Review of Green Lantern (2011) by Tellarhk — 16 Jun 2011

Going into this movie with an extensive knowledge of Green Lantern comics history and characters, and having followed previews and reviews of the film, I had been quite concerned. Initial trailers and previews had looked uniformly uninspiring at best. Also, the choices of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively for the film were areas of some concern to many fans of the original comic source material, who doubted whether either performer would be capable of projecting the level of depth and gravity that appeals to modern comic fans familiar with the revised and modernized source material largely created by the film's Co-Producer, Geoff Johns. Finally seeing the film in 3D at my local theater, I was pleased to see that many of my concerns were either unfounded or overwrought. Reynolds and Lively both delivered adequate performances, though at times both suffered from a bad case of "I'm reading my script now, and it says to say this line with emotion!"-itis. The film's computer generated graphics were largely competent, with a few stop-motion style artifacts in some scenes that were likely exaggerated by the 3D process. As fans had actually suspected from early in the process, Mark Strong's performance as Corps member Sinestro was a particularly bright spot in a film that needed them. On the other end of the spectrum, Peter Saarsgard does his best to channel John Malkovich, turning in a performance just so over-the-top as to fit in right at home in a movie based on comic books. Unfortunately, it's difficult to tell whether the problem with Saarsgard's Hector Hammond is with his portrayal, or the writing his character endures. Angela Bassett turns in an excellent performance as Amanda Waller, who seems to be given a far smaller role than the history and depth of her character's comic incarnation but almost seems to be there in order to offer a way to tie in further characters and background with other possible sequels or connected films.

Fans of the comics will have a whole host of characters and story elements to find in the backdrop and scenery, particularly on the Guardian planet Oa. Newcomers to the Green Lantern mythos might feel somewhat overwhelmed at those moments, but fortunately the filmmakers seem to sense that as a possible problem and move the story, and action, forward without much delay. Fundamentally, Green Lantern provides through pacing and a solid if largely genre traditional script, what could have been derailed by a few small but easily spotted flaws of the variety critics seem to love to hate. For a comic movie to have a script with so few plotholes is quite praiseworthy, but it does fall victim to a problem more often seen in sequels where one villain would likely suffice but two are offered instead.

In all, Green Lantern presents itself as a fun, well-paced story with a few flaws in the production that either result from a relatively short production schedule or moments where it appears scenes may have been cut to reduce the running time. The pacing and action sequences make it a good popcorn flick, and one that will probably spawn an entertaining Blu-Ray release with added scenes and special features.