Green Lantern

There was one trailer that got me really excited for “Green Lantern”. Then I saw names like Martin Campbell (the director of “GoldenEye” and the Zorro films), composer James Newton Howard, editor Stuart Baird (Oscar nominated for his work on “Superman”) and production designer Grant Major (he won an Oscar for his work on “The Lord of the Rings”). I felt that “Green Lantern” had a great chance of being entertaining but I was disappointed. It seems like many of those working on this movie gave only a second grade effort. The story was the main element that brought this film down.

There were some entertaining moments in this film. I loved the “To infinity and beyond” joke for example. It is made better by the subsequent He-Man reference, which is yelled in frustration. The line "By the power of Greyskull" seems to come out of nowhere and that is what makes it so funny. The opening narration was good also. This film however feels like a wannabe superhero movie as opposed to films like “Iron Man” and “Superman”. Ever since the latter film, superhero movies have followed a certain story pattern when dealing with the origins of a main character. Marvel has used this but they have made it there own beginning with “Spiderman”. Marvel seems to pull it off quite genuinely where as “Green Lantern” doesn’t. Instead of crafting a heartfelt, emotional story, it feels like the filmmakers took a mold and quickly crafted a script from that mold. With the focus of the film not on the story, the film fails to fully entertain. In fact, the film has no focus. Some lines in the film feel too obvious as if the audience is treated like a child and the script must be lead us along by the hand from one scene to another or we must be told how to feel. Such examples include “Doesn’t the hero get the girl” and “That is so cool.” Those lines feel unprofessional for a Hollywood film. It feels kind of stupid for the Green Lanterns to let Hal quit but still keep his ring. One could argue that they knew he would return but if that was the case, it means that they have foresight and to me, they don’t. The Green Lanterns appear to have no communication with the green essence of willpower because they make the mistake of creating a yellow ring. It isn’t like the Force, which whispers its will to the Jedi. Without the gift of foresight, the Green Lanterns to me show a lack of responsibility by letting Hal keep his ring. Plot points in the movie were established but then later, they were left unresolved. One example includes Hal’s nephew. That scene at the birthday party was great but we don’t see the kid ever again after that. Another example is Hal’s inner struggles with what happened to his father and how he can’t tell Carol. He never really does tell her much about this towards the end of the film and it would have been a great relationship moment if he told her everything about his fears, not just the fact that he was afraid. Finally, we don’t see Hal overcome his past demons that come from the death of his father. We apparently are supposed to assume that he has overcome that emotional scar. The only character that is well established in the film is Hal. The supporting characters, including Hector, were not as well developed. Hector is hardly established early in the story in terms of his relationship to the other characters. It is done instead in the middle of the movie and that works quite ineffectively. Hector shows up quite late in the story too. I have problems with the editing. The crosscutting between the hero and villain did not work because we witness a powerful story moment with Hal and then suddenly, we are watching Hector become ugly or being tormented. We cannot emotionally connect with either.

Other filmmaking decisions on “Green Lantern” also reflect a second grade effort. Some things were done right such as the casting of Temuera Morrison (aka Jango Fett), Geoffrey Rush and Michael Clarke Duncan. It was also neat to see Jay O. Sanders and Mark Strong in this movie. Other cast members did only okay in the portrayal of their characters. Ryan Reynolds’ reaction to being transported to a crashed alien spacecraft seemed unrealistic. If that happened to me, I would have been more confused and a little freaked. Reynolds acted as if he was the first person in 100 years to come in contact with an alien instead of the first person. I like James Newton Howard but his work on this movie was only moderate. He has composed some powerful themes before but there were not in this film. The special effects were a little phoney. From what it sounds like, post-production had to be rushed to meet the release date and it shows.

This movie follows the classic story pattern of the origin of a superhero but it is done without heart and sincerity. There was no attempt to make it original. There doesn’t appear to be passion in the telling of this tale and the creation of this film. Everyone (maybe with the exception of Grant Major) seems to have put in only a moderate effort and I believe that because the names of those attached to this film have done some great things in the past.

2.5 Stars