Green Lantern (2011) Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Tim Robbins Movie Review

Green Lantern (2011)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Ryan Reynolds in Green Lantern (2011)

A Failing Light

Whilst mankind may believe they are the most intelligent beings in the universe they are oblivious to the fact that there is an elite defence force which has been keeping peace across the universe for centuries. But they soon will be aware when cocky test pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) finds himself chosen to be part of the Green Lantern Corps even if others, specifically Sinestro (Mark Strong), is less enthusiastic about having a human in their ranks. But it seems that Hal may have been chosen for a reason as the Green Lanterns are becoming weakened due to their continual battle with the Parallax and maybe Hal has the solution.

I can honestly say that up until watching the "Green Lantern" I had never come across the character before, well other than a mention of it in "The Big Bang Theory". Now I don't honestly know if that is a good thing because frankly "Green Lantern" did next to nothing for me and wonder whether being a fan of the character with a knowledge of him might have helped, then again maybe that might have made this even more disappointing than I found it.

Peter Sarsgaard in Green Lantern (2011)

Now in fairness "Green Lantern" has all the ingredients as we meet the cocky Hal Jordan, he is far from perfect but he is a good guy who is in love with a pretty woman. Then there is an evil rival and of course the whole Green Lantern Corps stuff. Basically it introduces us to the character, the Green Lantern universe and giving us a bad guy to do battle with. The thing is that 80% of this storyline feels cliche from Hal having issues over his dad's death to his feelings for the pretty Carol.

But the irony is that whilst the cliche nature of the storyline is disappointing it is not the major issue I have with "Green Lantern". My major problem is that those behind the movie have decided that rather than trying to deliver a decent storyline with interesting characters they will just give us lots of CGI effects. Now maybe there is some wow factor to this if you are a teenager but as an adult CGI costumes do not impress me neither do scenes where it was clearly all CGI, if I want that I would play a video game.

I do have one more issue and that is simply who neutered Ryan Reynolds? I'm serious because Reynolds has that cockiness about him which makes a movie, it is what Robert Downey Jr. gives Iron Man. But here that flare, that showmanship is missing and it just feels like Reynolds was not allowed to bring what he does best to the role. The one good thing is the scenes he shares with Blake Lively and the chemistry, the looks they give each other at least gives this movie something worthwhile.

What this all boils down to is that "Green Lantern" was a misfire for me and ended up not only a movie where an actor ended up being neutered but one where it ended up all about the special effects which truth be told didn't really have the wow factor.


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