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Monday, June 20, 2011

Review: Green Lantern

Hobo Dan: I guess DC Comics has decided to ignore The Dark Knight ever happened. They learned nothing about what made it such a success. The Joker said things have changed and indeed they have in the comic book movie world. The Green Lantern is not acceptable anymore. This film lacks quality at every turn. Poor script and story, check. Gaping plot holes so big they make a French whore blush, check. So much over, and under acting I can't decide if I'm watching a High School production or a Kenneth Branagh adaptation of Hamlet, check. Effects CLEARLY added just to please 3D fans, check (I saw it in 2D, thank God). Ryan Reynolds is the only thing that made this remotely watchable (No not because you can see the outline of his penis in those sweat pants). He is always funny, but is Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) suppose to be funny? I really don't know because I am a Green Lantern noob. I know nothing about it. Sorry everyone.

I do hope that the comics are better than this movie. Seriously some of the most cheese worthy dialog I've heard in a movie in a looooong time. So much cheese in fact that I'd like to apologize to Kevin Bacon for the lampooning I gave him over X-Men First Class. X-Men has nothing on Green Lantern in that department. I'm just shaking my head wondering how this movie was allowed to be made so poorly. I really do wonder if Blake Lively saw the movie early, realized it was terrible and leaked her nude photos to try and save it from utter oblivion. Sure it will make money. Sure, die hard, sweaty, DC comic nerds with no taste or common sense will defend it to no end. Sure they did set up the makings of a sequel after the credits. I'll probably see that too, but maybe I'll wait till Blu-Ray. As for this one, if you haven't seen it and are not a big DC and or comic book movie fan, don't see it. Seriously go see something else. Hell, I'd have rather seen Hangover 2 for the third time, and thats about all I needed to say.

The Wife: Let me start by saying that I love watching movies and I especially love the "going to the theatre with a nice bag of buttery popcorn" experience. I also really like MOST super hero films. I had been looking quite forward to seeing Green Lantern. I had heard it received poor reviews but wanted to judge it for myself. Let's face it... living in a small town where there isn't a lot to do, it is always fun to go see a movie. I also love Ryan Reynolds. Well, as the movie progressed, I grew more and more weary and then utterly disappointed. The movie lacked character depth/development, had very weak transitions, poor dialogue and at times was very slow and then would revert back to a fast pace with hardly any explanation (again poor transitions).

Now, unlike X-Men, I am not well versed in the Green Lantern comics. In the DC universe, Batman will always be my all time favorite (in fact he is my favorite of all super heroes). I've read lots of fan boy complaints though if that tells you anything. Most of the tweets I read about people liking the movie basically just praised the CGI effects or were girls commenting on Mr. Reynold's hotness (which ladies, that does make this movie somewhat decent).

I do think Reynolds was good and have no complaints about his performance. Serena van der Woodsen, oops I mean Blake Lively, acted about as opposite of her last name. I thought in another role outside of Gossip Girl that Blake would act a bit better as she wasn't terrible in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants films. In Green Lantern, she came off as flat and lacked chemistry with Reynolds. However, I do think she looked stunning and that the brunette look suits her. She stands out more as a brunette. Her traditional blonde locks just look so average. Ok I am drifting off topic and discussing hair rather than Green Lantern...that's how little I care about this movie.

Overall I didn't think the movie was good. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it much. It still was better than the awfulness that was GI Joe (Channing Tatum aside). And, thankfully we didn't have to watch it in 3D. I've blocked much of the first Fantastic Four out so I don't remember which movie I prefer. Green Lantern did have some funny parts and the scene at the end credits does set up a pretty good sequel for the future. With a better script and perhaps one that is not quite as campy, I think the next Green Lantern films have potential to be much better. With this summer's super hero flicks, so far X-Men First Class is the best followed by Thor. That being said, bring on Captain America!

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