The power of green comes to Blu-ray with Green Lantern Extended Cut. Does the Green Lantern shine on Blu-ray, or is it a dull glow?
Growing up I have always been a fan of Green Lantern and I have quite a few comics in my collection. Does the will power of the Green Lantern project its amazing powers on Blu-ray? No.
Visuals
Because this film relies on tons of visual effects, I was curious to see how it would translate to Blu-ray. Unfortunately, the amount of eye candy was severely lacking. On the upside, the world of Oa was impressive, as was the final fight with Parallax. But for the most part the visuals were less than impressive.
For example, the whole green lantern suit was CGI, and just didn’t look real. It didn’t look like he was wearing the suit or that the suit was part of him. The part that bothered me the most was his mask: it looked far too cartoonish.
In general the whole film was dark and the contrast was poor, not visually appealing. You could clearly tell what was digital and what was live action. This is not the worst looking movie on Blu-ray, but certainly far from the best.
Sound
Pretty solid sound. I did find myself having to turn it down a few times with the explosions or environmental sounds. However, the sound is clear and crisp and the use of the surround sound puts the viewer in the middle of the action. The audio quality, overall, is acceptable.
Special Features
A key feature I enjoyed was the Maximum Movie Mode excerpt Green Lanterns’s Light (only for the theatrical version). This feature has a picture-in-picture viewing of the film, and information will pop up and tell you more about the scenes you are watching.
The Universe According to the Green Lantern is a look into the history of Hal Jordan, featuring short interviews with people who have worked on Green Lantern in the past. People who don’t know too much about the Green Lantern might enjoy it. The special features also include a Justice League #1 digital comic. This feature is nice, but not a deal-maker.Personally I still enjoy my paper copies of comics, always have and always will. However, I can see the fun of viewing it on a big screen.
The Blu-ray also includes an early access code for the Sinestro Corps Batman skin for Batman: Arkham City. The code only works for the Playstation 3 version of the game. Again nice but still does not make up for the lack of visual feast that fans expect.
The set comes with the Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy.
Final Thoughts
The key components of audio, video and extras are what truly makes a Blu-ray enjoyable. Unfortunately, The Green Lantern doesn’t shine brightly in any of these important categories. I can’t say that I truly enjoyed the experience of this film on Blu-ray and I don’t see myself wanting to see on Blu-ray again. This is one you might just want to pass up.
Retail price as low as $24.99