Green Lantern

I like comic books and as you have possibly deduced I am also keen on film, and so their confluence is of particular interest. Unfortunately we have passed through the era in which Hollywood would approach such things gingerly. Comics have long had a reputation amongst those who have never read one as a medium exclusively for the young, and seemingly in order to counteract this fiction for a time comic book based movies where approached in a decidedly adult manner. Talent was required before it would move it's metaphorical feet, the premise alone presumably not being considered enough of a draw for success. Today, however they have truly entered the mainstream and are seen as ideal targets for haphazard CGI burdened blockbuster fodder. While there is potential still lurking within their darker recesses, it's only a matter of time before the reputation of the comic book hero is critically maligned. As Green Lantern sets out to prove, it may already be too late.

If one were to sit back, relax and disengage the parts of your brain that are used for conscious thought, I think you'd find a straightforward, functional cartoon of a movie. Everything is clearly laid out in simple terms, and often repeated for the hard of comprehension. Fear, it tells us, is bad. Courage, it goes on to say, is good. It then fills the rest of it's time with green computer graphics it feels the need to continually remind us are cool, amorphous baddies and Ryan Reynolds wisecracking his way through some rebel cliches within his slightly confused character.

There's an old storytelling adage that goes: show, don't tell, and while it's not always true that the former is strictly superior there's a reason the statement exists, and it's for films such as this. Along with continually insisting it's cool, it has characters come right out and say things like "Isn't it ironic that you're being given responsibility when you're so irresponsible?", when the only real evidence it feels like presenting is a single case of oversleeping. Whao there, wouldn't want to trouble the viewer into coming to their own conclusions. Why not skip the whole movie business and have someone famous insist that we're not wasting ninety precious minutes of our life?

Green Lantern has bucked the usual trend of adding an extra villain with each iteration and gone straight for the dodgy sequel trick of presenting two. A brave choice alongside the hero's own introduction, but not to worry, they've just made them incredibly thin. Parallax is an angry cloud who breaks stuff just 'cus, not the most potent of antagonists. The other Lanterns can't bring it down because they literally feel no fear as opposed to figuratively. It's a confused message (and somehow the films main theme. I personally thought Jordan's major trait was not just freaking out at the sight of aliens) but remember, don't think, you'll pull something. The other guy, Hector Hammond is a creepy chap with daddy issues who develops telekinesis and is far more interesting than Hal, but only gets a couple of minutes as he's only really here for a short fight scene in which their two immaterial powers interact for a bit.

With all the depth of a warm cheese slice, it's a lazy simplistic film that actively seeks banality. Beyond the trappings of the ring there's nothing here you haven't seen several times before. It's a film that knows there's a definite formula for it's sub genre and is working it like a champ. Inoffensive beyond insulting your intellect, but entirely insubstantial.