Review of Green Lantern (2011) by Tim H — 02 Jul 2013

Comic book films can be divided into two main categories: those that succeed and those that fail. Unfortunately, most films based on comic books fail to live up to not just expectations, but to the spirit and mythology of the source material. We've seen many successes, Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005) and its sequel The Dark Knight (2008), Richard Donnor's Superman: The Motion Picture (1975) and its sequel, Jon Favreau's Iron Man (2008) and Sam Raimi's take on the Spider-Man franchise with his trilogy of films (the third one not so much, but it was a success). Failures also exist and most occurred between 2004 and 2008 with a surge in new properties of second tier characters being put on film such as Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and Ghost Rider. It's been hard for second and third tier characters to be put onto film but thanks to the wide success of Iron Man, there was hope.

DC Comics, one of the largest companies and most successful comic book publishers in the world, hasn't really been a staple in the film industry. Only a handful of their properties have translated to film with successes and failure. Since 2004, there's been revitalization in the Green Lantern franchise thanks to the creative talents of DC CCO Geoff Johns and his bringing back Hal Jordan to the Green Lantern series (Hal Jordan was dead for some time before). He is now probably the most popular and important character in the DC Universe. Naturally, when a film was announced, there was much hype. Having an all-star cast consisting of big names such as Ryan Reynolds (Buried, Van Wilder), Blake Lively (Gossip Girl, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants), Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes, Kick-Ass) and director Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Casino Royale), it appeared it would a success.

Seeing this film as a big Green Lantern fan, I had high hopes for a great film. With the knowledge that Geoff Johns was a producer, I knew it was in good hands. After seeing the 2010 Comic-Con panel and all the recent trailers, the film looked great. Unfortunately the film fails on two levels: as a film and as a comic book adaptation. The first fault is as a film.

The story is about a test pilot names Hal Jordan. He's lived his entire life on the edge and never caring too much about anyone other than himself. His father was a pilot as well and Jordan had to endure as a child watching his father die in a plane crash during a test. The film tells a decent job at telling this part of the story and tries to incorporate Hal's shaky relationship with his brothers but it doesn't go into detail on many things. Jordan comes into possession of a green ring given to him by a dying alien and Jordan becomes a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic space police. Green Lanterns use the emerald energy of willpower and use their rings to create anything they imagine. An ancient evil known as Parallax is making its way to Earth and Hal must stop it while learning to overcome fear because Green Lanterns are without fear.

First, the film has a bad way of storytelling. The script isn't strong enough and seems to bring up things and forget about them later. When Green Lantern Sinestro tells the Guardians, an immortal race and creators of the Corps, that Parallax is heading for their base on the planet Oa and then Hal says it's heading for Earth, no one questions him. No one is like "Wait, what? I thought it was heading for Oa" Nope, no one says a thing. Parallax is the embodiment of the yellow energy of fear and somehow they know where that energy source is considering none but the Guardians knew where it was. Movie never explained its location.

The acting is fine but Mark Strong's powerful performance as Sinestro definitely needed some more screen time. Peter Sarsgaard as Dr. Hector Hammond was good but could've been great had he been there more. Character development was very weak in this film and there was a lot of focus on Hal's relationship with Blake Lively's character Carol Ferris, his boss and former flame. I mean, it's important but there was a lot of focus on that. The pacing for this film suggested maybe a longer running time for a 105 minute film (1 hour and 45 minutes) but it is damn short for a comic book action movie. Speaking of characters, there's 3600 Green Lanterns and we have four main Lanterns we need to know yet, as important as they are, we hardly knew them. This film was lauded as being like a superhero Star Wars yet the wonder and sense of exploration of space wasn't apparent.

The production value was top notch. The CGI, while at times looked cheesy, was fantastic. Oa looked incredible, for the little we saw, and the Lantern suits were amazing. Grant Major (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) did a fantastic job. The visual effects and makeup were great. The Corps members, notably Sinestro, looked fantastic. Ngila Dickson (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) did great on the costume work. The music by James Newton Howard (The Chronicles of Narnia, The Dark Knight) was a worthy effort but what was missing was a central theme. Every great hero has a central theme such as Superman and Batman (Howard worked with Hans Zimmer on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and did great job on the Batman theme). Green Lantern didn't appear to have a distinguishable theme.

For the comic book aspect, the filmmakers drew inspiration from Geoff Johns' "Green Lantern: Secret Origin" story arc, a retelling of Hal Jordan's origin as a Green Lantern. Not only did they detract from this story in a lot of ways but they changed the entire mythology of the Green Lantern. They changed Parallax, which before wasn't a Guardian but actually an entity that is the embodiment of fear and isn't a floating tentacle smoke mass in space. The yellow fear energy/yellow ring story is different as is *SPOILER ALERT* Sinestro's acquisition of the yellow ring during the credits.

Other things such as what the Central Power Battery really is and does, who the Guardians really are, who any of the Corps members really are are never told. There are so many questions I can see unanswered that really should have been attended to. In the comics, Hal's relationship with Sinestro is pivotal to the stories. Sinestro is his mentor, his friend and practically a partner. We see them together about three times in the film, briefly each time. The beauty of the Green Lantern series is its sense of epic and wonder in space. We hardly see Oa in the film and nothing really happens in space. I mean, come on, Hal's training was only 5 minutes of movie time?

With all of the changes, I just wonder where they're going to go with the series. They can't follow the comics, well, not exactly. The major change in Abin Sur's (the dying alien that gives Hal the ring) ship crash changes practically the entire story of the comics and I'm dumbfounded on how they're going to tell the rest of the story. For reference on what I'm talking about, look up the "Blackest Night Prophecy".

I got into Green Lantern last summer by reading Geoff Johns' "Green Lantern: Rebirth" and "Green Lantern: Secret Origin" before I saw the panel at the San Diego Comic Con. I didn't read much else until several months ago when I started buying all the books. Even though I'm late to the party, I know enough to put a comic book fan's stamp of approval on the movie.

Sadly, I can't say this is the Green Lantern film we've been waiting for. I can't even say it's a good superhero film. Though I enjoyed it, I know its flaws and they outnumbered anything good from this movie. I wish I could see it from a perspective of one who hasn't read the comics. This film is giving a great love/hate relationship with it. I hate it as a Green Lantern film but I still liked it as an action comic book film (Contradicting to one of my previous statements). I'll have to see it again to make sure. Until then, I can't recommend this movie for fans of the comics but if you're looking for a subpar summer blockbuster and have an afternoon to kill, it's worth seeing.