It sure has been one long night after attending the midnight premiere of Green Lantern. Besides the problems I faced including a dead car battery and having close-up seats, I don’t think I could’ve been in a better environment to watch this movie (lots of nerds, lots of Green t-shirts, and even two cosplayers). Even though I am a fan of superheroes, I have to say my knowledge of Green Lantern is limited. Not knowing much of anything about his comic book origins, if the movie adaptation pisses all over the set mythos I wouldn’t know. I do feel however, in today’s never-ending stream of comic book heroes brought to film, it’s not the worst of the bunch.
Green Lantern follows Hal Jordan (played by rising star and pretty boy Ryan Reynolds), a fighter pilot who was “chosen” as the replacement for a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic peace-keeping organization made up of creatures found all over the universe. Upon doing so he must learn to conquer all fear and face the Corp’s enemy named Parallax, who will use the yellow energy of fear to eventually destroy the Earth and all the Green Lantern members. Throw in a love interest (Blake Lively) and a foil/antagonist for Hal, Hector Hammond (played by the always great Peter Sarsgard), and you have your typical big budget superhero action flick; a by-the-numbers, save the day, learn your lesson, get the girl, become a man hero’s journey.
This film definitely played it safe; unlike The Dark Knight or even the original X-Men it does not reinvent the genre in any way. That being said, I do think it is fun for what it is – a popcorn movie. The film is shot professionally and the writing, as typical as it is, works in a comic book comfort food kind of way. In the same way that slasher horror pictures rely on familiarity to please audiences, I think Green Lantern does the same. If you’re not already a fan of these types of movies it might seem like a pointless and meaningless entry into a tired phase of action films, but I think most people willing to see a man in a green suit fly around for a couple of hours will have fun.
In a special effects-driven blockbuster like this, bad CGI can totally destroy any action setpiece. Luckily I thought the effects were overall really good. The “Lantern” creatures, the Parallax monster, and the space stuff all looked believable enough to me. I do think that they should’ve kept Hal Jordan’s suit more along the lines of a “normal” costume (in this it’s more of an organic material made from energy, or something). Sometimes it was painfully obvious that Jordan’s head was digitally plastered on his body using a green screen, but for the most part I thought it worked (it does sound appropriate that the screen be green though). I especially loved that some of the facial effects, such as those on Hal Hammond, Abin Sur (the alien who last bore Hal’s ring), and Sinestro (the pointy eared leader of the Corps. played by Mark Strong) were done with practical make up effects just to add some reality to their performance (at least I think they were practical, if they weren’t that was some damn good CGI).
At times it’s cheesy, at times the special effects can be a distracting sensory-overload, and at times the story can seem basic, but I think it has enough of its own charm that it’s not a painful experience (unlike the superhero bottom-of-the-barrels like Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, and Elektra to name a few). I personally find myself coming back to these movies again and again, and this film, although it’s not truly inventive or mind-blowing, should satiate the people like me who just want to “check out” for two hours and watch Joe Schmo transform into a superhero. It may not be everyone’s fancy, heck it may not be most people’s fancies, but Green Lantern is my kind of mind-numbing action.
Rating : B-
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