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.

Green Hornet Review

Rating: 1/5

In the 60's TV was revolutionized when ABC released the original Batman show. Starring Adam West and Burt Ward, it was a very light-hearted show that was really funny and very important in the history of the bat. At one point, ABC tried to capitalize on the bat-craze by resurrecting a forgotten radio character: the Green Hornet. It lasted half a season, but introduced the world to Bruce Lee as Kato. This move definitely does not do anything that cool.

Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) is the son of the chief editor of The Sentinel newspaper, a hardcore investigative paper. Britt's dad has always been mean to him (or so he thinks), and so Britt is a hardcore party boy. When his dad is murdered, Britt teams up with his dad's mechanic and coffee maker Kato and becomes the Green Hornet, and fights against the head criminal in town (Christoph Waltz).

Now, there are three main problems with this movie. Problem #1: the acting. I love Seth Rogen as much as the next guy, but I don't go to a superhero movie to see 2 hours of schtick. The whole premise is simply "Seth Rogen is a superhero." Kind of like how Bee Movie is "Jerry Seinfeld is a bee." Seth Rogen brings nothing to the table except the lovable manchild we all know him as. Christoph Waltz tries his best with a lackluster script, but Chudnofsky is just a one dimensional villain. The worst of the bunch is Jay Chou as Kato. Chou does not speak English, and as a result, does not act in English well.

Problem #2: The directing. Michel Gondry is a very talented guy, but who's stupid idea was it to get him for a superhero movie? He does great art movies, but here when there's random bits of pretentiousness that come out of nowhere, it's stupid. Problem #3: the premise itself. Green Hornet and Kato's method of heroism is: pretend to be villains, i.e. murder people, blow stuff up, steal, deal drugs, and etc, and use this to get close to real bad guys, and beat them up too. Our heroes ladies and gentlemen.

Despite all these flaws, it should be ok, because it's a comedy right? Yes, but it is absolutely NOT ok, because it is even less funny than Due Date, which I thought nearly impossible. None of the jokes work, none of them are clever, and besides a cameo at the beginning by James Franco, I didn't even smile. Seth Rogen shtick does not equal competent superhero movie, which it tries to be along with the shtick. The characters are cliche, most of it makes little sense, and it's completely forgettable in every possible way. Not painfully bad, but you won't remember any of it after you see it.