The Green Lantern: Film Review

The Green Lantern

Directed by Martin Campbell

 

Reviewed by Andrew Douglas.

Well folks here’s the latest film instalment in the Marvel Comic Superhero series. By now, we all know the predictable formula: a good-looking, athletic, ‘average’ guy gets turned into some sort of super human with unusual powers. He is intent on doing good which means confronting and destroying some equally powerful baddie. Of course, along the way, there are numerous deaths and a lot of destruction. And, not only does he have to whip the monstrous, ugly villain, he has to prepare to combat and even worse one in the inevitable sequel.

This is standard comic book fare. We all know the hero will always come through, no matter how desperate the odds. For him to do this there must be an evil villain intent on destroying the world and most of the rest of the universe. There has to be the ultimate confrontation which presumes a lot of destruction a la CG special effects.

Despite the panning of most of the critics, the film is not as bad as one is led to believe. One has to accept that it is an adaptation of a comic book character. It is designed for mass appeal to the largely younger age group. It is not drawn from higher literature so one should not expect Shakespearian insights. Once this is accepted, you can sit back and enjoy two hours of fantasy which is not all that deep intellectually but entertaining nonetheless. In addition, many find a sexy guy showing off his athletic body rather appealing.

There are touches of humour throughout. The only problem is trying to decipher whether it is intentional or just accidental. The lead Hal Jordan (played by Ryan Reynolds) is the first human ‘chosen’ by an alien to join a cosmic club which protects the universe from all of manner of evil things. Of course, he has to come up to the mark which means boot camp-type training by another giant alien.

About the same time, an eccentric doctor is asked to examine the corpse of the alien who gave Hal the all-powerful ring and lantern. This doctor gets infected by the evil alien DNA and ends up looking like the Elephant Man. Thus transformed, he is in psychic communication with the mega baddie, the Parallax which looks like a multi-tentacled octopus with one mean head at its centre with a mouth that tries to swallow up anything in its way! Scary stuff!

Let’s hope the sequel is a bit more original. Not quite in the league of Superman, Batman or Spiderman or even Ironman but fun nonetheless.