Review: Green Lantern

Grade: C+

Hal Jordan is one of the best test pilots around. One day he quits though after a near death experience after taking on two unmanned A.I. jets. At the same time, an alien known as Abin-Sur, the member of an intergalactic peace squadron, is attacked by a deadly force. He manages to escape and fly to Earth, with his final breaths, he uses his power ring to find a replacement for himself. The ring finds Hal Jordan, giving him the powers of the Green Lantern. The ring takes him to a distant planet that he discovers that the Green Lantern Corps use as their base of operation. There he learns how to use the power of the green lantern to fight evil. Unsure of himself, Hal returns to Earth where he discovers that the great evil that killed Abin-Sur is heading towards Earth to destroy the planet.

Green Lantern is based on the DC comic series of the same name. I wanted so badly for this to be good but unfortunately DC has proved to me once again that the only good movies they make are Batman. This movie really seems to rush things, so much that I feel that you barely get to know any of the characters, and that includes Hal. There are bits of his past that they push out there right away that I feel would have been more effective if they waited until later in the movie to reveal. They also have many characters pop up and they don’t explain their relationship with Hal. While other characters just simply aren’t in it long enough to really know anything about them. On top of that, they maybe should have spent a little bit longer on some of the special effects because some of the characters looked extremely fake. The story itself was ok and somewhat enjoyable but I was still hoping for more. This movie felt like a big advertisement for a possible sequel.

Ryan Reynolds (Buried, The Proposal) plays the lead character of Hal Jordan, who becomes the Green Lantern. I usually really like Ryan Reynolds but in this movie they didn’t really let him be Ryan Reynolds. He looks the part for sure but I like Reynolds because of his great sense of humor, which they didn’t really let out much in this movie. Blake Lively (The Town, Accepted) plays the role of Carol Ferris, the love interest. I like her and she did a good job with the role that she had but again, I don’t feel like they showed enough of their history to make you care. Peter Sarsgaard (Knight and Day, An Education) plays Hector Hammond. While Sarsgaard did a good job with the role, the role itself was weird because he was supposed to be a bad guy but he didn’t really do anything. The movie also features Mark Strong, Tim Robbins and more.

Green Lantern is a decent attempt at a superhero movie but I really feel like it fell short in many places. I can’t really recommend seeing this in theaters, it’s a good one to wait for DVD to rent. Hopefully the sequel they set this movie up for is better. It does have some pretty good moments but not enough for me.

Great quote: “You think that just because I won’t know who you are because I can’t see your cheek bones!?”