Green Lantern Review
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 
Negativity began to swirl around Green Lantern earlier today as the reviews found their way online. I usually don't pay attention to what critic's have to say on any film because a movie should be judged with a person's own opinion. Worry began to set in my mind as each review seemed to have nothing but bad things to say about this character that I love so much.
Leading up to the film, my expectations were high and they lowered considerably after all the comments on what a terrible movie this turned out to be. I'm glad that whatever those people saw, I missed out on. This was one of the most fun experiences watching a film in the theatre for me.
My viewing of Green Lantern was supposed to be in the regular 2D format but right before the screen came on it was announced that the wrong film was sent and we would be getting the 3D version. This movie was post-converted into 3D and that usually spells doom. I can gladly say that Green Lantern boasted bright colors and extraordinary depth which was a welcomed surprise to all the murky, dark conversions that generally plague cinemas. Now onto the movie.
It started off with an introduction of the Green Lantern universe which was basically the same thing that was shown in the 3D trailer. After that, the action began and never slowed down from the opening sequence. There were plenty of strong points to this film; Reynolds as Hal, Lively as Carol, Strong as Sinestro, and enough action to keep most fans pleased. I found the humor to be more witty than comedic. A lot of speculation leading into the movie was that Ryan Reynolds would just be playing himself in the role but in my opinion he toned down his usual schtick and gave a performance of great wit. He took the serious face when the situation called for it, and made me enjoy Hal Jordan more than I ever have when reading the Green Lantern series. Reynolds brought such a strong personality to the character who was every bit of the word "cocky" and found a way to be charming through it all.
Blake Lively as Carol Ferris has one of the strongest female performances in any comic related film yet. There is believability to her possibly running Ferris Air when she puts Hal in his place more than once. The chemistry between Lively and Reynolds is another positive to this film. It honestly feels like these two have known each other since age seven and you can sense the tension after all the years and the love they have in the intimate moments. Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond was hit and miss for me. At times he came off as creepy and scary then he would turn out a bit of ham with a very comical villain routine. He certainly nailed the extremely awkward personality before he made the turn into the oversized cranium braniac.
Warner Bros. spent a lot of extra money when fans caused an uproar about the shoddy CGI work in the first trailer. As far as I'm concerned that was money well spent. From the general landscape of Oa to the character renderings of Tomar-Re and Kilowog this movie looks fantastic. The opening sequence with Abin Sur looks fantastic and really causes a strong sense of urgency for what lies ahead. Tomar-Re is probably the finest bit of all the CGI in the movie. His movements and general details to his body are outstanding. I had a few concerns with the look of Kilowog when I watched that footage with Michael Clarke Duncan on G4 but there are no complaints after seeing the finished product. The constructs played out even better than I imagined they would as well, very creative!
Now that I've praised the movie for a bit I'll bring you to what I thought were the problems. Mark Strong as Sinestro. No, not his performance because that is possibly the highest point of the movie for me. He's commanding of your attention every moment he makes an appearance on screen. The downside is that he isn't on quite enough. Which is my biggest gripe with the entire film. It's a bit of a contradiction here that the movie is on such a fast pace and is action packed from beginning to end but it also causes moments to be rushed, feeling like we just didn't get enough time for things to develop properly. As soon as I really get invested into a scene they cut away from it leaving me wishing it was longer. We see very little of Tomar-Re, Killowog, Sinestro. The other members of the Corps which are pretty much "blink and you miss it" appearances. Most scenes in the film happen so fast and cut away with little explanation that it leaves the viewer to sort of fill in the blanks of what went down between scenes.
Even with that little bump of the film feeling rushed at times, it doesn't bring down the overall experience I had while watching it. In an odd way I am left wanting more, in a positive light, that I hope a potential sequel fills my appetite for what I received with this first installment. My review obviously doesn't agree with a majority of what the other critic's had to say but it's my honest opinion after this first viewing. Call me a fanboy with bad taste in movies if you want because as I said before this may be the most fun I've had while watching a comic related film.
P.S. - Stay after the credits for an additional scene. You're not going to want to miss this. Extreme geek mode will set in.
If you have any questions I didn't address here, or any comments you'd like to contribute, feel free to let me know in the comments section. Thanks for reading! - Matt
Reader Comments (4)
I have to agree with everything you said here Matt...except for Lively, she seemed useless to the plot. Other than that though I would have like more sinestro too. I think GL2 could be on par with TDK if handled properly.
Given the after credits scene I really like where they're headed too.
cool review, nice to hear a review from someone that was engaged by the film in a positive way. I'm looking forward to it.
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Nice to read a positive review!