Green Lantern: Green does not mean go

Green Lantern is the type of bad movie making that should be stopped. Over-produced and over-hyped this film was obviously gunning for a franchise. Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is an arrogant test pilot that we're suppose to sympathize with because his daddy was blown up in an experimental plane. But instead of empathy as the viewer I felt ambivalence. He was rich, had a gorgeous girlfriend (Blake Lively) and killer abs. When Jordan rescues a dying alien who is a member of the Green Lantern Corps (basically cosmic cops in spandex) he is given the dying aliens ring of power. To forever become a defender of the universe. The ring's/ lantern's energy is powered by the will of all living beings. Jordan is taken to Oa the home planet of the Guardians (little men who look a lot like blue versions of the swelled-headed vein-popping telekinetic aliens from that Star Trek episode entitled The Menagerie.) We're tricked into believing Jordan is angst ridden and frightened and that this ring will find something in him that he didn't know he had.

Reynolds' jovial nature made the movie mildly watchable but Lively is given basically a paper doll thin character by the 5 writers (you know when that many names are credited it's going to be a bad script.) The story jumped from sci-fi wizardry to forced and fake moments of tenderness. There was no clear direction either and a set of bad guys so week and tired they made Casanova Frankenstein (Mystery Men) seem scary. The only real threat was this giant amorphous skull-creature-thingy named Parallax (a rouge Guardian turned baddie) that Green Lantern suckered into flying into the sun. Really? An immortal entity that can consume planets is going to let Ryan Reynolds lead it to burn itself up in the corona of the sun. Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Homicide: Life on the Streets) brought no edge or sex appeal as the director of this cumbersome mess. Green Lantern had neither the gravitas and exuberance of Sam Raimi's first two Spider-Mans nor the cunning and tension of Christopher Nolan's Batman reboots. The heavy hitting support players (Tim Robbins, Mark Strong, Peter Sarsgaard and Angela Basset) were wasted on dumb dialogue and callow back stories. Green Lantern was always a second string character in the DC comic universe and it pains me to see this guy get a big budget movie and I'm still waiting on a good Wonder Woman. The bottom line is that this movie should have never received a green light.