While delivering a commencement speech for Kitsilano Secondary School, Green Lantern movie. The 2011 movie based on the DC Comics superhero was widely panned by critics and viewers across the board. While the original plan was to develop a series of movies to follow, the criticism and underwhelming box office results led to a cancellation of said plans. The movie has also famously been lampooned by its own star, Reynolds.
In the years following the aftermath of Green Lantern, the ever self-aware Reynolds has made fun of the movie along with his own portrayal of the character several times. This includes scenes from both of the popular Ryan Reynolds and Taika Waititi (the director who also played a role in Green Lantern), jokingly pretended never to have heard of the movie. A fan also recently asked Reynolds on Twitter about whether or not he should watch Green Lantern on Apple TV, to which Reynolds replied, "Walk away."
In a video posted on his own channel, Green Lantern." He follows by stating that empathy has gotten him so much more and so much farther in life, and his career. "Mirroring, empathizing, validating someone else's experience or point of view is just about the most radical act of ambition that you can ever demonstrate."
The empathy that he talks about has allowed him to be happy and achieve his goals, make memories, make friends, and to provide love. Reynolds says that this is something he has worked on his whole life. Throughout the rest of the speech, he also talks about an old friend who is now a teacher there, and a few stories about his time at school. Reynolds says that his time at Kitsilano was one of the best things that happened to him up to that point and that he's still friends with those he graduated with.
Being the quick-witted and well-spoken person that he is, it's impossible to tell if the former Green Lantern actor's speech was written out word-for-word before, or if he improvised it. Regardless, the message was touching, and it's very clear that it came from a good place, Green Lantern joke aside. While the COVID-19 pandemic is preventing graduating students like the Kitsilano Class of 2020 from a more traditional ceremony, it's uplifting to see actors and other public figures offering up words of encouragement to the youth of the nation.
Source: Ryan Reynolds
