Dir. Martin Campbell, 114mins, USA, 2011
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Robbins
Review by Matthew Rodgers
There had to be a fall guy didn’t there? With so many Superhero movies flooding the multiplexes, and with Thor having already successfully hammered home the second tier comic book franchise launcher, prospects for the Green Lantern were dimming with each underwhelming trailer release.
Sadly, the finished feature should see the light blown out altogether, because what’s offered up is an incoherent mess of illogical editing and poorly rendered CGI that’ll confuse you, bore you, and most frustratingly, especially during the films opening twenty minutes, kid you into thinking it’s about to mutate into something good.
Losing some of the audience from the get-go, Green Lantern bravely/stupidly opens with a pompous narrative that establishes the way of the world. Supposedly the universe is divided into numerous sections, each with their own spandex wearing, ring bearing protector. This collective group of fishheads and bug eyes are known as The Green Lantern Corps. It’s when their existence is threatened by a mekon headed guff of smoke called Parallax that they turn to the human race, and cocky fighter pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds), to save the day.
Sifting through the mess, it makes sense to discuss Reynolds first; a likeable, smart-talking jock in most of his movies, you’d think the part of Hal Jordan would have been perfect for him, what with the journey from brash rich boy to selfless warrior that the movie follows. And it kinda works, but the script makes him such a petulant brat for too much of the movie, making him hard to root for. Stomping away from responsibility and ludicrously retaining the affections of Blake Livelys’ co-pilot (whose performance is the antithesis of her surname, through no fault of her own, we are left wondering, are we meant to like this guy or just laugh at him?
The effects suffer from both over-ambition and in the end a desperate need to paper over the cracks with spectacle and the effort fails on both counts. The costume just doesn’t sit right on Reynolds torso; at times he appears to be a discombobulated head floating through the CGI galaxy. And then by the time the rushed and incredibly poorly edited showdown sequence comes around, it’s just a huge black mass that’s destroyed by a poem and a green mans ring. I’m sure that the confines of the source comic books page included more creativity and inventiveness than what the usually reliable Martin Campbell has created here.
Five years ago this may have survived on novelty and intrigue alone, but now, in a post Dark Knight semi-serious world, it’s simply not good enough, and although nowhere near as bad as the Fantastic Four films, Hal Reynolds CGI suit will be left gathering dust alongside Jonah Hex’s hat and Halle Berry’s Catwoman whip on the DC comics’ scrapheap.
love to know what you think of some of my work and music videos 
