Early Wednesday, the first reviews for Martin Campbell's "Green Lantern" started to pour in on the Internet and reviews were horrible, to say the least. Critics everywhere were blindsiding the superhero flick from every side, ranging from problems to story, actors, and effects. I must respectfully disagree with all the critics laying harsh words about Green Lantern.
Like everyone else and all the critics, I first saw Green Lantern Thursday night/Friday morning at the midnight show. As with Thor, Green Lantern was only showing in 3D for the midnight showing, so everyone was forced to wear those glasses to watch a movie that WASN'T EVEN SHOT IN 3D. This is where I think the problem is arising!! The movie was dark, blurry, and just did not look good at all. I walked out of the theater very disappointed and was left feeling a bit cheated.
However, I went and saw it in regular 2D this afternoon and was blown away. I am going to separate this review into 3 parts: Story/writing, acting, and special effects.
It was announced a few weeks ago that Green Lantern's runtime would only be 1 hour and 53 minutes. This made me nervous, as I had a difficult time believing that they could cover the entire origin story of Green Lantern in that time. Now, I'm sure at this point, everyone reading this review is probably saying, "This guy has a huge DC Comics biased! Of course he's gonna say the story was good." Not entirely true. Much like Thor and other cbm's before it, the story in Green Lantern was no doubt rushed. It would have been great to have seen more time on Oa or more time with Hal interacting with the other Lanterns. However, what I think everyone seems to forget is that this is Hal's story. NOT the GL Corp's. Fact of the matter is, each of the Lanterns has an unbiased disliking towards Hal anyway because he inherited Abin Sur's ring and they see humans as the lowest form of sentient life. Had they spent more time with Hal interacting with other Lanterns, such as Kilowog, Tomar-Re, Sinestro, Boodika, Stel, etc... it probably would have been really nice for the comic geeks. But think about this: Green Lantern is entirely new to most of the world right now. They're having a hard enough time understanding and keeping track of Oa, the Guardians, the Corps, the fact there's 3600 sectors, the ring's powered by will, the central power battery, Parallax, Hector Hammond, Carol Ferris, Ferris Air, Hal's father's death, etc... There is just so much in his origin that I can completely understand and even appreciate how much time is spent on Earth.
One of the best lines in the movie, to me, was when Hal says, "I'm only human. Hell, up until yesterday, we thought we were alone in the universe!" If they had just kept Hal on Oa or sent him off to Ryut or some other alien world, it wouldn't have felt like this was based in any sort of reality. Earth was a HUGE part of this story and the story needed to be told on Earth so that Hal can completely come to terms with what his duty is and why he was chosen. Yes, the story had some kinks, but overall I thought it was great. It was very true to the Green Lantern comics and progressed fairly nicely, but was a bit rushed.
One of the most important things to remember with Hal Jordan/Green Lantern is that he IS NOT without fear, but he is chosen because of his ability to overcome fear. Throughout most of the movie, Hal is portrayed as an egotistical, vain man who gets anxious or aggitated whenever he is confronted with his fears. He often walks away from things to avoid his fears. In my opinion, Ryan Reynolds did this perfectly. He had the quick, witty banter of Hal Jordan. Mixed with the egotistical bravado and the swagger that comes along with the character. He did a GREAT job in my opinion and he was Hal Jordan!
Mark Strong did a fantastic job as Sinestro. He nailed the role. He portrays him as a very militaristic member of the Corps, saying, "The Corps is only as strong as its weakest link, and I will tolerate NO weak links." He's very serious and has a certain sense of mystery, which I thought was great. Everything from his contempt for the Guardians to his looking down on other Lanterns was conveyed beautifully. I also that that his training sequence with Hal on Oa was fantastic. If anything, I wish that Hal and Sinestro had had more scenes together because, like Prof X and Magneto, Hal and Sinestro were pretty good friends before Sinestro was stripped of his ring and banished from the Corps.
Peter Sarsgaard did an excellent job as Hector Hammond. In the comics, Hammond is portrayed as a prick who think's he's God's gift to the world, but no one really likes him. In this movie, it's a little bit different and better. Hector is this geeky, creepy kind of nerd who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and is seduced with his new found powers. He's so fantastically creepy and watching his transformation throughout the movie is so much fun to watch.
Blake Lively was probably the weakest link in the cast. While she definately looked the part of Carol Ferris and had some great scenes, there were some parts where she could have been a little bit better. Overall, I think she did a decent job as Carol. She definately made for a great love interest for Hal.
The special effects were phenominal. The suit looked fantastic and worked really well with what they wanted to do for the movie. As did all the other alien Green Lanterns and their suit. They were beautifully animated. I especially loved how Tomar-Re and Kilowog looked. They were spot on for a realistic rendering from the comics. The constructs were also very well done. I thought that each one was well chosen and didn't make anything too over the top. The final fight scene with Parallax was probably my favorite out of all the visual effects: Between the springs and gattling gun constructs to Hal flying though the asteroid fields and finally escaping the gravity of the sun, the final fight not only showed great special effects, but showed a real struggle and challenge for the hero.
Overall, I think Green Lantern was great. It stays VERY true to Geoff John's "Green Lantern: Secret Origin". The camera work and directing is beautiful and the acting is really great. I really, really suggest seeing Green Lantern and judging for yourself. When you do see it, see it in 2D!!!! Trust me when I say you won't be disappointed. My friend, who is a die hard Marvel fan and LOVED Thor, walked out of Green Lantern 2D today and admitted that he not only loved the movie Green Lantern and was now a fan, but that it was in fact BETTER than Thor! Just pay attention to the story and you'll appreciate how good the movie is. DON'T go into the theater with all these preconcieved notions and opinions based on what Critics said. Judge for yourself and enjoy the show!!!