{"id":15300,"date":"2011-06-16T18:10:38","date_gmt":"2011-06-16T17:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=15300"},"modified":"2012-04-26T09:06:46","modified_gmt":"2012-04-26T08:06:46","slug":"review-green-lantern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/reviews\/review-green-lantern\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Green Lantern"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Released:<\/strong> Out now<\/p>\n

Certificate: <\/strong>12A<\/p>\n

Director: <\/strong>Martin Campbell<\/p>\n

Screenwriter: <\/strong>Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, Michael Goldenberg<\/p>\n

Cast:<\/strong> Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Mark Strong, Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Robbins<\/p>\n

Distributor: <\/strong>Warner Bros<\/p>\n

Running Time:<\/strong> 114 mins<\/p>\n

Welcome to the most bizarre superhero movie yet. Green Lantern is filled with space opera, Top Gun-style flight sequences, wise-cracking and prominent moustaches, all of which are new aspects within this superpowered sub-genre. It\u2019s certain to put off members of the mainstream collective, particularly those who have their minds blown simply by the concept of outer space. You, however, as a sci-fi fan, will likely enjoy this movie, providing you\u2019re not looking for a flick with any depth or interesting psychological undertones. This is pure popcorn entertainment, a one-dimensional outing that is more in the ballpark of Thor and Fantastic Four than anything else.<\/p>\n

Green Lantern is the story of a reckless test pilot, Hal Jordan (Reynolds), whose head is in the clouds when it comes to any kind of responsibility in his life. After trashing a brand-new aircraft, Hal is picked up by a mysterious green energy, and discovers the dying alien, Abin Sur, who has crash-landed on Earth after a battle with the world-eating creature known as Parallax. Abin Sur reveals himself to be a member of the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps, and that Jordan will be his successor.<\/p>\n

Jordan then joins the Corps, and heads to the planet Oa for a tough training session, where he\u2019s deemed inadequate by senior corps officer Sinestro (Strong). There\u2019s trouble brewing back on Earth, too: oddball hair-sniffer Hector Hammond (Saarsgard) becomes infected by Parallax after examining Abin Sur\u2019s body, giving him telepathic powers, and Jordan stands alone in defending Earth and his childhood sweetheart, Carol Ferris (Lively) from the creature constructed entirely from fear.<\/p>\n

For those uneducated in the Lantern lore, it\u2019s quite a dense amount of continuity to swallow at once, not to mention filled with comic-book oddities that only true believers will accept. Why is will coloured green? Why is fear coloured yellow? Why is the universe divided into 3,600 sectors? Seasoned readers know what the Source Wall is in the DC Universe, but the audience Warner will want to bring in will likely reject all the fictional science of Green Lantern outright \u2013 and that\u2019s before we even get to the talking space chicken (voiced by Geoffrey Rush).<\/p>\n

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Green Lantern reminds us of Thor, in that the movie takes place in two very disparate locations. Unlike the kaleidoscopically coloured Asgard, Oa is odd-looking, with a ton of different alien creatures shown sporadically yet never really making more than a passing appearance. Again, readers of the comic should enjoy these great little Easter eggs; everyone else will wonder why various humanoid zoo animals are defending the galaxy. It\u2019s probably worth noting, however, that the trailers have perhaps oversold just how much of the movie takes place on Oa, the Green Lantern homeworld (it\u2019s governed by the little space Guardians \u2013 think a Jedi Council made entirely out of blue Yodas).<\/p>\n

Much of the Earth-bound story is accessible, though, from the exciting sequence of Hal Jordan stalling his plane above 50,000 feet to outwit some robot aircraft, to him mucking around with the actual Lantern in his flat. This side of the mythology is tackled really well, and is good fun \u00ad\u2013 Green Lantern is a surprisingly irreverent superhero movie, against the tone of the books, with a slight feeling of tongue-in-cheekness that feels more in line with Ryan Reynolds\u2019s acting style than the character of Hal Jordan. Nevertheless, it\u2019s a great creative choice, as Reynolds\u2019s comic timing ensures that the first half of the film is a lot more watchable than the second, when Jordan has intergalactic baggage to deal with. Later in the movie, the hero turns up at Carol Ferris\u2019s abode wearing the mask designed to conceal his identity, and she recognises him immediately, making a couple of jokes at his expense. And that\u2019s the type of movie it is, really. Green Lantern is light-hearted fare with a side of space opera, and the themes of responsibility take a backseat to one-liners, big green fists and Hal Jordan boasting about how fearless he is.<\/p>\n

Peter Sarsgaard\u2019s Hector Hammond feels slightly redundant, as the human face of Parallax. It\u2019s another \u2018victim\u2019-turned-villain (my dad doesn\u2019t like me and I can\u2019t get the girl I want, boo-bloody-hoo) scenario, which has been overcooked by enough superhero films as it is. By the time he\u2019s chucking his students about or cackling like the Emperor, you\u2019ll yearn for the richer supervillain performances of Alfred Molina in Spider-Man 2 or the rogue\u2019s gallery from Nolan\u2019s Bat-films. Green Lantern slips up in this department, just as Thor did with the dorky Loki.<\/p>\n

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Jordan\u2019s love interest, Carol Ferris, is also an underwhelming, so-called \u2018empowered\u2019 character due to a fairly ordinary performance by Blake Lively. The movie lacks a bit of star power compared to Marvel\u2019s output, this year \u2013 Tim Robbins isn\u2019t really a match for Anthony Hopkins or Tommy Lee Jones in this department, and it means more is left to Reynolds and an underused Mark Strong to carry the film.<\/p>\n

The divisive aspect of the film comes in the effects, which was always going to be a problem with a hero that brings objects to life using his imagination and a green ring. What works so well in comic-book form transitions to the screen with mixed results \u2013 many of Hal Jordan\u2019s constructs built with his power ring just don\u2019t look quite right. Whether it\u2019s a minigun or a giant fist, it all looks a bit weird and slightly unconvincing. Perhaps it\u2019s the shocking nature of seeing real-life objects like gun turrets and swords emerge from a ring, with a covering of bright green, that jars awkwardly with the concept of live-action cinema. This is where it has similarities with Fantastic Four, in that it looks a bit too daft in places.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the exception rather than the rule, however, as numerous sequences are visually impressive. The effects are quite good fun, actually, and if audiences are willing to buy into giant toys beating each other up in the Transformers movies, they should really be able to get on-board with this. Highlights include Jordan\u2019s rescue of Carol Ferris from a helicopter crash, as well as Jordan\u2019s climactic battle with Parallax (not to mention the backdrop for this showdown).<\/p>\n

These are moments that Emerald Knight fans will get a thrill out of, and that\u2019s the appeal of the film, really. If you\u2019re uttering the Green Lantern oath under your breath on either of the two stirring occasions that Jordan recites it himself, this will be a cinematic experience you\u2019ll undoubtedly enjoy, if not treasure. For those that are unfamiliar with the character but are open to a comic book-movie that encompasses a few far-out concepts, the movie is a fun summer blockbuster. The use of Green Lantern\u2019s grand mythology distinguishes Campbell\u2019s film within this sub-genre, though it may be too far removed for general audiences to really get to grips with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Brightest Day? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":15301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1323],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/GL-Horiz-FistsOut-KeyArt2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}