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[Review] Green Lantern (2011)

[NOTE: This is the text from what may be a review I post over at popbunker.net. Consider this a sneak preview.]

When a film with as much hype surrounding it as Green Lantern finally comes out, theatergoers will often go into their viewing with the mindset – without having seen anything more than a trailer – that they will like or dislike the film. Green Lantern isn’t going to change anyone’s mind; those that want to like it will, and those who want it to be bad will see it as such.

This indifference will be the thing that keeps Green Lantern from being the blockbuster Warner Brothers was hoping for. There is nothing in the film that is “must-see”; no shocking twists, no controversy, no hysterically bad scene to mock – nothing. The film has action, it has some decent special effects, it has some humor, and it has a good leading man (Ryan Reynolds is charming without being obnoxious, which I’d never thought I’d say.) But at the same time, none of those things stand out over other films that have come out recently.

What seems to hurt Green Lantern the most is a script that tries to do too much in 105 minutes. We get a little bit of everything, but not a whole lot of anything. Hal has issues with his family, a complex relationship with his co-worker/boss/ex-girlfriend, suddenly becomes a member of a group of space police (the majority of whom give him hell), and has to battle not one but two “bad guys” before the film is up. While it comes off as muddled to those who are new to the story, those who are familiar with the Green Lantern comics will see many smaller subplots that are barely touched and pushed into the background, making the script either a throwaway to build sequels off of, or – if you’re more optimistic – a good script that had too many notes from executives and rewrites to make something that flowed properly.

That said, those little subplots are ignored easily enough to enjoy the film for what it really is – a sci-fi “blow stuff up” summer action film. The script doesn’t take itself deadly serious (with several jokes being made at the expense of the Green Lantern costume, especially the mask) which works well with Reynolds, a controversial pick for the normally stoic Hal Jordan. Peter Sarsgaard runs with the character of Hector Hammond, a disturbed character who deserved more focus than as a secondary villain, while Mark Strong’s Thaal Sinestro – the unofficial leader of the Green Lantern Corps – comes off well as a character meant really for backstory for a potential sequel. Whether that sequel gets made or not depends on whether moviegoers are willing to overlook the majority of critical reviews and embrace a film that isn’t as bad as critics want it to be, but isn’t as good as it should have been. I’ll give it a C+, which could have been a B- had I not been a fan of the comic and known where the film could have gone but didn’t.