THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
With the superhero genre being the consistent, it’s common for it to have missteps. If you were to ask me what’s the worst of the worst, my go to answer would likely be DC’s Green Lantern.
PLOT
The film follows a universe where billions of years prior, a group of extraterrestrials known as the Guardians of the Universe created the law enforcement agency known as the Green Lantern Corps, where those who earn power rings based on their will and fearlessness. With the universe divided in 3,600 sectors, at least one Green Lantern protects one sector. In the story’s present, a malevolent being that was once a guardian, now known as Parallax (Clancy Brown) has escaped from imprisonment and immediately makes it presence known, feeding on fear to gain strength. It quickly attacks a GL known as Abin Sur (Temeura Morrison) and due to the given wound, he crash lands on Earth for his ring to have a new successor. On the said planet, it chooses Hal Jordan, a test pilot of Ferris Aircraft. When the ring chooses him, it transports him to Abin Sur’s crash site, who tells him to take ring and its lantern, and speak the oath as his dying request; ‘In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil’s might, Beware my power, Green Lantern’s light’. Once he speaks the said oath, he is transported to planet Oa, home of the GL Corps. There, he meets other aliens that protect other sectors, the Xudarian Tomar Re, the Bolovaxian Kilowog and corps leader Thaal Sinestro. He does train with them, but the latter quickly sees him unfit, making him quickly return to Earth, not feeling confident to live up to the expectations as a protector. Back on Earth, scientist Hector Hammond is summoned by his father, Senator Robert (Tim Robbins) to perform a secretive autopsy on the body of Abin Sur that was found. He is watched by Doctor Amanda Waller (Angela Bassett) and during his time, a piece of Parallax inside the corpse enters him, granting him grants telepathic & telekinetic powers at the cost of his sanity. When he discovers that he was only handpicked due to his father’s influence and not for his natural skills, he tends to have him killed during a public party. But due to Hal being in attendance, he delays that from happening by saving him with his powers. However, his childhood crush Carol Ferris recognizes him before he even tells her his secret. After he tells her and his other friend Thomas Kalmaku (Taika Waititi) of his new burden, Hector succeeds in second attempt to kill his father, who tried to kill him first after discovering his exposure. And when Hal protects Waller from him, he discovers of Parallax for the first time. When he shares this with his friends, he admits that he does not feel capable of defeating it because he feels more afraid than ever. When he visits Oa, they intend to use a yellow ring of fear to even the odds, as insisted by Sinestro. But he points out that there is no return from being corrupted by fear. He does request for help to protect Earth and while they agree to not use the new ring, they reject his plea for backup. Once he returns to Earth, Hector holds Carol captive and demands the green ring in exchange. It backfires for the scientist as he was not chosen to yield it. When Parallax arrives, he consumes his life force to wreak havoc. However, Hal is able to lure it away and defeat it by directing it towards the Sun, which disintegrates it. When he loses consciousness afterwards, he is saved by Sinestro who later congratulates him for his bravery, as well as the rest of the corps. While Hal continues to be a new protector of the sector Abin Sur once protected, the film ends in an anticlimactic mid credits scene, showing Sinestro try the yellow ring for himself.
THOUGHTS
As a kid, I was really excited to see a new superhero from DC Comics to be seen in the big screen. So you can probably imagine how disappointed I was when I got the chance to see this one during the year of its release. All of the potential is align and they miss almost every possible chance to make it a hit. There is so much lore of this CB series and due to lack of capitalizing to explore it, their decision to hold back doesn’t make it as entertaining as it should be. The basics didn’t feel enough to be invested, which created the feeling that creativity was lacked. Sadly, since the 21st century of Hollywood relies on visual effects so excessively, I am shook on how much of a mixed bag it was here. While the landscape of Oa looked neat and the supporting cast of GL corps members look realistic enough, I wasn’t intimidated of Parallax, and Hal’s suit didn’t look good on him, not even his own mask. It’s disappointing that they only chose to remain practical when it came to doing makeup for Hector. I do respect the theme of how fear is a normal thing that can be overcome and that the right choices are not always popular, the story feels so bland, I start caring less by the time I get it and there were too many moments that irritate me so bad. Like for instance, it was smart for Abin Sur to bury Parallax in an area he thought was private in his sector, but why didn’t he bury him any further by blocking him up with extra rocks? If that had happened, the aliens that came near the prison likely would’ve not spotted him. There is massive flaw for the power rings since they are supposed to detect fear, yet it never does when Parallax is near. Or when Hal gets jumped outside the bar. I know you want to surprise the audience with some kind of jump scare, but you shouldn’t go back on it’s rules. And why did it take so long for someone to confiscate Abin Sur’s body, until after Hal takes the ring and lantern? Crash landings like that should be on the news because those situations aren’t quiet. I’m even distraught that Hal touches Abin Sur’s wound and does not become infected like Hector does later on. All of that is pretty stupid compared to how the choppers didn’t chase down him and Thomas. I don’t want to criticize Carol’s intelligence, but how did she not question the ring Hal was wearing when they went out to a bar? Even a drunk customer would’ve noticed that. You know I hate continuity errors, so I left baffled that before Hal left his apartment, the lantern was on the table, only for it to not be there when he gets back. If it has a conscience like the ring, that should be clear. I don’t always pick on props or production design, but I gotta admit that there were way too many Rubik’s cubes in the bedroom of Hal’s nephew. No one needs more than one. And why was Hal’s apartment so orange? I couldn’t even notice the green because there was so much orange all around it. I was even tripped out that one of the students didn’t react when her classmate gets thrown in front of class by magic. I know some extras don’t put effort because they don’t expect to make the cut, but she should’ve tried to be somewhat surprised. The reason why Parallax doesn’t scare me because he takes out two planets and has Hector try to kill Hal for seeing him as a threat. I don’t think you should find anyone a threat if you can destroy planets. And am I the only one wondering if NASA noticed him coming? It would’ve been cool to see them prevent him entering the atmosphere. It only gets so worse when even the cast is a mixed bag, when they should all be evenly good with what’s given. I really want to enjoy Ryan Reynolds as Hal since his given charm usually works with the roles he has played in between, but it doesn’t really work here. I want to feel the character’s willfulness, but instead, it is so rushed when seeing him go from afraid to courageous. I’m glad that he had good chemistry with Blake Lively, as it led to a future marriage between them, but I don’t feel a connection between Hal and Carol at all. I don’t understand exactly why they fall for each other, which made their kiss in the end undeserving. And even she feels undeveloped because we don’t get a full understanding of her perspective, as she is a fellow test pilot who is entering corporate world thanks to her father taking her under his wing. I want to get interested in that, but it’s like the writers forget to make it a big deal after bringing it up. I regularly enjoy Peter Saragard as well, but he was absolute cringe as Hector Hammond. Even I had a hard time grasping that his feeling of isolation only made it easy to express psychotic tendencies. And I wasn’t the least bit intimidated whenever he screamed in agony, as it only made him look weak, rather than tougher. The only actors that still provide solid performances in this dumpster fire are those who play members of the GL Corps. From the voices alone, Geoffrey Rush does a good reflecting playing Tomar Re as compassionate, as does Michael Clarke Duncan playing Kilowog as gritty. However, the real scene stealer goes to Mark Strong. Throughout his given screen time, he accurately portrays him as a systematic figure who believes fear is stronger than will. He takes the yellow ring because he tired of holding back from his full strength and doesn’t care of the repercussions. Had the rest of this been good and the sequel were to be greenlit, you bet your ass it would’ve been a cool rivalry to see between him and Hal. For now, their training sequence is cool enough. To get this over with, Director Martin Campbell fails to make a deserving masterpiece of an iconic superhero and instead makes a hot mess of a film. If you really enjoyed this character from the prior material and animated content, avoid this film at all costs. But if you love the character that much, then I wish you good luck. If you did see this movie and were as disappointed as I was, cheer yourself up by watching Deadpool, a much better film than this.
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