In Green Lantern, Ryan Reynolds plays Hal Jordan, the ‘first’ human Green Lantern (There’s since been three more, but that may be too much nerd for you to handle right now, so I won’t go into it), test pilot, daredevil and all-around cocky sonuvabitch who is gifted a power ring that enables him to join an interstellar police force known as the Green Lanterns. If this sounds slightly convoluted, that’s because it is – but in all seriousness, the film stays remarkably true to the comic, at least in terms of the origin story. Reynolds plays Jordan with just the right amount of smarm and cocksure bombast mixed with just a tinge of regret, enabling everyone who was terrified he might be ill-suited for the role, or overplay it to the point of caricature to breathe just a bit easier.
The power ring that he wears enables him to do literally ‘anything’ he can think up (which has always been a point of contention among comic literati – it smacks of deus ex machina, honestly, but we’re not here to critique the comic, we’re critiquing the film, so I digress..) which ensures a few money special FX shots. One shot wherein he throws a tanker truck at a foe and then creates an antiaircraft gun out of energy and blasts said tanker truck – turning it, essentially, into a very large grenade – stands out as my favourite, but there are several worth noting. At least you can see where they spent the reported $200 million.
The plot, such as it is, is more than a little meandering – you start with Hal showing off during a flight exercise, then insert the requisite fight with the potential significant other (Blake Lively, in a role she will likely do her best to downplay if she ever gets to accept alifetime achievement award), then Hal finds the ring and things pick up a little bit. Once he becomes a full-fledged Green Lantern (complete with ‘hilarious’ training montage!) the story focuses a little bit but it seems unsure as to what to do with the secondary characters. Familiar (to fans of the comic, at any rate) faces like Kilowog and Sinestro are given cameo roles at best. Especially disappointing is how they fail to really recognize the Hal Jordan / Sinestro dynamic (one of the best in the books). What should be a dynamic and somewhat ... er.. ‘complicated’ relationship is boiled down to about three minutes of on-screen interaction. Part of this is done for the sake of pacing, I’m sure (as it is, the film clocks in at only two hours, yet seems rather plodding but when your main villain is as nondescript and relatively blasé as Parallax, there’s only so much you can do), but a little background information on the other Lanterns would've helped flesh things out immensely.
Still, as an origin story (and let’s be honest here – that’s what this film is, the first in what WB is hoping against hope to become another sturdy franchise) it defines the character and provides enough ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ to make it a passable use of 2 hours. The issues that the film does have are not irreparable, which gives me hope if the sequel is greenlit. There's a lot more to this character than they show in this film and I'd like to see them get the chance to show it.
If you’re a fan of the comics, you will see more than enough nods and winks (stay past the first part of the credits, specifically) to keep you on your toes and you will likely leave (relatively) satisfied. If you haven’t read a Green Lantern comic, though, buyer beware.
Geek Score: 6 out of 10 Bacon Strips
What I'm Playing: Infamous for PS3
What I'm Reading: Batman: Arkham City
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