By Jason Haskins
It's an understatement to say I've been eagerly anticipating the newest superhero movie, Green Lantern, or that it was the one movie of the summer season (2011) I was looking forward to the most. Now that it's come and gone, I'm left disappointed at a film I had high hopes for.
Judging from the first trailer that was released last year, I should have known that the quality was going to be questionable, but after the last few trailers, which played down the schlocky teen blockbuster angle I was really excited. Disappointingly, this is just a pale imitator of the comic books in a variety of ways.
Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) has been chosen by a fallen alien, Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison), to brandish a power ring of Oa and be a sworn protector of the galaxy to harness infinite willpower and be without fear. This comes in the wake of an attack by a being named Parallax who is hell-bent on destroying Oa for imprisoning it and it just so happens to be made up of pure fear and yellow energy, which is the green ring's weakness.
Jordan must overcome his fear and train to be the superhero his sector needs; to save Earth from complete destruction from not just Parallax, but an old colleague, Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) who has become diseased by a virus from Parallax and is up to no good. All the while Jordan must win the affections of Carol Ferris (Black Lively), his boss and childhood friend, as well as redeem himself in front of his family. He must prolong peace in the galaxy and also find it in himself and fight through the fear to become the greatest Green Lantern of all time.
The plot of Green Lantern jives a little bit with the classic Emerald Dawn and Secret Origin tales from the comic books, but it also has its own spin on some things, which is understandable given the new medium and trying to stand a little apart from the source material a little bit. However, what sucks is not the core concepts, but how everything is executed. The script is literally one of the worst since last year's Iron Man 2.
The supporting cast is not used efficiently whatsoever. You're introduced to other Green Lanterns on Oa such as Tomar-Re (Geoffrey Rush voices) and Kilowog (Michael Clarke Duncan), but they don't really have much to do with the story, save for a few explanations and training sequences that don't fully develop Hal Jordan very well. Jordan's brother, nephew, and family play a large role in the comics and show up here with some supposed meaning, but are a complete afterthought later in the film--disappearing altogether. The dialogue is also pretty bad at times, utilizing a uniformly PG-13 grasp of things with cheesiness that's far removed from the comics. I mean, there's a point when his friend and co-worker Thomas (Taika Waititi) says that because Jordan is a superhero now means that he should go get the girl (Carol Ferris). I literally groaned.
Don't even get me started on Blake Lively. She was completely miscast. Besides this, her lines are all delivered haphazardly with little emotion to them, completely devoid of depth, and full of macho-women stereotypes that don't go well with her character. She's barely developed and Lively is a complete distraction. Not only that, but too much time is spent on her and Jordan's "love story" which goes nowhere. I was constantly wanting the plot to move forward, but it kept returning to insignificant things.
That's another thing: for a flick that's under two hours long...why does it feel so much longer than it is?! The Green Lantern books are full of action and interesting things that drive things forward (of course, I mean Geoff Johns work--he was actually a producer and consultant on this picture as well).
The entire movie doesn't get rolling until about thirty minutes in and there's barely enough action to keep things interesting. Too much of the movie meanders trying to set up the characters, but does so in really lame and clichéd ways. The action itself, while still cool to break up the drama, is also so full of clichés that I was frustrated halfway through by the film’s lack of focus.
One of the best things about Green Lantern was Ryan Reynolds. I thought he was a phenomenal Hal Jordan, especially given his background of love for the character and the enthusiasm he brought to the movie. Sure, he does some things wrong, but I blame that on the script more than him. He looks the part, acts the part, and is full of the charm, humor, and courage that Hal Jordan represents in the comics.
Peter Sarsgaard steals the whole film, though, as Hector Hammond. He's creepy and brings about this almost Heath Ledger-esque stint to the character that marks it unique and original, which I really enjoyed watching. Mark Strong as Sinestro, one of the other members of the Green Lantern Corps, was also a great choice and brought a ton of good stuff to the movie--despite a lot of it basically setting things up for a sequel.
Martin Campbell is one of the worst filmmakers working in the business--I can't believe that DC gave the franchise to him for its beginning judging by some of his clunkers like Vertical Limit (remember that beauty?), Casino Royale(the worst James Bond movie ever made), and, most recently, Edge of Darkness (that wonderful Mel Gibson flick!).
He relies on the special effects to accomplish most of the work so what we're left with are awkward moments where CGI isn't being used and clunky scenes that don't do the movie any favors. I strongly hope that he isn't attached to helm the sequel and that they get a director who actually knows what they're doing--not an old fart who doesn't have a simple understanding of the material or newer technologies.
The CGI was okay at moments with some interesting action segments, including the ending sequence, which was actually my favorite part of the film. However, there are a several moments where the special effects just didn't look very good and felt somewhat dated. Hal Jordan's costume is CGI, which didn't really bother me as it made sense and looked good, but his mask is also CGI, which was more awkward.
Most of the things you see in the entire film were shot on green (hey!) screen and it became distracting at how fake everything looked-and this is coming from the guy that really dug the look of Thor. A lot of the action is flawed, using too many clichés, but at the same time there are still parts that floored me, such as when Jordan finally learns how to use the ring with his willpower to animate what he wants (despite it, a majority of the time, being a darn big green fist!).
I'd be lying if I said I liked the score--it was one of the worst aspects of the movie as well with trumping horns that are meaningless and moments of rock'n'roll (thank God no AC/DC) that just didn't suit the film at all contrasting with other superhero properties like Superman and Batman.
I hate how much I didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to. I was really trying--I'm a huge fan of the characters and it was a dream come true to see this on the big screen, but the trouble was that it all felt so rushed and insincere at times. I've been reflecting on the film a ton and it's not like I disliked it from the standpoint of being a fan, but for the fact that it just wasn't very well put together for a movie period. It was quickly rushed into production after all of the Marvel properties were gaining leverage. It’s clear Warner Bros. wanted to start their own major franchise to go with a hopeful Justice League movie and get more DC characters off the ground.
What resulted was a stilted effort by a filmmaker that could care less and a script that tried to bite off more than it could chew. However, there were still some pretty swell moments that I enjoyed and more than that I couldn't help but daydream while watching that this might be one of those lacking first movies that sets up the structure the following sequels will build off of. Judging by how this ended you'll still see me in line years from now awaiting the next Green Lantern movie...but not with my hopes up. Comic fans shouldn't unite over this, but think of it as a lukewarm starting point to a franchise that, in better hands, might reach its full potential over time.
2 out of 5 Stars
© Jason Haskins, 2011
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