By Graham Osborne
I am fairly certain that I was the key demographic for the Green Lantern film. I’m in my twenties, a big fan of the Green Lantern franchise and I love to watch films. So I’m not entirely sure how the filmmakers were able to get the film so spectacularly wrong that I was able to write nearly four and a half pages of notes about what I didn’t like regarding the outcome. Without further ado, let’s air the grievances of a film that has already bombed at the cinema and on DVD.
Ryan Reynolds plays Hal Jordan, a hotshot test pilot who is chosen to become part of the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lanterns by an alien who crash-landed on Earth. Jordan then has to defeat Parallax, the living embodiment of fear that has taken over his childhood friend.
I am fairly certain that I was the key demographic for the Green Lantern film. I’m in my twenties, a big fan of the Green Lantern franchise and I love to watch films. So I’m not entirely sure how the filmmakers were able to get the film so spectacularly wrong that I was able to write nearly four and a half pages of notes about what I didn’t like regarding the outcome. Without further ado, let’s air the grievances of a film that has already bombed at the cinema and on DVD.
Ryan Reynolds plays Hal Jordan, a hotshot test pilot who is chosen to become part of the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lanterns by an alien who crash-landed on Earth. Jordan then has to defeat Parallax, the living embodiment of fear that has taken over his childhood friend.
One of the main problems with the film is the characterisations by the actors, coupled with a relatively weak script. Reynolds portrays Jordan as a devil-may-care jerk who is also rather mopey about how his life has turned out. His job revolves around him testing jet planes for the US Air Force and he doesn’t feel any better later in the film when he is given a magic ring that can allow you to fly in space, create whatever you can think of and converse with aliens. If that’s not enough to make someone at least a little less brooding then I don’t know what will. Everything in Hal’s life is tied to him watching his father die in a plane crash when he was younger, though there isn’t much mentioned on that outside of a flashback.
On top of this, Green Lanterns are supposed to be able to overcome great fear to do their duty. Because of Jordan’s witnessing of his father’s death, he has mentally shut down whenever the pressure has been too great, and it almost got himself killed. His friend’s response to this when he says he can’t be a GL because of his fear? Don’t be afraid… That is the turning point of the entire film, there no scene where Jordan has to actually overcome any type of fear, he just stops being afraid because somebody told him not to.
On top of this, Green Lanterns are supposed to be able to overcome great fear to do their duty. Because of Jordan’s witnessing of his father’s death, he has mentally shut down whenever the pressure has been too great, and it almost got himself killed. His friend’s response to this when he says he can’t be a GL because of his fear? Don’t be afraid… That is the turning point of the entire film, there no scene where Jordan has to actually overcome any type of fear, he just stops being afraid because somebody told him not to.
The villain is Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), or the physical embodiment of fear, depending on how you wish to look at it. As I mentioned earlier, Hammond was childhood friends with Jordan, although this isn’t mentioned until over an hour into the film, and only in passing, it seems that the creators of the film had forgotten the old adage “Show, don’t tell”. Hammond is asked by the Government to inspect the wreckage of the crashed alien ship that gave Jordan his power ring and ends up as the host of Parallax, the aforementioned fear entity.
One of the main draws of the Green Lantern comics is the host of alien characters that make up the rest of the Green Lantern Corps. It would be practically impossible to make a Green Lantern movie without showing how many there are, but this film tries its best to do the opposite. If you were to watch the trailers for the film, you would have seen pretty much all of the shots of the Corps within the film, with the only three getting any more screen-time being Sinestro, Kilowog and Tomar-Re. Whilst these three are central, well loved characters, the amount of time they are used in the film can pretty much be boiled down to one scene and a couple of cameos here and there.
One of the main draws of the Green Lantern comics is the host of alien characters that make up the rest of the Green Lantern Corps. It would be practically impossible to make a Green Lantern movie without showing how many there are, but this film tries its best to do the opposite. If you were to watch the trailers for the film, you would have seen pretty much all of the shots of the Corps within the film, with the only three getting any more screen-time being Sinestro, Kilowog and Tomar-Re. Whilst these three are central, well loved characters, the amount of time they are used in the film can pretty much be boiled down to one scene and a couple of cameos here and there.
All negatives aside, Mark Strong plays Sinestro brilliantly, with just the right amount of arrogance and condescension. The end credits scene of him becoming an agent of fear would have set up a fine sequel if the rest of the film hadn’t been so trite.
The purpose of the film was to start DC publications attempts at a combined universe similar to what Marvel had planned out with The Avengers. This even included a Nick Fury type appearance by Amanda Waller, a government agent who was given a backstory and then flushed off screen and never seen or heard from again. Did she die? Who knows, I guess we’ll have to wait and see if she turns up in Man of Steel, the next attempt at creating a Justice League shared universe.
Green Lantern was filled with numerous problems, too many to address here. So many problems that I suppose you could say this film seriously needs fixing...
The purpose of the film was to start DC publications attempts at a combined universe similar to what Marvel had planned out with The Avengers. This even included a Nick Fury type appearance by Amanda Waller, a government agent who was given a backstory and then flushed off screen and never seen or heard from again. Did she die? Who knows, I guess we’ll have to wait and see if she turns up in Man of Steel, the next attempt at creating a Justice League shared universe.
Green Lantern was filled with numerous problems, too many to address here. So many problems that I suppose you could say this film seriously needs fixing...
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