140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW
These 2 things may seem mutually exclusive but they’re not: 1) Green Lantern isn’t as bad as they say. 2) What’s wrong with it? Everything.
Spoiler-free Movie Review of Green Lantern:
I have never read a Green Lantern comic. He sometimes would show up in other DC Comics I read, but even then it was pretty rare. So my review is limited to the merits of the movie as a standalone and not on any adaptation criteria. So if you are a fan of the comic series or character, I will probably annoy you with the following statement: Green Lantern is not an interesting character. Maybe that’s just in this movie – it probably is. But most of the problems with the Green Lantern film don’t strike me as poor filmmaking…
I wanted to like this movie – I really did. And I don’t hate it. But it just really doesn’t work very well.
The problems start almost immediately – there’s something about a narrated introduction that fills me with dread. It means that you instantly are going to be told things that you are expected to remember – that isn’t a problem. No, the problem is that my silly meter is very often set off by a whole bunch of exposition filled with silly names and suspect logic. Sometimes this isn’t a deal-killer. Off the top of my head I can think of three great films with silly opening narration (written or spoken): Highlander, Terminator & Blade Runner. Sometimes you just have a bunch of info that you have to get across or the movie will be confusing. But the roll-out of Green Lantern had me rolling my eyes before the titles:
The immortals or Guardians on the planet Oa have harnessed the emerald energy of willpower. (The power of this story is based on a color?) They divided the universe into 3,600 sectors and sent out a bunch of green rings which would choose worthy peacekeepers, so naturally these oddly-numbered recruits would be known as the Green Lantern Corps. (Wait a minute, I thought the ring was the magic item? Now it’s a lantern? Did they send lanterns out to everyone, too? Why aren’t they called the Green Ring Corps?)
I know this sounds like a really nit-picky point, but I think this is part of the trouble I have with the character. There’s just too much going on. There’s a ring, but it needs to get charged by a lantern, which needs to get charged by a planet, which was created by weird looking aliens that are immortal, which is another way of saying they are stuck looking like that forever. It all takes place in space. And there are three thousand and six hundred of them. Oh, and the power doesn’t come from the lantern or the ring or the planet, it comes from willpower. Which is green. Not yellow, because that’s fear. Fear is more powerful but it corrupts. I don’t know what red does…
Parallax is the main villain. He is gross – really gross. All yellow and brown with an enormous forehead. In fact, there are a lot of ugly characters in this movie. And not just the villains. I consider this a bit of a deal-killer. Again, maybe I’m being petty and maybe long-time readers were thrilled to see Sinestro as pink with a widow’s peak and David Niven mustache. Or the fish-guy or Hector Hammond (also mustachioed…hmm…). But I think I speak for most of us when I say that watching the hero fight a nauseating brownish-yellow cloud and a sweaty guy with greasy hair and a bulbous forehead is entirely joyless.
I think we were all a little confused and wary when it was announced that the suit would be entirely digital. I’m going to say that again – the main character’s costume is CG. How could you possibly manage a budget when the costume has to be created for every frame that the title character appears in? They certainly didn’t skimp anywhere else, because the effects are top-shelf. Like the rest of the movie, they look weird and have questionable design, but they are unquestionably well done.
The action, too, is well done if not riveting. The actors themselves are fine. I don’t really even have a problem with Reynolds in the title role; he plays it too goofy, but again, I think that’s the filmmaker’s choice. And I’m not going to criticize anyone who had a hard time taking this seriously.
There’s a sameness to Green Lantern that is ultimately the most damning thing about it. The comic-book action is good but can leave you bored because of any number of reasons: story, design, characters. DC obviously swung for the fences with this one but really was undone because of the fundamental shakiness of the character. It may work very well on paper and I’ve even seen a fairly enjoyable animated movie, but for live action it’s just a little out there. That said, I think that the character would probably work much better in a Justice League movie. I’m just not sure that he’s strong enough to support his own franchise.
Poster:
Trailer:
Bechdel Test:
Fail
The Representation Test Score: D (3 pts)
(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)
| Main Cast | Ryan Reynolds Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Blake Lively Carol Ferris, Peter Sarsgaard Hector Hammond, Mark Strong Sinestro |
| Rating | PG-13 |
| Release Date | Fri 17 Jun 2011 UTC |
| Director | Martin Campbell |
| Genres | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller |
| Plot | A test pilot is granted an alien ring that bestows him with otherworldly powers that inducts him into an intergalactic police force. |
| Poster |  |
| Runtime | 114 |
| Tagline | One of us… becomes one of them. |
| Writers | Greg Berlanti (screenplay) &, Michael Green (screenplay) … |
| Year | 2011 |
