Green Lantern

Movie: Green Lantern

  • Director: Martin Campbell
  • Release Date: June 2011
  • Writers: Greg Berlanti, Michael Green
  • Run Time: 105
  • Genre: Action, Crime, Sci-Fi

Tagline: One of us… becomes one of them.

Review: Let me start out this review saying that there is a lot that Campbell gets right with Green Lantern. Firstly the casting, always of utmost importance in a superhero film, is solid. All participants make the most of their roles, with Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan a particularly inspired choice. This is the type of role Reynolds was born to play, and he clearly understands the journey Jordan takes over the course of the film. Bringing his natural charm to elevate the character above the by the numbers troubled hero Jordan could have been, hes the best thing about the whole film. Supports are good too, with Peter Sarsgaard wickedly creepy as Hector Hammond, and Mark Strong as Lantern Corps leader Sinestro making the best of smaller parts. Its also nice to see Campbell keeping it Kiwi with roles for Temuera Morrison and Taika Waititi, although both are underused. Campbell also nails the look of Green Lantern, and the delicate but masterful use of color shows his visual expertise as a filmmaker. Freed from the restraints of a realistic setting, Campbell really lets loose with his great visual style in scenes that take him away from Earth. Too often superhero films are hampered by the perceived need to keep proceedings grounded in reality to give mass audiences something to better relate to, and much like Marvels Thor, the sci fi heavy sequences set in far off fantastical locations offer refreshing variety. It is however spectacularly geeky, and as much as certain core fans will undoubtedly be crying for more of this style in future comic adaptations, conservative studio thinking is likely the reason well never see a Green Lantern movie set entirely off Earth.

Green Lantern, despite all it has going for it visually, falls down at the story level, perhaps an effect of having four writers working on the script at various times. Adding originality to an origin story is always going to be a challenging task, and the story spends too much time on build up before rushing to a conclusion, which ultimately seems a touch too easy. Obviously Warner Bros. are counting on the success of the film to launch a new franchise, so therefore Jordans triumph was a foregone conclusion, but Campbell does not spend enough time developing the threat presented by the films villain, and as such when the confrontation comes it never feels like anything is really at stake. Its an exciting sequence while it lasts, despite its overly obvious terrorism parallels, but its just over much too quickly, and the colossal visual scale of the villain which Campbell reaches for is unmatched by the battle itself. There is an uneasy balance between the small scale human story and the epic overarching plot, and unfortunately Green Lantern comes off as unsure of what exactly it wants to be.

13 Responses to “Green Lantern”

  1. gertrude says:

    The film Green Lantern is worth it to view. the movie is so awesome.
    I didn’t find it to long, it was at times a little too knowing and even self indulgent but I guess a film like that has to be! It makes my top ten of the year so far. Lets see if it stays there!

  2. rose says:

    I thought Green Lantern was interesting, it was a new type of funny movie, and a smart one as well. After that it all went downhill. I saw 3 movies too many. Now I cannot bear to even watch this movie again, but, apparently there are still people out there that can enjoy a movie like this and I am glad they can.

  3. judy says:

    The film Green Lantern is worth it to view. the movie is so great.
    I didn’t find it to long, it was at times a little too knowing and even self indulgent but I guess a film like that has to be! It makes my top ten of the year so far. Lets see if it stays there!

  4. wilma says:

    The two great things about Green Lantern are the look and the acting. When I say look I am referring to everything from the costumes and makeup all the way to the photography combining to capture the look of the time perfectly. The soundtrack is also pretty good too as you would expect!

  5. jeannette says:

    The film Green Lantern is worth it to view. the Green Lantern is so great. It’s a strangely paced flick and suffers at times from incredibly long exposition and poorly contrived story lines that seem to be added to no doubt develop the storyline rather than the Green Lantern story that I wanted to see.

  6. mabel says:

    The film Green Lantern is worth it to see. the Green Lantern is so fantastic. It’s a strangely paced flick and suffers at times from very long exposition and poorly contrived story lines that seem to be added to no doubt develop the storyline rather than the Green Lantern story that I wanted to see.

  7. ronnie says:

    I agree with you on Green Lantern – the first half hour of it was great, actually. tailed off a bit towards end but still a way better film than it should have been

  8. sidney says:

    Green Lantern combines parts of Pocahontas and Braveheart which includes a liberal dose of Room Marines into an epic entire that requires almost 3 total hours to unfold. We could criticise that length, the weak story and also the hammy dialogue. We could attack its thinly-veiled ecological message or even the frankly bizarre spirituality in its second 50 % but honestly absolutely nothing can spoil the knowledge despite the fact that that youre enveloped in it. Along with a great element of that could be down to your brilliant use of 3D – which can be both subtle and amazingly helpful. Til now, we are already producing films with 3D components, Avatar will be very first unquestionably 3D movie and may well nicely prove to generally be an individual with the most important issues to occur to blockbuster film-making simply because Green Lantern.

  9. natalia says:

    The film Green Lantern is worth it to see. the movie is so cool.
    I didn’t find it to long, it was at times a little too knowing and even self indulgent but I guess a film like that has to be! It makes my top ten of the year so far. Lets see if it stays there!

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  11. antonio says:

    Green Lantern combines parts of Pocahontas and Braveheart that has a liberal dose of Room Marines into an epic complete that requires practically 3 total hours to unfold. We could criticise that length, the weak story as well as hammy dialogue. We could attack its thinly-veiled ecological message or even the frankly bizarre spirituality in its second fifty percent but honestly absolutely nothing can spoil the knowledge although youre enveloped in it. Plus a huge portion of that may be down for the brilliant use of 3D – which can be both subtle and exceptionally valu able. Til now, we are actually gett ing films with 3D components, Avatar often is the initial h onestly 3D movie and may well properly prove being just one on the most important factors to take place to blockbuster film-making considering that Green Lantern.

  12. letha says:

    I thought Green Lantern was interesting, it was a new type of horror movie, and a smart one as well. After that it all went downhill. I saw 3 movies too many. Now I cannot bear to even watch this movie again, but, apparently there are still people out there that can enjoy a movie like this and I am glad they can.

  13. saundra says:

    The two great things about Green Lantern are the look and the acting. When I say feel I am referring to everything from the costumes and makeup all the way to the photography combining to capture the look of the time perfectly. The soundtrack is also pretty good too as you would expect!

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