Green Lantern Movie Review

I love comic books.  I love movies.  I usually love comic book movies.  I hate this movie.  There were a couple of could points…I enjoyed both Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordon and Mark Strong as Sinestro.  In the comics the battle between these two are a good example of the formulaic "good vs. evil" fight so often found in this genre.  Both actors were believable as their sharacters.  I do have issues watching Ryan Reynolds - i always seem to picture him as the goof-ball on the short-lived TV show "Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place."   I last saw Mark Strong as the villian in  Robert Downey Jr.'s "Sherlock Holmes" and I really liked him in the soon-to-be-Professor Moriarty...

The worst acting was from Blake Lively – I did not believe she was a fighter pilot, business women…or for that matter I didn’t believe she was an actress.  Her wardrobe was ridiculous and she looked younger than her 24 years.  Although non-super-women in comics are often rarely more than eye candy for teenage bpys, she is scrapping at the bottom of the barrel.  I am sure she is a perfectly nice woman/girl.  However it is obvious her family connections got her this "career" in Hollywood.  Beauty can only carry you so far.  There are many beautiful women who can also act...she is nto one of them.  Thankfully her part is relatively small. 

There is a strong cast of supporting actors - whose skills are wasted in their weak parts.  Peter Sarsgaard – usually a good actor – is impossible to believe as Hector Hammond.  His make up was silly and obvious – too much.  Tim Robbins plays his unlikable politician with none of the relish he should.  Angela Basset - an amazing actress - is simply a two-line part in 5-inch stilettos and micro-mini-skirts (no real scientist would be caught dead in such an awful outfit).  Hey she looks good...but good Lord, she's an actress so let her act.

By far, the biggest deficient is the script.  Poorly written, bad dialogue, long lags, shall I continue???  They could have cut a dozen boring moments, pumped up the action, and made it a livelier story.  It wasn’t interesting.  I could care less if Hal and Carrie ever got together.  The father-son relationship between Hector and his father the senator – barely developed and poorly executed.  The jealousy between Hector and Hal…boring, trite, sad…

The only thing that gives me hope…if they make a second one, the rivalry between Sinestro and Hal could be amazing.  I liked the storyline in the comics and have a bit of hope they could do it well. Oh yeah, and thankfully I only paid matinee prices for the tickets.

Bottom line: little kids might like the comic book action but there is not enough action to apease those over ten - teenage boys might the skimpy dresses but moms may not approve - comic book fans will be disappointed.

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Ah Julie;

But I love comic book movies, as a matter of fact I can only think of a couple in the past decade I disliked (ironically Green Lantern and Green Hornet both come to mind).  I expect them to be over the top, melodramatic, and often tongue-in-cheek.  I did stay for the ending (hence my comment about hope for #2) but I avoid spoilers.  Believability is the complaint… poor writing and poor acting killed this film. What’s her name was so unmemorable that I am not surprised I got the name wrong – and I did not find her particularly attractive, but the “acting” may have blinded me.  I did love the effects.  I just wish that the movie lived up to the decades of comics I grew up loving.  RR is nice looking, but he is no Hugh Jackman ;)