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Review: ‘Green Lantern’ is dim, cheesy

July 7th, 2011 Posted in Opinion

By Alison Ostler

Ryan Reynolds joins the growing cast of comic book heroes in the newest summer blockbuster, The Green Lantern.

This much-anticipated film, released amidst a myriad of comic book-inspired films such as the May box-office hit Thor and the yet-to-be-released Captain America, has all the makings of what could have been a classic superhero film franchise like its DC Comic brother Batman, but it falls tragically short.

In the film, Reynolds plays intergalactic hero Hal Jordan, who must save the planet while learning how to use his new alien powers, finding time here-and-there to rebuild a relationship with his ex-girlfriend/childhood friend/boss Carol (played by Blake Lively).

This film is a classic example of a movie that is all about gimmicks and visual effects, but neglects its plot. The result is a film that is too rushed to tell its story, but still somehow manages to be boring. The paper-thin plotline is often bogged down by too many special effects that make the movie look cheesy—­even by comic book hero standards.

The film is dark, and even in the end it can’t seem to shed its gloomy feel. Reynolds and Lively had the chance to lift the film out of the drudgery it sinks into within the first ten minutes, but they don’t. Both are terrible; Reynolds isn’t fully convincing as wisecracking Hal Jordan or as a heart-of-gold superhero. Lively is as two-dimensional as the comic book pages her character came from.

The only redeeming qualities of the film are its sparse moments of humor, which are few and far between, and the even fewer moments when true emotion comes through (the only character that manages to grab the emotion of the audience is the movie’s villain, Dr. Hector Hammond, played by Peter Sarsgaard). But they are the only few bright spots in a long, uninteresting string of events.

Critics everywhere have agreed: this movie is bad. My advice? Save your money, and wait a month for Captain America.  Or, go see any of the films being released this summer, for it’s likely that it will be better than this dark, flat and wholly uninspired film.

TP

Tags: Green Lantern, movies