1.5 stars
Is it possible to take one of the most storied comic book characters of all time and parlay all the hype into one of the biggest flops of the year?
Apparently so, as Green Lantern makes it seem too easy.
One of the most anticipated superhero movies of the summer, Green Lantern misses its opportunity to take advantage of all that the DC Comics star has to offer.
Ryan Reynolds stars as Hal Jordan, a fighter pilot chosen to take over as the owner of a powerful ring from a fallen alien. Upon putting on the ring, Jordan is sent to train with the Green Lantern Corps — an intergalactic police force on the fictional planet Oa — in order to harness the rings power properly and serve as an intergalactic guardian.
At times a visual adventure, this movie is one of the few recent films that could have utilized the advent of 3-D in a much more effective manner. The film just doesn’t live up to the standards of a 2011 superhero movie. Visually, Jordan’s green suit is the best part of the movie, closely followed by the scenes of Oa.
Villain Hector Hammond, played by Peter Sarsgaard, is arguably the worst part of the movie. Hammond’s story line is one that consistently loses the audience’s attention. Throughout the movie, I found myself wishing that the story would just get back to Jordan as soon as possible.
This movie honestly felt like a pathetic theme park ride — the dialogue was monotonous, and the characters were far too mechanical in their representations. The movie just didn’t flow well.
Aside from the burgeoning on-screen relationship between Jordan and his childhood friend/ love-interest, the actors lack any semblance of chemistry. A large majority of the characters were easily forgettable and did little to advance the overall plot.
The time spent on showing Hammond’s failed experiments and developing his back-story could have been put to far better use exploiting the human element of the film by fleshing out Jordan’s flaws as a person.
Now, the movie wasn’t terrible by any means — it was actually a nice ride. The issue lies in the context of how the movie fails to live up to the standards being set nowadays for superhero films.
Green Lantern just doesn’t live up to the hype. This movie took itself too seriously, and was an overall disappointment not taking advantage of the Green Lantern’s moniker or advantage of Reynold’s comedic ability.
Green Lantern could have been a lot more fun, but instead we’re left wondering why that green power ring couldn’t make this summer action film a hit.
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