imply stated, Green Lantern isn't good, but it isn't exactly all that bad. How can this be? Well, to begin with, I had huge expectations for this movie only to cringe during beginning with the feeling that someone decided to shove something familiar down my throat to ease the transition into a new DC franchise. More specifically, the movie’s opening monologue is much too similar to the original Superman monologue, minus the last son from Krypton being shot through space in a crystal spaceship. I have nothing against opening monologues; they do serve a purpose of relaying necessary background without devoting too much screen time, but the Green Lantern’s epilogue immediately threw me off.
There was also the background development, a necessary evil for all new super hero movies fresh out of the gate and onto the big screen, which made me squirm a bit more. For a minute, I thought I was watching an updated, co-ed version of Top Gun, minus the ‘80s soundtrack from Kenny Loggins. Instead of flying straight through the “danger zone” I felt imprisoned within it. The director surely could have developed the characters, Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) and fellow pilot and childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), without rushing Hal Jordan through the motions, straight from bed, into an aerial flight scene, and then straight to the ring. From what the director delivers in the beginning, my opinion of Hal Jordan was seriously low which made it kind of hard to accept the fact that he of every person on Earth alone was worthy of the ring. All in all, the background development seemed rushed and a bit sloppy.
Visually, the film, which has been panned by critics, cost $200 million to produce plus $125 million to market, and even achieved a first place ranking at the box office despite not meeting it's projected figures, redeemed itself despite many obvious flaws set forth from the start. The planet OA was exquisite, and many a die-hard GL fan will drool over seeing some of their favorite A and B-list Lanterns on the big screen. Even the CGI was nearly on mark, but, as the movie moves forward, the story begins to deteriorate and the antagonists of the film (Hector Hammond and Parallax) left little to write home about. Even Sinestro, despite a top-notch performance by Mark Strong, seemed under utilized and poorly developed.
The movie (directed by Martin Campbell) attempts to capture the true heart of the comic without quite grasping it, sadly, something the animation movie Green Lantern, First Flight, did much more successfully (and for a lot less money). Like I said, the movie is not good, but it isn’t exactly bad. More specifically, I believe that life long Green Lantern fans will be disappointed while newcomers new to the Green Lantern Corps and Hal Jordan may find it decent.