Green Lantern
On a distant planet, there exists the Green Lantern Corps - A kind of intergalactic police force comprised of aliens from different worlds who keep peace in the galaxy. Some of the head members of the Corps that we meet include Sinestro (Mark Strong), who has a large purple head, and a paper thin mustache, Tomar-Re, a CG alien with the head of a fish, and the voice of Geoffrey Rush, and Kilowog, who's a big hulking alien beast, so he's naturally voiced by Hollywood's favorite big hulking actor, Michael Clarke Duncan. The Green Lantern Corps seems to be comprised entirely of CG creatures that resemble the kind of monsters that used to grace the covers of 1950s sci-fi comics and magazines. They never look real enough, though. A lot of them look like high end monsters you'd blast away in a video game, and none of them hold any real character traits. Oh, and despite them all hailing from different worlds, they all speak English, and even have our accents and dialects.
We move on to the main threat to the heroic aliens, which is an evil entity known as Parallax (voice by Clancy Brown). It sort of looks like a cloud of black mass crossed with an octopus, and has a human-like face in its center which it uses to feed upon the fear of its enemies. The Green Lantern Corps use the power of will to create any weapon or object they need out of energy matter, and try to use their will power to fight against Parallax's fear power. If this sounds overly simplified to you, even for a movie based on a comic book, you're not alone. Parallax has been in captivity for thousands of years, but is accidentally freed in the first minute or so, and begins going around destroying planets, mainly off camera. That's right, we don't even get to see most of the villain's reign of terror. I guess the filmmakers blew their budget on the disappointing effects that make up the planet the Green Lanterns call home.
Next, we meet our hero, Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds). Hal is a cocky, sarcastic, daredevil fighter pilot, and during his introduction scene, where he's helping to test out the ability of some souped up computer fighter pilots, it takes a superhuman effort not to think of Top Gun. The only thing missing from the fighter pilot scene is Kenny Loggins on the soundtrack. He may be a reckless rebel in the air, but he's got a good heart. He has a family that includes a brother and a young nephew that he seems to care about, only to have them disappear completely for the rest of the film, never to be seen or mentioned ever again. More important to the plot is a fellow pilot that he has deep feelings for named Carol Ferris (Blake Lively). She's known Hal most of her life, and they obviously have a bond, but the movie never really goes into any detail as to what exactly that bond is. It's a frustrating trait that will be carried throughout the movie, as we meet more people who obviously play an important role in Hal's life, but we never quite sense the connection, or learn exactly how they fit into his personal life or past.
Meanwhile, one of the aliens who makes up the Green Lantern Corps has crash landed on Earth after a battle with the evil Parallax. He knows he is dying, so he uses his magical ring (which gives him most of his powers) to seek out someone who can carry on his fight. The power of the ring chooses Hal, which suddenly envelops him in a sphere of green light while he's walking down the street, and whisks him away to where the dying alien is. Is Hal shocked by this sudden occurrence? Nope, he treats it with quite casual aplomb. The alien tells Hal that the power of the Green Lantern ring has chosen him to hold its great power, and that it's a mystic honor, but I envisioned in my head a much better scene, where the little orb of light that went out searching for a successor headed for the nearest phone book, chose a random name out of it, and picked him up.
So, now Hal has been entrusted with incredible alien powers, and finds himself whisked away to the distant alien world of the Green Lantern Corps for his training. Now the wonder and excitement starts, you say. Nope, sorry. The effect of Hal arriving on the world looks like Ryan Reynolds has been plopped into a CG animated film. Equally disappointing is the training he receives, as we never really see him struggle to use his newfound powers. Within seconds, he's summoning swords and massive machine guns to defend himself. Sure, there's doubt in his mind about whether or not he can pull off being a Green Lantern, but it doesn't really manage to build any suspense when the guy can hold his own in a matter of seconds. I think back to the scenes in Spider-Man or Iron Man, when we got to see Peter Parker and Tony Stark experimenting with their new abilities and powers, and the wonder and humor those films were able to create from them. Here, Hal takes a hold of his powers so quickly, it's the equivalent of a Rocky movie, where Balboa knocks out his opponent with a single punch.
And yet, we're still not done. I haven't told you about the film's second villain, Dr. Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), a nerdy scientist who is employed by the government to perform an autopsy on the dead alien who gave Hal the power ring earlier. A little bit of Parallax's evil energy was inside the body of the alien, and promptly infects Hector, giving him the ability to read minds and telepathic powers. It's not as interesting as it sounds. In fact, the only thing interesting about Hector is his receding hairline. As far as villains go, he's a bore. He's angry with his powerful Senator father (Tim Robbins) for not loving him. So, because of this, he decides to take his anger out on everyone around him. He's boring, in desperate need of a comb over, and never really comes across as a serious threat to a hero who can summon any weapon known to man at will.
Let me ask you a question now - Is the format of this review bothering you? Does it sound like I'm just leaping around, recapping the plot, and introducing the characters? Well, the truth is, the above experience is about the same as watching the movie. It jumps around, giving us the bare essentials we need to know, before it moves on. We don't care about anyone within Green Lantern, because the script (credited to four different writers) is too busy giving us a highly condensed version of the origin story. It never slows down long enough for the characters to be intriguing, funny, or personable. It's just a big, bloated, over-produced dullard of a film. Maybe this could be forgiven if there was a "wow" factor to the effects, but none of the sequences impress, and there is a certain flat, generic feeling the permeates from the very beginning.
Despite running for nearly two hours, it also feels like a lot has been edited out of the film, as things frequently happen with no reason or explanation. I often found myself asking how certain characters managed to be at the right place at the right time, as there's really no way they could have known that a major event was happening somewhere else, only to just show up. And remember earlier how I was complaining that we never get a sense of Hal Jordan learning to use his new powers? Well, the movie also skips over another important detail of the superhero movie , which is the wonder that others feel when they first experience the hero, or see him in action for the first time. The way everyone acts, they've been having their lives saved by flying men in green glowing tights and a Lone Ranger mask as far back as they can remember. Nobody seems impressed by the Green Lantern, and certainly not Hal himself. If no one in the movie is impressed, why should we be?
See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home