Green Lantern Movie Review

RYAN REYNOLDS deserves a better movie than what Director Martin Campbell (who was more successful with James Bond in “Casino Royale” and Antonio Banderas in “Mask of Zorro”) has done for him in “Green Lantern”. So many writers are credited for the script but it looks like too many cooks really spoiled the broth. Technically, it’s a fairly good special effects flick, but as an origin story, it’s often incoherent and plods on with disjointed scenes. It can very well be used as an example of how not to make a comic book movie, just like “Daredevil” of Ben Afflect, “Elektra” of Jennifer Garner, “The Spirit” of Gabriel Macht and “Catwoman” of Halle Berry, all dismal flops.

Maybe, if you’re a fan of the original DC Comics series on which this is based, you’d be able to appreciate it more. As it is, though, you just get confused about what it says is the 3,600 sectors of the Universe, the evil giant cloud-like villain Parallax whose multiple tentacles feed on fear, and the personal story of Hal who becomes the first human Green Lantern.

The Guardians, keepers of the peace in the 3,600 sectors, call on all their Green Lanterns to fight Parallax to avoid annihilation. One of their warriors, Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison), is fatally wounded and has to find a replacement. His ring that gives superpowers to the one who wears it chooses someone from earth, the reckless test pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds), who turns into the reluctant superhero Green Lantern to save the universe from imminent destruction. He is trained by the fish-looking Tomar-Re (voice by Geoffrey Rush), the huge creature Kilowog (Michael Clarke Duncan), and Sinestro (Mark Strong).

To make things a bit more complicated, Hal is involved in a love triangle with the beautiful Carol Ferris (Blake Lively of “Gossip Girl”) and the dorky scientist Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) who is used by Parallax and turned into a hydrocephalic monster with serious issues against his senator father (Tim Robbins.) Sarsgaard’s role is the most difficult in the movie and, in all fairness to him, he’s very convincing with his outrage as his appearance gets more and more distorted.

Without a good script and a competent director, the actors are left on their own. Blake Lively is nothing but decorative eye candy and Ryan Reynolds gets to display his buff physique several times. Ryan is not really given enough material to develop his character so he resorts to some campy humor and, with his star power and charisma, you get to root for him somehow in his skin tight Lantern costume. Still and all, the movie is an early disappointment for the U.S. summer releases. If this were a video game (since some of its scenes appear like its one), you’d say the battery runs low very quickly.