Green Lantern (2011) Review:

Unfortunately Ryan Reynolds is one of those actors who viewers really enjoy or really hate to see on screen. He has tried time and time again to prove his worth that he is more than just a comedian and most just haven't been able to accept that. Much these opinions start arriving when he began playing comic book related characters. Sadly, when this movie arrived to all the local theaters, people were none too pleased with the end result. It's a little confusing why because although there are a few sections to this movie that are not polished up; it is still a watchable movie, and a fun one at that. The story follows very close to the DC comic where test pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) has an encounter with an other worldly being that gives him a green ring with extraordinary power. The power is materializing anything one desires with the strength of their own will.

Hector and Hal

The actors that portray their respective characters perform decently. Ryan Reynolds certainly looks like Hal Jordan and portrays his character with charm. Along with Reynolds is Peter Sarsgaard who plays a childhood buddy of Hal, Hector. With them is Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), another childhood friend of Hal and Hector. All of which give respectable performances even with a script that feels unfinished with their somewhat cliched backgrounds. Very little of these three main characters' childhood’s are explored. Only a small bit of information is given about Hector's life as a tragic sympathetic character. Furthermore, after the prologue, it's just assumed that Hal and Carol were destined to become a couple. Also, Hal's motivations seem to contradict what he says versus his actions.

Once Hal figures out what the ring is and what it belongs too, he becomes acquainted with the rest of the Green Lantern Corp. The top members that audiences will get to see are Sinestro (Mark Strong), Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison), Tomar-Re (Geoffrey Rush) and Kilowog (the late Michael Clark Duncan) and they are also performed well. After being beaten down through a series of tests Hal decides that the Green Lantern Corp. is not for him, even though it was stated that when the ring chooses a host, it doesn't make a mistake. So that's ok, Hal made a decision. But what contradicts this choice, is once he's home he decides to use the ring to save the day and sticks with it after using it once out in the open. The writers should've picked a side here. I don't understand why it was difficult when half of the writers have worked on the Arrow (2012) series.

However, even with these issues the story isn't entirely empty. The main antagonist known as Parallax, voiced by Clancy Brown has an interesting background. Additionally, Parallax's method of destruction isn't extremely divergent from other grandiose intergalactic villains, but it's still different; which is devouring worlds, not conquering them. With this, needs to be the appropriate special effects, which do look presentable. Although Parallax is not in his traditional form, he still looks massive for a cloud octopus. The creations that GL creates look awesome too in their digitized form. Conjointly is his suit, which is also cool even though it strangely sheds a few pounds off of all the physic that Reynolds has on him.

and the creature from the black lagoon

Likewise, the action was enjoyable and with the well integrated special effects. There are a number of neat tricks that Hal and other Lanterns come up with to use. The cinematography by Dion Beebe is appropriate for the film. It doesn't stand out as anything out of the ordinary, but it's not ugly either which is fine. Editing was taken care of by master Stuart Baird who made the 2 hour long movie not feel like it dragged. Music related, James Newton Howard produced the score. Thankfully, since this is a superhero film, he does have a main theme for GL and even has tunes that are for the more softer moments. Yet when it came to action cues, Howard didn't make anything that was memorable. I don't understand, he's not a bad composer and he did the exact opposite to the score to Salt (2010). Were the action sequences that uninspired to him? Overall though this film isn't as bad people say it is. It still needed tuning up but wasn't trash. No.

Its musical score and background to the main characters are in some ways transparent but that doesn't make the entirety of the storytelling unwatchable. It still contains a decent mix of effects and action with an acceptable cast.

Points Earned --> 7:10