This week saw the release of Green Lantern: First Flight, the first feature-length adventure of the Emerald Crusader. It comes hot on the heels of news that Canadian-born Ryan Reynolds (CBC)-- one-time paramour of You Can't Do That on Television star Alanis Morrisette--has been cast as test pilot Hal Jordan, the man with the verdant vim. We'll see, I guess. Reynolds is best known for wearing a fat suit in the only Regina-shot movie featured in Roger Ebert's book Your Movie Sucks. On the other hand, the film is being directed by Martin Campbell, who also directed the best two Bond films of the last 30 years as well as the pilot episode of my all-time favourite TV show, Homicide: Life on the Street. So who knows how this movie will turn out.
Interestingly, Gil Kane, the original artist on the 1959 sci-fi revamp of Green Lantern (there was an earlier magic-based GL during the 1940s), based the character's look on Paul Newman.
Here's the 60s Filmation version of Green Lantern, which is pretty close to the Green Lantern comics of that era and probably miles away from what we'll see in the upcoming Ryan Reynolds movie. Pity.
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