Salon.com > Green Lantern

“Green Lantern” sequel and the pain of the “super”-franchise

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:01:00 +0000

This is what happens when you put studio executives in charge of making movies: Despite being a truly middling summer blockbuster (and doing pretty terrible in the international market), Warner Bros. studios is convinced that it can squeeze some money out of a "Green Lantern" sequel.

In fact, the studio's president Jeff Robinov -- not the screenwriters, and not director Martin Campbell, who may or may not be fired anyway -- has already promised us an "edgier," "darker" movie:

"To go forward we need to make it a little edgier and darker with more emphasis on action ... And we have to find a way to balance the time the movie spends in space versus on Earth."

I somehow doubt that the Earth-space ratio is what killed this movie. Perhaps Ryan Reynolds' face just doesn't translate well in foreign countries. Or maybe part of the issue can be found by looking at the huge push by DC Comics and Warner Bros. to remind their audiences who the Green Lantern is. (As long as you put it on a Subway cup, they will come.)

Why is bland, boring Ryan Reynolds a star?

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 15:14:00 +0000

Ryan Reynolds … where did he come from? It seems just yesterday that the most this Canuck was known for was playing Van Wilder in a National Lampoon movie and being engaged to Alanis Morissette, and suddenly he's the buff, wisecracking superguy from both the "Wolverine" movie and "Green Lantern," as well as the ex-Mr. Scarlett Johansson. For a guy whose major talent seems to be light banter and non-threatening, bland sexuality, he's certainly managed to make it far past the other Zach Morrises of this world

So you may be wondering, as we are: Why did Ryan get A-listed over his arguably more talented costars? What gives him that extra spark when he can be, at times, little more than barely, pleasantly watchable. And when did this no-name pretty boy get on the track to becoming the Sexiest Man of the Year?

In order to properly assess the Ken Doll from up north's rise to unlikely action hero fame, we have to go back to his somewhat humble beginnings. He's been acting since he was a kid, most notably on Nickelodeon's teen drama series "Hillside" -- or, as it was called in the states, "Fifteen" -- which was like "90210" but minus the sex, drugs and valley girl accents:

The surprising summer fun of “Green Lantern”

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 19:49:00 +0000

And so the summer of Anonymous Hunks and wall-to-wall superhero movies continues with Ryan Reynolds as the DC Comics legend "Green Lantern," which rates about a B-plus in both departments. As to Reynolds, who has become a sex god based, I guess, on his physique and his status as the soon-to-be-former Mr. Scarlett Johansson (since it's definitely not about his undistinguished acting career), well, I sort of get it, ladies (and interested gentlemen). He has a puppyish cheerfulness; you want to take him home and rumple his fur. Each of his abdominal muscles has its own pet name, and his torso, often seen here enshrouded with webby green latex, resembles a relief map of the Russian subcontinent, complete with steppes and taiga and ridgy, mountainous regions.