Green Lantern Review: Not The Brightest Of Superhero Movies

The best superhero movies often possess the most renowned characteristics of the comic book folklore upon which they are based. While the film adaptations of genre staples Batman and Spider-Man vary in tone and aesthetic, the turmoil both characters display at their respective cores is what makes their individual plights equally compelling. Whether it be Bruce Wayne’s brooding vigilante or Peter Parker’s insecure arachnoid, the inner conflict between both characters’ humbled humanity, and their avenging alter egos is what creates such iconic, ahem, supermen with flawed psyches and relatable angst to pair with their physical prowess and altruistic actions. This summer promises to unleash an onslaught of new film franchises that assumedly aim to follow this successful formula, including Warner Bros. vehicle Green Lantern, an ambitious, if overzealous, space odyssey that ultimately loses its focus on the importance of character development while tirelessly expositing through the cosmos.

Star Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) is well cast as hotshot test pilot Hal Jordan, whom we meet onscreen as he oversleeps the morning of a crucial flight. As he showboats his way into the Earth’s stratosphere and stalls his plane, flashbacks of his dad’s untimely death at the hands of an aeronautical accident years earlier prompt the screenplay (ominously credited to four writers – uh-oh) to alert viewers of Hal’s psychological hang-ups with all the subtlety of a jet engine. As Hal remembers asking his father whether or not he ever felt scared, the winking machismo of Dad’s inevitable response, “It’s my job not to be,” sets the tone for what will become Hal’s biggest obstacle as the newest, and only human, member of the Green Lantern Corps.

An intergalactic legion of Chosen Ones saddled with the task of protecting the universe, we initially meet the Green Lanterns as they lose one of their most decorated members, Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison), during a thwarted attempt to defeat fallen Lantern, now token villain, Parallax. Badly injured and on the brink of death, Abin Sur flees the scene of the battle and heads toward Earth where his ring of power will find the most appropriate successor – guess who? As an initially, and understandably, reluctant Hal is given the skinny on his new responsibilities as a planetary peacekeeper, it becomes clear that his continuous internal battle with the presence of fear will reach a new level that, for the first time, exists outside the confines of his past.

Whisked via wormhole to the Lanterns’ home base of planet Oa, Hal is outfitted with the obligatory second-skin unitard and promptly knocked down a peg or two during his tough-love boot camp with smug Lantern leader Sinestro (Mark Strong, not quite going full Vulcan) and monstrous trainer Kilowog (aptly voiced by The Green Mile’s Michael Clarke Duncan). Only the gentler, narrative approach of Tomar-Re (Geoffrey Rush) helps articulate what, exactly, Hal’s new powers have to offer and how, exactly, he can harness them. Turns out, Green Lanterns employ intense mental focus and use the nifty decoder rings to channel their will into creating whatever their mind can imagine. Of course, the vast implications of such an ability conjures endless possibilities, but for the sake of simplicity Green Lantern keeps the notion mostly within the boundaries of helpful self-defense tactics and damsel-in-distress rescue efforts – all in the name of protecting the universe, of course.

After a sneering Sinestro openly ridicules Hal for his tangible presence of fear and tendency to mask his insecurity with brash recklessness, Hal begins to question his qualifications as a Green Lantern. He returns to Earth filled with more self-doubt than ever, but after an unexpected showing of Lantern-worthy razzle-dazzle during a gala for Ferris aircraft, his former employer, Hal realizes he may have to face his fears once and for all. Conveniently, the menacing force driving Parallax is its insatiable hunger for the fear of its prey, and the impending galactic doom its growing malevolence ensures gives Hal the ultimate opportunity to utilize his newfound powers and conquer his demons while simultaneously fulfilling his job description.

Somewhere among this muddled story arc is an admirable tale of heroic redemption and gravitas, but the sadly soggy science fiction and wasted peripheral characters (Tim Robbins and Angela Bassett as a smarmy senator and no-nonsense scientist, respectively, can hardly keep straight faces) only dim Green Lantern’s brightest spots, which incidentally have nothing to do with the cheesy, oversaturated color palette and bombastically eager special effects. As Hector Hammond, a reclusive scientist with daddy issues of his own, Peter Sarsgaard turns what could have been a punchline character into the deepest breadth of human emotion Green Lantern has to offer.

Reynolds, meanwhile, does the best he can with what he’s given, and that’s a whole lot of clunky, derivative dialogue (Spidey’s folks over at Marvel surely raised an eyebrow at the brazen use of “with great power comes great responsibility”), but his take on Hal Jordan gives audiences a hero to root for, even in the face of disappointingly disjointed direction from Martin Campbell (I expected better from the guy behind Casino Royale). A glamorous but dead-eyed Blake Lively, as Hal’s flighty squeeze Carol Ferris, seems woefully miscast for the part of an aeronautics expert, but I’m willing to give her another shot solely based on her promising performance in last year’s The Town.

Despite Green Lantern’s clumsy overreaching, at its character-driven heart lies the potential for a riveting superhero series on par with the best of its predecessors. With the door left wide open for an inevitable sequel, here’s hoping Warner Bros. can channel its will for a successful franchise and stop masking its fear of box office failure with mind-numbing visual dalliances and lurching story progression. It’s only without these extraneous distractions that future Green Lantern movies will really light up the screen.

Images courtesy of Francois Duhamel and Warner Bros. Pictures. TM & © DC – © 2011 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.