Green Lantern Review

Green Lantern is a very popular comic character, but for some reason the character has not been adapted into a movie until now. I was expecting to hate this film, but I enjoyed this somewhat. However, it could have been much better.

The movie is full of exposition so you better pay attention or you might miss a couple of things. The main plot is about a test pilot named Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) who is accepted into a group called the Green Lantern Corps. It is made up of a brotherhood of warriors who have sworn to keep intergalactic order. Each Green Lantern wears a ring that gives them superpowers based on their strength of will. However, a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the Green Lantern Corps and only Jordan can defeat him, despite never harnessing the infinite powers of the ring before.

The visual effects save this film from being a complete failure. The rings the Green Lanterns wear give them the ability to create anything based on how fearless and willful they are. Jordan wears the power ring and is able to generate many effects that are great to look at. I just wish we got a good story to back up the visuals.

The main problem with this film is that it is just too formulaic. It is a typical origin story, but it did not have the spark to make it an exceptional origin story like Iron Man or Batman Begins. Ryan Reynolds is okay, but I felt they could have gotten someone better for the role. I like that the film does not take itself too seriously. Nevertheless, I really never felt a real danger in the film. To be honest I really did not care what happened to any of the characters as none of them were really engaging. It is probably because most of them are thinly written. I will admit that Sinestro (Mark Strong), who is a Green Lantern who later betrays the Green Lantern Corp, does well with the limited material he is presented with.

Green Lantern is a decent superhero, but I do not know how faithful it stays to its source material. I am sure some fans are finally happy to see a Green Lantern, but judging from its box office I say that they were disappointed also. I am sure there are better stories in the comics to adapt than the one we got.