Divisive DC Comics Movie Just Hit Netflix
September is here, and a new month means that Netflix has tons of new offerings for subscribers to stream. One of their new additions is Green Lantern, the much-maligned origin story for beloved DC Comics character Hal Jordan, a.k.a. the Green Lantern. Ryan Reynolds stars as Jordan, a pilot who finds an alien ring that gives him superpowers, and all of the trouble that comes along with it. It also stars Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Angela Bassett, and Taika Waititi.
Reynolds, who got a second chance at playing a sarcastic superhero with Deadpool, has spoken about his regrets about how Green Lantern turned out. He recently opened up in an interview about why he still jokes about the cinematic failure a decade after its release. "I think it's more about just laughing at myself, not laughing at other people, necessarily, that are involved in a project," Reynolds explained. "But laughing at myself and my own contribution to that failure or however you want to characterize it."
"It was just something that I thought was worth examining, you know?" Reynolds continued. "And in examining it, you take that energy that is - typically, maybe it's hurtful or maybe it's something that's dragging you down - and you end up creating a sort of mental Judo with it. You're using its energy against it and creating something positive out of it.
Similarly, Waititi, who has gone on to be an Oscar-nominated director and recently co-starred with Reynolds again in Free Guy, has kept up the jokes as well. "What's the project you're talking about? I've never heard of it," Waititi quipped in an interview with Total Film last year. "Green... what?" However, the Thor: Ragnarok director took the criticism of the film with grace. "That type of thing is great because Ryan and I have both got a similar sense of humor in regards to things like that," he said. "I find it really funny that I did that film. The thing is, it's like when people shy away from things, and they don't want to admit they've done something, or they don't ever reference it, I find it worse."
"When you can make fun of yourself, then everybody else understands: 'Oh, we're all in on the joke'. Because if you pretend it never happened, then it makes it kind of weird and uncomfortable for everyone," Waititi concluded. "I still don't have any idea what that project is. I'm not entirely sure which one you're talking about."