From Brightest Day, to Blackiest Night?
With Thor being all powerfully awesome and the X-Men made their big come back Green Lantern ,which is why the newest entry in DC Comics’ long lineage of films doesn’t help them out in any way.
Throughout the universe exists a galactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps. With the use of their power rings, which grants its chosen wearer the ability to create anything their mind imagines, they patrol the 3600 individual sectors of the universe. When the cosmic entity known as Parallax is released and begins to feed on fear, the lone Green Lantern strong enough to defeat it, Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison), is gravely wounded and sets off to find his replacement. Enter cocky fighter test pilot Hal Jordan (Reynolds), whose confidence in the air gets him in trouble on the ground. While Abin Sur’s pupil and good friend, Sinestro (Mark Strong), sees only weakness in Jordan, he may end up being the strongest Lantern yet. With Parallax threatening the universe, Jordan has to overcome his desire to run from responsibility and commit to being a hero.
One of the first sink or swim moments in the film occurs right in the opening scene, when aliens that have crash-landed on the planet Ryut release Parallax from its dormant state. The entire didn’t look connected to the film at all.
The Villain in the movie (not Sinestro) the psychic Hector Hammond. Unfortunately, this was a bump in the road and kept going, again and again. Instead of utilizing Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) as one of Jordan’s greatest nemesis, the script treats him like a pawn. He would have been a great villain to ground the film and reign in the mythology to make Lantern an easier pill to swallow, but instead everything seems to revolve around Parallax.
Part of the problem of the film is that it seems to borrow heavily from Geoff Johns’ Secret Origins arc that set the standard for the Green Lantern stories. However, instead of using it as a script, they attempt to mash together different elements while dropping the more complicated material. The result, with Parallax being introduced and Hammond coming in later, sounds right on paper but is dosen’t work well translated to the screen. Oh, and I should also mention that they are trying to do all of this within 105 minutes, then make it longer!
While I’ll admit that setting up Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern mythos is daunting, most of the successful origin stories coming out now make an effort to keep the film grounded. Here, there seems to be little attempt to ease the audience into the mythology. You either accept from the opening minutes of the film that a grey cloud that glows yellow with a skeletal face is ravaging the universe, or you don’t.
Paradoxically, while the film shoves Parallax down your throat, it uses the home planet of the Green Lanterns, Oa, as a sideshow. Jordan is immediately sent there once he speaks the oath for training. While you might want to sit back and relax as the film introduces you to the way the power ring works and see Jordan progress, they abruptly stop to send us back to Earth.
One part of the film that actually works is the cast, with Reynolds leading the way. Jordan has a cockiness that blends with humanity in the comics, and Reynolds seems to tap into that with ease. He has plenty of one-liners to keep the audience laughing, but they never go overboard with it. He can be serious when he wants, and when he is emotionally wounded, we believe it. Even Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, former flame and childhood friend of Jordan’s, at certain moments, can holds her own. Doing the best he can in his shrunken role, too bad for Peter Sarsgaard, he is nearly unrecognizable in his swollen head prosthetic and is a cruel, menacing character that has some shocking moments.
Additionally, Mark Strong manages to make Sinestro—a tall, purple alien with a window’s peak and pencil mustache—intimidating and serious. The camera doesn’t shy away from him either, and the makeup and costume look great on him. There is also a key portion of his character that appears in the middle of the credits, and I say, There was no point for it! It was a cop out to his character all together! The real stunner, though, is Abin Sur’s makeup. The muscle tissue and purple glow might cause some to stare in awe, which is a shame because he isn’t around very long.
One thing to note is that on close-ups, Jordan’s suit looks great, if you can make a suit from your energy ring, then it should look like its attached to your body, right? But from distances it still appears obviously fake. The suits work for the other Lanterns, since they are CG. As for the 3D, some of the scenes on Oa seem to shine, but because most of the film takes place on Earth, it once again feels more like an unnecessary expense.
Martin Campbell helped Pierce Brosnan’s career as James Bond and later delivering a knockout with Casino Royale, which effectively rebooted the Bond franchise. You would think this would be a lot easier. This movie should have boosted The Green Lantern franchise to the heavy hitters like Superman and Batman, but the origin didn’t help that much, I hope the animated series does a lot better.
Oh, I now know the oath by heart.
