Green Lantern Review

The Daily Complainer loves movies. Since I was a kid i have been fascinated by first the bright colors of a Disney animated film. As I have gotten older I have come to see movies differently. That being said it really does take a lot to impress me so when I say that I like a movie or that it was a great movie you know that i really mean it. That being said we move on to Warner Bros. summer comic book answer to Thor and Captain America, Green Lantern, based off the comic book of the same name.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!

This movie starts with an introduction of a brief history of the Guardians of the Universe and Parallax. Parallax for you not into comic books is meant to embody fear. It then mentions Abin Sur defeating and trapping Parallax which is undone in 30 seconds after a few explorers are devoured by Parallax and then attacks Abin Sur causing him to go and find a replacement due to his fatal injury. Although just barely shown this scene is really just to get the plot in motion, I compare it to the dialogue between Luke and Obi-wan in the first Star Wars when discussing the fall of Anakin. Thus we are introduced to Hal Jordan as portrayed by Ryan Reynolds, who is a big bright spot in this movie, a bright green light if you will. Hal a test pilot for Ferris Aircraft's which is where we are also introduced to our love interest for the movie Carol Ferris played by the lovely Blake Lively.

This review will be broken down as such:
Plot
Dialogue
Characters
Setting
Overall

Plot- 5/10
The Plot while not horrible suffers from the fact that this movie was written as a comic book and not a movie but I will get into that when we talk Dialogue. The basic premise of this movie is about overcoming fear, much like another Warner Bros. DC movie Batman Begins. This is painted with the help of Parallax which is meant to symbolize fear. Our main character Hal Jordan's attempt to overcome fear due to the fact that he has the image of his dad dying stuck in his head. This wasn't done subtly either everything in this movie is very overt. At every chance they get they always mention that fear is the enemy of will, it drives what the lanterns do, also when Hal confronts the Guardians he tells then that what they fear is admitting that they are afraid. Also when Hector Hammond and Hal Jordan face off Hector states that he has embraced his fear. Overall the plot suffers from too many things going on and nothing being too developed.

Dialogue: 4/10 
As much as I hate to admit it the dialogue in this movie is terrible. This isn't what you would expect in a Hollywood film, but a comic book. Before you say its a comic book movie that's the key word movie. Having a very charming Ryan Reynolds say some of these lines do make up for it but sadly much like the plot everything is very overt there is no subtly in this movie. You need subtly make a movie work no one wants to just be told everything they want to be able to think it over and form there own opinions, at least that's what i like.

Characters/Actors: 8/10
The saving grace for this film is the casting and the characters they portray. Ryan Reynolds was the last person I would have picked to play Hal Jordan. When I heard he was going to play the greatest Lantern of all time I shuttered. However watching him on screen I saw Hal Jordan not that Ryan Reynolds disappeared into this character he just was Hal Jordan. Blake Lively plays the standard love interest with a slight twist. She is a strict boss that clearly cares for Hal but understands that he is clearly living with fear. Also watching her save Hal was a great twist on the damsil in distress. Carol Ferris also while being a love interest also kinda serves as best friend as well, by that I mean she helps the hero realize that its not being fearless its overcoming fear by facing it. Hector Hammond goofy looking, in my theater everyone laughed when they saw him. He was never really developed and it would have served better if the movie was more focused on differences between Hector and Hal. Also he really didn't need to be in this movie, they would have served better if it was about Hal vs. Parallax if you really want to make this movie about fear.
Minor characters like Kilowag and Sinestro are done really well, really putting into are heads that Hal has a long way to go and making him doubt his abilities.

Setting: 9/10
Beautifully done is the settings for Oa, and while I have my issues with CGI its not going anywhere so we must learn to take it. Along with the settings is the fact that the Green Lantern costume is adapted to whoever is where it. Also the different life forms are shown to really be different from each other.

Overall: 6/10