GREEN LANTERN (2011)

Welcome to another colour themed film review.

As I'm sure you have gathered I watch the movie and type the review at the same time to give you my honest opinion and reaction to what I am watching. I hope that what you read makes sense and you can follow it, that said sometimes the movies I watch can be confusing, the first 54 seconds of this film I am confused, true I have never read the comics or watched the cartoon series and the history of the Green Lantern corp needs some explanation and I like Geoffrey Rush's voice, but there has to be another way.

Maybe this is why films based on DC comics don't tend to work, they try to explain too much and not just let the audience learn and experience the the adventure with the hero.

But on with the film, so the bad guy is called Parallax I guess he paralyses people with fear and steals there fear and escapes the Lost Planet of Ryat that seemed very easy. So Parallax goes after Ryan Reynolds Predecessor and he is injured and heads to earth where Ryan is sleeping with a hot girl and is late so drives fast while wrapping something and narrowly avoids a crash with split second reactions.

So Ryan (Hal Jordan) arrives and we are introduced to his partner Carol Ferris code name Sapphire probably real love interest of movie. We have a brilliant dog fight and Hal has flash backs to the death of his dad and so nearly crashes but ejects at the last minute. Everyone is angry at him but I’m assuming the robot planes as he calls them will come in handy at the end of the film. Even his family is mad and worried about him.

Considering that The Green Lanterns are meant to be fearless I get the impression that Hal might be the only green lantern who is afraid but that might be why he is the best to fight parallax. I also don't trust the red faced pointy eared green lantern called Sinestro his name like parallax is quite obvious and that his is sinister.

So a New guy called Hector Hammond is picked up by what I assume is secret service type people and taken to meet Tina Turner, sorry I mean Angela Basset, they are going to investigate the alien and and space ship. I have a feeling that Hector Might become evil or possessed by an alien or something and be Hal's Human nemesis.

Hal tries to figure out how to activate the lantern saying to infinity and beyond, by the power of grayskull and then knocks the lantern with the ring and as if in a trance he says the green lantern oath. Meanwhile Hector is doing a autopsy of the alien and gets infected by a bit of yellow parallax.

Hal hangs out with his flight partner Carol and apologises to her and dances with her before she asks why he froze, he leaves and gets beat up by the guys form the company he worked for who are pissed off and he accidentally activates his ring and punches them with a giant green fist and then is transported to Green Lantern HQ. While Hector is transformed into a human form of Parallax.

It looks like Hal is tortured before his suit is activated and he meets Geoffrey Rush (Tomar-Re) who explains more about the Green Lanterns and he is brought to a meeting of all the Green Lanterns. This bit kind of reminds me of The Last Starfighter when he first arrives on the planet. Hal gets training and Sinestro hates Hal and shows him how weak and scared he is, then Hal leaves saying it was a mistake for the ring to choose him.
 

Meanwhile Hector starts showing mind reading and telekinetic powers in his class and when Tim Robbins meets with him.

Sinestro and other Green Lanterns try to stop Parallax but He looses a lot of Green lanterns and the elders of Oa explain the origin of Parallax that he was also a green lantern who tried to control fear.

I find it hard to believe that people don't recognise Hal with a small eye mask on his face, Hector is not going to be able to show his face any more as he his head has got bigger and he looks like he is allergic to yellow.

Hal shows off to his best friend who picked him up after the alien crash and has figured out that the green guy was Hal, he mentions he is a super hero and that they get the girl and Hal flies over to Carols place and puts on a silly weird voice which is so cheesy. I really hope that Carol does realise its Hal, thank god she does, I would hate to think she was so stupid not to know her friend and partner. This so far doesn't feel like a bad film.

I can see what the director has done every time Fear, Hector or Parallax is shown we get Yellow lighting, and we get green lighting when Green Lanterns are about to show up.

Angela picks up Hector and brings him back to the lab to explain that there was a second life-form in the alien body and that he is infected and his dad Tim Robbins wants to help fix him, I think these guys are going to die now or very soon once Hector becomes fully transformed by fear.

Yeah I was right, ah this reminds of Tim Robbins at the end of Howard the Duck, sadly Howard is not here to save him hopefully Hal can save Tim. Oh well that's one to fear and Howard the Duck, Hal couldn't stop Hector but at least he didn't find Hal's real fear.

Hal explains everything to his friend and Girlfriend and they try to show and prove to him that he is has the ability to overcome fear and that he is courageous. Parallax communicates with Hector and though Hector, the Yellow ring is created and Hal pleads his case on Or and they refuse to help him as they don't want to take a chance on him. But we all know they'll come round and help him in the end.

Hector is holding Carol in the air with a needle to her neck of yellow stuff and Hal talks to him and tries to talk him down and gives him his ring which he uses and then tried to use on Hal, just before Parallax absorbs Hector's life force, Hal goes to get his ring but is caught by parallax and nearly killed before Carol uses the jets missiles to save him and he then goes off to try and out think parallax before it destroys earth.

A yellow and black cloud of smoke engulfs the city streets, which I feel is reminiscent of the footage of people running down the streets of New York when the twin towers collapsed.

Hal pushes back on parallax and drags it to space and towards a sun and then when it won't burn he punches Parallax with a giant green fist intothe sun. So Sinestro isn't a bad guy after all, and Hal does get the girl before flaying of to fight evil. Oh wait I was right Sinestro is evil and will be the bad guy in the next film because he put on the yellow ring.

I am actually very surprised with how much I enjoyed this film, true I like Ryan Reynolds to the annoyance of my fiancé. That said I can also see why it didn't do very well at the box office, the CGI suits and aliens are obvious and don't work in my opinion. Had this been made in the 80's lets say, we would have had an actual costume and creatures from fantasia (Neverending Story) as the other green lanterns. I prefer in camera effects and make up, I feel there is too much reliance on CGI and that we have lost an art form.
 

But other problems with this film was it felt like they just wanted to get this origin story done, so they can start working towards the eventual JLA movie and a sequel which they might put more effort into.

I would say at times I was reminded of Spider Man, and the Incredible Hulk with regards to the storyline and some of the characters so nothing new however I feel people may want to give it a second look, but that's my thoughts as a newbie to the story of the Green Lantern.

One last comment as much as I like Ryan Reynolds I still don't like the skin type costume and I feel that he would have been better as the Flash or the proper Dead Pool in their respective movies if they ever happen.

I'll return next week with Red Tails.