GREEN LANTERN (MOVIE)

If you come to think about it green is a very symbolic color. It represents the country of Ireland. It is associated with a frog called Kermit. Plus in addition to this, it is the hue of heroes such as the Hulk, Green Arrow, and the one in this movie. This one Directed by Martin Campbell; and Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, and Tim Robbins. It was painted in 2011, and it took about 114 minutes to dry.


Green Lantern

THE STORY:

Roguish test-pilot, Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds), has found himself in a rather situation type situation at the moment. No. Don't fret. It does not have anything to do with him crashing a governmental airplane on its maiden flight. Although his boss, Carrol Ferris (Blake Lively), plus his family, isn't that pleased about this dramatic incident. Instead, Hal is given a powerful green ring by a dieing purple alien called Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison).

Oh!

Pretty strange turn of events, I am sure that you'll agree. Well, that is what scientist, Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) thinks, anyway, when he is called in by the government to inspect Abin's dead body. So too for that matter does Abin's college in the intergalactic 'Green Lantern Corps', Thal Sinestro (Mark Strong), when he addresses his superiors, the immortal Guardians, whilst explaining to them how Abin was killed by a 'fear entity' called Parallax.

But what about Hal, huh? What does he make of these alien proceedings? Err - simply put - confused.

Initially Hal is confused when he first discovers that this ring needs to be recharged by its accompanying 'power battery'. He is then confused when this ring takes him into outer space, and presents him to where it originated from, the planet Oa, the home of the Guardians. And he is ultimately confused when the Guardians peace keeping force, the Green Lantern Corps, introduce themselves, before slapping him about a bit to test his resolve.

In fact, Hal is so confused by this turn of event's, he tells 'the Corps' to f*ck off, before flying back to Earth again, to get on with his life.

Meanwhile, during this time, the scientist, Hector Hammond, goes through an evolution as well. You see, whilst he is inspecting Abin's dead body, the fear entity which killed Abin, Parallax, infects him as well. Granted, Hector does not really realize this has happened to him, until he starts inadvertently reading people's minds. Moreover, when he also attempt's to kill his overbearing Dad, Hammond (Tim Robbins), when he, Hal, and Carol, are all at a launch party together.

Oh! But don't you worry though; Hal does the right thing and powers-up to save the day. Just like he does when he comes to the realization that Parallax has its grips on Hector, prompting him to set the stage for a confrontation to end all confrontations...

... fear verses will.

Well, I suppose that is why what next transpires is a right emotional affair all in all. As the public cheer - heroes know fear - airplanes step up a gear - and aliens come over a bit queer.

   

THE REVIEW:

OK, so this is the film which most of my readers have asked me to review for quite some now, 'Green Lantern'. And do you know what? Now that I have actually sat down and taken the time to see what's what with this flick, I can point my finger on what all that hullabaloo was about, concerning its fall from grace - this movie tries to do too many things.

You see, in essence, there is so much going on with this comic book franchise film, that it has actually forgotten to tell a story. Moreover, what it has also failed to neglect, is that this film needs to have some personality as well - something more than just introduce / set-up / deploy / and see you again for the probable sequel.

And why has it forgotten to do that? Well, as I said previously, it tries so hard to juggle so many elements within the overall pretext, it has not given each segment that much time to gestate and grow within the overall narrative. Is it a love story? Is it an origin story? It is about Parallax? Is it a space opera? Is it about Hal? It is about the Green Lantern Corps? Or is it about the price of chicken?

Personally speaking, I think that it is about all of these things - including the chicken - which is why it has fallen on its ass in the box office, with no fault what do ever attributed to either the actors or the special effects involved.

Here, check out some of these filmic facts to figure out why: (1) This film went through many-many changes during it's ten year pre-production phase. Greg Berlantini, Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, and Zack Snyder, were all considered to direct this movie. Sam Worthington, Bradley Cooper, Justin Timberlake, Jared Leto, and Chris Pine, were all considered for the role of Hal Jordan. Keri Russell, Eva Green, Jennifer Garner, and Diane Kruger, were all considered to play Carol Ferris. Hugo Weaving, Jackie Earle Haley, and Geoffrey Rush, were considered to for the role of Sinestro. Plus Eddie Murphy was considered to play John Stewart as well.  (2) At one-point, script wise, Superman was going to make a cameo in this movie. (3) In 2006, screenwriter, Robert Smigel, completed a Green Lantern comedy-adventure, which was to star Jack Black and a villain that wanted to eat people. The producers and the fans did not like this idea though. (4) An early draft of the script contained a cameo by Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern, and Hal's predecessor, whose powers were magical rather than cosmic. Scott was going to be the United States President, and near the end of the film, he would reveal his own past as a Green Lantern to Hal. And (5) Originally, the main villain was going to be the Legion, an alien robot possessing the collective minds of an alien insectoid-race.

Oh! While I am on a trivia splurge, I might as well give you some comic book facts about 'Green Lantern' also, huh? (1) In the original comic books, Carol Ferris became the Star Sapphire, an anti-heroine with similar abilities to the Green Lantern, and a soldier of the Star Sapphire Corps. (2) Most of the original sixties comic book characters in this series were based on actors of that era. Hal Jordan was based on Paul Newman. Carol Ferris was based on Elizabeth Taylor. Sinestro was based on David Niven. And Hector Hammond was based on Burl Ives. Whereas the Guardians were based on the Israeli Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion. (3) In the comic books, there have been six people who held [still hold] the title of the Green Lantern. Alan Scott from 1940. Hal Jordan from 1959. Guy Gardner from 1968. John Stewart from 1971. Kyle Rayner from 1994. And Alan Scott's daughter, Jennifer-Lynn Hayden, from 2002. (4) This film was supposed to be a composite of numerous Green Lantern stories, such as 'Emerald Dawn', 'Green Lantern: Secret Origin', plus the works of Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams, and Dave Gibbons, in their GL comic book run. And (5) Hector Hammond shares his origins with Flash nemesis, Gorilla Grodd, not Parallax, due to a powerful meteor imbuing them both with powers.

Listen, I know that I could go on and on, giving you more pieces of green gold about Hal and the gang, but I feel that this movie is in dire need of a bit more critiquing. Or does it? Well, come on, what I have presented so far tells you all you really need to know about 'Green Lantern' really. Its special-effects were just fine. The actors did their best with what they had to work with. And the story wanted to be a duel story-line between Hal, Hammond, Carol, the Corps, Parallax, and a piece of chicken, crispy fried.

OK, so this film is no 'Dark Knight', but rather a light version 'Batman Returns' with a dash of cosmic splendor in it. So what? No one has died, except for maybe my hope that this film was going to be good.

I just hope that the audience and the producers will give a green light to a sequel is all. So it can redeem itself. What do you think Hal?

Fair enough.

THE RATING: B-