Green Lantern is the next Summer release to cash in on the ongoing case of comic-book fever that is happening to the movie industry. This film stars Ryan Reynolds as the title and central character and also features Blake Lively as a love interest. The film is the next work by Martin Campbell who has previously directed the fantastic ‘Casino Royale’ (2006). It’s a shame then, that this film shall be forever attached to his name.
The Green Lantern is utterly forgettable in all aspects of what it tries to deliver. However, that may even be the problem from the start. Maybe this film doesn’t even dare to try, that is the way this film comes across on screen. The acting in this film is so devoid of emotion and feeling that throughout the film we find it hard to care about the fate of any of the characters in this world. While one can also blame the very uninteresting script, Ryan Reynolds delivers a sub-par performance and does not feel like any iteration of a super-hero in this film. The only time we perhaps see a true character emerging is during the test flight scenes at the start, but after that quickly ends, so too does the character of Hal Jordan. Blake Lively also appears in the role of Carol Ferris, a role that is completely unclear to the audience. Apparently in the past she has had some sort of sexual relationship with Hal but this is never explained or explored. Lively and Reynolds also communicate with each other in a very alienating and cold fashion. As a result, the relationship adds nothing to the problems or consequences of the plot due to the fact that no chemistry appears to exist between the two stars. The one bit of dialogue when Hal Jordan appears to Carol Ferris outside her window is one of the only highlights in the script, which allows the characters to be exactly what they are not in this film – characters.
Martin Campbell has shown his ability to direct action films with his reboot of the James Bond series in the previously mentioned ‘Casino Royale’ (2006). However, in the Green Lantern, we are presented with action scenes that are uninspiring and do not really progress like the action scenes seen in ‘X-Men: First Class’ (2011). The Green Lantern remains stationary for many of the action scenes as he imagines these objects from stationary positions. Another point of note is the settings in which these actions scenes take place, they look terrible. The settings are not used at all during the actions scenes as other comic-book films tend to do. The characters could be fighting anywhere at any time, but it wouldn’t matter anyway because we don’t believe that these people care what they are fighting for.
There are few highlights or good things to say about this film. Maybe the performance of Peter Sarsgaard is acceptable but that is certainly not enough to save this film. This is a poorly directed, poorly written and poorly acted film that is executed poorly. I did not have high expectations for this film although I at least expected the special effects to be noteworthy, but this was not the case. The Green Lantern does not suggest any significant ideas to consider and utterly fails artistically. The idea of being an alien and what it means is hinted at, but is not explored at all in the Green Lantern.
This film will not add anything to your life or force you to consider any significant ideas, as I feel a film should. Also, this film is not entertaining to look at visually, as I feel a film should be.
I do not recommend.