Review – The Green Lantern
Comic book movies have hit their stride in the past 10 years with Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise and the Marvel studios films – including ‘Iron Man’, ‘Thor’ and ‘Captain America’ – as well as off-beat indy hits like ‘Kick Ass’.
They’re a far cry from the ‘Judge Dredd’ debacle and the Schumacher plague that infested the Batman films in the 90s. Sure there have been some duds along the way, such as ‘The Fantastic Four’ flicks, but overall it’s been a bumper few years for superhero movies. We live in very cool, geek-friendly times.
Unfortunately, the bubble has burst with the arrival of ‘The Green Lantern’ – the latest superhero from the DC comics stable (which includes Superman & Batman) to get the big screen treatment.
Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is a cocky test pilot who lives on the edge. After discovering a crashed alien spacecraft, he is recruited by an intergalactic police force known as the Green Lanterns.
From there, it’s a non-stop parade of bad superhero movie clichés: Daddy issues; unrequited love; and discovering your new powers after conveniently being attacked by thugs in a dark alley on your way home – take a clipboard along and tick them off one by one.
The plot is as thin as the cover of Action Comics #1 and is a convoluted mess, with the scriptwriters resorting to making sure the audience is spoon fed every single story point. Nothing is left to the imagination and the dialogue is drivel.
Director Martin Campbell tries to mask everything that’s terrible about ‘Green Lantern’ by ramping up the special effects. In some parts they look great, but in others they look unfinished and scrappy. It’s a videogame on steroids, but someone has stolen the controller, and you’re stuck watching big brother Campbell call the shots and make lots of bad decisions.
The worst casting of the year has to be Reynolds as Jordan, who plays the character as a complete goofball as opposed to a fearless hero. Peter Sarsgaard is on bad guy duties, but is completely wasted and Blake Lively, well, the only way to sum up her performance is … boobs. The only performance that stands out is Mark Strong who plays the menacing Green Lantern mentor Sinestro.
Disappointing for Green Lantern fans is the way the film laughs in the face of anyone that’s ever picked up a comic book. Everything is dumbed down and it’s a far cry from the sci-fi space epic that plays out in the comic books. There are so many great storylines and villains that could have been pursued, but instead they went for the safe option of another giant cloud as the overall bad guy. What is Hollywood’s obsession with giant threating clouds? It’s hard to feel scared when its biggest threat is a sudden gust of wind.
Welcome to the shit list ‘Green Lantern’ – an estimated 300 million was wasted and Warner Brothers is scarred. A sequel has been announced but I pray for a swift reboot instead.
1.5/5
Warner Brothers
The Popcorn Junkie
I survived Green Lantern. In fact, I think I liked it a fair bit more than you. That’s not to say it was good. It was deeply flawed, but I still managed to eek out some enjoyment for some parts. I know you loved the guts out of Iron Man 2, but I didn’t … and I rate GL just a smidge under it. I’d also put it ahead of the first Transformers, X-Men 3 and Superman Returns (especially in terms of entertainment value for the latter). GL is kind of on par with the first Fantastic Four and Daredevil for me. The worst part of GL for me, of course, is that as you’re watching it you can see how it could have been so, so much better. I don’t think Reynolds is as badly miscast as you think, but I think Hal’s character is quite badly written. I feel that Reynolds is typecast as the smartass/wisecracker (which is a shame because I think he’s shown he is capable of more than that in Buried and a couple of other roles) and Hal was written to fit that preconceived notion of Reynolds. Even as a long-time fan of the GL comics, I have difficulty articulating Hal’s character, but it struck me while watching GL that there is one very well known character that shares a lot in common with Hal – Captain KIrk. Kirk occasionally displays a dry wit, but he isn’t a wisecracker. He’s a cocky alpha-male and a man of action. Reynolds’ Hal is too self-doubting and, far out, he whines a lot. Finally, there are some really dumb, illogical parts to the movie (like appealing for help, but not actually asking for or receiving anything WTF???). Anyway, I agree with most of your points, but I’d – perhaps over-generously – give it 2.5.