Green Lantern

I was so looking forward to this film coming out, purely so I would no longer have to sit through the frikken trailer that has been at the beginning of almost every film I have seen in the past few months. The last time that happened was with that horrid film Knight and Day. Have we learnt nothing from that mess?
End of rant... until next time.

Originally published by DC Comics, the film adaptation of Green Lantern was directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) and written by a whole bunch of people that have screenplay/screenstory/partridge-in-a-pear-tree credits including Greg Berlanti (No Ordinary Family), Michael Green (Heroes), Marc Guggenheim (Flash Forward), and Michael Goldenberg (Contact). Did you notice a pattern there? All three of those TV shows have been cancelled...

Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds - Buried) is a fighter pilot who has a way with the ladies. One lady he had his way with was fellow pilot Carol Ferris (Blake Lively - The Town), but that was a little while ago.

One night, Hal is abducted by a green ball of light and taken to the crash site of a strange, violet alien, Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison - Once Were Warriors). Abin tells Hal that the green light chose him to carry on the legacy of the Green Lanterns - a group of green-skin-tight-suit-wearing super-cops who patrol the Universe looking for baddies. Hal inherits Abin's green ring and lantern.

After a visit to planet Oa, Hal learns more about the Green Lanterns from Sinestro (Mark Strong - Kick Ass). Sinestro is a grave reminder of why we should apply and then keep reapplying sun cream. It turns out that green is the colour of Will. That is a good thing. There's a cranky tentacled smoke cloud called Paralax (kinda like the Great Evil thing in The Fifth Element) who likes to invoke fear (which is yellow) (clash!) in people and then sucks it out of them. No carbs!

Back on earth, nepotism is rife as scientist Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard - An Education) is given the job to dissect Abin Sur's body by his father/senator (Tim Robbins - City of Ember). Mid-dissection, Hector is infected with remnants of what killed Abin Sur. Hector transforms and turns into the bad guy who isn't quite as bad as the bigger bad guy, but still bad enough to piss off a lot of people.

I didn't see this in 3D, I only had a voucher for normal-D, so I guess not having to pay for this film may slightly skew my review. Slightly. I kinda wish I did see it in 3D, Hal's suit, which was all CGI, was lovely and shiny and I'm sure it would have been even more so in 3D. Though he did suffer a few bouts of 'floating head-itis' in a few scenes. The special effects were well done, I loved all the things at the end that Hal used to fight off Paralax. Paralax was pretty darn cool looking too, like a Death Eater on steroids.

I don't know why Peter Sarsgaard was in this film, it seemed to be below him. Tim Robbins is always nice to see, but again, he was really under used here. Lively, who shined in The Town, does a good job here with what she has been given, which, really, isn't all that much. Same too for Reynolds, a great guy but not so great material. There were a few good one-liners but when one compares, as one must, to the likes of the recent Marvel films, Green Lantern falls flat. Sorry, DC. Though I am totes excited about the new Batman flick : D

Stay till after the credits, there's a quick sequence that opens the door to a sequel... whether anyone will open that door or not remains to be seen.

Things I learnt: a small mask that barely covers your face WILL NOT, I REPEAT, WILL NOT hide your identity; with great power comes great electricity bills; if the secret government lab you work in is as big as an aircraft hangar, get out!
Batteries not included.
Six out of ten.