Oh, Right...Green Lantern...

So, you can call this a "throwaway post," if you like, but I meant to mention this the other day. Just in case you hadn't heard, there's a new DC movie coming out for 2011, and it's Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds.

I bring this up for a few reasons. Once upon a time, if you had asked me who my favorite superhero in the world was, I would have said Green Lantern. Of course, I would have been around age 8 or 9 at the time, and still enjoyed the Super Friends cartoon (I never collected Green Lantern comics, though I've read one or two over the years). Why did I like the guy? Because the guy had power that was limited pretty much only by his imagination...and personally, I always had a lot of imagination.

[yeah, yeah...it was also limited by the color yellow, but I've never been a big fan of yellow anyway]

I mean, Green Lantern's ring is a total throwback to the story of Aladdin and the magic lamp. Aladdin also had a ring with a djinn in it, but the genie of the lamp was even MORE powerful...and the Green Lantern story combines the two into one, powerful, wish fulfillment device.

For a dude in his 30s who doesn't get enough sleep, drinks too much, and doesn't get much exercise, this is my kind of superpower. I mean, you don't have to work out or drink any kind of crazy potion, or suffer mutations/side-effects. Just put on a magic ring and go to work. The only hero that's more appealing is the invincible Iron Man...and that's only 'cause he's rich, too.

[actually, truth be told, I could really stand an injection of that Captain America "super soldier serum." But my wife doesn't like guys built like linebackers]

Anyway, Ryan Reynolds. Once upon a time I would have told you "I hate this guy." But that's ridiculous. He's a professional actor. If you are a professional actor, you take the roles you can get and you sell yourself heart & soul...that's your job. It's not his fault that he's been in a lot of films that really irritated the hell out of me or that he was asked to play or portray crap characters or characters in a crap fashion. I've seen other actors on the screen who were far less believable or outright terrible...I know nothing about the guy personally so I honestly have no ground to be judgmental.

That being said, I have historically winced whenever I saw the guy. While Green Lantern was long ago replaced in my heart by other "favorite" superheroes, I was at first slightly irritated to see Mr. Reynolds was cast in the role of this archetypal hero.

But you know what? I saw the trailer (on YouTube or IMDB or somewhere...my wife showed me) and the guy looks like Hal Jordan. I mean, he's a helluva' lot more believable as Jordan than as, say, Deadpool (who I hate anyway, just by the by).

It looks like it might be a pretty good film.

And that's all I wanted to say. I will NOT get sidetracked on superhero RPGs anytime soon, but I'll probably see Green Lantern eventually. Though I'll definitely watch Machete first.

: )