Day 168: Green Lantern (2011)

PG-13, 1 hr. 45 min.  Directed by: Martin Campbell.  Release Date: June 17, 2011.

I'm giving this a green light, no pun intended, but just barely.  The Green Lantern has long been my favorite worthless superhero.  I say worthless because the fact that someone can make up green things just isn't really all that impressive against people who can do, well, other stuff.  With a relatively short run time, this feels a little long, fed in part by introductions to Hal Jordan's personal life that not only don't really go anywhere but aren't truly necessary in the grand scheme of the film.  Granted, if these scenes were absent I might be complaining about a lack of background on Jordan and how he lived before he was a Green Lantern.  I'm kind of unpredictable that way.

If you go see this movie, it should be mostly for the special effects, which are absolutely amazing.  Specifically the space scenery, which looks like it might have been done by the same company that did Thor's special effects and space scenery, but failed to include the disco elements that unnerved me when I watched that movie last month.  Gone, too, was the great fear that Renee Russo might appear wearing gold lame and HUGE hair.  The ring effects were also impressive, bright without being overtly cartoonish or childlike, and there were also a multitude of effects.  You never saw the rings do exactly the same thing twice.  Sometimes there would be similar constructions, but they were always a little different.

I also enjoyed the mythos of the Green Lanterns, which has been true since back in the days of The Superfriends and more recently on those rare occasions that I'm flipping through channels and find a rerun of Justice League of America on Cartoon Network that's GL-heavy.  The whole formation of the GL Corps is kind of cool; I like the idea of green guys running around and watching over us, keeping us from doing things that are too stupid or dangerous, and preventing other people from making those things happen.

Ryan Reynolds had a kind of love-hate relationship with this role.  I thought he was excellent as Hal Jordan, who was a bit absurd, a little reckless, and the kind of cocky that can turn to arrogance in the wrong circumstances.  I liked him less as Green Lantern, and yes, I know they're the same person, but they don't have the same mindset.  Or they're not supposed to.  Reynolds was great as the carefree fun guy, but he wasn't as good as the guy with responsibilities.  I also didn't love Peter Sarsgaard, who I generally think makes for a good bad guy... or Mark Strong, who was a good guy but usually plays the bad guy.  Of course, if you, like me, watched The Superfriends back in the 80s, you know that Strong's character eventually becomes the bad guy, so I'm expecting sequels.  

The movie gets off to a rough start.  It's all about Jordan deciding whether or not he's capable of being a Lantern and whether or not he deserves the honor.  It took about twice as long as it should have and introduced us to way too many characters who don't really matter.  Not like in the social sense, but in the sense that they don't serve to drive plot or story progression in even the slightest.  Once Hal Jordan starts to take on the ring, the movie wobbles a little, and then picks up speed for what is a pretty great, although predictable ending.  Considering ole GL will now have his own animated show on Cartoon Network, and considering that DC is frantically trying to compete with Marvel in the superhero film niche, I expect to see more of these if this grabs them a positive return on their investment.  I'm not sure I'd expect to see the same cast though. 

My last complaint comes from the naming of the "Lost Sector," which everyone seems to know about.  If everyone's found something, can it still be lost?

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