The most disappointing movie of the summer for me. My expectations may have been too high or something similar to that. I was really let down by how underwhelming this film was, when it could have been so much better. After watching Thor and X-Men: First Class I was really hoping that this would be on somewhat the same level as them and it really was not or perhaps close. But, I would have to say this is a distant third or perhaps even fourth, depending on what I think of Captain America.
Although overall disappointing, there were some things I did like in the film. I very much enjoyed the look of the film. Visually the CGI looked really good and I am confident that the Blu-Ray is going to look great when it comes out. Green lantern Suit is entirely CGI and yea it looks like it but you do get used to it. The Planet Oa looks great and the effects with the Green Lantern ring look great.
I did not have any problem with Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan. He does the best he can with the script that he was given. Hal Jordan is a cocky, sometimes hot headed, test pilot and Reynolds plays that role well. It is when his character goes deeper that he has trouble with. It is not so much his acting ability but the writing is poor. Despite script issues I still like Reynolds in the role. You can tell that he really was invested in this role and actually wanted to do justice for the fans. As a Green Lantern fan I appreciate him for that. If there is a sequel I hope Reynolds is the Green Lantern and they give him a better script to work with.
The rest of the cast suffered from the same problem as Reynolds, average script. Mark Strong plays Sinestro, a powerful Green lantern, who despite having little screen time was good. I would have liked to see more of him and hope there is a sequel because he will play a much bigger role. The last scene he is in is a foreshadow for a sequel if there is one and I really hope there is. Also please do not recast his role because if you look at the comics and look at Mark Strong's Sinestro they look very much a like, so the casting was good in that respect.
There are technically two villains in this film. One is Hector Hammond and the second is Parallax. They were both kind of a joke. I Parallax is essentially a giant cloud of smoke who feeds on fear. The problem with that is that it is not really a character it is just a thing and as a viewer I just do not care about Parallax. It also does not help that Parallax only appears briefly throughout the film until it gets to Earth and fights with Hal Jordan. Hammond is played by Peter Skarsgaard and he, like the others, suffers from average writing. His character is pretty basic comic book superhero villain. He is basically a genius scientist who has daddy issues, jealous of Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, and has an obsessive crush on Carol Ferris. He gains his super brain power when he is exposed to Parallax's DNA. His motives are based on anger and jealousy, pretty basic villain motives.
Blake Lively plays the love interest to Hal Jordan, whose name is Carol Ferris. Some fellow reviewers would argue that she is a miscast because a girl that looks as attractive as her would not be a fighter pilot. I do not necessarily agree with that, good writing could have fixed a problem like that. In this case they only had her fly a plane once and the rest of the time she played the traditional love interest, complete with a damsel in distress situation. Her acting was average, which was disappointing because she did a great job in the Ben Affleck Directed film "The Town." It was not so much her acting ability but it was that the writing was so average and traditional and without depth that these actors were really at a disadvantage.
If you know me the one thing I always am a stickler for is the run time of a film. I always check it before I watch a film and almost always keep it in mind while critiquing a film. When it comes to this film, the run time is just too short for my personal tastes. The film clocks in at around 105 minutes (I have seen a runtime of 114 minutes, but that time includes the credits). What Batman Begins, Superman: The Movie, and Spider-Man have in common is they all feature origins of a Super hero and are all longer than two hours. Also they are successful starts to popular franchises. My philosophy when it comes to this genre of film is longer is better, especially when you are dealing with origins.
The problem with Green Lantern is that the origin of his character and the film itself feels rushed. When he gets to Oa, the planet of the Green Lanterns, and becomes a Green Lantern, the sequences there are rushed. Basically his training involves him getting his butt kicked by Kilowog, voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan, and then by Sinestro. This entire sequence although visually nice to watch were brief. Jordan then doubts himself after being beaten by two Lanterns who were obviously more experienced then him and returns to Earth. That is it, that is all his training. It is not like when he gets to Earth he goes out and helps people so you can see him explore his powers. Nope, basically in 105 minutes, Hal Jordan goes from cocky test pilot, to Green Lantern, to fighting Hector Hammond, fighting Parallax in a climactic battle, and save Carol Ferris a couple of times from danger.
The tone of the plot was all over the place. The film felt it did not know if it wanted to be a film you take seriously or a fun action film. It tried to find some middle ground but it just kept weaving from light to dark. Just when you think the film is falling into one tone a scene will happen that catapults into another tone. One scene in particular is the scene that you see in the trailer where Hal Jordan is showing his friend that he is the Green Lantern. You would think that it is a scene that happens earlier in the film, but no it is at about the 3/4 of the way through the film. By that point in the film a tone should have been established. Perhaps the problem has to do with the fact that there are four different writers who wrote the screenplay. They could each have had different viewpoints and then combined them into some Frankenstein of a script.
The film just felt so disjointed. It felt like the writers were trying fit some mold instead of writing a good movie. It was as if they had a checklist of things they needed to put in the film and once they did that they were done. The plot felt just pasted together to fit together and there were wholes that needed to be filled but those scenes were left out. The film never took that next step, it just stayed safe with a conventional plot. There was no point in the film where I was wowed by any of the dialogue.
Overall I was let down by this film because it had potential to be a good entry into the comic book super hero genre of film. Where it ultimately failed was an average script, basic plot, and an uneven mostly light tone. Where the film excelled was in its visuals and its overall fun viewing experience. Is it watchable? Yes. Will you have a fun time watching it? For the most part yes. But, do not expect anything more than an average film. Would I recommend it? Yes, it is a fun film to watch, it is nothing special. I will have to give it 3.1/5 stars.
There may be a sequel, depending on how well the sales are for the DVD/Blu-Ray because the film made nowhere near its budget. Apparently production costed $200 million and $100 million was spent on marketing and the film only made $214.5 million worldwide at the Box Office. Also the Blu-Ray will have an extended cut which will hopefully add enough footage to fix some of the problems and improve the film.
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