With 'Mr Charisma' Ryan Reynolds in the role of Hal Jordan supported by Gossip Girl's Blake Lively on paper the green hero didn't really have much going for it, with more of a teen drama look about it. But if there was one man to bring the Lantern to screen it was Martin Campbell, the man who brought to screen possibly one of Bond's greatest outings. Unfortunately this was far from the case.
The film opens with a somewhat convoluted world of characters explained in a little less than a few minutes, where we are introduced to the planet Oa, home planet of the Green Lantern Corps. The Corps contain an individual from each sector of the universe who have the responsibility of retaining peace and order. Some time ago, one of the Green Lanterns, Abin Sur, defeated a fearsome enemy known as Parallax and imprisoned him, only for the bringer of fear to escape in present day and fatally wound the Lanterns' most influential protector.
Abin Sur, close to death, crash lands his ship on Earth and is soon found by irresponsible test pilot Hal Jordan. It soon becomes apparent that the ring that all Green Lanterns wear has chosen the first ever human to join the Corps after Abin Sur passes away. Jordan is then transported by the ring to Oa where he experiences the world of the Green Lanterns and becomes acquainted with some of the warriors from other galaxies including Tomar-Re (voiced by Geoffrey Rush) and Kilowog (voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan). Finally he meets the leader Sinestro (Mark Strong), who opposes the idea of a human as a Lantern.
After the news of Parallax's escape is confirmed by Sinestro, a galaxy-wide search begins for the evil fear-bringer. Meanwhile on Earth, an autopsy of Abin Sur's body by Dr Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) unleashes an evil, with a sample of Parallax's DNA from the body of the hero transferring to the doctor. This evolves constantly inside Hammond and eventually he gains powers of mind control, fuelled by the fear-inducing DNA inside him.
Hal is soon summoned into action by this evolution in Hammond and is forced to protect the woman he loves, Carol Ferris and the people around him before the bigger threat of Parallax arrives on Earth, hell-bent on ridding the galaxy of the planet. His time to prove himself as a Green Lantern arrives.
After viewing various trailers for this superhero romp the expectation levels were not high at all and following the viewing of this film nothing changed. It is fair to say that Campbell has created nothing more than an average film, with few positive points to surface. Granted, the CGI used can look impressive at times but is immensely over-used and it is almost as if Campbell is trying to stick two fingers up at Branagh's Asgard, albeit greatly underwhelming compared to the Marvel option.
Reynolds is in usual lead character form, with humour ruling over all else and his jokes soon grow tiresome, the pick of the worst being a reference to Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear. Equally, if not more disappointing is Lively as love interest Carol Ferris, wooden, uninteresting and easily spared, Lively does not command her scenes whatsoever and is an unnecessary distraction.
One outstanding performance does shine though, and that is from the hugely underrated Peter Sarsgaard, who portrays the unwanted Hector Hammond pristinely as a tormented soul under the influence of evil. Despite Sarsgaard's stellar performance, Lantern's villain duo is weak and hardly threatens our main hero with much oomph.
DC comics foray into new territory for viewers is a welcome change but unfortunately such a complex universe as Green Lantern's required much more explanation and depth. Reynolds and Lively are far from perfect in the lead roles and a pitiful villain all contribute to what is just another below-par superhero film.
Film rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Closing comments: Green Lantern is easily forgettable amongst many far superior superhero outings on the big screen. Ryan Reynolds should have stuck with Marvel and focused solely on adapting Deadpool.
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