Review: Green Lantern

Director: Martin Campbell

Actors: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Robbins

Certification: tbc

Synopsis: In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, an elite, powerful force has existed for centuries – The Green Lantern Corps. Sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants them the ability to create anything they can imagine. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit – cocky test pilot Hal Jordan.

Green Lantern release 17/06/11

GREEN LANTERN has been a hot topic in the last year and the subject of much critical scrutiny and sniggering cynicism. Being one of DC’s lesser-known characters fan-boys and critics have been musing as to just how exactly this film adaption might pan out. THN has been cautiously optimistic as a growing fan base for comic book/superhero movies means that audiences are less tolerant of far fetched campness and expect high concept action in a believable real world setting – the mistakes of the past will no longer be tolerated (ahem..Ghost Rider… Daredevil).

Seeing as Marvel just scored big with Thor (a similarly outlandish character at a rival publisher) the pressure is on for DC and Warner Bros so surely…SURELY they couldn’t drop the ball on this one, could they?

They Dropped the ball – BIG time! GREEN LANTERN hits cinemas nation wide tomorrow but as usual THN got an early peek and were crushingly disappointed to see such potential squandered in a blaze of CGI sci-fi/fantasy that looked OK  – but majorly lacked in substance.

The film’s introductory sequence does a great job in establishing the whys and wherefores of the Green Lantern universe – it’s a whistle stop tour but does the job with some great 3D that really gets the juices going for an epic space adventure – cemented with a booming and pulse raising attack by movie baddie ‘Parallax’. The film does jar slightly from the off as its CGI saturation makes it feel very much like watching a computer game cut-scene, ultimately a large downfall for the overall believability.

Reynolds as the Tit-ular Green Lantern

THN favourite Ryan Reynolds is surprisingly reserved in this movie – as an actor he has a knack for pumping out cocky one-liners with silky smoothness. We expected a bombardment of rib ticklers (ala Chris Evans’ Human Torch in Fantastic Four) but the script is low key and the makers really could’ve made more with Reynolds’ easy charm and cheeky wit. Instead the film focuses on a rather shallow exploration of his inner torments and feelings of inadequacy. A reccurring feature of the film is that it drags, it feels like it’s trying to create concepts and character motivations that are never fully developed and perhaps got lost on the cutting room floor. Certain scenes give glimpses of a back story that were obviously supposed to evoke emotion and depth but fail as they are never fully exploited e.g. his fathers death and relationship with his family, which in hind-sight have no obvious bearing or attachment on the rest of the movie.

Peter Sarsgaard is easily the films brightest star

The supporting casts performances are satisfactory, although they are challenged neither by the script nor character complexities. Blake Lively is never really pushed in the role of long-term love interest and Tim Robbins barely has to get out of bed to embody the pompous and smug politician. Peter Sarsgaard is the real star and an excellent villain; a deserving nod should also go to the make-up department for his humongous and grotesque head. From the off he is shy and creepy and is genuinely threatening in a nerdy sense. Again an under developed facet is just how exactly he is integral to the plot and his herald-like link to Parallax is a tenuous plot device – Parallax foregoes his revenge on ALL the Green Lanterns to take a detour to Earth for a snack. Huh?

After a limp and meaningless introduction to our cast of characters, Reynolds acquires his power ring and is transported to the home planet of The Green Lantern Corp for his induction and training. The planet, the aliens, the suit all look great – but there is a problem, nothing really looks tangible. If you compare it to Asgard in Thor, which had mountains, rivers and gleaming metal spires, it felt like we could touch it – in GREEN LANTERN the environment is too vague. Surprisingly Ryan Reynolds’ character adapts a little too quickly to such a mind-blowing experience and it would’ve been great to see him go a little crazy. Alas.

Another major shortcoming of the movie is the execution of Hal Jordan’s powers as a Green Lantern. We are told that the ring turns willpower and imagination into reality or ‘Constructions’. Hal has the potential to do anything, but it is so limited – not only in scope but in frequency. If you’ve seen the trailer then you’ve pretty much seen it all, big green fist, big green mini-gun, swords, springs and a few pulses of green light – boring! It’s ironic that when bringing a power to the screen that is only limited by imagination the filmmakers didn’t employ a little more and really blow our minds with something huge and impressive.

The movie’s biggest flaw however is quite simply this – its not human enough! Superhero movies work on that emotive universal feeling of injustice, and we as an audience like to see bad guys pay for their deeds – it’s what creates that rousing feeling of satisfaction when a hero truly punishes the baddie, it resonates with us because we like to see people get what they deserve. But in GREEN LANTERN this feeling of injustice is never created, there are no muggers, no gangsters – just a lame rescue that involves a big green Hot Wheels race track (you’ll see) and Parallax – a space cloud with a head – whom Hal Jordan dispatches far too easily, especially considering how he nailed a legion of seasoned Lanterns in about 2 seconds. We never really care about Hal because he hasn’t had to struggle to earn his powers, he gets a ring, conquers a bit of self-doubt, but it doesn’t feel like he ever becomes a hero in the sense the audience expects.

GREEN LANTERN was a tragic disappointment for THN and despite being a weird character it is handled with very little finesse that only serves to create a shallow and meaningless film. At our screening you could actually hear the audience sigh and groan in a proportion that far out-weighed the laughs. When the credits rolled an attempted round of applause died on its arse as people headed for the exits immediately – barely halting for the rubbish tease of a sequel.

GREEN LANTERN starts well with the promise of a super space epic – unfortunately after the first 10 minutes it cruises a little too close to a black hole and sucks from then on.  We expected more – we really did.