Green Lantern, overall is a 5/10. Maybe generous to some, or rediculously low to others.
However, I am totally justified in this score for the following reasons.
The cast is great. Yes, Ryan Reynolds slightly struggles with shouldering a movie. Like Atlas he struggles with the enormity of the task, often feeling the strain. Gone are the days where he is a bit-supporting actor, the man has arrived. This is no contradiction. Yes the burden of the film is large, it is heavy, but he still manages to keep it afloat. The transition from said Bit-supporting actor to movie star is finished with GL. He has announced himself.
The rest of the cast, particularly, Mark Strong as Sinestro and Peter Saarsgard are fantastic as model Green Lantern being corrupted and villian Hector Hammond respectively(hope spelling is ok, for the grammar police :P)
Hal Jordan becomes a Green Lantern and learns what is necessary to be a good one. - basically summarises the story of the film in question.
As always I refuse to go into the story in depth as on a comic book site I expect people to have an idea of the story and comics. I myself had no background to the Green Lantern except he was/is a member of the Justice League. I had been bombarded with the fanboys (dickheads) proclaiming it's better than Thor or similiar fanboys proclaiming it is rubbish compared to Thor. BOTH sets missed the point.
Green Lantern should be being compared to Batman and Superman. It is DC afterall. Marvel have made movies, to build up for the Avengers Movie. They have created the "Marvel Cinematic Universe". Yes all movies have their own story but it is mainly geared to uniting their characters in one movie and to establish all these characters in the same timeline and on earth at the same times.
DC, should have tried to build their own legacy on the silver screen. This is a failing of the movie, a mention of Bat's or Supes would've helped create a DC universe on film. Missed chance.
The film is very CGI heavy and me being the person I am instantly thought it was going to ruin the film. Usually, and let us be honest, we all think, the more CG effects, the less story there will be thus a poorer movie. The CGI in the movie is actually pretty impressive and Fortunately, although the story isn't deep it is there. Cocky young pilot learns to overcome and accept Fear by becoming part of something greater than himself and with the help of loved ones.
It does Sometimes feel that the film is set in motion without enough reason as to why but it is definitely not storyless, maybe story-lite and that ladies and gents is FINE.
We cannot forget that the purpose of this film, is to introduce the character. To introduce the Green Lanterns and what they do and to build a movie around that. Yes, Green Lantern fans will love the movie, probably whatever kind is made, but to see more of your fave character on film, there needs to be an access to a broader audience. I believe this should've been called Green Lantern Part One. For it does exactly what is needed for the character- it establishes origin, the starting point. The next movie and yes hopefully there will be another will have no origin story to clear up. Ryan reynolds, Hal Jordan, will be who he is from the start and we can get on with adventure and deeper story.
As I have aready mentioned, the overall cast is great but the voice actors are particularly good. Geoffrey Rush and Michael Clarke Duncan to name two give enough life to totally cgi characters that you can accept them. The CGI is great. Reynolds becomes a leading man. Mark Strong steals all the scenes he is in.
I've never felt comfortable critique-ing music. However the huge let down of this film was the lack of a good score, it was woeful. When you watch a film you forget that the music helps you feel a certain way at certain times. No music in this film, made me react in anyway, it did not help me feel anything towards ANY characters nor did it add anything to the events on screen such as when the Big Bad starts destroying the world, nothing, nada, zip, Duck's Egg. Woeful. No excuse for it.
The film was decent. It was enjoyable. It was NOT a bad film, nor the worst Comicbookmovie, it just wasn't near the best by a long way. As a non-Green Lantern fan, I can honestly say the movie has helped me become one, i think the market has just been saturated with CBM's that critics needed to give one a kicking.
I feel the second movie, will have a stronger performance by Reynolds, the mantle of Hal Jordan shall sit easier next time around. There will hopefully be a deeper story (for story is the key to novels, to comics and to movies) which will envoke feelings for the viewer towards certain characters and the score will definitely be better and will help the film immensely.
Aside from the cast there is really nothing great about this film, hence why 5/10 is fair in my opinion.
I hope this hastily written review (im only a couple of hours out of the cinema after seeing the film) has helped people to either go or not to go and see the movie. I am not trying to write for a specific crowd or to preach about this film compared to etc or dc vs marvel people. I literally just want to give undecided cinema-goers the info they need to make their own decision. I hope I helped.