Green Lantern Movie Review: Go See it.

Ah, Green Lantern, the unsung protector of the universe's sector 2814.
Good Ole Hal Jordan, DC's goto guy when they need boost sales with a number of crossover events spanning several paychecks worth of pulp.

Now at long last parent company Warner Bros looks to the Emerald Knight to see them through the Batman-less Summer 2011 blockbuster movie season. A full length live action feature film with A-list stars and a CGI budget that was out of this world even before the execs at Warner kicked in an additional 9 million towards the end of production. Which incidentally Warner will tell you had nothing to do with some very vocal fan reactions to early looks at the effects, *coughBS.
Full on promotional marketing, Action figures, Animated DVDs, Video Games, Little Paper Rings in your subway meal and Ryan Reynolds staring at you from the chocolate isle at the grocery, you know the works.

In preparation for this review, lets just say, many many comic pages with a green hue were turned over one reviewers lifetime, while another more demographically appealing female subject was chosen having only cursory knowledge of Mr Green and Sparkly.

In addition, the professional critics were consulted to excess before actual viewing. It was the most thorough drubbing of a film in recent memory and the one-upmanship barrage of insults hurled at supporting cast members, its director and herd of writers, was only to be outdone by their near universal fawning admiration of Ryan Reynold's ab-tastic physique if not his gravitas.

As entertaining as the critical review of the critical reviews was, you kinda got the vibe that maybe Warner's great green hope is not only the worst movie of the summer, but quite possibly the "Worst Comic Book Movie Ever!" which in itself is intriguing, in a Mystery Science Theater 3000 kinda way, if you are in to that sort of thing.  More importantly at least one of our intrepid reviewers was actually interested to see the translation from page to screen, no matter how mediocre Dana Stevens thought it was and he was paying, so....

The Movie:

Hal Jordan is your every day mild mannered, cocky, defense weapons contractor fighter-jet test-pilot. You know the type, drives fast cars, has casual sexual encounters, not very punctual, but nice to look at. Whilst being particularly cocky Hal destroys his jet and two irreplaceable prototypes, the consequences of which nearly destroys his employer, his relation ship with his ex-girlfriend/boss/bosses daughter/wingwoman, and their potential contract with the government, also destroying the jobs of many an angry townfolk. Hal's grounded.

Oh yeah, there was some stuff going on in space too.
Good Guys are Green and use power of will, Bad Guys are Yellow, and use the power of fear. Big Bad Yellow guy, stopped and imprisoned by Green Guy. Yellow Guy escapes and mortally wounds aforementioned Green Guy. Green Guy's ring recruits Hal.

Hal eventually becomes Green Lantern defeats yellow guy, saves universe. Roll Credits, after credits ending scene setting up sequel.

Of  course that description leaves a lot to the imagination, doesn't it. To make any of that appear to make any kind of sense requires a fair amount of esplaining to be done, and splaining Green Lantern does and fairly successfully, with lots of green stuff in space and some excellent voice over work. Guardians, Oa, Kilowog, Sinestro and the Corp. A tiny outline of Carol Ferris and Mrs Samuel Jackson, I mean Amanda Waller, And for no reason at all Tim Robbins as a Senator who hates his son, Tim Robbins, everybody.

What more could you ask? Top of the charts opening weekend, Done.

Was is it a great film?
No. It was at the same time over and under done.

Was it an entertaining movie?
Yes. However you can still feel the studio notes trying to wrench that away too.

Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern?
Works for us. See ya in the sequel Ryan.
Now that all the explaining is over with, make with the ring slingin.

Rating:
Go see it. Have some popcorn. We enjoyed it.
Some of it was really pretty, some of it was silly, but most of it was fun.

Note to Mark Millar, RE Worst Comic Book Movie Ever, Do you include the ill fated Fantastic Four and Captain America movies?

-MrCopilot