In 2011, filmmaker Martin Campbell and comedian Ryan Reynolds teamed up for one of the worst superhero movies in movie history: “Green Lantern“. A film in which Ryan Reynolds regrets having participated, while the director regrets having directed it.
Green Lantern : one of the worst superhero movies
We are in 2011. At that time, DC Comics movies are doing pretty well. In particular, there were the first two parts of the trilogy Batman of Christopher Nolan and the incredible Watchmen – The Guardians. Inevitably, Warner wants to develop other superheroes from the DC Comics catalog. It is therefore logical that the firm turns to the famous Green Lantern, which has yet to have its own film adaptation. The studio then entrusts the production of the film Green Lantern to filmmaker Martin Campbell. A New Zealand director who has notably staged works such as Casino Royale, The Mask of Zorroor GoldenEye.
In front of the camera, it’s Ryan Reynolds who is chosen to play the hero Hal Jordan. He is notably surrounded by his future wife Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong or even Temuera Morrison. Unfortunately for all this small team, the feature film received disastrous reviews at the time of its release. At the box office it’s barely better since for an estimated budget of $200 million, Green Lantern only made 220 million. And so, over time, Green Lantern became one of the most hated superhero movies.
Martin Campbell regrets directing this film
With time, Green Lantern has become a constant valve in the career of Ryan Reynolds. The actor regularly makes fun of this film, especially in both Dead Pool where he has a field day. He has also regularly stated in interviews that Green Lantern is one of the worst films of his career. But he always takes it with a lot of humor, like during this interview with comic book in 2020:
The most important thing that happened to me in my career is to always laugh at myself. And there’s something to laugh about… Everyone knows that moment when you lay down at night and say to yourself, “My God, that thing I did was so horrible or stupid or ridiculous”. I think it can be a fuel for many things.
As for Martin Campbell, he is more Cartesian and lucid about his work on Green Lantern. The filmmaker declared in 2021 at the microphone of ScreenRant, that he was totally responsible for the disaster Green Lantern. The filmmaker prefers to take responsibility for this failure. And frankly, we can say that it is fair play:
You know what ? The movie didn’t work, really. It is like that, and I am partly responsible for it. Superhero movies aren’t my cup of tea, and for that reason, I shouldn’t have done it. But directors must always take responsibility for failures. What does the proverb say? “Success has many fathers, failure has only one”. And it’s me!
