Green Lantern is a 2011 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Hal Jordan / Green Lantern. It was directed by Martin Campbell, from a screenplay by Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, and Michael Goldenberg. Ryan Reynolds stars as the titular character, a test pilot who is selected to become the first human member of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic police force. He is given a ring that grants him superpowers and must confront Parallax, a being who threatens to upset the balance of power in the universe. The film also stars Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Angela Bassett, and Tim Robbins.

The film first entered development in 1997; progress remained stalled until Berlanti was hired to write and direct in October 2007. Martin Campbell was brought on board in February 2009 after Berlanti was forced to vacate the director's position. Most of the live-action actors were cast between July 2009 and February 2010, and filming took place from March to August 2010 in Louisiana. The film was converted to 3D during its post-production stage. This was the first DC film since Catwoman (2004) not to be involved with Legendary Pictures.

Green Lantern was released in the United States on June 17, 2011, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received negative reviews from critics, although Reynolds' performance was praised. It also grossed only $237 million against a $200 million budget, thus making it a box-office disappointment. It was intended to launch a media franchise and shared universe based on DC characters, but Warner Bros. abandoned these plans due to the film's critical and commercial disappointment, opting to have Man of Steel (2013) launch the DC Extended Universe two years later.

Plot

Billions of years ago, the Guardians of the Universe used the green essence of willpower to create an intergalactic police force called the Green Lantern Corps. They divided the universe into 3,600 sectors, with one assigned Green Lantern per sector.

Abin Sur of Sector 2814 defeats the malevolent being Parallax, and imprisons him in the Lost Sector on the desolate planet Ryut. Years later, Parallax escapes from prison after becoming strengthened by an encounter with crash survivors who had accidentally fallen into the dugout where he was imprisoned. Parallax pursues and mortally wounds Abin Sur. Abin Sur escapes, and crash-lands on Earth, commanding his power ring to find a worthy successor.

Hal Jordan, a cocky test pilot working at Ferris Aircraft, is chosen by the ring, and transported to the crash site. Abin Sur provides Hal with his ring, telling him to place it in the lantern and speak the oath, before succumbing from his wounds. Hal takes the lantern, recites the oath, and declares himself as a Green Lantern. The ring teleports Hal across outer space to the planet Oa (homeworld of the Green Lanterns), where he meets veteran Corps members: Tomar-Re, Kilowog, and leader Sinestro. During his extreme training sessions, Sinestro believes Hal is unable to harness the power of the ring due to his lack of will. Disheartened by Sinestro's doubts, Hal quits and returns to Earth, keeping the power ring.

Scientist Hector Hammond is summoned by his father, Senator Robert Hammond, to a secret government facility to perform an autopsy on Abin Sur's body under supervision of Amanda Waller. A piece of Parallax's DNA inside the corpse enters Hammond, giving him psychic powers at the cost of his health and sanity. Hector develops a personal resentment towards his father, and plans to kill him by telekinetically sabotaging his helicopter at a massive party. Hal saves the senator and party guests, including his childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris. Hector rampages the government facility, and uses his telekinesis to incinerate his surviving father. Hal telepathically connects with Hector, and realizes Parallax is approaching Earth to devour fear from its inhabitants.

Back in Oa, the Guardians narrate to Sinestro that one of their fellow guardians became Parallax after a backfired attempt to control the forbidden yellow essence of fear. Arguing that the only way to fight fear is with fear itself, Sinestro proposes to forge a ring of the same yellow energy, preparing to concede Earth's destruction to Parallax in order to protect Oa. Hal reasons to the Guardians and Sinestro that fear will turn the users evil if its power is used, but they reject his pleas. He returns to Earth to try to defeat Parallax on his own.

Hal saves Carol from Hammond after a brief showdown. Parallax arrives, consumes Hammond's entire life force, and wreaks havoc on Coast City. After a fierce ground battle, Hal lures Parallax away from Earth to chase him across the Solar System. Hal successfully traps Parallax in the gravitational pull of the Sun where it is destroyed. Hal loses consciousness, but is saved by Sinestro, Kilowog, and Tomar-Re. After returning to Oa, the entire Green Lantern Corps congratulate Hal for his courage and bravery in defeating Parallax. Sinestro tells him that he now bears the responsibility of protecting his sector as a Green Lantern. Hal and Carol spend one last time together, before Hal leaves Earth.

In a mid-credits scene, Sinestro secretly takes the yellow ring, causing his green suit and eyes to turn yellow, foreshadowing a rebellion against the Corps.

Cast

Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan / Green Lantern: A test pilot for the Ferris Aircraft Company whose will to act qualifies him to become the first human ever inducted into an intergalactic peacekeeping force fueled by the green energy of will. Reynolds said, "I've known about 'Green Lantern' my whole life, but I've never really followed it before. I fell in love with the character when I met with Martin Campbell". Reynolds called the film "an origin story to a certain degree, but it's not a labored origin story, where the movie begins in the third act. The movie starts when it starts. We find out Hal is the guy fairly early on, and the adventure begins". Alternatively Michael Fassbender, Henry Cavill, Chris Pine, Sam Worthington, Jon Hamm, Sebastian Stan, Nathan Fillion, Bradley Cooper, Justin Timberlake and Jared Leto were considered for the role, while Brian Austin Green, a Green Lantern fan, campaigned for the part, but ultimately did not audition. Cooper unsuccessfully auditioned for the role as he kept imitating Christian Bale's Batman voice despite Campbell telling him to tone it down. Fillion would later voice Hal Jordan in several DC animated projects and play Guy Gardner in the DC Universe. Gattlin Griffith portrays a young Jordan. Blake Lively as Carol Ferris: The vice president of Ferris Aircraft and a long-time love interest of Hal Jordan. One pseudonymous writer citing unnamed sources said Lively was among five leading contenders that included Eva Green, Keri Russell, Diane Kruger, and Jennifer Garner. About her stunt work in which she rehearsed with stunt coordinator Gary Powell (Casino Royale, The Bourne Ultimatum, Quantum of Solace), gymnastic acrobats from Cirque du Soleil and used aerial stunt rigs created for The Matrix, Lively explained: "Our director likes it real—the fights close and dirty... I'm 40 feet in the air, spiraling around. That's the best workout you can ever do because it's all core... You do that for ten minutes and you should see your body the next day! It's so exhilarating, so thrilling—and nauseating". Jenna Craig portrays a young Ferris. Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond: A scientist who is exposed to the yellow energy of fear from Parallax, which causes his brain to grow to an enormous size and grants him psionic powers. Regarding his preparation for the role, Sarsgaard stated: "I actually did hang with this biologist from Tulane that was I think just the most eccentric guy they could find. He was entertaining, and he and I actually worked on my lecture that I give in Green Lantern". About his character Sarsgaard remarked that "he's got shades of gray. It's eccentricity on top of eccentricity". Kennon Kepper portrays a young Hammond. Mark Strong as Thaal Sinestro: A Green Lantern and Hal Jordan's mentor. Strong affirmed that the film follows the origin story and that "the film closely follows the early comics. Sinestro starts out as Hal Jordan's mentor, slightly suspicious and not sure of him because obviously Hal is the first human being who's made into a Green Lantern. He's certainly very strict and unsure of the wisdom of Hal becoming a Green Lantern". Strong said that the character "is a military guy but isn't immediately bad. It's the kind of person that lends himself to becoming bad over the course of the comics being written, but initially, he's quite a heroic figure". He also revealed that the outfit and other aspects of the character very closely follow the character's early days: "That widow's peak and thin mustache was for some reason originally based on David Niven... So I would like to do justice to the Sinestro that was conceived for the comic books". Angela Bassett as Amanda Waller: A former congressional aide and government agent. About the differences between the comic book and film character Bassett said, "Well, I'm not 300 pounds", but added that her character does have "that intellectual, that bright, that no-nonsense, that means business personality. She is getting it done and in the trenches nothing fazes her". Tim Robbins as Robert Hammond: A United States senator and the father of Hector Hammond. Temuera Morrison as Abin Sur: A Green Lantern who crash lands on Earth and recruits Hal Jordan as his replacement. Morrison said it took four to five hours to put on the prosthetic makeup for the character. About filming with Ryan Reynolds, Morrison commented, "We did the whole scene together where I give him the ring, our suits are CGI so we had these grey suits with things on them so it was cool, and working with Martin Campbell again was great too". Geoffrey Rush as Tomar-Re: A bird-like member of the Green Lantern Corps who teaches Hal Jordan how to use his cosmic powers. Rush said that he was not initially familiar with Green Lantern but was drawn to the part after seeing the concept art: "When I got the offer for it I said, 'Haven't they made that film?' They said, 'No, it's a completely computer-generated character'. I saw the artwork and I said, I would love to be that guy. Because I had voiced an owl in Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole and I'd voiced a pelican in Finding Nemo and I thought I could really improve on that now by being half-bird, half-fish, part lizard. You don't get to do that in a live-action film". Rush compared the role to previous roles where he played a mentoring figure: "You could say that I've mentored Queen Elizabeth I as Sir [Francis] Walsingham, and [Leon] Trotsky has mentored Frida Kahlo and now Tomar Re is going to mentor Hal Jordan, and I was sort of mentoring King George VI in The King's Speech. But I can't imagine Tomar Re setting up an office on Harley Street in London. They're all very different people to me, but there is a kind of theme I suppose". Michael Clarke Duncan as Kilowog: A drill sergeant trainer of new recruits for the Green Lantern Corps. About the character, Duncan, a fan of the comic book, said that "he is a real type of tough guy who knows everything, and actually in one of the comic books he and Superman fought to a tie". Taika Waititi as Thomas Kalmaku: An Inuk engineer at Ferris Aircraft. Waititi said he was cast after a Warner Bros. casting agent saw his performance in Boy, which he also wrote and directed. Waititi—who has a Jewish mother and Māori father—said the production "had an opening for a role in the film for someone who wasn't, I don't know, not white or not black".