“Green Lantern” is a fun film worth watching, but don’t get your hopes up by assuming it’s going to be the best film of the summer! Because it’s not.
Green Lantern
Directed by Martin Campbell
Screenplay by Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, Michael Goldenberg
Executive Producer: Herb Gains, Andrew Haas
Produced by Greg Berlanti, Donald De Line
Co-Produced by Geoff Johns
Cinematography by Dion Beebe
Edited by Stuart Baird
Casting by Pam Dixon
Production Design by Grant Major
Art Direction by Francois Audouy, Carl Horner, Andrew L. Jones, Iain McFadyen, Scott Plauche
Set Decoration by Anne Kuljian
Costume Design by Ngila Dickson
Starring:
Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern
Blake Lively as Carol Ferris
PEter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond
Mark Strong as Sinestro
Temuera Morrison as Abin Sur
Jenna Craig as Carol Ferris (11-years-old)
Jon Tenney as Martin Jrodan
Mike Doyle as Jack Jordan
Gattlin Griffith as Young Hal
Nick Jandl as Jim Jordan
Dylan James as Jason Jordan
Leanne Cochran as Janice Jordan
Having followed the long running “Green Lantern” comic book series on and off since the late 1980’s, I went into the theater knowing that Hollywood would most likely give a Hollywood update to Hal Jordan’s origin using today’s standards.
This has been a practice that is routinely used whenever a comic book is translated to film. Sure, the concept of the origin is there, but the presentation is a bit exaggerated.
For some reason, every time I saw Ryan Reynolds on the screen, he kept reminding me of a combination of actors David Arquette and Luke Perry. Reynolds definitely has the acting ability to sell the character of Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), although he gave Hal some humor with his performance. For anyone who has read the comic book, knows quite well that Hal Jordan was not exactly the most comedic character and it is something I don’t recall from the comic book version at all.
And during the film, there is narration. While, I’m not sure who the narrator is, it sounded a lot like Anthony Hopkins, who was recently seen in Marvel Comics’ “Thor” movie!
The pacing of the film is pretty fast. One second we’re learning why Hal Jordan acts the way he does, the next, he’s got the power ring and running around the planet of Oa!
I was impressed with the special effects. Having seen the trailers when they were first released, I felt the special effects weren’t quiet up to par as far as making them realistic. But in the film, it was well-rendered and very fluid. I enjoyed the many objects Reynolds and the Green Lanterns created, very clever and well executed!
The costumes were rendered the way they were for a reason, to indicate when a Green Lantern powers up.
Now what about the other Green Lantern Corps members? I enjoyed Michael Clark Duncan voicing the colossal figure, Kilowog. He definitely fits the character and delivered!
Mark Strong nailed the character of Sinestro, literally dead on as if Sinestro walked off the pages of the comic book! The look and attitude was all there.
Tomar Re, voiced by Geoffrey Rush, was also great! Geoffrey voiced a very humble and sincere character.
Parallax reminded me so much of Unicron from the “Transformers the Animated Movie”, because the voice sounded just like him. His screen presence was a combination of the Kraken from “Clash of the Titans” and Darkseid, from the recently finished “Smallville” TV series. In the comic books, Parallax was this powerful being, but the film portrayed him in a different way, more supernatural than powerful.
I felt the film was too short in my opinion. It was like an introduction to Hal Jordan, Hal gets the ring, Hal saves the world, and then the end credits.
The only character that got some sort of development was Hal Jordan, while everyone else was introduced as though they were already established. Fortunately, the film didn’t drag, but it felt like it kept jumping from different scenes, one after the other.
If you have very little to no knowledge of the Green Lantern, this film may be of some interest, just don’t expect an all out, high action battles.
As for the fans that know Green Lantern from A to Z, the film does stay as close to the comic books as possible, but we all know Hollywood likes to make some changes to the stories that we know from the books.
“Green Lantern” is a fun film worth watching, but don’t get your hopes up by assuming it’s going to be the best film of the summer! Because it’s not.
And for those who will watch the film, whatever you do, don’t forget to stay after the film ends but before the credits officially come up, as there is additional footage that involves Sinestro!
MOVIE RATING: C