Green Lantern

For the average movie goer, Green Lantern may not be making as huge a splash as say, X-Men this summer (admit it, you've never even HEARD of Green Lantern before the movie trailers came out). This movie is like Ron Burgundy, in that you may not know it, but it's kind of a big deal, particularly to the avid comic-reading, fanboy base, of which I proudly consider myself a part of. Though he's not one of the DC powerhouse trifecta of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, GL is nonetheless an extremely popular DC property, frequently making it into various adaptations of the Justice League. Ryan Reynolds plays the green-clad superhero in the movie, which goes a little something like this.

Hal Jordan is a daring jet fighter pilot, working with his longtime friend Carol Ferris (Blake Lively) at Ferris Aircraft. One night after a tough test flight in which he destroys his jet, he is engulfed by a mysterious green light and summoned to the side of the dying alien Abin Sur. Abin tells Hal of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic police force, and also that the ring has chosen him to be the next Green Lantern of space sector 2814 (the sector with Earth in it, duh.)The ring is a powerful weapon that is capable of becoming anything the wearer can imagine. Jordan is then transported to the headquarters of the GL Corps, the planet Oa, where he is told about Parallax, the Corps most ancient foe, and he must decide whether to run and hide or join the Corps and save Earth from Parallax.

Ok, so it sounds like your bog-standard super hero origin movie plot. Guy gets powers, is reluctant to use them, is forced to use his powers to save the world from the aforementioned evil. So what makes Green Lantern different from every other super hero movie? In all honesty, not a whole lot. In fact, as a big fan of the GL franchise, this movie was quite disappointing, for several reasons. The first and perhaps most prudent, is the fact that in a movie titled Green Lantern, Ryan Reynolds spends all of 10-15 mintues of a 2 hour movie in his GL costume. I paid good money to see Green Lantern whoop some serious ass with a myriad of different light constructs, not to see Ryan Reynolds play a slightly toned-down version of himself who spends half his time on screen talking about his feelings. I also felt that the movie did a very poor job of explaining the entire Green Lantern Corps - not once in the movie do you see any Green Lantern doing any actual intergalactic policing, they all just seem to be chilling on Oa not doing a whole lot. Yet another problem I had with the movie was the representation of Parallax. In the comics, he's the embodiment of fear, a wicked looking thing that is able to defeat pretty much every single corps member. In the movie, he's a silly looking smoke monster who, while able to defeat most of the corps, gets taken down by a rookie who hasn't even learned the full potential of his ring yet. I know Hal Jordan is supposed to be the greatest lantern that ever lived, but he shouldn't be so already (being as it's assumed there will be sequels.) I really think that they should've have done the Manhunters as the antagonist, or even Sinestro. My final greivance isn't with the plot, but rather with the production value itself. Given that we live in a world with Transformers, Harry Potter, and X-Men, the CG in this movie should be top notch, given that it's essentially a graphics driven movie. Not-so, however. The guardians of Oa look like puppets. You'd think that, since they don't do anything but sit there, they could make them look a bit more real, but I guess that's what you get for not getting Industrial Light and Magic to do your graphics for you.

That's not to say that it's all bad, however. The scenes in which Ryan Reynolds is being Green Lantern ARE really cool. Mark Strong gives a solid performance as Sinestro, can't wait to see him in the next one. Ryan Reynolds is his usual witty self, and Blake Lively is not excellent, but not bad at the same time. I think Peter Sarsgaard takes the cake for being the creepiest nerd/scientist portrayed on screen - and that's BEFORE he gets a giant head. The rest of the acting all seemed very campy, however.

So, all in all, Green Lantern was a bit of a letdown, especially when I saw that it was being directed by Martin Campbell, the guy who did Casino Royale which was amazing. But perhaps Mr. Campbell is too rooted in reality, and lacks the imagination to portray a truly out-of-this-world experience, no disrespect to the man, just a different style. The movie has got a few laughs, a couple of cool action scenes, but those points are just not enough to sell the whole thing. Wait for the DVD or download folks.

Final Score: 6.5/10