film due to budget constraints. Again the blame falls on Director Martin Campbell who has already excluded himself from the next film.
So yes I am telling you to give the film another go. I know you will enjoy the extended edition far better than what we saw in theaters . The special features and Deleted scenes are also great for fans of the film and the character. There is a great exchange between Sinestro and Hal in the Oan graveyard which seems to have been cut due to unfinished special effects.
While I’ll admit that the film isn’t as good as fans of the character and series deserve , this fan is not ashamed to admit enjoying the hell out of it either.
Mike DeVivo
Follow me on Twitter @pandasandrobots
