Green Lantern - Review

One thing that I found a bit interesting about the Green Lantern movie is that it represents something of a minor turning point for Warner Bros. Since 2001, the studio has had the luxury of distributing the Harry Potter movies, a stream of popular, well-made, and lucrative blockbusters that were all but guaranteed to be mega-hits. Now with Potter series on it's final legs, Warner Bros has been on the lookout for a new blockbuster franchise to take it's Place. So the first up to bat is Green Lantern, a movie based on the long running DC comic book. As the first live action feature based on the series, expectations were high. Is this Warner's newest multi-million dollar franchise or is it back to the drawing board.

Green Lantern stars Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, a cocky test pilot facing some personal demons from his past. One night, he comes across an alien named Abin Sur who crash landed on Earth. Abin Sur is a member of an intergalactic peace keeping alliance known as the Green Lantern Corp, who came to Earth in search of someone to take his place on the Lantern Corp before he dies. He bestows Jordan with his power ring, an item that bestows the wearer with the power to turn thought into reality. Jordan learns to master his new found powers right as a near-unstoppable force called Parrallax makes it's way to Earth with it's sights set on planetary destruction.

I do enjoy comic books and superhero movies, but I was never that big of a fan of Green Lantern. I've never had anything against the series or the character, it was just never my cup of tea. It seemed like a cool idea though, and if nothing else I admired it from afar... enough at least to look forward to seeing this movie. I only mention this so you know that when I say the movie is disappointing, I'm not coming at this as an upset fanboy. All I know of the character is the basic format, the general mythos, and most of the main characters. As far as the nit-picky details as for how well it follows it's source material... I'm not the one to ask about that. It's just a very mediocre sci-fi action film with more than it's share of flaws.

One thing that got me excited for this flick was that it was being directed by Martin Campbell. This was the filmmaker behind some solid and fun action films including Vertical Limit and The Mask of Zorro. For me though, his work on the 007 movies are his great accomplishment, directing two of the franchise's best entries, Casino Royale and Goldeneye. Unfortunately, Campbell's direction is ultimately what killed this movie. It seemed like he had no interest on set in what he was directing. What we ultimately get is a string of scenes featuring lost actors, sub par special effects, uninspired action, and weak humor. Granted the finale had it's moments, but the rest was about as bland as it gets. It's basically like he was directing on autopilot the whole time. What a disappointment...

One could theorize that the direction was so poor due in part for Campbell not being satisfied with the script... and I really wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, because the writing is awful! The worst part about it that it includes bits and pieces of a quality flick, but cops out on almost every bit of promise it had. The mythos behind the character is very cool... a plot about legion of super powered aliens who protect the universe has all kinds of potential. First problem though, they neglect many aspects of the Green Lantern Corps to focus almost exclusively on the personality-drained Hal Jordan. On top of his character having more in common with Tom Cruise in Top Gun, there's just nothing that hasn't been done before. He receives a great power, nearly budges from the responsibility,and then overcomes it to save the day in the end... haven't seen that a million times before. Meanwhile the far more interesting characters like the other Green Lanterns or the villainous Hector Hammond (played by Peter Sarsgaard) are left underutilized and underdeveloped. As for the rest of the movie... be prepared for lots of exposition, massive plot holes, unfunny jokes, and cliche after cliche.

Now, let's focus on the casting... oh the casting. Ryan Reynolds stars in the title role as Hal Jordan aka Green Lantern. Let's make one thing clear... I like Ryan Reynolds. He's a talented actor with good range, solid comic timing, and the ability to take on different roles. If you don't believe me on that, go watch Buried and see for yourself. His depiction of Hal Jordan, however, is just all wrong. It's partly due to the weak script and direction, but I can't totally let Reynolds off the hook. For the most part, he looks like he's in a daze or just lost. Blake Lively plays Jordan's love interest Carol Ferris. I don't have much to say about her other than that she has absolutely no range whatever in this. Peter Saarsgard as Hector Hammond was actually the only one who comes close to salvaging this movie. His character is largely irrelevant the plot and totally underdeveloped, but his character arc almost works and even though his acting at times borders on campy, he was the only one who actually showed some personality. Not much else to say about the casting other than that it usually doesn't work.

I might have been willing to forgive some of Green Lantern's many problems if the film's technical aspects were better, but sadly they're not. Let's start with the effects... in short, they're not that good. First off is the The Green Lantern costume. It is created not through fabrics or linens, but through cgi. The logic was that the outfit is created by energy, and that a traditional costume wouldn't give it the animated or alien look that was desired. In theory that makes sense, but the costume's cgi looked totally unfinished and unconvincing. Many times, it looked like Reynolds head was just floating around, especially in the scenes set in space. The rest of the action was for the most part just meh. The finale had it's moments, but the rest are ridiculously stupid. The introductory scene for Jordan is a generic dogfight between Jordan and a military drone in a scene that is all to reminiscent of Top Gun. Hell, I expected to start hearing Highway To The Danger Zone while watching it. If that's not bad enough, halfway through there's a scene where Jordan saves a failing helicopter by creating a giant toy car ramp with his ring... even for comic book standards, that is corny. That could actually be said for pretty much every scene in the flick. It's too campy to take seriously but not nearly fun enough to enjoy on an ironic level.

The worst part about Green Lantern is that between the decades of comic storylines and mythos, a previously successful director, and a promising cast, this could have been something really good. It's not the worst comic book movie ever, and I wouldn't go as far to call it the disaster it's being made out to be, but it just made too many mistakes for me to give it a recommendation. If you haven't seen it yet, don't bother.

My Score: 2 out of 5!