– Movie Review by D. Noble

Let me start by saying “I was wrong”. Green Lantern was not the disaster I was expecting walking into theater. was Don’t get me wrong, the script was very thin, the CGI looked pretty bad at times and the 3D conversion was lacking but even with all that I enjoyed myself. I guess you can chalk that up to the power of lowered expectations. I will say that this movie is not half as bad as the reviews will probably paint it because the “Critics” have been looking for something to tear down all summer, this is a good but flawed offering by DC Comics.

I kept thinking “I could buy this” watching Ryan Reynolds play Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan in the comics was a brass, arrogant showboat pilot who was a hit with ladies and had a slick tongue. Ryan Reynolds plays that role in his sleep and in every other movie I’ve seen him in besides “Buried”.  While I believe Bradley Cooper would have nailed it, Reynolds fit well with that cast and the world they created, so it was no stretch to believe his on screen performance. Reynolds being able to bring some amount of depth to the character was what surprised me the most, normally his attempts at drama can be laughable. I have to admit he was a good choice and I think they could have given him a few more lines or scenes to establish himself or explain his personal issues since they played such a role in the film regarding his motivations. I think they skimmed those parts too quickly.

The Green Lantern core and Oa was done well, I really had no complaints about them. I shudder to think what it was they were “going” to put out before the public ripped them for the earlier CGI stills. The space fights, the ability of the ring to produce manifest Reynold’s thoughts was well done, even though at times the animation looked cheesy. Mark Strong was perfect as Sinestro for the limited screen time he had. Every time you saw him you wished for a sequel just to see him become the villain we know from the comics. The rest of the characters were pretty standard and could have been interchanged. Reynold best friend, girlfriend were all decent but didn’t really draw attention when on screen.

The villians were my main issue, I thought the actor who played Hector Hammond was good and I wanted to see more of him and Lantern square off.  I was very disappointed in the main villian “Paralax” who was a freakin “weed cloud” that looked like something out of “The Mummy” trilogy from back in the day. I really thought they squandered that opportunity to use him and Dr.Hammond in a more creative way being that they had similar powers.

Was this the next Dark Knight, No. Was it better than X-Men: First Class, No. Was it better than Thor, No; but it was very close in my opinion because I thought Thor suffered from some of the same flaws. The movie feels rushed at points, slow at others and really could have been bout 20 minutes longer.

With that said, I think you will enjoy this movie a lot if you don’t go into it expecting The Dark Knight. While a serviceable entry, DC is going to have to do alot better to catch up to Marvel and I hope Green Lantern makes a killing in its first and second weeks because once Transformers 3 drops it’s gonna have the box office on smash.

I give it: 

4 out of 5 TV’s