Green Lantern
Regal Cinema Centre, July 6, 2011
Movie #41 for 2011
Much to the dismay of my BFF, I have a little thing for RYAN REYNOLDS (pictured). I think it’s from watching “Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place” when I was seventeen. That shit’s formative. So I was always going to see Reynolds in a superhero movie, even if I knew nothing about the Green Lantern.
Reynolds is Hal Jordan, a test fighter pilot who plays by his own rules rather than those of his boss, fellow pilot and would-be-girlfriend Carol Ferris (BLAKE LIVELY, The Town) - or anyone else for that matter. When an alien crash lands on earth passing a magic ring onto Hal, he becomes a Green Lantern, one of thousands in a league of superheroes who defend the Universe from the yellow forces of fear using the green power of will. (It’s all delivered with a straight face so as not too seem quite so ridiculous, and since it’s a superhero film, your disbelief should be waaaaay suspended anyway.) Earth is being threatened by the yellowest of all yellow guys, Parallax, and his getting-yellower-all-the-time devotee Hector (PETER SARSGAARD, Garden State, with a fat suit on his head). When the other Lanterns - including purple skinned Sinestro (MARK STRONG, Sherlock Holmes) and a fish voiced by GEOFFREY RUSH - won’t help, it’s up to Hal to save the world.
Written by a committee of mostly TV writers and directed by Martin “Edge of Darkness” Campbell, Green Lantern is being absolutely caned by critics. Maybe I had suitably lowered expectations, or maybe it’s because I thought the film was hard done by, or maybe it’s the Ryan Reynolds thing, but I enjoyed myself quite a bit. It’s by no means a great film, but Hal Jordan is a fun character - not too bright and a little goofy - and the cast are really solid (including a very strong actors in the bit parts including TIM ROBBINS, ANGELA BASSETT and TAIKA WATITI, Boy).
Although nowhere nears its potential to be tops, it’s not as bad as the critics say.
