Green Lantern

Loose cannon, wild man, and test pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is down on his luck and suspended from his job when a dying interstellar guardian known as Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison) crash lands on earth. In his last dying breath Abin Sur commands the mystical power of “will” to find his replacement; as it turns out, Hal is the chosen one. Now indoctrinated into the league of lanterns Hal is rocketed to a planet far and away and trained to be a guardian. Meanwhile, Hal’s love interest Carol (Blake Lively) is struggling to keep her family’s company in the good graces of the government; and, old friend, Doctor Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) discovers he’s been infected with the mystical power of “fear.” Now it’s up to Hal to stop Hector, save Carol, and thwart the evil Parallax before earth is consumed. As the third comic based film this spring alone, Green Lantern is facing some stiff competition from two already successful releases. The good news for Green Lantern is that Thor has already laid the ground work for audiences accepting CGI heavy outer space landscapes. The downside, for all the shine and flash, it’s the script that’s important; and, in this case some editing would have been handy. The love story that’s developed could have been cut back to keep things interesting and moving forward. But, that being said, I went in with low expectations and actually walked away thinking “not bad.” Ryan Reynolds charisma sells this one, a few good laughs are mustered, battle and action scenes aren’t drawn out to overstay their welcome, and Peter Sarsgaard’s awkward nature comes across as genuinely creepy and tortured. Better than I expected, maybe a matinee. Green Lantern is rated PG-13.