Green Lantern (movie review)

“In brightest day, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight Let those who worship evil’s might, Beware my power… Green Lantern’s light!”

If you’re a superhero geek, like me, you’ll have been salivating at the prospect of a Green Lantern movie. Several failed attempts before (and a few really cheesy attempts, including a Justice Society of America film that was pretty terrible, but did include Green Lantern), we finally get to see one of the most mind-numbing, fun and exciting movies of the past decade. Yeah, you may think I’m exaggerating because I’m a Ryan Reynolds fan (full disclosure: I’m TOTALLY a Ryan Reynolds fan, not only because he’s from Vancouver, where I live, but also because his portrait of thrill-seeking, irresponsible and often laughed-at aircraft pilot Hal Jordan.

Reynolds’ Hal Jordan shows us a real human-who-by-accident-has-turned-hero. Hal Jordan doesn’t deal with his father’s untimely death the same way Bruce Wayne aka Batman does (e.g. becoming a masked vigilante). Much to the contrary, in a rather daring way, Jordan seeks to emulate his Dad, but fears he’ll always live in the shadow of his father, also an aircraft pilot. Ryan Reynolds offers us a Hal Jordan that becomes Green Lantern not because he’s fearless, but because he fights and overcomes his fear.

Blake Lively as later-to-become Green Lantern’s Sapphire Star, is flawless in her portrayal of Carol Ferris. Ferris, heiress to the Ferris Aircraft empire, is a consummate pilot and also the romantic interest of Hal Jordan. She sees in Jordan something others don’t seem to see (something Jordan himself doesn’t seem to realize: that he is capable of so much more, yet he chokes when facing big challenges).

Peter Sarsgaard is spectacularly well cast as one of the two main nemeses, Hector Hammond, a PhD in xenobiology who is infected by the molecular structure of the deceased predecessor to Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern, and becomes a high-strength telepathic/telekinetic villain. Harnessing fear (the yellow force, as opposed to will, the green force that powers the Green Lantern Corps), both Hammond and Parallax offer us two formidable foes for the newly-minted Green Lantern (Hal Jordan). Obviously, this is a campy movie intended to take your mind away from your daily woes, not the more thoughtful and message-carrying X-Men: First Class.

Side note: X-Men: First Class is also a special-effects-fueled superhero affair worth seeing – review forthcoming. But back to Green Lantern. I absolutely loved this movie, not only because Carol Ferris is not the damsel in distress but a strong woman, but also because Ryan Reynolds offers the best portrait of Green Lantern and Hal Jordan we could ask for. He’s a human, with flaws, but shows us an inner strength worth imitating.

Green Lantern opened today June 17th. You can check showtimes for Green Lantern in Vancouver in this link. I strongly recommend you go see it.

UPDATE – Found some footage that may also entice you more to come see it. It’s a good synopsis of how Hal Jordan ended up as the new Green Lantern and what the Guardians expect from him, the Green Lantern Corps and his training in the planet Oa.