Blu-ray

While he’s been a mainstay of DC Comic’s superhero pantheon since 1960 (in this incarnation, at least), you’d be hard-pushed to say that Green Lantern is a particularly recognisable name for most people. As such, this sci-fi blockbuster had its work cut out not only introducing its hero Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) and his supporting cast, but also establishing the concept of the inter-galactic police force he ends up working for, the Green Lantern Corps. Add to that a melodramatic back-story and two separate villains and its no wonder that the film struggles under the weight of its ambitious scope. But what’s surprising, given all of that, is how thin and uneventful the film ends up feeling. While the space stuff looks great, but most of the action takes place on Earth and looks ordinary and unexciting by comparison.

Picture: For a film about a character who’s sole super-power is the ability to create whatever he can imagine out of green light coming from his magic ring, Green Lantern boasts an oddly muted colour scheme. It’s almost as if the filmmakers thought that Hal’s bright green CGI suit could only work if grounded in the real world, so the AVC 2.40:1 1080p transfer spends most of its time contrasting this with deep – sometimes crushed – blacks and a palette of interiors that veers between steely blues and autumnal reds. While colour reproduction is good throughout, the image does struggle with fine detail from time to time. Although it’s worth pointing out that the CG characters look absolutely fantastic.
Picture rating: 4/5

Audio: This Blu-ray’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 presentation of Green Lantern’s soundtrack is pure whiz-bang superheroics from start to finish. There’s excellent use of the entire soundstage throughout the film with an endless supply of directional effects, plenty of pounding bass and pitch-perfect dialogue rendering. It’s about as absorbing and involving as film soundtracks get.
Audio rating: 5/5

Extras: Excluding the bonus DVD and Digital Copy of the film, this Triple Play Blu-ray offers up a batch of extras every bit as mediocre as the film they support. In addition to Theatrical (114min) and Extended (124min) Cuts of the movie, there’s also a Maximum Movie Mode for the shorter version (albeit in a more traditional picture-in-picture form than usual) with branching to eight Focus Point featurettes (also available directly from the Special Features menu), a 20min featurette about Green Lantern’s comic book history, a chat with Ryan Reynolds, four deleted scenes, a Justice League #1 Digital Comic and a preview of Green Lantern: The Animated Series.
Extras rating: 3/5

We say: Despite its impressive audio, this lantern never really sparks into life on Blu-ray  

Warner Home Video, All-region BD/R2 DVD, £25 approx, On sale now
HCC RATING: 3/5