I must admit, of all the superhero films that have been released over the past decade, The Green Lantern isn’t
one that had me excited to go and see it. For all the trailers and
other promos they released alongside the movie, none of them really
enticed me into watching the movie itself.
But
watch it I did, and it’s an alright movie to be fair to it.
Unfortunately though it isn’t the most spectacular of superhero films.
It has plenty of action involved with very little filler in-between
which is good and bad. On the one hand there’s little depth to the
characters in the movie, but on the other it keeps you entertained.
The
main drawback here is the character depth. Hal Jordan, played by Ryan
Reynolds, plays the standard jerk who gets responsibility so therefore
changes his ways; seen it a thousand times. The love interest leaves no
impression on you. Mark Strong’s character Sinestro has potential but
you don’t see anywhere near enough of him to get to any of it. And then
there’s Hector, the bad guy with daddy issues; again we have seen it a
thousand times.
The
story too is very basic: Obnoxious jerk (Reynolds) lives his daily
life, annoying everyone along the way, the purple alien is killed by the
evil intergalactic antagonist, the ring chooses Frodo, I mean Hal
Jordan, and he becomes a Green Lantern. His mission is basically as
simple as you think…defeat the evil intergalactic antagonist. I suppose
Hector somewhat gets in the way a little, but he's more of a punch bag
than a worthy foe.
The
ending to the movie is a bit of a surprise. After the inevitable scene
where Hal is doubting himself and sees himself as a failure he ends up
squaring off against main antagonist almost instantly, wins, and gains
total adoring adulation by all. It’s bizarre and feels very rushed. I
thought he would lose to the giant monster then come back later to get
the final victory; but no they just ended it there.
As
a superhero the Green Lantern is one of the better ones in that he has
one of the best powers: his own imagination. Anything he imagines is
made a reality. If he wants to wield a hammer, he simply imagines he has
a hammer and hey presto he has a hammer! He’s the X-Man Marvel wishes
it had. That being considered the character isn’t really done much
justice in this movie, considering he’s a big DC character, quite
possible third in line behind Batman and Superman.
Even
for a superhero film it lacks depth, it’s doubtful it’ll get a sequel
but who knows. Apparently in the comic books there are several Green
Lanterns other than Hal Jordan. You just know they’re going to make an
Asian one and call him either the Yellow Lantern or the Chinese Lantern.
I love Hollywood.
Final verdict: 3 Stars. It’s entertaining enough but don’t expect Shakespeare.
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