Green Lantern: Blackest Night

**Green Lantern: Blackest Night** is a 2014 superhero film based on the DC Comics superhero of the same name. It is also a sequel to *Green Lantern*. It was directed by Zack Snyder and written by David S. Goyer and Chris Terrio. It stars Chris Hemsworth, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, James Franco, Zachary Levi, Clancy Brown, Dwayne Johnson, Meghan Markle, Cassidy Freeman, John Krasinski, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin, Mads Mikkelsen, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The film ran 142 minutes and was released on August 1, 2014.

## Plot

One year after the events of *Justice League*, Hal and Carol have continued to work with their respective Lantern Corps from Coast City. Sinestro has been in prison, though Arkillo plots to get him out. Atrocitus and Larfleeze, the leaders of the two other evil Lantern Corps, also try to figure out how to end the other Corps' reign. Saint Walker and Indigo, the leaders of the Blue Lantern Corps and Indigo Tribe, work with Hal and Carol from their planets to prevent further crime. However, the universe is put into shock when an ancient evil, the Black Lantern, Black Hand, has arrived. Hal, Carol, Saint Walker, and Indigo defend the universe with their lanterns, though Black Hand kills several of their lanterns and resurrects them as his Black Lantern army, which represents death, including Indigo.

On Earth, a secret society of superheroes calling themselves the "Justice Society", learns of the attack and tries to alert Hal to let them help. Hal, Carol, and Saint Walker meet Ray Palmer/The Atom, who can shrink, Carter and Shiera Hall/Hawkman and Hawkgirl, the reincarnated forms of the Egyptian Prince Khufu and Priestess Chay-Ara, and Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch/Firestorm, the merged form of the two that can fly and emit fire. Hal agrees to let them help and they get to Oa to plan what they need to do. At the same time, Carol gets an alert that Atlantis is in danger so she and Saint Walker go down where they find Aquaman gone and his wife, Mera, injured. They help her and bring her to Oa, where she reveals Black Hand attacked Atlantis and Aquaman was sent across the universe.

Now having an army, Hal, Carol, Saint Walker, Mera, the Justice Society, and the Lantern Corps. Hal is forced to let Sinestro and his Yellow Lanterns help, along with Atrocitus and Larfleeze. Black Hand manages to switch Mera to his army and she kills several Lanterns, including Jade. Suddenly Ronnie realizes Black Hand has switched over Olivia Hunter, Ronnie's girlfriend. Firestorm and Olivia fight, resulting in Black Hand permanently killing her, devastating Ronnie. Retreating back to Oa, Ganthet reveals that they can create a White Lantern, the only thing strong enough to kill a Black Lantern, because White represents Life. They need seven non-Corp members to wear Lantern rings of the seven main Corps (Green, Blue, Red, Orange, Yellow, Indigo, and the Star Sapphires). They get the Society, sans Firestorm as they have been switched over, Mera, who was switched back over, Ganthet, Thomas Kalmaku, and Donna Troy, who had been sent by Diana Prince to help. Ganthet as Green, Thomas as Blue, Donna as Violet/Star Sapphire, Mera as Red, Ray as Indigo, Carter as Orange, and Shiera as Yellow.

White Lantern energy is created by the seven, strong enough to resurrect six of the Black Lanterns and to stop Black Hand. Ronnie, Indigo, Jade, Arkillo, and two other Green/Blue Lanterns are brought back. Ronnie is upset to learn that Jason was not brought back. Indigo goes back to her tribe, Jade realizes her love, Kyle Rayner, was not brought back, Arkillo tries to escape but he is put back in prison with Sinestro. Everyone goes back to the way everything was, as Ganthet reveals that the White Lantern Energy is still out there somewhere, urging them to move on. In a mid-credits scene, a crater is seen on the side of the road. A man gets out of his truck to look inside and finds a White Lantern Battery. In a post-credits scene, Ray, Carter, and Shiera find a new match for Ronnie, an older professor named Martin Stein.

## Cast

* Chris Hemsworth as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern
* Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Carol Ferris/Star Sapphire
* James Franco as Thaal Sinestro
* Zachary Levi as Saint Walker
* Clancy Brown as Kilowog
* Dwayne Johnson as Atrocitus
* Meghan Markle as Indigo
* Cassidy Freeman as Mera
* John Krasinski as Ray Palmer
* Bradley Cooper as Larfleeze
* Josh Brolin as Arkillo
* Joel Edgerton as Carter Hall
* Zoe Saldana as Shiera Hall
* Charlie Cox as Thomas Kalmaku
* Emilia Clarke as Jade
* Ryan Eggold as Ronnie Raymond
* Lakeith Stanfield as Jason Rusch
* Mads Mikkelsen as Ganthet
* Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Black Hand

## Reception

### **Box office**

*Green Lantern: Blackest Night* grossed $202.9 million in the United States and Canada and $506.1 million in other countries for a worldwide gross of $709 million.

### **Critical reception**

*Green Lantern: Blackest Night* received mixed reviews from film critics and audiences. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 52% based on 282 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "While the cast is outstanding and the special effects are top-notch, *Green Lantern: Blackest Night* suffers from an unfocused narrative and an overabundance of characters." On Metacritic the film has a score of 53 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend revealed the average grade cinemagoers gave the film was "B+" on an A+ to F scale.