14 Years Later, 'Green Lantern' Still Does One Thing Better Than 'Lanterns'

Published Aug 28, 2026, 9:14 PM EDT Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wife and daughters. At Collider, he writes features, reviews, recaps, and conducts interviews. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own. His novella, The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain, was released in 2023. His Western short story, The Devil's Left Hand, received the Spur Award for "Best Western Short Fiction" from the Western Writers of America in 2025. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family. Thanks to HBO's reinterpretation of Green Lantern comic book lore with Lanterns, folks are reevaluating the 2011 Green Lantern film for the first time in over a decade. In fact, the film is currently in the top 10 on HBO Max, coming in just above the animated movie Green Lantern: Beware My Power. Considering all the jabs thrown at the movie over the years, it's surprising to see the Ryan Reynolds adaptation return to the forefront of pop culture. But for all the issues that plagued Green Lantern, there is one thing that the feature actually does better than Lanterns thus far: alien-centric intergalactic stakes. 'Green Lantern' Knows How to Make an Alien Threat Feel Real Let's get this bit out of the way first: Green Lantern has its moments. Sure, Ryan Reynolds may not have been the best cast as Hal Jordan, there are some obvious pacing problems, and making Parallax (Clancy Brown) a giant space cloud was less than inspired, but when the film shines, it really shines. Mark Strong's Sinestro has been highly praised for years, and the biggest disappointment that came with not getting a sequel is that we never got a proper Sinestro Corps War adaptation. Likewise, the film succeeds in balancing Hal Jordan's troubled life on Earth with intergalactic escapades. James Newton Howard's score is another bright spot, as are the character designs (and casting) of the extraterrestrial members of the Green Lantern Corps. Indeed, the way that Green Lantern makes its alien stakes clear is what gives it a slight edge over Lanterns. To be clear, this isn't to say that Green Lantern is an amazing movie or even that it is better than Lanterns. It's not. Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan could soar light years beyond anything Reynolds did on the big screen, and the HBO series certainly knows how to balance the character's humor with his abilities as a space lawman. Lanterns is undoubtedly the better adaptation of the character. That said, where the film excels is in its unrestrained ability to explore the larger universe. Alien races from all over the cosmos are a part of the Corps, and in the film, the organization feels not only big and powerful, but vital to the health of the galaxy. Parallax's return makes this more relevant, and everyone is forced to acknowledge the threat. Green Lantern, for all its tonal faults, does well in establishing the necessity of the Green Lantern Corps, refusing to shy away from extraterrestrials by masking them in human-shaped disguises. Instead, director Martin Campbell unashamedly pulls strange, bizarre, macabre, or outlandish-looking characters straight from the comics. 'Green Lantern' Balanced Alien and Terrestrial Worlds Well Lanterns, on the other hand, purposely grounds itself. Compared to the film, it almost feels like an intentional overcorrection. Rather than wanting to be associated with any potential "silliness" that could come from being compared to Green Lantern, Lanterns presents itself as a prestige detective drama that ignores the space operatic aspect of the mythos so that viewers take the concept seriously. On one hand, we understand the impulse: in the decade since the movie, Green Lantern has been the butt of many superhero-themed jokes. However, the film's commitment to exploring alien life was never what folks hated about Green Lantern. In fact, just the opposite. On Lanterns, Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan feels so removed from the rest of his ring-bearing contemporaries that we would have trouble even imagining him alongside the likes of Kilowog or Tomar-Re. And yet, it was exactly that intergalactic comradery and exploration (limited as it was) that Green Lantern excelled at. The universe felt full, vast, and ripped from the pages of some of the character's most famous and memorable adventures. Say what you will about Reynolds' uneven performance, the pacing or how the extended cut does the film more justice than the theatrical (frankly, it's no worse than your average-to-poor MCU flick), but at least it was never afraid to embrace aliens. Of course, Lanterns could still surprise us. As Hal and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) investigate the Manhunters, they could encounter more lifeforms who are unafraid to reveal their true visage. We certainly hope so. We hope that Hal launching into space to meet with his former friend and mentor won't be the only time that we see above the atmosphere. But right now, based on what the show has disclosed regarding Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor) and even Ulrich Thomsen's Sinestro (who looks more sunburned than he does alien), that seems unlikely. Green Lantern is inferior to Lanterns in most respects, but the 2011 film sure knew how to embrace the vast and colorful world of the superhero mythos. For those of us hoping for something more Star Wars than True Detective, it's a bit of a shame. Green Lantern is available for streaming on HBO Max.