Green Lantern Review

Rating: 3/5

I think I found the problem with most modern superhero movies: they can't accept what they are. The Dark Knight and the Spider-Man movies took the fact that their main characters are grown men in vinyl tights beating people up and dove into the psychology of what makes a superhero do what they do. Movies like those, and even Thor understand that audiences can accept the silliness of superheroes as long as the plot is engaging and the characters fun. Green Lantern does just that.

Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is a cocky pilot who gets fired for proving that drones aren't as good as real pilots. One night, Hal encounters Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison), a dying alien and member of the Green Lantern Corps, a universe-wide team of space cops who wield rings powered by willpower. Abin's ring chooses Hal as his successor, and Hal must train up fast and defeat Parallax, the living body of fear, antithesis of will, and his minion Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard).

This is one of those movies I went in hating. I hated the trailer, the choice of Ryan Reynolds, the CGI, the use of Sinestro, etc. However, I was pleasantly surprised with most of those. Ryan Reynolds brings his usual egotism and lovable-goofball atitude, but also portrays a man who is dutiful and loyal to those he cares about. Blake Lively also does pretty well, and Michael Clark Duncan and Geoffrey Rush are great as Kilowog and Tomar-Re respectively.

A lot of critics had a problem with this movie's script, but I didn't mind it. While there are some silly lines and convoluted story elements, the film has a beginning, middle, and end, with epic setpieces and amazing battles. However, though the character of Sinestro is set up and well portrayed by Mark Strong, he's barely in the movie, which is disappointing because he's so interesting. Overall, the movie doesn't try to reach too high like X-Men or too low like Megamind, and works well.

Even though I try not to think about the comics when reviewing movies, Green Lantern has several clever references that I couldn't ignore. Overall, Green Lantern isn't great, but it could've been SO much worse that I couldn't help but enjoy it. The characters are well rounded, the plot is epic and fun, and it doesn't take itself too seriously. Though I still had some problems with the meat-strip look of the costumes, I got over it. Green Lantern is a true summer blockbuster, and it doesn't suck, so go try it out.