The cast was solid, and the writing was pretty good for this kind of movie. I think where a lot of the summer crowd is going to lose interest is in its relatively deep back story. It doesn't jump straight to the action, it spends a lot of time explaining where the Green Lanterns come from, and how their abilities work. It's sort of a blessing that so much time is spent on this back story because when the action does kick into gear, it gets a little bit overdone. The special effects are more than good enough but some of the things used in combat are a little bit ridiculous. For example (spoilers) when the Green Lantern manifests two fighter jets to keep himself from being sucked into the sun. When things are kept in the realm of giant green fists and bolts of energy the action is cool. But a few goofy scenes do mess it up a little bit. So I guess I have to give the critics at least a point there, but really the weak moments are few and fairly far between so it's barely worth mentioning.
The cast was great all around. Ryan Reynolds did his typical smart ass personality and used it to great effect here, fitting the script and character perfectly. The female lead was thankfully not overly involved in the movie, nothing ruins a cool superhero movie like an overbearing love interest (*cough* Spiderman *cough cough*). But when she is on screen she is SUPER hot and a pretty decent actress, who, against the norm, ENCOURAGES, Hal to go beat up bad guys, and at one point actually HELPS. The supporting characters were all competent enough that they didn't take anything away from the movie, but only a couple of them actually added anything, most notably the villains lackey on earth played by Peter Sarsgaard. It's hard to explain much about him without ruining some things, so if you don't want things ruined for you, skip to the next paragraph. Sarsgaard plays an unassuming college professor and xenobiologist who is originally called in to examine the body of the Green Lantern who passed the ring on to Hal (aka Reynolds). He comes across as a nice guy and is even offended that his father pulled strings to get him a position that others deserve more than him. But he is corrupted by yellow energy (aka Fear), he slowly loses his mind and sets off, as you would expect, to try and kill Hal. When Sarsgaard is killed you really just feel bad for him, he is just as much a victim as any of the innocents.
Probably the best aspect of the film is the fact that it never takes itself too seriously. Reynolds friends and even his acquaintances immediately recognize him in his mask, and there are some subtle jabs at the superhero genre as a whole.
Again, I really have a hard time understanding why Green Lantern got hit so hard by critics. Obviously it's hardly an artsy or revolutionary film, I mean it's a superhero movie so what do you expect? Really I thought it was a step above most (not all) superhero movies that have been released as of late. The movie always felt like it knew where it was going and it didn't feel padded. But I suppose from the average American the fact that it goes in depth and doesn't have THAT much action means it's bad. Too much story not enough action. It's basically the same reason that video games have been gradually devolving. The general populace is so god damned stupid that any plot that goes above and beyond "ARRR YOU KILL PARENTS I DEVOTE LIFE TO KILLING YOU ARRRRR" is looked upon as needlessly complex and convoluted. This is sad and pathetic. I swear to the giant wizard in the sky, if we keep this up Idiocracy is going to come true.
Green Lantern is property of DC comics.
All else is ©Alex Jenkins 2011
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