REVIEW: THE GREEN LANTERN

My Rating:

So far this summer we have been treated to two superhero movies, Thor and X-Men: First Class. Surprisingly, both were half-way decent superhero movies, X-Men more so than Thor. Unfortunately for The Green Lantern, it can't measure up to the bar that Thor and X-Men: First Class set.


Let me sum up the story in a nutshell or at least try too, but first some back-story. The Universe is protected by a group of intergalactic peacekeepers known as the Green Lanterns. The Lanterns are comprised of thousands of different species who all derive their power from a giant lantern. This lantern is powered by the will-power of every living creature in the universe. The Lanterns greatest enemy is a powerful Guardian who chose to try and harness the power of fear instead of will-power, and was ultimately consumed by it. This Guardian now consumed by the fear is called, Parallax. Once imprisoned by the Lanterns, Parallax is now free and is roaming the universe consuming fear and trying to get revenge on the Lanterns. Seeking revenge, Parallax attacks and nearly kills Abin Sur, the most bad-ass Lantern of them all, the Lantern responsible for his imprisonment. Dieing, Abin Sur crash lands on Earth and seeks out his replacement. So are you still following me? Yes? Good. 


On Earth, we meet Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) a cocky fighter pilot with some serious Daddy issues (He saw is Dad blow up in a fighter test flight). Guess who Abin Sur's ring picks to be the next Green Lantern? Yup, Hal Jordan. Now a Green Lantern, Hal Jordan is responsible for overcoming his fear and destroying Parallax. There is more to the story than that, but it truly doesn't matter.


The story seems to be rather contrived and there isn't much substance to this plot. Did I expect there to be a rich plot? No, but I was hoping that with such a rich comic book history, that the basic story would be more engaging. I found myself withdrawn from the movie almost all the time, there wasn't enough to really pull me in. The dialogue didn't help matters much either. When Hal Jordan wasn't making wise-ass jokes the dialogue was expository, trying to explain what the hell was going on.

The acting in the movie was sub-par but that is in thanks partly to the clunky script. Most of the aliens give up good performances due to strong voice-over work by Mark Strong and Geoffrey Rush. As far as the humans go, their performances are less than stellar. Dr. Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) is probably the most annoying human character in this movie, and I did not care at all for his performance. Blake Lively's character, Carol Ferris, is pretty much useless except for the obligatory damsel in distress archetype. Ryan Reynolds plays Ryan Reynolds again, like he does in most of his movies. To be fair though, towards the second act of the film Reynolds really tries to flesh out his character and he acts the hell out of the role. Unfortunately for him there isn't much there to work with, he alone can't save this movie with a good performance.


The Green Lantern at it's core is just summer blockbuster fluff. There is little substance and a whole lot of CGI shock and awe going on here. Which is a shame because this movie had a lot of potential with such a rich comic book history. Instead of drawing on that history, the writers gave us a watered down, easy to swallow story that we have seen many times before. There is a post credit scene in this movie that sets up the villain for the planned sequel, and I wish that they would have integrated it more into the actual movie, it would have made for a richer more interesting story. Those are just my two cents.


Unless you are a fan of the comic book, I wouldn't recommend this movie.




Directed by: Martin Campbell
Written by: Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, Michael Goldenberg
Length: 1 hr 45 mins
Rated: PG-13
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong