Okay it has been a week since I have seen the movie and the fact that it has taken me this long to start typing does not bode well. My first instinct was that this newest installment in the never ending comic book character movies delivered what most of this type of movie is supposed to. Mindless (and since the season of choice is usually Summer) fun. You don't usually go in looking for a plot or well developed characters you go in looking for supernatural ass kicking and non stop action. And then I remember that many of these types of movies have managed to give you all of the things above and considering the last two movies I have seen ( X-Men and Super 8) this one just falls short. It will sadden me if Green Lantern ends up making more money than either of those two movies. Both of them were far better received by critics and audiences alike but I've come to learn that that does not always translate to bigger box office. I went into Green Lantern not knowing anything about his origins. The character was never one that interested me but I have been told by my brother that it followed very little to the letter ( and he hasn't even seen it) still I was curious enough about the who's what's when's and why's to take the trip to the theater.
Hal Jordan a life long fuck up finds himself chosen by an inter galactic magical ring and is faced with the immediate challenge of saving the world. He goes on a little trip through the galaxy in a big red orb and meets up with all the other Green Lanterns. There is a short amount of training and then he is thrust into duty and finds that he is ill prepared for his new job ( sounds like most American employment these days) During the training with the other GL's I couldn't help but wonder if they can conjure up anything within their imaginations why is it the other GL's all fight with Earthly weapons? Don't they have any cool gadgets or their own? I mean wouldn't it serve Hal better to know what he might come up against.? You know give his imagination some new toys to play with? I did however like the two characters voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan (Kilowog) and Geoffrey Rush ( Tomar-Re) but it is pretty sad when my favorite acting performances were CGI characters (even if they were voiced by such great actors) Ryan Reynolds is an actor who I find I like far more in interviews than I do in his actual work. Here he more than filled out the suit and had a few funny one liners but when the credits rolled I felt no connection to his hero. Blake Lively as the life long friend and hit or miss love interest Carol Farris was actually better than I thought she would be. I had imagined hearing Serena Van der Woodsen's lispy voice coming from her mouth and ending up thinking about the what exhibits were at the MET ( and wishing I was hanging out on the Upper East Side) instead of what her character was saying. I do believe she was miscast. They tried to hide the fact that she was way to young for the role with a brunette dye job but they didn't fool anyone. She to looked good in her suits but when she was put in peril I could have cared less what happened to her. Peter Sarsgaard's character Hector Hammond, a genius who despite his best efforts has never been able to gain the acceptance of his pompous father or attain the love and attention of the beautiful girl seemed out of place ( another character from the comic that will be unrecognizable to those who know him) . His entire plot line seemed like an after thought ( this included the wasting of Angela Bassett and Tim Robbins) and he made a rather pitiful bad guy. The actual big baddie in the movie Parallax was a giant angry cloud, another change from the comic (he really is a giant bug like creature. Would that have been so much more expensive that a giant cloud?) that my bro thought was utterly stupid and he was right. The ending was anti climatic but I had expected no less. I mean he was fighting a Nimbostratus ( A BIG BLACK CLOUD). The moral of the story was that Will (power) will always defeat Fear but sometimes you have to face your fear to find your will. I got the message I just didn't particularly care for the package the message came in. Stay for the credits midway through they set up the sequels for you (which Ryan has already confirmed are in the works apparently this was conceived as a trilogy) though I can't imagine at this point why anyone would want to go and see them..
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