Green Lantern: A Flickcharter’s Movie Review

16 Jun
2011

by

Being in the Green Lantern Corps. is a lot like being a U.S. Marshal. You are allocated a certain degree of autonomy and discretion. Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds), however, does not have any of these advantages. A local who happened upon an alien with a dying wish, he finds himself introduced to a world vastly different from his own. As he is the first human Green Lantern, he has to be mentored by a seven foot tall bird named Tomar-Re (Geoffrey Rush is on a roll isn’t he?), he can’t figure out his ring’s oath, and his trainer, Sinestro (Mark Strong) is an ass.

Reynolds was a great choice for Hal. He exudes a natural charisma that invites you to share Hal’s unbridled optimism and it doesn’t feel false. Green Lantern is much closer to Superman than Batman or Spider-Man. Hal has his own sense of right and wrong and he never crosses it. In a way, he is the luckiest of superheroes; his powers come at no cost, he doesn’t lose a family member, and he suffers no hardship for the use of his powers. Hal may be lucky, but he is still in way over his head.

Batman and Spider-Man never have to face otherworldy beings in combat. Hal is not so fortunate. Parallax is such a villain, and a powerful foe. Hal cannot face him alone, even with his newfound power. So he has a choice: fail Earth or enlist the aid of the Green Lantern Corp. If that isn’t enough, he has to face off with genius Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) who has his mind manipulated by Parallax. Sarsgaard has a lot of fun with the role and works to make their showdown all the more entertaining.

Reynolds is charismatic in both, but Green Lantern manages to succeed in making a worthy origin story of implementing Reynolds’ talent. Deadpool’s appearance is a sight for sore eyes during the film, it is however a short one. Taking into account very fake CGI claws and that this superhero flick features much more Ryan Reynolds, Green Lantern takes this round.

Both feature two cock-sure heroes. Both feature some element of a single man taking on a worldly force. What Green Lantern does not have is Robert Downey Jr.: a singularly talented individual. Iron Man was such a blast because it blended comic timing, action and drama with relative ease. Green Lantern suffers from trite dialogue during its meatier moments, and for that reason, Iron Man takes down Hal Jordan.

Batman and Green Lantern are two of D.C. Comics’ more valuable properties. Batman Begins came after the generally demonized Batman & Robin, and with the assistance of Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan it became a smashing success going on to inspire one of the genre’s best efforts yet in The Dark Knight. Green Lantern can’t compete with the opening chapter of Batman’s saga. Very few superhero films can.

Where Green Lantern Sits On My Flickchart

Green Lantern is quite fun, but between the flourishes of visual wonder, the script leaves one wanting more. The romance between Reynolds and Lively doesn’t ring true and the cheesy dialogue can only be salvaged by the actors so many times before your eyes start to roll. Despite those two factors, the other-worldly elements of Green Lantern are quite spectacular and Reynolds certainly knows how to play a hero. The battle scenes are compelling and easily the most exciting element of the film.

Not the best the comic book genre has to offer this summer - X-Men:First Class and Thor were both superior – but still a lot of fun. Green Lantern, like all origin stories, suffers from a lack of suspense. Nothing bad can really happen to Hal as he is the face of a franchise sure to launch several sequels. Additionally, the character arcs are not as developed as Xavier and Magneto in X-Men: First Class are. Hal makes changes, but he never really develops during the course of the film.

As it stands, Green Lantern sits behind X-Men: First Class (246) and Thor (253) in the 2011 class of comic book films at 414 out of 819 on my Flickchart.

5 Responses to Green Lantern: A Flickcharter’s Movie Review

Nigel Druitt

June 17th, 2011 at 12:33 am

Boy, Green Lantern was one superhero movie I was not sure about when I first heard of it, especially after hearing that the hero’s costume is entirely CGI. But I have to admit, the more I see and hear about it, the more interested I become. I do like Reynolds. (Where is that Deadpool spinoff?) And director Campbell, too.

Glad to hear it’s decent, anyway.

Fitz

June 17th, 2011 at 1:47 am

I had my own concerns but they were largely gone after the first ten minutes.

Dan O'Neill

June 18th, 2011 at 4:38 am

The mythology is nonsensical and the plot takes forever to get going. But once it does, the movie takes advantage of a strong cast and a director who knows what he’s doing. Good Review! Check out mine when you can!

Travis McClain

June 19th, 2011 at 9:34 am

I’ve been wanting a Lantern movie for nearly 20 years now, and I confess I’ve become rather defensive in the last month as I’ve been told my proper prejudice for this film should be against it, that it’s “ho-hum” and “yawn” I should be saying.  In a nutshell, I found it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, but much better than I’d feared.  “Perfunctory” is perhaps the best description I have for much of the film.

I disagree with some of the descriptions of this review, incidentally.  For instance, Sinestro is not Hal’s trainer.  He’s the leader of the Corps, who makes clear to Hal that he does not accept the human.  Also, Hal does not in fact recruit the Corps to contend with Parallax; he goes it alone.

I’ve found myself characterizing Green Lantern as having Maverick from Top Gun join the Men in Black and fight Gozer from Ghostbusters.  In fact, MIB is really the most obvious comparable film to come to my mind as I watched GL; the tone is pretty light and the pace is quick.  I liked both, but left the theater feeling more teased than satisfied.  I’m hopeful that the next film–set up nicely here–will allow its story to develop more organically and not be such a paint-by-numbers affair.

One thought I had while watching was that if they’d made this movie about 10-15 years ago, Tim Robbins would have been a perfect Hal Jordan.  I keep forgetting his hair is all white now.  Makes me feel old, since I keep thinking of him in Bull Durham.

Taking off my “Movie Fan” hat for a moment and speaking as a Lantern fan, I really was dissatisfied with the presentation of Parallax (though I suppose it was at least a step up from the treatment of Galactus in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer), and while they did a terrific job making Peter Sarsgaard look like Hector Hammond from the comics, Hammond is not a terribly interesting character here.  He looks like he should be interviewed on the local news about the twister that ran through town rather than a villain, or even a henchman.  Very underwhelming villains for the opening of what I’m sure DC and Warner are hoping will be a lucrative franchise.

I was much more satisfied, I have to say, with the Lanterns and Guardians here–though my friend with whom I saw the film disliked the Guardians, saying they looked like bad Claymation to him.  Tomar Re and Kilowog in particular were terrific, and I look forward to seeing more of them in the future.

Marshall and the Movies

June 29th, 2011 at 7:18 pm

I was scared when I saw the comparison to Batman … because clearly there is no comparison ;)