Reynolds: Green Lantern Isn't 'Labored Origin Story'

Published on December 1, 2009 by Craig Sharp · View Comments

green_lantern_47547 Self confessed Marvel/DC fanboy, Ryan Reynolds has been talking up the Green Lantern again, and this time he’s shedding a little light on the pace of the film and the direction it might take. Speaking to MTV, Reynolds was keen to stress that while this movie covers Green Lantern’s origins to some extent, it isn’t held back by them.

“It is [an origin story] to a certain degree, but it’s not a labored origin story, where the movie [truly] begins in the third act,” he explained. “The movie starts when it starts. We find out Hal is the guy fairly early on, and the adventure begins.”

This is something I’m quite pleased to hear. Don’t get me wrong, origins certainly have a place in comicbook films, and they definitely make the material accessible to the uninitiated, but in my humble opinion, if I could have trimmed 20-30 minutes origin off of Batman Begins for example and replaced it with more action? I would have.

But no origin doesn’t necessarily mean no Hal Jordan, much like Robert Downey Jr./Tony Stark in Iron Man, Reynolds’ fans will be happy to know that his face gets a lot of screen time:

“I think you walk away from this first film, and the moments that you remember and the moments that mean so much to you, not unlike ‘Iron Man,’ are the moments where the guy’s not in the suit.”

Green Lantern stars Ryan Reynolds and is set to be directed by “Casino Royale” helmer Martin Campbell, film begins shooting next year.