The newest in the extreme abundance of superhero movies, Green Lantern, is supposed to be DC Comic’s answer to Marvel’s dominance in the genre, and the chance to prove they have something to offer besides the many adventures of Batman. Unfortunately, Martin Campbell and his team failed horribly by giving us the worst superhero movie since Spider-Man 3. Starting off as a straight rip off of Iron Man, and ending in an abysmal mess, Green Lantern couldn’t rely on the star power of Ryan Reynolds, and it definitely shows.
Reynolds plays Hal Jordan, a dangerous and off-the-books pilot – or so we’re told. With him, and every other character, it seems their traits are spoken rather than demonstrated. Through a horrific outer space attack, an alien crashes on Earth and Hal gets chosen as the next bearer of his ring, against his own will. Although those basics make sense, it soon leads to a bland and yet confusing story about two villains, a space society and yellow being the color of fear.
The plot doesn’t really matter because Green Lantern was plainly advertised as a CGI-fest in the first place and it delivers in that sense. If you want to focus on the visuals then there’s plenty to see. Planet Oa, the action and Ryan Reynolds makes sure of that. Although there’s fantastic special effects, that’s exactly what they were, good special effects. Instead of a realistic look, it looks more like a CGI cartoon crossed with a live action movie. This takes away from the whole feel of the movie and makes it a jumbled mash-up.|
Green Lantern doesn’t live up to the potential of the source material that has become comic book lore. A superhero that can create anything he can imagine can open up worlds of great and interesting action. The script skips over that and goes for corny prop gags or uncreative weapons like a sword or a machine gun. Not only that, but the villains are killed off in embarrassing and anticlimactic ways. Battles are forgettable, even if the body count is high.
Green Lantern is by and large the anti-Iron Man. Whereas the first Iron Man was a thrilling, funny, action packed introduction to the character, Green Lantern is a feeble, awkward attempt at drawing in the superhero crowd and appealing to the masses in a broad stroke. Rather than hoping for a sequel, you’ll want to forget all about the colors green and yellow for awhile.
