The marketing team has everything in place for the release of “Green Lantern.” Six Flags is introducing Green Lantern roller coasters at two of its locations. There’s a video game now out for the Nintendo Wii and DS, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. You can even buy Green Lantern Reese’s, Doritos, and, more appropriately, Lipton Brisk green tea iced drinks. If only the filmmakers had spent less time setting up tie-ins and more effort creating a decent screenplay.
They certainly had the manpower — four guys are credited with writing the film. Of course, the more names in the writing credits, the more probable that a film will be a bland piece of work aimed at satisfying the lowest common denominator. “Green Lantern,” however, is unlikely to please even this part of the film-going public.
Ryan Reynolds is Hal Jordan, a self-described “screw-up” who barely makes it to an important test flight the morning after a night of drinking and carousing. He’s a great pilot, though — and knows it. So does Carol Ferris (Blake Likely), a fellow flier and up-and-coming executive. But his former love interest is tired of watching him squander his potential.
The test pilot is put to the ultimate test when a ring of power chooses him as the dying owner’s successor. He’s now part of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic peacekeeping force that’s never before had a human member. Leader Sinestro (Mark Strong) is skeptical a weak homo sapiens can defeat their most powerful enemy yet. The Green Lanterns fight with the “emerald energy of willpower,” while Parallax feeds on the yellow force of fear. The battle comes directly to Earth when Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), a scientist studying the alien who died after passing on his ring to Hal, inadvertently falls prey to Parallax’s power.
Lively proved she’s more than just a pretty face in last year’s “The Town,” in which she transformed herself from an elegant beauty to a piece of white trash. But she’s unable to get past the perfunctory dialogue that serves merely as an interlude between what are admittedly impressive action sequences. (“Casino Royale” helmer Martin Campbell is behind the camera.) Reynolds and Sarsgaard fare a bit better. The latter, nearly unrecognizable, has created a villain in training who’s more intriguing — and more philosophical — than the average. Reynolds has an easy charm and is convincing as a normal guy who can’t believe his luck — and his burden — when he discovers he has a piece of jewelry whose “limits are only what you can imagine.”
With a cast like that, this superhero flick, like Hal Jordan himself, had real potential to rise above its provenance. But the dialogue is simply beyond cheesy. Faster than a speeding bullet, to echo another DC Comics property, the film flits away whenever it comes close to addressing the themes for which many read the genre: honor, responsibility, motivation, and the hardest battle of all, making the right, crucial choice.
‘Green Lantern’
2.5 out of 5 stars
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Peter Sarsgaard, Blake Lively, Mark Strong
Director: Martin Campbell
Rated: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action
Running time: 105 minutes
