On June 17 Warner Bros. Studios is set to release the latest DC Comics flick The Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, the test-pilot turned ring bearing superhero. The film opens and spends quite a considerable amount of time on establishing Hal Jordan as an irresponsible, wild and undisciplined hot-shot haunted by the death of his pilot-father who died in a jet crash. Blake Lively, looking lovely as a brunette, stars as Carol Ferris who is running her father's company “Ferris Aerospace” - the employer of our soon-to-be superhero. Even though she is Hal's boss, it's not difficult to detect that these two have previously had a romantic relationship that's causing a lot of difficulty in their employer/employee relationship. Hal being the hot-shot that he is, gets himself in trouble by breaking the rules of a test combat situation and is on the verge of losing his job and alienating his family when redemption comes in the form of a dying alien who is on the search for replacement bearer of his super-power ring. The universe as it turns out is protected by an army of Green Lanterns, made up of species in all shapes and forms, who are protect their own sectors of the universe against evil. The rings which give them power uses the “will” of all living things to form a powerful force of energy that takes the shape of whatever its bearer desires.
The villain in this movie is an ancient being that is empowered by the fear in all living beings. This being known as the Parallox, is on the loose after being imprisoned and quickly starts to kill off the Green Lanterns and destroy entire civilizations of planets. Early on you can see that this is going to be a courage vs. fear contest with a message that you can conquer your fears by not being afraid. And of course the ring chooses a very flawed and unlikely individual to be the succeeding Green Lantern because movie heroes have to be of the redeemed type. The problem is that Reynolds comes off as Van Wilder on steroids who fails to reach his potential until he has that Neo-in-the-Matrix type transformation where he realizes self confidence. The saving grace of the movie is the special effects. In this case it's good that a Green Lantern movie has lagged behind all of the Superman, Batman and countless other hero movies. Without today's technology and special effects, a Green Lantern movie would be a complete dud. Imagine if this came out in the early 80's or 90's? Something else that really puzzled me was that with all of the effects the movie failed to dazzle in 3-D. There isn't anything that shoots or charges out to you, which to me is a complete waste of 3-D because all it does is just make some of the objects and people stand out. Unless you really love all things 3-D, you are better off watching this in 2-D.
As for action, you aren't going to get much until the end. The majority of the movie is spent telling the story of Hal Jordan feeling unworthy of new responsibility, the love tension between him and Carol Ferris and the creepy evil transformation of Dr. Hector Hammond who is infected by the Parallox. Even the action pay-off at the end isn't enough to satisfy. If an action hero movie is going to commit so heavily to story-telling, it has to have the kind of acting that can carry the movie on its shoulders such as The Dark Knight. Even with experienced veterans like Tim Robbins and Angela Bassett, The Green Lantern doesn't have that Dark Knight acting which is why it should've delivered a lot more action and the pay-off at the end should've been more satisfying. Like all things in Hollywood, expect a few more Green Lantern movies. Maybe with the origin out of the way, the next one can concentrate on more action.
Review by Tim "Styles" Sanchez of ALLHIPHOP.com
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