Green Lantern looked interesting from the moment I saw the first trailer. After seeing recent TV spots and trailer my excitement mounted even higher. Then I read some of the reviews. The movie was supposed be awful, to be a terrible movie that made no sense and relied heavily on CGI. Last night, I finally got to see Green Lantern. It was stupid.
But it was stupid in a good way. It wasn't too complex, or boring, and it didn't over explain everything. It was good, mindless fun, like Iron Man 2, or Transformers. But sadly, the movie still suffers from it's fair share of flaws, chief of which is the CG effects. They looked like they were unfinished, as though they had been rushed through production too fast (this may be the case, I don't know). I nearly laughed when I saw bobble-headed Parallax for the first time, and don't even get me started on the terrible flying sequence on Oa. On the bright side, Oa looks fantastic. It's just amazing to look at this world that has been created, but we aren't given any time to explore it. The ring constructs were perfect, though, but maybe this was simply because they didn't require as much work as full on CG characters.
On to the acting. Ryan Reynolds is great as Hal Jordan. I was slightly worried when I saw him firing off one-liners in the trailer, but thankfully that's only for about twenty-five percent of the movie. For the rest of it, Reynolds IS Hal Jordan. Angela Basset is okay as Amanda Waller, but the character is really only in the movie for about fifteen minutes, so there's nothing particularly bad or good about her performance. Mark Strong is spectacular as Sinestro. He perfectly captures the essence of the character from the comics. At the end of the movie, the character does have an abrupt personality change, which makes no sense when compared to the after credits scene. Geoffrey Rush is good as both Tomar-Re and the slightly unnecessary Narrator, although his time as both is rather short. Michael Clarke Duncan is hilarious as Kilowog. The moment I heard he was going to be playing the character, I knew that Warner Brothers had found the right man for job, and I was right! Duncan brings the character right off the page, and also got the most laughs in the movie. On the other hand, you have Peter Sarsgaad as Hector Hammond, and Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, who are easily the worst performers in the movie. Sarsgaad's Hector Hammond, is stupid and unnecessarily over the top, as well as the fact that the only real role he serves in the plot is to bring Parallax to Earth. and Lively's Carol Ferris just to hard to be the traditional damsel in distress, but also be a capable character. So despite two horrid performances, most actor in Green Lantern do a good job.
The script had major problems. It can be funny, it can be good, but a lot of the time it just comes as cliched and campy. I felt like I was watching a 90's action flick at times! But other than the aforementioned problems, the script was just your standard movie script.
So all in all, Green Lantern is an enjoyable movie. It's stupid, it's cliched, but that's all part of what made it fun. So if you're a comic fan, or just in the mood for mindless fun, Green Lantern is the movie for you!
5/10