DC Comics has finally released a non-Batman film! This may seem like great news, but Christopher Nolan's Batman series set the bar pretty high. I was pretty back and forth as to my enthusiasm for this movie. Warner Bros. released plenty of production teasers and promotional material to help psych up the fans, but most of it served to break my heart. So when the time came to finally see this bad boy, I went in cautiously optimistic. This seems to have been the appropriate mindset.
The movie is about a test pilot named Hal Jordan (played by Ryan Reynolds) who is irresponsible and brash. Early in the film, an alien crashes on Earth and his ring, sensing its owner's death, seeks a new bearer. It chooses Hal. Hal then travels to the planet of Oa to begin his training as a member of the intergalatic Green Lantern Corps. Hal receives plenty of harassment for being human (the first one to bear a Green Lantern ring) and returns to earth to save us all from a massive alien powered by fear.
The plot was fairly good. If anything it suffered from trying to cram too much into its running time. The filmmakers really should have picked whether to have a Earth movie or a space movie. ("Thor" suffers from this problem too.) With any luck, the sequel will be more evenly paced as the premise and characters are already set up.
The cast, however, I felt was fairly strong. Ryan Reynolds (while not my first choice for this role) played Hal very well. He has a natural charm that works help the audience like him regardless of what a reckless turd he is. He delivers his jokes a little too much like he's still playing Van Wilder, but he also plays the drama like he's going for an Oscar. He is a star presence to be reckoned with (anyone who can distract you from that god-awful CG outfit should be showered with praise).
Blake Lively is the strongest member of the cast, surprisingly enough. She really pulled off Carol Ferris. She's a strong business woman, a hopeless romantic, and a damsel in distress and she performs all these roles believably and seamlessly. As a bonus, she looks much better as a brunette than blonde.
Peter Saarsgard plays the human villain, Hector Hammond. Saarsgard is one of my favorite actors. He is weak and sleazy and looks to be having fun hamming it up under some really great makeup.
Mark Strong plays the great, albeit megalomaniac, Green Lantern Sinestro. He doesn't receive the screen time that he this role truly deserves but he is great when he's on screen. He'll be an amazing villain in the sequel.
Tim Robbins and Angela Bassett are wasted in this.
My big problem with this movie is too much CGI. So much of this movie could have been practical effects or a mix of practical and CGI. Instead, the filmmakers must have just taken the easy way out. Ever notice how the first movies with computer effects look better than current computer effects ("Jurassic Park" and "Dragonheart" come to mind). Back then, computers were the hard way of doing things and that extra effort shows. Now computers are the easy way and it equally shows. At times the film comes off as false and cartoony (I started having flashbacks of the Star Wars prequels).
Despite these shortcomings, I really enjoyed it. I have my comic fanboy grievances to be sure, but I would tell anyone to at least check this one out. You'll be thankful you did if the sequel goes full on intergalactic and kicks our asses.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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